Duty Session 37: Still Water Bandits

    With the sounds of some trading route troubles being out there, Giganpor was at it again. Despite his want to work on some extra projects, he knew that if trade went downhill then he wouldn't be able to help out new adventurers so easily! That had resulted in his heading out and sending messages along the chimlinks and word of mouth that he was headed out to handle the problem and requested assistance.

    That being said, he had no idea who would show, why, or what. It was just out there for anyone and the tall avatar of his was situated outside of the bandit camp a good ways out. Enough that even against the green his red hair wasn't going to give away that Adventurers were coming to dinner, lunch, or whatever meal it was.

    This time he was armed with a long sword as he waited with sword and sheath planted into the ground, the sea breeze blowing his cloak behind him as he watched the bandit camp carefully and waited for enough to show up to take on the camp hopefully. It was pretty small from what he could tell.

The kidnappers last night were a bunch of noob idiots uncertain of themselves being 'stuck' in this world. In comparison these bandits were organized and a serious threat to the area. Especially with all the new and underpowered people running around, and there still being a lot of traffic between Alne and the Marina. Or so the messages said.

The point is that Shiruba decided this was a more immeadiate concern than tracking down some punk stragglers and was all too happy to agree to help. The wolfish cait sith trots up to where the lion knight is waiting, bow already ready in her hand. She doesn't have to worry about height giving herself away, but she keeps her posture low just to be on the safe side. "Any idea what we're possibly dealing with? First time I've seen this one queue up."

    One of the adventurer who would show up, is Xander Scaleharth. He steps up beside the Werelion, looking down at the camp, before at the taller, brawny fellow, before back at the camp once more. "That is our target? Those guys?" He asks calmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Then he spots Shiruba, "Oh hey-- fancy seeing you again." He says with a playful grin, seeming not to take this whole matter /to/ seriously. Though looks can always be deceiving. Though what she says causes Xander to raise a brow gently, "You know," He looks back at the camp, "... You got a point on the queue up." He furrows his brows gently.

Though she isn't the most talkative among those on the New World Alliance chimlink, Mikage is usually listening. So, with the invitation offered, she seems more than willing to accompany those going to investigate the problem. The Were Fang steps out of the trees in her usual human form, cloak pulled up over her head so that just her white bangs are visible from beneath it. She raises a hand in greeting to those gathering already.

"No idea." She adds to the general discussion, "First time I've heard of this one. There were some old bandit encounters before, but this looks new." Miki looks out towards the solid looking walls of the camp. "And more fortified than anything I remember." She inclines her head to Shiruba, then offers a wink to Xander.

"Maybe there's something more to it.." Nevarri suggests as she strolls along with the other members of the group. "I'd been meaning to put a little more time into investigating the surrounding area, but so much is going on it's hard to put the time into it... It could be a new additon from the expansion..."

The exploring Elementalist hums softly as she takes a moment to clean her glasses, peeking through them, "On the other hand, maybe it's the actions of players... Or maybe the Landers are just doing their own thing now..

    One of the last people to show up and join the group is... Amalthea.
    The older Odysseia Knight puts on an easy smile as she links up with the gathered adventurers, shield slung on her arm and arming sword sheathed at her hip as she approaches.
    "Is that them, then?" She asks, motioning for bandit campin the distance. "These the ones that are being a problem? I heard it's about good time someone bent them over a knee and taught them a little bit of good manners and customs."

    Giganpor shrugs, "Eh, we could always do worse, I suppose..." He blinks, then looks at the latest to arrive. "Bend them over the knee? That's a new one. Probably a few Adventurers back in town who could use that treatment."

    Turning to look at the others, he picks up the sword and scabbard to place on his belt. "Well, they are disrupting trade. And frankly, we don't need that. We're not totally self sufficient in either of the three towns."

    Giganpor takes the time while he is talking to pass out party invites. "I'm Giganpor for those that don't know or just came out for bandit killing. That gate looks heavily guarded, so first task is to go around and not try to rampage the whole camp since we're not exactly high levels, I'd say."

