Duty Session 587: The Secret of the Maidensong Isle

Dun-dun.

Dun-dun.

Dun-dun.

What Adventurers might recognize as the Jaws theme begins to play.

To quote another cinematic masterpiece, a young woman in a wetsuit emerges from the waves; it is no Ursula Andress as a Bond Girl, though -- it's Uta. She is decked in head to toe in what must be one of Gwen's newfangled full-body wetsuits, immediately recognizable as a medical-style uniform with its white color with red accents; perfect for medical rescue missions and exploring islands.

"Can you please not attract attention?", she exclaims sloshing towards the shore, blushing, as she addresses a Lander kid who's playing what looks like a flute. "Oh goodness," she countinues, burying her face into her hand. "I wish I hadn't taught that kid the Jaws theme. Now he's playing it every time something emerges from the sea..."

It was good to be back in a sensible frame of mind, though Shiruba had promised the Uncrowned hunters that she would continue to help them hunt and collect supplies. But right now it meant she could finally engage in more of her other favorite ETO activity -- exploration.

"Hard to imagine that it took this long to make the location reasonably transversable again," she muses. Water and ice in caves don't really agree with birds, so instead she has her bun-bun with as an animal companion, Yojimbo sitting on her shoulder. "I wonder what other secrets we might be able to uncover...."

Dosbox is sitting on the beach, on a beach towel, waiting for Uta to be finished swimming. He isn't really dressed in his swim trunks. Instead, he is garbed in his shiny, new duds crafted for him by Gwen. While the clothing is, indeed, waterproof, it isn't designed for playing in the water. Thinking on the article of clothing that Gwen HAD given him to play in the water... the SPEEDO... did not give him good memories... The horror... THE HORROR...

Dossy fiercely shakes his head to rid himself of the image, choosing instead to pay attention to Uta. The pale face of horror shifts to one of red blushing, "Ah, I don't think you look scary like a shark. But it is white, and you are pretty great, Uta."

Goldenblade has travelled to this odd island, and has joined some other adventurers to explore the island. It's definitely ripe for commercial exploitation, and a nice hotel would do very well here, she imagines, and maybe a golf course, that always attracts the big spenders. What sort of things to rich Landers do here? She never golfed in RL, that was always the bigwigs and VPs and such, but she's built a few. Well, she built the clubhouses and pro shops that go with the golf courses. But she could probably figure out the rest, it's just lawn care and 18 flags stuck in a rabbit hole.

When Uta comes out of the water, Goldenblade is indeed put in the mind of Ursula Andress, which was an iconic image back in the day despite being fairly tame by modern standards. She will keep quiet, per Uta's instructions, but she is here and waiting to see what the plan is. She stands ready in glimmering mail and swords on each hip, and a heavy cloak over her shoulders.

Gewen somehow is here, likely someone gave her the idea of field testing her latest round of the creations. The good new she's here and she's handed out body suits to everyone even with the parper markings for those who are with the red chains or other groups. She will just turn on the sad puppy face trying to get people to wear them, the good new is she seems really earnest. Uta, Shiruba, Haru, Goldenblade, and Dosbox all have been vicen body suits. Gwen is also clad in a black one with the marking of Crescent Burger on iut of all things. Now she won't use force to get anyone to wear the outfits but she will look pretty sad and hurt depending on the nature of the rejection!

Even more shocking the suits have really good stats and armor ratings too...

Steel drums playing? Check. Beach chair? Check. Sunglasses? Half check. Haru is on the beach side of things in long linen pants, sandal, and a whole lotta body paint on the arms. It is as far as he is going to go with fashion(tm) while testing his own recent advancements in Enchanting. "Well played," claps the Artificer from his chair to the Jaws arrival of Uta. Gawr Gura would be proud. To go along with the Bond-not-Bond theme, he raises his glass of iced refreshment to the rest. This is an exploration, isnt it? Vacation for Haru.

"Everyone has been busy," Uta comments to Shiruba, "and work to be done, somehow, is the prefect ninja. A champion of misdirection, leading even the most fearsome adversaries to underestimate it. I should learn how it does that."

"I am pretty great?", Uta wonders, scratching her head. "No, no, I am supposed to get people to -under-estimate my fighting progress, not -over-estimate it!" Because, obviously, Borywick was speaking of fighting prowess. And then! A wild Gwen appears! As it is probably obvious, Uta had already been Enfashioned by the Tailor Sylph. And now it's YOUR TURN.

"Well played... what? It wasn't me that played the music. It was -him-", she gestures towards the Lander Kid; kid who has started a gain, some jellyfish has broken the surface of the water. Theme time.

