Duty Session 606: Clearing Dragon's Eye

    Does Asuna ever leave the area? Um. No. Not right now, anyway. It takes a week to get here, you know! And even if her dance instructor has the gate rocking and would probably be willing to help, there's that matter of limitations and provisos on using the gate that make it complicated. In short, she wants to get what she's after first. Then she will see about politely asking Haru to help her get home. She's not going to treat him like a taxi.

    "This is going to be the lucky one," she says, punching the air and, well, hoping for the best. But let's be honest. It's all luck. There's no destiny. It's just mindless repetition until she achieves her goal.

Haru is often leaving Dragon's Eye. Through the Chaos Gates. The clears to the center give him a day to do research that he needs to do on the gate itself before the nests become too 'active' and make leaving difficult. He is going over his notes from the last clears, "Three nests down. It appears there are a lot of Hydra in the area. Either that or by coincidence we ran across them a lot."

Uta had been in the Palace Lands as part of Team Dark. Back from Rosenheim's underwater mission, she fills in her friends about them having found a 'secret passage' in the system of caves Camp Black is hidden in, a path to the edge of the city that allows approaching while evading detection from surface patrols.

Once they arrive, the members of the party finds themselves in a cavern lined with geometric patterns on the walls and ceilings, all formed by several species of bioluminscent fungus. There is a slight musty smell all around them, and it is evident that this cave is commonly entirely under water, depending on the tide of the waters - meaning that they have limited time to stay here. The low tide washes allows slithering Centicobras (poisonous snakes with centipede legs) to congregate, gorging on trapped fish. These bar the way through the cavern. No matter what time of the day, there always seems to be few at the entrance waiting for the patrol party. The monsters bare their fangs and rush towards the Adventurers as the first in many battles to come.

"Water. Why does it always to be water. Why can't it be something else for a chang- oh, monsters. Hm." She tilts her head, and rubs her chin, with a frown. "In hindsight, I think I'll take the water."

Haru raises his hand up to create a pistoning effect of earth that juggles the critters into the air. It is like popping popcorn. "They really like fish," the Artificer observes, "but it would mean they live outside of the mountain wall and move in with the tide to scavenge. If we cleared the overland population, then getting in or out would be easier. Also reduce the food supply for the snake-hornets further in." Popcorn Cobra times continue as Haru pontificates.

    "So here we go, glowy fungus, creepy crawlies!"

    Asuna has dodging them down to a science now. It's almost as if she's been here three times already! "Getting here by ship wasn't bad, and camping in the desert waiting for people to show up is okay, but it's so awesome that you can actually make the gates work. Imagine how nice it'll be when we can travel everywhere using them!" She'd say 'remember when', but she started on that 'fateful day' when everything was broken.

    "I hope we either see something new, or better yet, meet the Mist Dragon. I've got my jar ready, just like Setsuna told me to. I am ready to give a capture a go here. Oh, you are talking a lot about clearing. Is that what Olympus has in mind for this place? Like a more modernized version of Shibuya or Tolbana?"

"Mist dragon?", Uta asks, puzzled. "And yes, travelling all over the place with Chaos Gates would be amazing. Once, of course, we ensure that it is safe and we do not get invaded by doing so."

Looking left and right, between Asuna and Haru, Uta wonders, "...Olympus has plans for the Dragon's Eye?"

The juggling bugs get their HP docked consistently at each impact with Earth. Slowly but surely, they eventually reach zero, and shatter.

Uta clasps her staff. She vocalizes a chant in an ancient language, the lyrics going something along the lines of "Ooohh oohh aaahhh aaaah uuuuuUUUUUUHHHHHH oooo OOOOOOOO AAAAA ooo AAAAH"

Hey, it's vocalizations, not proper words.

Tendrils of light and magic dance on her staff, as sheer Air magic shimmers and glistens around her like an ever-growing aura of spinning helical diaphanous threads of light. "Ooooh aaaahh ooooh aaaah... aaahhh... aaaah... aaaaah...."

"....CHOOOO!"

Whoops! On one hand, that botched the spell. On the other hand -- sudden explosive discharge of a chargeup of sheer air magic. The monsters in front of Uta are sent flying against the rocks, shattering.

And, of coure, none of them even touches Asuna!