    He turns to begin to lead them along, "Fortunately I did hear some rumors. Something about a secret entrance, I think? I heard it might be guarded, so be ready."

    

    Xander hear's Mikage's voice before he sees her and gives a nod in agreement to her words, though he smirks at her wing in his direction. "Nice to see you as well, Mikage."

When Nevarri brings up the 'doing their own thing', Xander frowns at this and softly says, "... yeah, that is what worries me..."

Amalthea joins up, and Xander gives her a respectful nod of his head, before looking toward the Bandit camp once again, then back over to Giganpor, waiting for his command.

    Once the Werelion explains and they go on the move, "Right, I'll see what I can do then to help solve the code if we can find a back way in. If there is some hidden door, it probably has a coded lock or something-- so once we find that."

Xander snaps his fingers, "I'll help solve how to get that baby open along with the others!"

"I'd rather not bend unwashed bandits over my knee." Mikage's nose scrunches up at the idea. People like these didn't tend to adhere to the idea of bathing. She follows along with the others as they approach the nearby ruins, taking Giganpor's lead.

At the sight of the strange door, she starts to sort through the various rock pieces, finding any that look the right size and shape and tossing them together. "Here, start taking a look at these ones." Another is tossed onto the pile. "These other ones are too small, or too large, or too weirdly shaped." She picks up another one and chucks it somewhere into ruins with an overhand throw.

So while those more knowledgeable might work through the runes, she just looks for shapes. Like the uneducated ranger that she portrays in the game.

Shiruba nods a bit with a smile to Xander. "Figured this was a bit more important than my prowling around earlier." Then grins more gleefully when Obachan Tanku joins the group. "Maybe you'll get to actually spank some of these. They look more organized than those punks last night."

Then the word is made to move out and they do. Looks like they're taking an alternate means to get into the camp. And as they're approaching the gate it doesn't take long for a pair of sharp eyes to notice the runed stones in the pile nearby. "Good job Mikage." Though as she gets a closer look Shiruba raises a brow as she points. "What's this? The magic equivilent to hiding a key under a fake stone in the front garden?" Squints. "I don't think these are the same runes as the other Duty. Probably a bandit secret code."

    Nevarri idly begins poking around the door as she continues to casually converse, "Well, when you think about it, this is a living breathing world at this point right?" She spies a pattern along all the everything, to share with her partners in this endeavor. "Between the code and if anyone knows how to do a bit of lock picking..."

She slips her glasses back on and looks to the others, "I mean, a lot of the Lander's I've seen at this point have sorta been minding their own business. No big Exclamation Points and trying to get your attention for quests, except on the occasional job board... Maybe something's changed in the programming... Or something."

    AMALTHEA HAS JOINED YOUR PARTY.

    "There are plenty who could use that treatment; like the folk last night who kidnapped some poor girl thinking she was an NPC." Amalthea says, clicking her teeth disappointedly. But she pushes it from her mind.
    "Xander, Shiruba, hello." She greets the people she does know, still smiling warmly. But then she's all business once things get ready to go.
    So about finding that back entry... Once people DO find the way around, there is a problem presented in the locked gate.
    he old woman eyes the stones on the ground and the indentation in the gate for a moment. It seems like a simple enough puzzle. She could just do it that way.
    Or she can make her way right up to the gate, plucking a pin from her hair and start putzing around with the mechanism directly.
    After about a minute of this there's a sharp *CLICK*.
    "Door's open." The old Paladin says matter of factly.
    She's still smiling.

"Awww, but that takes the fun out of puzzle solving!" Nevarri protests.

    As Nevarri brings up the change, he glances over to her and says softly, "... Remind me to get with you one day, over a drink, and pick your brain on some matters."

Then here comes good ol' Amalthea with her ol' fashion tricks. "I also have to agree, that took the fun out of stuff, but hey!" he shrugs, look over to Mikage, "Can't argue with the results right?" Before looking at the others.