After following the map the party reaches the entrance to the dungeon, and the first challenge they have to overcome. The entryway to this dungeon is a giant doorway made of metal that has been polished to a mirror shine. It becomes difficult to look at due to its positioning, reflecting light from a magical source above directly out, so darkness may help to allow one to view their surroundings more. It might be possible to simply brute force the door open, though there are also notes of shimmering words that might be seen if someone can read it through the bright light of the mirrored doorway and speak a secret passage to open the door.

Goldenblade is handed a bodysuit and shrugs, putting it on through the menu system when Gwen gives her that look. "Fine, fine," she says, and menu-dons it. Ironically, it equips to some sort of undergarment slot for her, so it replaces the normal leather and cloth padding worn under chain mail armor. But it's not -bad- in that role, really, and she observes, "That's not too bad." Alas, it can't be seen apart from where the collar comes up from the neck opening in her chainmail shirt. But a self-inspect shows it's got appropriate characteristics. It would probably have entirely different characteristics as a top layer, which is -why- she's not wearing it as a top layer.

She will follow the party to the dungeon entrance and inspect the door, looking it over critically. After a considered inspection, she decides the door is best accessed using Brute Force. She seems to have found the way of things.

A sigh escapes Shiruba, ears slacking a bit when she hears the familiar voice of Gwen still in the throes of her own obsessive mindset. But before she can say or do anything to object Gwen has struck... though thankfully it's not the super revealing sort of attire she was worried about. "I.. huh.." She turns a bit to look down her side. "This is... actually pretty good. Much more suitable for a delving adventure." She gives the material a light tug, mostly to get it to settle a little more comfortable around her chest. Don't need it pulling too tight if she needs to draw her bowstring. "There we go. Thank you, Gwen."

Then her attention quickly shifts to the actual matter at hand, walking up to the polished doorway. Ears erect in attention, tail swishing slowly back and forth as she ponders. Squints her eyes a little. "There's something scribed into the doorway but the lighting makes it difficult to fully translate."

Against his best judgement, DosBox agrees to don the bodysuit, finding a place to 'make the change'. The suit SOMEHOW manages to be a LITTLE flattering, despite the less than modest gut the rock gnome sports; no doubt Gwen's superior powers of fashion are far greater than DosBox's powers of homeliness. He is probably going to spend this whole mission blushing...

He follows everyone from the back to keep as many eyes off him as possible; he is very self-conscious about his body, and those who he had hung out with until just this year had done nothing to promote his self-esteem. Further, with the presence of many people who look REALLY good in the bodysuits, DosBox doesn't want to make it seem obvious that he is looking anywhere BUT his partymates.

One of those places he is looking instead of at his companions is those shimmering words which, with the proper application of magically summoned sunglasses, he is able to read aloud, "I can read it if you can translate it, Shiruba?"

Gwen is seemingly overall happy, Gwen's at least wearing the same sort of thing she's putting eveyrone else in right? She just wants everyone to look awesome and get away with things they could not on Earth. Haru gets her attention with a grin.

"I see you have been hard at work with your own project!" She's bubbly and a bit more lucid she could be near the end of her mood. She's joyful at Goldnenblade's reaction.

"See Shiruba I told you! You look awesome!"

she also gives Dosbox a nod. She however walks up to the door and is going to brute force it open. Geeze Gwen's got stronger lately too...

Haru gives Uta the head shake of 'good grief' and 'what am I going to do with you' with a smile that sibling tend to do when they really aren't bothered at all. He simply always looks dour or bothered by something so this is the lighter version of it. The Artificer hands his drink to the steel drum musician and pays him for his services before rolling off in Gwen tailored super pants (tm) and replacing the sandals with beach shoes.

"The pants fit well, Gwen, thank you," he says as he looks at the mirror. Slightly vain. For as noodly as Haru he, the young man /has/ muscles. Not that they do anything. "Let me know if you'd like to try out the body paints," he says as he touches one of the many lines on his arms and chest. They light up in a dull amber color that ripple like a setting sun across his body. For a moment he considers, attempting to open the door with his muscle arms to confirm what they are: Noodle Arms. Vanity muscles. Alas, his Phys score hasn't changed.

"Making a note here," Haru says as he takes out a small pocket book from his pants and starts jotting down research notes on the results of this effect. How about now? He tries again after a set of static electricity goes through the air. Those that know the Law of Alba will realize that something has 'changed'. But the noodle arms part, it has not. "Relax a little, Shiba," he says as he writes a note, noticing that sigh from earlier, "Its a good look. Gwen is master level as always and with Uta here on medical, we can afford to reduce the stress, no?" Menu summon a martini. Sip. Martinis not yet invented, this is just juice.

