Duty Session 565: Tomb of the Lost Emperor

A tomb awaits in a forgotten corner of the Palace Lands, which has relics of the past that could be very useful to recover. It's also rumored the tomb has fearsome guardians in the form of an undying army forged from the very bones of the world. What awaits those daring enough to delve into these depths?

Uta wants to find out.

* * *

The river valley in which the tomb is located is flush with life, green trees and local animal life and a low population of monsters. The tomb itself is located in the wall scurried by decaying ruins that have been heavily overgrown but at the entrance two statues flank the entrance spears crossed daring the party to enter. What treasure and dangers lurk within this forgotten place?

"What treasure and dangers lurk within this forgotten place?", asks Uta, as she leads the party through the vegetation. "I want to find out," she adds, turning back to face the rest of the team. "Thank you for coming with me to the Palace Lands, by the way. It's always appreciated."

Goldenblade has joined Uta for this adventure in ninja mode, it seems. Goldenblade has certainly built upon the stealth capability of the Blade Dancer in her own unique way, playing into that corner of her class's capability somewhat heavily on this mission. She's not sure what the mission will entail, but if there are hazards, the best choice is to avoid them. A dark cowl over her head hides her bright red hair, and her mail is covered with a black surcoat that muffles the rattle of armor and the glint of steel.

She nods about treasure and dangers, telling Uta, "It's about time this place was looted. The Palace Lands adventurers lost out on the chance to do so much of the content over here. So I guess we're imperialists for running their content. But such is life, right?"

    "Hey you know me, I'm always up for fun!" Fuka observes, grinning. Fun, in this case, includes adventure, helping friends, whatever. It could also include lweds, but she probably doesn't mean that. Probably.

    "So, what are we expecting? Besides fun?" the little sylph asks. "Monkeys? It's always monkeys in the Palace Lands, it seems." she scowls. Yeah, Fuka kind of hates monkeys. The one animal she won't pet.

"No monkeys, -please-!", Uta shudders at Fukaziroh's suggestion. "I explicitly asked the local Hunter's Guild for a quest that was NOT the last one. You know, the Dragon King one. The one with the monkeys."

"I wouldn't say -imperialist-," Uta replies to Goldenblade. "I am interested in the Lore possibly hidden in these tombs. Culture. Knowledge." She glances up and away. "And I mean, the Hunter's Guild is offering these quests to people, regardless. So... we're providing an important service."

The entryway is not dark glowing crystals enchanted long ago provide dim light to this day. Between each of the lights is a statue of an armoured warrior. Each one is different, some human, some Pooka and so forth. There soon emerges a troubling pattern: they are the same; there is no difference between them at each interaction. It's a maze designed to confuse intruders it seems. It will take some work for the party to find their way through. There may be small tells as to how to move forward and of note, there is some movement of the air which could be used to figure out where to go. Additionally someone with mining experience could make a difference here.

    "Oh great!" Fuka complains. "We're in a maze!"

    If there's one thing Fuka hates more than monkeys, it's being lost in a maze. Well, that's not really all that true. Hate is a strong word for both monkeys and mazes. She just prefers things... otherwise!

    Fuka goes around sniffing the air, trying to find a safe path. Very likely however, what she's actually trying to smell is the presence of monkeys, or at least monkey poo. Since there don't seem to be any, her input on the maze is of minimal help.

Goldenblade nods grimly about monkeys. "They are pretty nasty here, aren't they?" she asks Fuka. "And you wouldn't think they'd be normal here, since they're not two-part monsters. I'd expect Monkey-Elephants or something." As a non-gamer, she is unaware of the normal precaution of not giving Devs any ideas. Uta's denial of our Imperialist usurpation of the Palace Lands duties in the name of culture draws a smirk. "Culture and Knowledge. That's what the British said when they looted Egypt. But there like here, the locals weren't doing anything with it, so it's probably fine."

When presented with a maze filled with who knows what dangers, she will creeep through quietly and take her time about getting through. It's not a complicated maze, but attracting attention could be a problems. Luckily, the ninja-mode Blade Dancer is able to sneak through.