The assigned patrol pattern has the party venture towards the western heart of Dragon's eye through the mountain barrier that seperates it from the rest of the land. So far the path is singular and uncomplicated. This simplicity proves to be its weakness as much as its strength as stepping outside serves to make the party a very clear target. A swarm of Kraithornets descend and attack. These unusual mixtures of snake and hornet are of the poisonous type. Generally they seek fish and other aquatic creatures that unwittingly exit the inland end of the cave instead of making their way back to the sea. Today the Kraithornets find no fish. Instead they find a new meal to dine on: all of you. The party will need to push past this choke point before they can hunt and clear the Dragon's Eye area within.

    No matter how many times she sees these kraithornets, they bother Asuna. Monster handler or not, she struggles with the way that a krait and hornet mix. It's... unsettling to her, to put it mildly. She tries to not make a big deal out of it, but those who have dealt with some of her insecurities before (like when she was learning to shuffle) might note that these bugs are bugging her.

    Trouble aside, there is a job to do. She wants to protect her friends here, and that means it's time to get into shield tank mode. She does her level best to intercept any creatures that appear a threat to the group, mixing in a bit of rarely-seen buckler use and the more common walls of air that flying things so easily smash into.

    That buckler action does not work as well as Asuna hopes, though. A bit of bad luck, a bit of bad footing, and a whole lot of bugs icking her out do the trick. Still, she'll keep conversation going, even if she's getting poisoned!

    "So yeah, I kinda figured.. you talk clearing, this place looks pretty amazing. I mean, I'd totally by a place here. You know, after these friggin' things are all dead!" OW! "I need Soujiro to help me train with this shield," she mutters at herself.

"Getting more Gates turned on will make this easier," Haru says, "but for now it is a boon that we have one working at all. Especially given the hornets nest we are kicking with Thor." Or kraikthornet? Whatever these things are. Kill it with fire, which is what Haru does. All the fire.

"Getting gates to work, first priority, indeed." Punch, kick, spin, kick, punch. "It might be nice to settle down here, but at the moment I'm too busy trying to murder these monster to appraise the real estat- ow. OW!" Uta tries to punch and kick her way through, but she gets bitten far too many times for her tastes. HP loss galore.

After pushing through the breach there is a moment for the party to gather their bearings and pursue a more open pathing. The ruins that scatters across the area are wide. Paths stretch like old broken roads alongside even more broken ruins. Scouting out ahead would be the best option now to determine where the monster nests are in the area and how to start clearing them out without getting overwhelmed. Time for some advanced recon.

On the topic of Dragon's Eye settling, Haru notes, "Everyone wants a part of the real estate, but its going to be Prometheus and Olympus that settles in the area. Much like Shibuya, it'll take in plenty of Adventurer interest, but I'll be putting a workshop near the gate." People are going to salivate over it, but few people have really approached him over the Chaos Gate discovery so he assumes they are just trying to replicate the method. The best enchanter in Yamato lays down a blanket of darkness over the area, making it easier for the party to see the density of enemies as they glow faintly like a blacklight. "A nest is over in that direction."

    So this is Asuna's funniest round. Cause she's so bad at it. Last time she wasn't bad, but that's because Soujiro's gift helped get her close. Sure, it's possible someone will help her again, but like as not she'll be useless this round.

    Despite her lack of hunting prowess, however, she manages to find something. And it's not even Curtana's feet! Though that would be both amazing and disturbing without him present. Best not dwell on it. But she actually does contribute. It definitely helps that everyone else in the group is bringing their best, too.

    "Maybe I should learn how to do this kinda thing for real," she murmurs. "Oh, and yeah, the gates will be awesome. I'm not good at much of these things, but let me know if you need my help. I can stab things, work with monsters, and cook." Plus she has a cute daughter. That's like all her good points in two sentences! "And yeah, I imagine that you have to give your own people first claim to anything. And... yeah, I'm in Scale." She sounds a bit less than excited about that. "Hopefully someone eventually makes a nice hotel around here." There, that sounded more cheery.

Uta just... wanders off in the direction Haru pointed to. She may be actively searching for something. She may be wandering off until she stumbles on something. But point is, she eventually does find the nest. Skill? Serendipity? In any case, the rest of the party is called over, and the nest is taken care of.

"I'm not sure how I feel about Olympus laying exclusive claims to this place," Uta mumbles as she walks on. "The whole point of the LOONS was working together and preventing power interests from getting in the way of research and sharing, or insinuating the fear that knowledge can be used against other people. Getting the Chaos Gates to work was our first stated goal. Which we achieved." Her voice still tinged by concern, she continues, "Now I'm worried that our claiming the Dragon's Eye just for Olympus might sound like we're abusing the LOONS' research and trust..."