"It does give good stats, and it does feel comfortable," Uta admits as a follow up to Shiruba's comments. "Speaking of which, Gwen, uh...", Uta scratches her head. Yes, she kind of shares Dosbox's embarrassment, except that in her case it's probably more about getting looked at than looking at others; "You are out of your Strange Mood now, right Gwen? In that case... how about I show up at your place and you give me back the old clothes I gave you to mend? You know, the ones that are not wetsuits. Or bodysuits. Or bikinis. Or bodysuit bikinis. Or... you know, rather revealing affairs?" Uta's volume gets lowrer, and her mumbling more intense, at every item in that list. She even hunches over slightly and fiddles with her fingers at the end, looking away in the process.

As the party gets down to business, she does her part by holding her staff in place, intoning an ominous chant; dark splotches of raw magical energy form and bubble around the staff, like globs in a lava lamp; they then swirl and disappear into the focus gem, in the shape of an anatomically correct heart; a progressively darkening heart. As the spell reaches its steady state, the heart functions as a drain of sort, vacuuming away light, and reducing the glare so people can see beter.

Shiruba can now read, Dosbox can translate. Haru can show off his vanity muscles, as if they were a vanity license plate that says MUSCLES. They're also as effective. But just wait until the time comes to advertise a car lot! Then those MUSCLES are going to shine.

Or perhaps... perhaps they were a distraction all along! Let's face it, if there is one thing noodly arms are good at, is grabbing attention.

After the door is slammed, and she can finally resolve her ominous chant into a proper ending, she exhales. "I have enough stress balls for everyone," Uta confirms to Haru's urging, "and then some." She frowns for a moment, then continues, "Oh, hey, that was neat. How'd you did that?" Unclear which 'that' she refers to, among the couple of Haru's experiments. And maybe it's even one she's seen before, she's known to forget things. Given Haru's strange mood... she might even have been a test subject for something similar.

Getting through the door leads into a giant ice-encrusted room that reflects any lights in a rainbow of color. In the center of the room is a giant, decrepit harp. Its magical energy is spent and many of its strings broken. There is seemingly no way forward, but perhaps repairing this harp through magic or knowledge of delicate instruments could assist in figuring out the way forward? Or one could use one of their own instruments to attempt to play several notes that are crudely inscribed into the side of the harp. Upon either playing the notes on the harp or the notes on a personal instrument, several blocks of ice pull out to the side, revealing a damaged stairway leading down. It's a relatively safe, if slightly treacherous way down.

Shiruba doesn't have a lot she can do with the harp. Music is not a skill she posesses, outside of badly howling. Because wolf. The best she can really do is conjure some water and use it to help clean off the instrument in hopes others will be able to decipher more useful information from it.

Gwen says "Wonderful Haru, and I would love to try those out once I have perfected what I'm doing with these!" She gestures. "I'm almost there too."

With one of the best healers and tanks along? Haru's right the party is in a very good spot today. The party's effort gets them past the door and now into a different room which has Gwen pause for a moment and she'll take a look at the problem the harp she's inspecting it, she has skill in this thanks to haru and will assist anyone else on the attempt to fix the harp.

Dosbox is hanging out in the back, trying very hard not to think of Uta IN wetsuits. Or bodysuits. Or bikinis. Or bodysuit bikinis. Or... you know, rather revealing affairs. He is failing hard at that. Especially because Uta is IN one of those at the moment. His cheeks are now as red as his hair as he finds a random wall and starts to draw a square on it with a chiselling tool for absolutely no reason other than to distract himself.

With the ice and slick puddles of water, traversing the entryway is very hazardous. With an eye to making it less hazardous, Goldenblade with hammer out severeral sections of raw stone, and let the pebbles contribute to better footing. More likely that the rough ground will simply rise above the thin layer of water, but that's fine, too. She's been productive, while the magical folks and musical folks make important things happen.

Shiruba steps back after she's done her bit to help. "It's fine, Haru. This.. is actually a very effective outfit." She lowers her voice a bit. "Unlike some of the other ones she's made recently..."