"I mean, I suppose?", Uta replies to Goldenblade. "We're bringing most findings back to the local Hunter's Guild, so I suppose it will remain here?"

After wandering around in circle for some time, Uta lets out a frustrated groan, followed by "...I suppose this is a job for Kein-Eintrag."

After approaching Fukaziroh, Uta reaches for her own necklace; she fiddles with it for a bit, she reveals a glowing gem embedded in it, worn flush to her body. She activates the relic, which projects a mini-map of the area for everyone to see: a visualization of the layout of the maze.

"...Uh. Dang. It seems like we're in a maze," Uta says with a frown.

Once the party has made its way through the maze they will find a long corridor. The good news is there seems to only be one way forward. The bad news is that it appears the area is trapped. Some are more obvious than others. All of them appear to be flame-based as here and their gouts of fire would cross the corridors before resting and then firing off again a short time later. Our daring heroes will have to find a way past the various flavours of flame traps to press deeper into the tomb.

Goldenblade nods to Uta about bringing stuff back to the Guild, but is suprised it's a local Guild when we're at war with the Palace Landers. "But I suppose that makes it the guild's problem as long as we turn over everything to the Guild." She will step lightly through the fiery corridor, as if flames held any danger for her. Well, technically they do, but her control of flame is famously adept, her affinity for it is so strong is overpowers her general ineptitude with gamery things.

    "Hm." Fuka muses. "I don't know if the Hunters Guild supports the war, opposes it, or whatever. I don't think what we're finding has military applications though, so I don't think it really matters!" she says. And if it *does*, well, they can just fail the quest and keep it for themselves! Problem solved.

    That decided, more or less, Fuka looks forward to the flame traps. She frowns. "I wonder HOW they managed to get this sort of thing perpetually going?" she asks, her enchanter brain going off on her to study it all and figure it out, even though she knows it's not Enchanting that's used. Bother. She's a bit distracted, looking around for any runes, while also trying somehow to find a safe path through the traps. She ends up finding neither. On the plus side, the soot from flame traps provides a lovey contrast to her golden hair!

"I think we might get to keep portion of our findings as payment?", Uta wonders. "I should really pay attention at how we get paid. I only know that I go to the Hunter's guild, I explain what kind of quest I want, I specifically say I don't want the one with the monkeys, receive a quest, find a team, complete the quest, bring back stuff... Uh... and I keep some stuff. Not necessarily in that order." She scratches her head. "I should really look into acquiring the Mercantile skill. So I'd be better at managing my income."

"Perhaps this thing rests on a natural gas source. Or maybe there's firebreathing monsters living- hey!" She leaps sideways as she is almost scorched by a sudden column of fire. "Don't stand in the fire!", she admonishes herself, before singing a gurgling tune that causes tendrils of blue light to focus into the anatomically correct heart that serves as the focus gem: it progressively fills with sloshing, magically conjured water, and when it's full, the Spriggan discharges the contents into the columns of fire that happen to burst up. "Quick, let's dash!"

Through the flames the party would find a massive cavern of carved stone from top to bottom the entire place standing in parade formation are statues of soldiers from the distant past of the Palace Lands. Each one looks different, no two are alike. There are ranks upon ranks of them all seemingly waiting for some unseen order. Nothing happens for a little as the party traverses the room. Until partway through then the door seals shut as does the one on the far end. The statues are not such: they are golems (or something golem-like)! They come to life and attack; not so mindlessly: one at a time they seem to fight as well-trained Landers would use tactics and try to go after the less durable members of the party. This is going to be one heck of a fight.

Goldenblade shrugs at Fuka's question. "It's got to be some sort of artifact powering it, right? Nothing player races can do can create permanent magic, I'm told?" She nods to Uta about keeping a portion of the findings, and says, "I suppose the Guild might be non-partisan in the war. I don't really understand the hows and whys in the game."

She's fine moving quietly through the room, but it seems like no amount of stealth will solve this problem as the goldems attack. Goldenblade fades from view for a moment, but reappears behind one and strikes it down from behind. These are not boss monsters, and her Assassinate is wildly overpowered for this fight. She is able to take down several at unawares, in fact, before they are alerted to her presence, but with a tank holding aggro, she can lay out the DPS fast and hard.