The party finds a herd of Elkwolves walking through the overgrown 'streets' of Dragon's Eye. They may be the output of a nearby nest or simply a wandering feature of Dragon's Eye. Clearing these out and would go far in satisfying the requiresments of the job. These creatures are aggressive and blocking the way to stronger monsters in the area. Break time is over, time to get to work and clear out these monsters! With enough pressure the leader of this particular cell will need to show itself or face its domain being crippled through loss of monster-power.

One more wedge between Uta and Haru. Another meter away. Distant. It shows up in the sheer amount of -overkill- provided on the elkwolves. "Its not a LOONS project, Uta. And I got the Gates working. The only LOONS resources I used to do this was Song. Which if you want to stop singing I will find another." ZAP. "Your concerns are heard." And then a pack of five wolves are atomized. "We press on," he says, emotionlessly.

    "Why wouldn't Olympus claim it? No offense to anyone, but the only time our alliances have worked together much has been during the war, and even then it was pretty much a business deal. You realize how often we have to 'not tell other alliances' things, right?" Asuna is not big into it, but she can read the signs as well as anyone when they are /this/ obvious. "We aren't open. And hell, I have some weirdos from my alliance who were following me for a while. I don't know what it's about yet, but I have my suspicions."

    She is ready for elkwolves! Alliance frustrations have powered her up. Even if these are so much cuter than the rest of the things here, they will pay! She races at them, Tomoe style, and raises her arms up, as if threatening with a hug. And then she proceeds to just pummel the adorable, but not little mongrels senseless! There's some stabbing in there. It is Asuna and Lambent Light has to be used. There's a contract for that.

Uta does not provide an immediate reply at Haru's comments. A simple nod of understanding and acknowledgment. It's hard to read what her expression is, exactly, but it is clear what it is not: there is no trace of it being dour, or angry, or hostile in any way. "I am not indispensable, no." she then acknowledges. "All LOONS know how to sing the gates alive. By design. Everything one knows, all know. And by this time, everyone with Song who heard us in Carmina Gadelica."

Her expression may not betray much, but signals from personal space handling and distance have not changed from before: she is not distancing herself more, or avoiding Haru. As far as she is concerned, everything is continuing just like it was.

"Perhaps you are right, Asuna," she finally concedes with a sight. "I am not the political type. I'm more the 'why can't we all get along' hippy type. Which, I suppose, is the kind of person who is easily crushed in a Monster-Eat-Adventurer world."

It is perhaps equal parts haunting as it is beautiful as the thick mist in the area condenses into a creature of smoke and vapor. It is undoubtably considered a 'Mist Dragon' as the form the vapor takes (though it inspects as Mist Wyvern). The gaseous form makes it hard to strike in its 'thinned out', which happens in regular phases, and when it is solid again the damage is every bit as strong as any boss monster. The party will have to manage their timing and teamwork to get through this one, making use of attacks that launch them high in the air attack downward for maximum efficiency.

"We press on," Uta exclaims, with a frown, as she points her staff towards the 'Mist Dragon'

"All LOONS, huh," Haru says as he walks in with embers sparking off of his fingertips, "Then, I must not be a LOON, as I cannot use Song." As the dragon appears through the Mist, Haru's amethyst lens has already begun to darken. Darker. Black. "Yet only one person is able to /use/ the Gates. And I'll show you how I did it." A hand reaches out around his face, masking over the monocle. A red light shines through as he extends his other hand at the dragon. Rings of green-white 1s and 0s appear around the noodly arm. "Asuna, if I recall you wish dominion over this one." A hand closes into a fist and in a crash of System Arte-ness, the mist itself disappears like an environmental overlay was removed from the region. "Your enemy's shield is broken." A bit of blood running from his nose, which he wipes away. "Let them figure out how to do that," he says stoically.

"My words may be considered imprecise," Uta concedes. "I more generically meant that the knowledge and procedure is available. You might be able to get a music sheet with phonetic transcription of the Alv words to give to your singer of choice," she explains, getting technical and possibly carried away as she is wont to when promoting the LOONS rather than being sarcastic.

The point about Haru's unique positioning in this matter is driven home twice. Shown, -and- told. Just to cover all the bases. Base 2 definitely, given the one and zeroes.

As the mist is removed, Uta snaps out from the deep pondering she had sunk into, and sprints for the monster. When a window open, you don't wast it. "I'll tire it!", Uta yells at Asuna, as she spins at dizzying speeds into repeated Flying Roundhouse Kicks, each impact docking HP from the boss.

    "We don't have to like the world we face. We just have to do our best and accept it. But, you know, you are in Olympus. I've met a lot of your people. They seem pretty damn nice. Have some faith in your people to do good things with this," suggests Asuna.