Revealing outfits? An eyebrow raises to Uta. Then he looks to Gwen and the eyebrow lowers. Right. It would be more unusual if the clothing was something like a 13 layer petticoat. Distraction Haru strikes a thoughtful pose. Its the monocle. And the lack of an authentic smile. Obviously thinking about something. Sip. "I'll take one," Haru offers in leading-from-in-front style. The stress ball becomes a fifth member in his 'floating orbs' party of the ioun stone around him. Also a sweet workout for those small muscle groups. Noodle muscle groups. As he squish squishes on one, he explains to Uta, "I have completed my experiments on utilizing liquid as a medium in enchanting. Liquid itself is a broad topic, such as lakes and even rain, so I have localized it to skin contact as a means of establishing catalyst and mana feed to an enchantment." He lights up one of the ribbons of ink in a singular yellow glow. "Magic Tattoos, War Paint, and Body Paint more or less. Although it is cold in here, the enchantment keeps me as warm as if I was basking in the summer sun." He looks to Gwen, "I figured you may be interested in that. And I made the paints fur safe for our Were and Cait friends. Just no full body paint suits, ok? This isnt Kallamore." To Shiruba, Haru offers a grin and a laugh, "Sometimes I think Gwen is doing the Goddess' work. Something about 'less armor' is 'more armor' in some of these designs. Maybe ultimate armor is minimalistic in nature."

The work itself is rather easy for a Moonlight Goldsmith. Haru takes to the harp and spends his time working with Gwen to instruct and work through the nuanced precision work without micro managing. When the work is too delicate, he takes those parts, though when he looks to Dos to see if he wants to help he... well he slowly turns his head back to the work here at hand. "Bory, when you are done with that, come check out the work here with me and Gwen. Another set of accessory eyes is helpful. Or pair and a half?" Monocle joke.

Dosbox nervously scurries over to where he was summoned by Dreadlord Nox, Harbinger of Crafting, may his name echo in the vestiges of a heat-dead universe as a testiment to his glory, "Ah... I... I think it looks great! Yeah! I mean, what could go wrong with you overseeing a project, right?" Anime sweatdrops shower forth from his potato noggin like a raging river over a cliff.

Gwen is glad to have more skilled people than her in on this it should have things go far better for the party and hopefully get them deeper. She's at least an able aid to the repair and while she's working she's talking.

"Magic tattoos and body pains have my attention. I ahve some ideas it hink we we can talk about those later when I'm done with my own work. So indeed you thought right!"

Haru starts listing the things that could go wrong to Dosbox, "Misused notes leading to improper sequencing that affects the targeting so that we get enthralled instead of the intended targed." A finger rolls down. "People getting distracted or prefering chaos over results that turns it into a different instrument altogether." Another finger rolls down. "Another virus release that kills or maims millions." A third finger rolls down. A closed fist. "So don't over rely on my keen skillets. If Im asking you to look and think for yourself its because I value your perspective and capacity for it. Not that I want my ass kissed for being good at it myself." His monocle glints as he looks over to Gwen. "For Fashion." Fashioncraft, the real endgame.

"That sounds extremely useful," Uta comments, after some reflection on Haru's words. "But... I don't know. Permanent markings on one's skin? I'm... kind of..." She gestures a bit. "reluctant." Perhaps it's an esthetic reason, or perhaps, it's the general cultural diffidence of the Japanese towards tattoos.

The stress balls Uta hands out to those who would like one (Haru included) happen to be made of sewn leather -- very different from the red, squishy one the Nurse herself is usually seen operating. People might get the idea she must use a professional medical-grade stress ball or something.

The Harp is cleaned by Shiruba, fixed by Gwen and Haru (but... not really by Dosbox); Uta sits down, ready to play the instrument, but the inscribed notes are still hard to read. "Improvisation is in order," Uta declares, as she engages in the two-pronged attack of plucking the strings and intoning a melody. Enthralling, enticing, the kind that lures sailors to their death.

Those who have had the misfortune of meeting a certain kind of monster, will instantly recognize the style, timbre, structure: Sirens!

The (anatomically correct) heart-shaped gem at the center of the staff seems to resonate even stronger this time, and--

Ice rumbles, making way for a passage.

Whatever happened in this dungeon before caused the icy foyer to become a shattered mess of ice and slick puddles of water. Traversing this entryway is extremely treacherous and requires careful balance and finesse. Even with that, the only way forward is to slide downwards on a makeshift icy slide. Of course, this isn't a smooth or safe ride, with jagged ice crystals. One needs to either be nimble to avoid getting speared or durable enough to tank their way through the worst of the damage. Perhaps fire could be used to blunt the incoming spears to reduce damage as well. Either way, the party will make it to the bottom...

Haru explains to Uta about the tattoos, "They come in permanent, semi, and wash off mediums. It is more about the liquid staying in contact with the body than it is 'always' only the body. I can get you a jar of the oil-paint style ones to play around with. For example a Dark imbue could turn you into a shadow-form, useful for stealth. Think of that no more than camo paint that we use today, with an enchantment on it." He listens to the melody as he talks, giving a mm. Good memories of Maidensong. The number of times he nearly jumped into the water to go see the Sirens. "Music and Enchanting. So interlinked." Song, rather.