    "Money's important." Fuka agrees. "It helps you buy the important things. Like ice cream!" she claims. "Still, I try not to worry too much about such things. Money I mean, not ice cream. And Songbird, you'd make a totally cute cait sith!" she grins. Then hiding her amusement poorly, Fuka turns to regard the threat as the door closes firmly behind them.

    This seems more like it. Fuka looks ahead to the threat of this new room. Terracotta warriors. Very symbolic, very traditional. Very smashable, especially considering her best defense is a magical fusion of the terracotta warrior's element plus its polar opposite.

    She casts, channeling mana in a complex weave of opposing elements, keeping them in check with her will and a mana construct she's worked on for quite a while. Then she nods and charges in. "There's only one suitable battlecry here." she notes. Then yells, "Ha! Hiyaa! Hup! Haah!" as she spins madly throughout the battlefield like a mad pointy-ear in a field of grass.

"What? What's this about a Cait Sith?!", Uta asks, in surprise (probably having missed the point that Cait Sith get Mercantile as a racial trait). No, she is not armflailing: she must hold onto her staff for battle.

"I mean, doing quest is the main source of income for many adventurers. We are the gig economy of this world. It's only fair that we get paid in some manner or other...", Uta mentions to Goldenblade. "We would need Relic-level artifacts for permanent magic. And we cannot create such items. -Yet-", Uta drops, cryptically. Only to continue immediately after with, "We've found a device in the tower. A device which was involved in the creation of relics. Made by Helba, apparently. If we could crack it, it would be the first step in understanding the process." She begins to explain more about this finding as she presses on, blasting opponents with beams of sheer magic. "It has a part not unlike a phonograph built in; considering the general style of the Alv, I'm ready to bet that singing is likely involved. Then there's a receptacle to superimpose a hand on..." She points at her own begloved hand. "Female hand specifically. Schneider tried. His hand is not slender and dainty enough." And then sighs. "...and we haven't been able to crack much past that. We feel like we lack some sort of 'permission' to use it. Even an Adventurer with a special Song-related relic." She rubs her chin, frowning. "...If only we knew someone who has a petite feminine hand, can sing, and could bypass such security systems..."

After the clash with the terracotta Army. Our heroes find themselves in a more dimly lit corridor which leads into a massive armoury. The weapons and armour here are all here are well made but there seems to be no way out until at the center of the armoury is a weapon rack that seems oddly shaped. Looking at it closely one would be able to tell there's some sort of mechanism that could be triggered if the right weapon was placed here. The possibility also remains that it could be picked or even brute-forced.

Goldenblade can't properly boggle at Fuka while she's assassinating golems, but when she's done, she boggles. The conversation with Uta draws a nod as Uta explains about relics, but she can only shrugs about something that can only be activated by a female. "If it's small, maybe it's for a child, not an adult at all?" she guesses.

The armory is quite interesting actually, and she looks appraisingly at several of the pieces. "These are all pretty well made. And we'd certainly get in trouble, looting it. And I can only use one weapons at a time. Well, two." She smirks, then takes one of the pieces, hard to distinguish from the others, and places it where it should go. "That was pretty straightforward." she comments.

    Fuka doesn't answer the question about Cait Sith, busy as she is impersonating a Hyrulian warrior. She does however get in on Uta's ramblings. "Gig economy huh? Yeah, that's how I make my fat stacks of cash~" she claims. And then she spends it, usually on food. She may not support Pela's cafe all by herself, but Fuka's definitely a regular and a high-roll-er.

    She pauses mid-swing to look at Uta. "Hold that thought." she considers, and gets back to business. After she shrugs, shouldering her blade. "I can sing! And my hand are oh-so-dainty! At least compared to Schneider's. Or so I think, I haven't actually, you know, lewdly held his hand or anything! And security is my specialty!"