Shiruba says, "While I agree on the taking the fun out of the puzzle, it does save us valuable time, so I'm not going to complain.

    Well, Giganpor was helpful in his knowledge, even shaking his head. Then he throws a coin to Amalthea. "Go figure. Old lady's a lock picker."

    He laughs, then leads the way again. "Different kind of puzzle, Nevarri."

    "Makes me glad to have her along, though. They get sneaky with some locks."

    Once they get in deeper, there's a definite sight of unusual things going on. And of course, they find scouts for the bandits. Classic encounter. But they are pretty sad in sight. A bunch of different monster races, no real organization, and they spotted the group.

    Turning to look at the others, he shrugs, "I guess we all know what to do here? Make sure one doesn't get away. We can't afford an alarm here." He pulls his sword out of his scabbard, holding it one handed as he advances on the scouts, then takes off at a run as he begins to waylay into them with his sword. Although he's more distraction as the bandits seem to be able to dodge him pretty easily.

    Once they get into the Camp, Xander gives a nod to Giganpor's order and then makes his way into the camp, shield and sword in hand.

He races up to one of the bandits trying to get away and quickly goes to slam his shield into the bandit, before pointing his sword at the downed foe, "Hello there." He says with a smile, before swing his shield around to knock another one over that was trying to run by, "Sorry! This is a no pass go, collect 200 dollars path!"

Shiruba laughs. "I guess it's true what they say about age bringing wisdom!" Now into the passage they go, and being the scout and explorer she is Shiruba is happy to be one of those taking the lead.

One passage later and they're inside the camp. No surprise the camp has some guards, this would be a boring Duty if they didn't. A little more surprising is that they are monsters, and possibly slaves. Harsh. "I guess stolen goods isn't the only thing these guys are dealing in..." Slavery isn't exactly an entirely frowned on thing in Ninetails Dominion, but these poor shmucks look like they've been poorly cared for, and that sucks. Probably starved to make them too angry and voracious to care about who they attack.

Shiruba slams a foot down onto the ground. "Mother Earth's protective embrace!" Chunks of rock and stone erupt from the ground around her, the Rock Cradle positioned to intercept the monsters charging.

The sight of Amalthea walking right up to the door and picking the lock leaves Mikage staring for a long moment before her expression spreads into a smile. "Clever. I always did enjoy finding an easy way around a problem." Then, in a quieter voice, "I should really learn how to do that." There were plenty of skills just not available at low levels due to her class choices. She glances at Xander, lifting her shoulders in a shrug.

As they come out of the tunnel and into the camp, Miki already has her hand hovering over her sword, ready for whatever might be waiting for them. "Jeeze, these guys are a sorry sight." She raises her forearm across her nose. "Ugh, and they smell." That is one aspect of the recent upgrades that she is not fond of.

"Alright, let's go." The Ranger charges forward into the fray, lashing out with her sword in order to drive back the oncoming bandits. Though she isn't as big or powerful as the likes of Giganpor, the little druid manages to evade most of the attacks that come her way and return her fair share.

Nevarri glances over at Xander and nods slowly, "Well, it's only a theory... Things work like the game would in the weirdest way... It's kinda hard for me to pin it down... Like, one of my guildmates made a cork and water compass and found out that the compass points WEST instead of North... And that's not even the weirdest thing about it!"

When the monster scouts show up, Nevarri releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding, "Okay, we have monsters! Time to try this new trick! I can't be an elementalist if I'm not summoning ELEMENTALS!"

She then raises her staff, and from the flames manifests... In Elemental Chibi Form! Wait what?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c2/04/13/c20413b2e27bb447af31cbdbed957d1e--adventure-time-chibi.jpg

Maybe it's the size, but Nevarri and the Chibi Fire Elemental seem to be struggling.