"Ah. I love these," Haru says. Though the idea of someone like Haru, who is like an angsty teen that became a Professor of the Dark Arts, loving anything is an odd sentiment. Like he loves coffea. Nope. Still sounds weird. Yet down he goes, in all his Darklord Nox glory, down the icy slide. One would /think/ raw skin against ice would be a horrible experience but those tattoos speak true, going as far as steaming and sizzling the ice he slides on so much that he is 'gliding' down with great maneuverability around the crash-points along the way. "All that time in the Rat Maze paid off," he howls down the slide, remembering how similar the water slide is.

Ah, the ice passage. Shiruba seems to remember this. "I hope your work is puncture proof Gwen!" Not that she intends on getting stabbed through with anything any time soon, but saying so fit the moment. "Hold on, Yojimbo, this is going to be slick." And with that she takes to the cold surfaces, bun-bun huddling against her shoulder. Feeling emboldened by recent adventures instead of the cautious pace she used in the original explorations she opts for actually slipping and sliding along the ice. But that doesn't mean she's being careless. Quite the opposite. Though while even she would have difficulty with a bow and arrow while skating along Shiruba instead takes her trusty throwing glaive and uses it to knock several icy spikes out of her way, it's arcing boomerang-like flight more effective for the sleek skating maneuvers.

Dosbox plays with his stressball as he torpedoes down the slide with a concerned look on his face. He is completely and totally unaffected by the fact that he is hurdling down the slide of ice at breakneck speed, and any slight incorrect movement could be his last. No, what is dominating his mind right now is his complete and total lack of ability to ever, in his pessimistic potato mind, have a positive encounter with Haru.

These, of course, have happened often; Haru and DosBox get along fine; however, at this moment, such events do not seem to be coming to his mind, and in his current state of mind, such events might as well have never happened. He squeezes the stress ball harder and quicker as he speeds down the ramp.

Luckily, the stressball seems to have helped; before the slide's end, he manages to get himself out of the negative headspace, recall he has had several positive encounters with Haru before, and that he really needs to stop being such a Negative Ned all the time. With his successful evasion of a depressive spiral, Dossy sticks the landing effortlessly. Nice.

Gwen says "It's magic i'm sure we can find a way to hide them or maybe even ... alter how they look at a whim!" Oh dear she must be into this idea, if she can get this into it, while in a strange mood. Heaven only knows how into this she's going to get and lets be honest. Morri will be fast to get in on it too. Goddess help you all.

Gwen smirks.

"Nothing is perfect but it is very resitant I had Uther try to break some of the others in this batch."

She beams at this then seems to be readying a spell, to deal with the incomming speaks.

"LIGHTING BLAST! After we should talk shop on these inks of your Haru! I have ... more ideas...." Yeah she's near the end of her mood...

Haru may not have a way with arms, does have a way with words. He certainly can work the MUSCLES in his tongue. It's not about strength. It's about precision, control, an eye for detail, and most importantly, a solid concept. Enchanter life.

Uta needs no word to reply to Haru's explanation: the increasingly intrigued and interested expression and posture are more than enough to convey her change of attitude towards the Enchanter's work. The mention of the interlinking with Song is the icing on the cake.

"Shadow-form...", she mutters, absently. Look, we said she -needs- no words. She may have been a little wasteful there.

Haru goes down the slide, Shiruba does likewise. Down goes Borywick and somehow... he doesn't die! Uta was right, stress balls are the true panacea. And work for prevention too! Next Pharma strange mood about Medical Stress Balls, here comes Uta!

"Are you giving Gwen ideas?!", Uta asks Haru, as she, herself, slides down the slide. "Do not give Gwen ideas! She might get ideas!" She does her best to re-focus on the slippery path she's zooming down.

After their descent, the party finds themselves in a beautiful ruin that looks to once have been home to a large tribe of monsters that lived rather comfortably. The walls are lined with intricate golden designs, and the room has several seats and places where the former sirens that lived in this cave could relax and spend their days eating or socializing. Several of the golden designs on the wall have a story that is shown in different parts of a beautiful maiden that was cursed by the gods to become a siren. She is shown crying or sobbing after her curse, and those tears become sirens themselves.

In the center of the room is a giant, shattered mirror. There are several large cracks in it that spiderweb out from points of impact.

If anyone should gaze into this mirror for more than a second or two, they will find themselves mesmerized, lost in a state of longing for what once was or might have been. The visions can include forgotten dreams, lost loves, and other desires.

The party will have to search for clues on how to continue, requiring the use of the light artes to temporarily counteract the mirror's illusions, enabling them to plunge into the mirror itself to continue deeper into the ruin.