    Okay that last is a lie, but who knows? Maybe eventually! Considering all that, Fuka hums to herself as she begins searching through the weapons. "We need to find a matching key, only the key is a weapon. A key-blade you could say!" she grins triumphantly.

"I don't know. Female hands worked well," Uta tells Goldenblade. "Considering it was made by Helba... I suppose she made it based on herself?"

"Well, Fuka, if you have any ideas, we can go have a check at that device. One more try cannot hurt. Honestly, I'd love to make it work."

"A key-what?", Uta the obvious non-gamer asks. Before turning to the armory's device. "...just a moment, I think this needs a little help."

She kicks the device, which, recognizing the weapons placed there by Goldenblade (and likely Fuka as well?) begins to rotate. Revealing something beyond: another corridor...

The crystals remain and while there are more Terracotta soldiers lining the wall here and there. They do not awaken at least for the moment. Finally, a massive set of doors is behind the party. Upon opening it they will behold something like a war room with a number of Terracotta soldiers around what seems to be a map of the tomb itself. Even with miniatures of soldiers, traps and what could be a stand-in for invaders.

The lead and more massively built captain turns its head and silently mouths what likely is in order to attack. The Captain readies his polearm as the other terracotta warriors fall in and move in to attack with more skill the one might expect creatures like this to have. It's going to be a boss fight with adds from the looks of it the brave adventurers best be ready for it!

Goldenblade can only shrug at Fuka's hands' dantiness. She's a bricklayer and a weapon smith and a warrior, she's got thick calluses on her own hands, and wouldn't presume to stuff them in some suspicious Alv machine. Too much of what they do is ... unclear. But if Fuka wants to stick her hands in there, Goldenblade won't stop her.

She looks over to Fuka, a brief glance is enough to establish who'll take which role. She moves in quickly, but her blocking is solid, backed by twin blades forged exquisitely of some unusual material, which leaves the blades with a golden tint as they deflect the golem captain's attacks. The blows drive her back, feet leaving scuffs in the ground, but her defense is rock solid, and doesn't give as she puts her bricklayer's strength against the golem's relentless blows.

    "Helba huh?" Fuka muses. She doesn't say she's in contact with Helba, sort of. Kind of a protege, only not really. Helba's asked her to take care of a special task at least, and it's one she hasn't exactly had a chance to take care of. Oh well, soon.

    "Hey." Fuka says, staring at the leader of this terracotta contingent. "Do you think he's a pot head?" she asks. "One way to find out, I guess!"

    Before charging in to do vicious battle, Fuka takes the time to engulf the captain in a shimmering sphere of dark energy, tearing away at its defenses and weakening its attacks. With the firepower and defense the others bring to bear, that ought to help make short work of the thing. And as it falls, she looks back to Uta.

    "Uh... okay, what? Oh, never mind. We can figure it out some other time. Have we got what we came for?" Fuka asks.

Uta lets out a loud scream, and jumps into a wuxia battle where she... keeps screaming a lot, really. Once at every blow.

The battle is a brutal one with the Commander making use of its offices to harry and strike at the Adventures but in the end, the ancient tomb guardian is no match for the skill, guile, fury, and tactics of those who have breached the tomb this far. It finally sinks to its knees collapsing and breaking into several pieces before it explodes into shards of light. "What?", Uta finally asks back to Fukaziroh. Seems like the Spriggan confused herself again.

Uta does try to lead the party forward, but she ends up slamming her face against a seal held up by some sort of powerful magic. After rubbing her face, she squints. "...Insufficient level. Dang."

It seems to learn the true secret of the tomb they will need to return once they have become stronger.

"It seems we got something, yes...", she says, picking up a shard of terra cotta. "I think we can grab some of hese and bring them back to the Hunter's guild. Maybe they'll let us keep one or two..." She looks over her shoulders. "Oh, and some other artifacts on the way back, of course."

Goldenblade smiles to Uta as she helps sort through the remaining drops and lootables for things to take back to the Guild. "They'll apperciate these," she says, but in a puzzled tone. "I don't know -why-, but ... " she shrugs, nodding about the level-locked next phase. "We'll have to come back when we've gained some levels," she declares. "For now. I think our work here is done."