    "Never ask an old woman her secrets." Amalthea says mildly to Giganpor, practically beaming. "But picking it up isn't too hard." She asides to Mikage as the group presses on-- and runs into the first scouts.
    "It's almost sad, the state they're in." She mutters. But business is business and thrusts herself shield-first into the fight. Though her DPS seems to be lacking today.

    Xander stands his ground, till the team needs to move, he might find himself back to back with his teammates a few times, keeping an eye on their six so they don't get back-stabbed in the midst of the fight.

Somewhere in this he overhears what Nevarri had to say and raises a brow, "Yeah. I think I read about that somewhere or heard a rumor." He admits, "Though the fact she made the compass, without a recipe... Don't you find that actually kinda curious? Cause I know I do." He admits taking down another Bandit to the ground.

"What else was weird about it?" He asks, though he almost gets a fist to the face, he has to block away, "Second thought! Let's hold that till /after/ the fight!" Then back to focusing on the battle at hand and doesn't remark on the little fire elemental. People have their off days. Like him this morning and unable to take down a boar for meat!

    Although it takes a bit with an overwhelming defense, it's fortunate that Mikage is so spry and actually manages to catch one or two runners. The rest, including Giganpor, mostly keep them busy or bash shields over monster heads with some stabbing. By the time they are done and advancing past the scout team's disintegrating bodies, they find what has to be one of the odder sights.

    Namely, a kobold. A fat one. On a stool. Behind a bar. It's a rickety, put together bar that's probably seen better days. But seriously, it's a bar. In the middle of bandit territory. And well, it was a hard fight.

    The kobold grins at the six Adventurers before calling out, "You wish to try? Very strong. You strong. You challenge!"

    Giganpor looks at the others, then shrugs as he moves over to take a seat at the bar. "Might as well." He says to the others, then hums as he notices the drink. And peers at it. "Hm... hey, let me see some of those. I think I can make a bit better." While it probably still tastes terrible, he's fairly sure he can by putting some things together to get a better quality drink out of this and a bit of magic.

    Fight was over and Xander comes into the bar after some others, looking for more bandits to kick to the ground! Only to find a fat kobold, his rickety bar, and the strange drink he offers.

Instinct wants him to grab the Kobold, slam him into the bar, and shove the drink down his gullet. It plays out in his head actually, the different ways he could do this single action.

    Yet, everyone else is playing ball and the /last/ time he got aggressive for no reason, he killed a player, got marked as a PKer cause he didn't realize it /was/ a player, and had to go into hiding, because people, much like Giganpor was ready to kick his ass.

So, Xander goes to stand at the bar, he watches Giganpor try to improve the drink. He stares at it, sniffs it, peers at it questionably and goes, "Eh! Got to be better than that swell back in Alne." Then he looks over to Mikage, "Hey, Mikage-- if this somehow kills me. You get all my money."

    Down the hatch!

Panting in the aftermath of the fighting, it seems the perfect opportunity to get a drink. Mikage is just about to grab for a flask at her side when a kobold calls to them. She blinks, reaching up to rub at her eyes to make sure she didn't get knocked in the head and is now seeing things.

Nope, the little bartender is real enough. "Uh, sure." She steps forward, taking one of the glasses. Lifting her hand, she dangles it over the glass, "I think this would go well with some ice, though." You know, anything to water down whatever sort of booze it happens to be. The glass covers in frost, a few bit of ice dropping in, causing the liquid to splash slightly.

Then, she takes a sip, pauses, and tips back the rest of it. The Were Fang coughs, but puts the glass back upside down. "Yep. That's... good stuff." She coughs again, clearing her throat. Most things don't taste good, but this just has the burn of strong alcohol.

Glancing over at Xander, she watches him tip back the drink dry. "You are a braver man than I." She admits.

    Pressing onward, when the group gets spotted again there's a beat of alarm in Amalthea's breast, before the fat kobold... Offers the group the challenge of a drink.
    "Well... You only live once." The old Paladin muses, plucking one of the cups up and...
    Slugs it down in one quick go.
    "Yegh..." She ultimately has to say on the taste, which can be equated to drinkable hopelessness, but she seems to take it well enough.
    Before a dawning realization hits the old woman.
    "... I miss Beer. And sake. Sake was good."
    Sigh.