Shiruba sighs softly. Seeing places like this in ruin makes her heart ache a little. So much of a past lost to time and decay... Oh, right, they need to avoid looking directly at the mirror.

Shiruba has a means of dealing with this, and even as she turns her head to look away from the mirror she raises one arm to direct the Relic strapped to it in the cursed object's direction instead. A soft red light emits from Golau Chwilio, playing across the mirror, gleaming more darkly upon the cracks marring its surface. But it stays red. So something about the mirror in itself is their clue onward...

Dosbox looks at himself in the mirror. "Gwen, are you sure I shouldn't change? I am not sure if this... Suits me?" Dossy waggles his eyebrows. It's a pun. Because he is wearing a body suit. It's funny. Is he helping with the challenge? No. One might even say that he is hindering, as he's standing in front of the mirror.

Haru gives Gwen /ideas/ and to thta he lets Uta know, "Gwen is an intelligent, reliable woman who is going to get ideas with or without me helping her." He nods, sagely, his method of a compliment. Also he is shirtless. So his commentary may not be as eruditic as he intended. Weird flex, brah. Noodle flex. Suplex? "We will need Honami or Kita to help with design," he informs Gwen as they finish the ice slide, "an artist I am not." Yet!

Everyone got a version of Haru that was once in a full moon. One that isn't dripping with lament and brooding. Why can't we have that version of Haru more often? This is why. Mirrors of sadness and regret. The Artificer doesn't look away from it and he appears transfixed there for a time being. The subtle motions of his visible blue eye shifting its focus along the reflective lens. Thats when the feels get ya, when you let your guard down.

The amethyst lens on his right eye begins to dim to a darker, richer purple. The silver metal writhes in a damascus design. Soon he lens fades to an inky black. A red light behind it flashes for but a moment before Haru puts a hand over it in pain. As if grasping onto raw mana itself, he clenches his other fist, releasing it as a series of glacial pillars appear, steaming off in alchemical fumes to dull the enchantment in the area by spreading out the lament in a broader area, diffusion into a tolerable 'mood' instead of such a targetted assault on the personages. Slowly he lowers his hand from his monocle. A gesture to his menu to equip his normal white cloak over his body and the tattoos. "The enchantment is distributed over the frostburn pillars. This will allow us to work with less distraction."

Gwen is seeming doing quite good here as they get past theice, she has to wodner for a moment for a moment. She will pause at the tale of the goddess punnshing someone so. she frowns and looks aroun at this place. She would pause for a moment at the mirror and she is lost in a dream of something else? Who knows what it is she does however snap out and will not be telling others about what she saw. The pun Dosbox did was very well time to get Shiruba ouyt of it and she'll pause using some of her own illusion magic against the mirror.

"Time to make it over...."

She just gets more idea and she's beaming a bit at Haru's praise too. Hopefully her own illusions will muddle the mirror's own while the others handle it. Wait was that move called hostile makeover?! Oh dear...

Gwen also pauses for a moment at Haru.

"The more the merrier on a project I say! I can work with either or both of them!"

"That story is not quite right," Uta mentions, gesturing vaguely at the pictures. "Just a legend. It distorted reality." She says, then sinks into thought. "But I wonder.." She sinks even deeper into thought. And shakes her head. "That's for another time."

And that's when the mirror gets you.

Uta's reaction begins as subtle as the others. Clenching of fists. Biting of her lower lip, trembling. Just like the fists. And thankfully, Haru and Gwen's interfere with the mirror before it can do anything worse. She clasps her staff, intones a hymn, and the gem flashes a blinding blast; the glare, for once, is a useful distraction from the main item. "Quick, time to move! Let us not linger further!"

"I get it, Gwen is a strong independent Sylph who needs nobody else to feel validated!"

The way forward, as Shiruba points out, is into the mirror; and if anyone lingers behind, at this point, they will likely be rammed into by Uta, and shoved into the magical item. On purpose. Can't linger for too long.

After entering the mirror, the party finds themselves in a room that emits dark energy. There is a massive, damaged magical seal in front of them. Whatever the seal had been holding back has long since been freed, though there is no sign of it beyond the dark energy permeating the room. A wall of water blocks off the other half of the room and a stairway that goes down below. Inside of the wall of water there seems to be several phantasmal shadows of adventurers that failed to adequately protect themselves from the bitter cold of the icy ruin and dove into the water unprepared. Party members with a particular knack for survival could figure out the exact buffs orpotions they might need for the situation, or the party could simply attempt to brute force or try to use fire to keep themselves warm while pushing through the frigid waters.