    "I mean, at least you won't just turn it into a weapon factory to push tower levels out faster and faster." She sighs. "Just so we can 'all' get out. Supposedly." But there is no 'everyone' gets out unless her daughter comes with her. And honestly, is that even healthy for Yui? To give her the kind of childhood and life that Asuna went through? To have this perfect, lovely child meet her mother?

    It's enough to light her fire again. She's on point.

    "Well, well, well... my misty friend. You have no loot for me, so I'll just bottle you up, instead!"

    She moves forward on a blast of sword-arte wielded power. She has to navigate carefully, being with two very heavy hitters. Tight melee range is a dangerous spot to be. But she's going to have to get a whole lot closer to make this work.

    "Thank you, Haru! I'm going to attempt a capture here at the very last second!" she calls out. Seeing Haru bleeding, she is concerned. "You okay?!"

    It's still a battle, though, and so she makes her move once Uta's made her move. Asuna's using a mix of a blast of air and a clay jar, fortified by bands like a barrel. The motion and the force of air funnels the elemental creature into the jar and a moment later, the lid is down and it is secured.

    "Well... I think that worked. But I will make sure to hold off checking until I'm in a better spot."

    Asuna turns her attention to Haru and Uta. "My brother and I used to argue a lot. We never let it split us apart, though. You two are obviously close and you are both my friends. I'm not sure what it's about exactly, but I am willing to bet that whatever it is, it's not as important as you are to each other. Sorry if that's presumptuous."

    She sends the jar into her inventory, where she won't have to worry about dropping it. A pause and she bows deeply, "Thank you both for your help on this! I'll show myself back out the front door. I may need to do this several times just to get it right. I'm not sure what I've got in the jar is really it, you know? When I'm done, and if you are in the area and have time, maybe you can show me what gate travel is like, Haru? If not, I hope to see you both again soon! I know you both have things to do!"

"When we are done here, I can teleport us back. Be aware there is a 24 hour cooldown. I'll need a day or two of research tests to run," Haru says, looking to his left and right to denote a particular 'lack' of a research team. "So long as you are sticking in the area, Asuna. It works out time wise." With that, the Artificer makes his way back towards the City Center and where the Chaos Gate is. He did hear about the bloody nose, but doesn't respond to it. Instead he opted to speak to different topics to keep attention /away/ from the nose bleed. And the headache. He only has a short while before the method becomes broadly released. Without -proper- study people could end up on the moon. Or the top floor of Aincrad.

Uta waits for Haru to be at a sufficient distance.

Arms crossed, she finally hangs her head. "That's what we siblings do, yes. Argue a lot." Raising her head, arms still crossed, she shifts her weight on her other leg. "I believe that when I randomized my Avatar... I've pretty much been given the form and role I need to have in this world. I still don't know all the details, I am still discovering them as I go. But there is one thing, only one thing I am certain of:" She turns to Asuna. "I have been made into Haru's sister."

She returns to look at the Artificier in the distance, and she continues, "In the past, he's done far worse to me." And millions other people. But she doesn't mention this. "He knows. I know. And I still chose to stick with him." And then, finally, she sighs, and side-glances at Asuna. "You get to pick friends. You get to pick lovers. And in extreme cases, you get to stop seeing each other. Break up." She shakes her head. "But family? Family is something else. You don't get to stop being someone's sibling." With a resigned smirk, she cocks her head. As if for saying, 'what can one do?' "I said I'd be with him through our common journey through Darkness. And I will be. Even if it hurts both."

And then, lowering her voice, she whispers to Asuna, "But don't tell him. He might feel emboldened."

The point is -- it would be difficult for Asuna to assess if the distance at which Haru was located was enough for him to overhear the conversation, or miss it. And it's hard to know if Uta carefully calculated the distance to produce a desired effect, or perhaps, this being Uta, she picked an ambiguous distance on purpose, and let Chaos figure this one out.

    Asuna grins and raises a hand to wave at Haru and Uta. Yes, she'd love to explore with them, but she's gotta keep doing her thing. Maybe if she gets several jars of Mist thingy one will pan out. So far, though, she's not sure. Weird monsters are weird.

    "Siblings are meant to cause you a bit of pain. And you hurt them back. But ultimately, I think I'm better off. My brother is why I'm here, after all."

    The Flash offers one last friendly wave, and then she's off, racing back towards the entrance. Will she have to evade more hybrid misfit beasts? Well, sure. But honestly, that's why she's getting good at things here!