The gloves are off. Not literally, as Haru needs those gloves. Haru's hands extend outward in a villanious way that befits a good bout of piano music or harpsicord. All four of his ioun stones, plus one stress ball, float around him as he starts into a deep chant that combines Latin, Hymmnos, and Japanese together. It is enough to cause the translator to flip out in sparks and the Wave Arte circles around him to spin at variable speeds. At the end of this, the rings expand out across the groun in a matrix of raw fire that converts the room from a frosty seal of bitter cold to one of infernal decree. Hot and Cold combat each other which causes strong gusts of wind pressure all around. The frozen adventurers, possibly Landers trying their hand at an exploration, shall not be this group today. He straightens his jacket out before pressing on. "Lets go," without further adding on to Uta and Gwen's more lighthearted dialog. Chhhuuuuuuuni.

Shiruba reflexively curls her tail partially around herself in the next room. "It's cold in here, even with the bodysuits." Yojimbo chrrs in agreement, huddling against her shoulder and neck fluff. Unfortunately Fire isn't one of her stronger elemental affinities. Instead she pulls out one of her fire arrows and ignites it to generate some worth. But the unnatural cold of the water chamber quickly extinguishes it. "Mmmff." She tried, but this time it wasn't quite enough. "Best we just push ahead, before we freeze."

Dosbox was looking at himself in the mirror, and as such, he catches Uta's reaction to the mirror. He is worried. What was that about? Is he okay? Was she... Trembling? DosBox absentmindedly follows everyone as they move on to the next room, spending a good bit of time looking after Uta. He isn't showing any of the blushing anymore; he looks very concerned...

When it suddenly gets supercold, he barely notices. His hair tips freeze. He mutters something about a greek god, and he bursts into flames. He completely forgot about the potions he had packed to hand out in case it gets cold. It seems Dossy's worst enemy is not the monsters but his tendancy to get distracted by the smallest things...

Gwen pauses to Uta and nods. "You ahve a point I wonder what actually happnend with ..."

She pauses at the exchange with Haru and Uta. Then there is a laugha sn they carry on. Once they get though the miarro she will pause t the room and stare at it. Yeah she knos what she has to do, she's going to just push through with raw power. She can be very much a brute sometimes.

"Just think how bad it would be without my creations and you all look wonderful!" She beams.

Gwen would probably disapprove of glove removal. But it works well. Mix languages. Mix orb composition. Mix elements. Mix metaphors. Become the ingovernable you want to see in the world.

Also Chuuni.

"I-I-I-dd-d-on't h-h-have any F-F-fire in m-me!", Uta manages to stutter through chattering teeth. Yes, she's hugging herself as she advances. It's freezing. "I-I t-t-think I'll exercise t-to warm up a b-bit!", she declares, and dives into the freezing waters, attempting to swim as quickly as possible.

Reluctantly, Uta has to admit that Gwen's suit help a lot.

Push ahead. Push ahead. Shiruba's words eacho in her mind, and she can almost... feel them. Feel them within her soul. Warming her up. Can... can mere words do that?

Wait, no, it's just Borywick on fire, right next to her. Phew. Situation norm- wait, why is Borywick on fire?! Uta's eyes pop open, and even if words cannot be uttered underwater, the way her eyes pop and she releases bubbles in a gasp of surprise tell a whole story.

Swimming down deeper into the dungeon results in a slightly desperate situation where buffs and oxygen meters start to wear off as mana ticks down, but just before things get truly desperate, almost abruptly the party finds themselves 'falling' out of the water into a massive room.

What were once chambers befitting a queen or king is now reduced to rubble. Sitting on the remnants of a throne in its center is a beautiful young woman whose legs are crossed daintily. She waves towards the adventurers, before pointing towards several chests in the room with a smile. In spite of the fact the young woman says nothing, an eerie music permeates the room, and initially the coast seems clear. That is, until the party approaches either that woman or the chests, at which point the rubble, maiden, and throne all move revealing a twisted anglerfish-based siren that immediately attempts to grab and devour the party -- forcing them to attempt to free their party members from the devouring attacks through several difficult mechanics, along with countering the false maiden's icy breath attacks.

The extremely cold trek is promptly forgotten as the party makes their way into the chamber past the haunted mirror waters. Shiruba's eyes widen in archeological appreciation despite the ruined state of affairs. "A throne room... and someone is here?" Despite the chest's nearby her attention focuses on the woman on the remains of the throne. The wolfgirl takes a few steps forward, holding up a hand as if to get close and examine the setting....

And then stops dead in her tracks. The analytical ability of her Loremaster system arte resonates with the woman occupying the throne in a very sharp manner, revealing that things are not as they seem and definitely not the historical content she was hoping for.

"SHIT!" Shiruba curses as she jerks back, drawing her weapon in a flash. "THAT'S A MONSTER IN DISGUISE!" she shouts to get her friends' attention, even as the woman changes into her true horrific siren form. At the same time Shiruba is already manifesting arrows of lightning in Thundersnow Howl and opening fire!

With all of that fire that Haru is putting on display, it is a stark contrast when the party approaches and is engaged with an enemy to which he switches to Darkness. Darkness of a level of Honami, Uta, and Kau can appreciate. His footsteps start to become muted and distant as the ground he walks on becomes as velvet carpet as dark as a coal. Soon the darkness spreads to every corner of the room. The walls lose their color. The ceiling. Even the air itself seems still. It becomes a fitting arena to fight an anglerfish in, only in this environment it is the fish that is blinded, not the party. They had sought to have an upper hand in the environment, but the world's greatest Enchanter in Yamato has turned that overconfidence of theirs into an exploitable weakness. Muah hah hah.

Dosbox seems to be perfectly fine with being on fire, as if he does this all the time. Instead, he seems to still be quite concerned with what happened with Uta in the mirror room. "Hey, Uta are you alri---MONSTER?!? WHERE!!!!" He shoots off a Lord of Vermillion in a random direction, filling the siren's body with jigga-wahts of electricity, without even saying his typical copyright-infringing quote from Star Wars when he does it.

Gwen is cautious as she approaching the woman before then. There's calirty in her eyes that has not been there since her mood started. something is not right and she's correct in short order she'll get out infront and start letting lose with magic upon the the false maiden.

"Oh hell no."

Not something you want to hear from a lady who is texan, no you do not.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!", Uta declares, as, while the lights dim, she-

Oh, snap! It's an Anglerfish Siren! Uta's expression turns to panic. "This is uncharted territory!" She looks around, frantic, for inspiration on how to deal with this menace, when-

It's like a flash of enlightenment. A gasp, of surprise, then her expression softens in a closed-eyed smile.

"Thank you," she mouths. And leaps backwards.

No matter what attacks might be thrown her way in Darkness, she is simply not there. Constant zigzaging motion at breakneck speeds, in different directions, all across the room, creates a Doppler effect; the same effect that changes the frequency of the blaring of an ambulance depending on whether it's approaching or leaving. The perfect way to disrupt a siren's sound.

Uta's smile persists. "Thank you. Thank you for the inspiration, Sir Crabbington."

Her memory drifts back, bittersweet, to Sir King Crabbington Gibraider's finest hour: NOPE'ing out of the last room, before she moves in for the occasional punch.

Blow after blow after blow, the party succeeds. The False Maiden is shattered, bursting into pixels and dispersing its illusionary magics to reveal, once the darkness vanishes, the true room they were standing in, which is a relatively plain room. On the far side of the room areintertwined statues: a young hero and a beautiful siren intertwined in an eternally frozen moment. Both of the siren's eyes are missing, and the statues are starting to crack in places.

Uta stands there panting, smiling. "Good job, team! Now... I think it's time to perform some research on those ancient stories," she says, as she approaches the statues...

After a trying fight the angler siren is defeated. Alas with her death the throne room also disappears, revealing just how much of a trap it was. However Shiruba's archeological sharpness narrows in on what does stand in the true state of the room, walking over to the statues. "Please be careful, they're in rough shape." Her gaze follows down the damaged statues, then notes the glittering jewels in tear shapes around the feet of the sculpture. "What's this.." She stops down to pick one up, having to pause a moment as the gem's effect plays through her mind. ".. This might make an interesting addition to the museum."

When everything comes to an end and the story leaves her looking sad.

"Yesm I think we need to look into things her and I think it would Shiruba! I'd be happy to help when I'm done..." Fashion first, oh lord Fashion first...

Sir Crabbington, the hero we needed in our darkest hour. Haru will not forget that valiant effort. The tactical 'Nope'. It fuels his Chuuni magic. This one is for you, Crabbington!

When the dust and the darkness settles, Haru looks to the room and deep lore within it. "I am going to look around at the enchantments on this place. There was high levels of illusion, of the visual and emotional nature. For it to endure the way it is, there may be a source to speak of. Techniques to record." The eternally frozen tear being one such thing, like the Witherless enchantment put on plants.

Dosbox is familiar with the, 'I'm fine!' that Uta used. It's the same one that he uses all the time when something is wrong, but he doesn't want to talk about it. DosBox is somewhat torn. On the onehand, when Dossy says it, it usually means he doesn't want people to notice something is wrong. On the other hand, usually it's better for him if someone makes him talk about it. Of course, DosBox, with the social courage of a lemur, chooses to leave well enough alone. He doesn't want Uta mad at him. That would suck.