"The weirdest part isn't that she did it without a crafting recipe." Nevarri brings up her response to Xander once the scouts are dealt with. "I can believe making the compass without the recipe. A cork and needle kinda makes sense. Sure whatever... The Weird thing is..."

That gets put on hold when the Kobolds challenge the group to a drinking contest, and Nevarri is NOT having it. "Oh... God no, it already bad enough when it just tastes like water, I am NOT drinking this and taking a Drunk Debuff..."

She's very careful about it, but she waves a hand just above the brew and magics water into it enough to water it down without getting caught, and down it goes.

No Drunken debuff for this Explorer!

"So the crazy thing..." Nevarri finishes up and sets the mug down, "Jazz made the compass by hand... Like, without using the menu."

Her player is short and average and worked at a cafe so Shiruba can kind of sympathize with the kobold having to put so much effort into being able to see over the makeshift countertop. "Well, this is an interesting change in pace at least."

The wolfish cait sith strolls up to the bar of craft, watching the kobold pour out his concoction. Then she picks up a glass, swishes the contents a bit, and holds it up to a squinting eye as if inspecting the color and opaqueness of it. Even holds it under her nose for a sniff... and immeadiately regrets the having stronger senses now. OOF. But she manages to keep her grimace to a minimum as she sets the glass back down.

Once she gets her composure back she turns her attention to the kobold with the charm of someone experienced at doing a bit of haggling on the side. "Well, it's not baaaad... Really, I should applaud you for being able to make it.. pallatable," seeing as others are drinking it, "with what I assume are inferior ingredients. Bet they're hording all the good stuff to themselves, aren't they? Don't appreciate what you do."

Shiruba leans a bit closer, smiling and showing her fangs despite the sweet talk. "I think you should ditch this lot of bastards, move to the mainland, and check out some of the trade markets. I bet you would find both finer ingredients AND people more appreciating of some good mixology."

Not once does she actually drink the drink. But with her sweet talking advicing she's hoping no one will notice it either.

    Xander drinks that stuff down. It was strong. Tastes /horrible/. But the stuff was /strong/. He actually missed that feeling. Been /far/ to long. So when he places down that mug, he grins a little. "You got more of that?" He asks the Kobald and places down some coin to see if he could get a bottle for the road later. Maybe two.

Sure it was bad, but he missed that warm, burning sensation.

Though as he was trying to see if he could get the Kobold to give him more, he grins at Mikage, "My buddies and I use to have drinking matches. Keep increasing the amount /and/ moving to harder stuff. Those were-- some wild nights."

His attention does shift over to Nevarri. He takes on a more serious look. "So, seriously? She made it just the good ol' fashion way." He huhs softly. "Okay... That is /interesting/." His brows furrow. "... I wonder if we can do that with other things.. Like a camp fire. Like, actually get some tinder and start a fire with the use of a proper stone to create a spark or..." His mind was pulled away however and nods to what Shiruba ends up saying, "What she said!" to the Fluffy, Chubby Kobold.

He does look over to Amalthea, "You holding up alright?"

    With the drinking contest on, it's not long until the Adventurers are having a drinking contest as Giganpor makes brews, the kobold is drinking with them, and before long there's only the Adventurers left standing. With some good brew at that!

Looking over at Nevarri at the information on 'Jazz' has Giganpor looking at him skeptically, "Wait, you're telling me she hand crafted a compass?" That's news to Giganpor at least. He looks considerate, "Hand crafting... naaah... can't be that simple. I'll have to find her and see if she can do it again."

    While saying this, he's passing out some of his own brew to everyone. And even taking a few drinks of both himself. By the time they are done, they've all been refreshed, probably a little tipsy, and healed up some.

    Afterwards, the group moves along... and well... they find what has to be someone that puts Giganpor's size to shame. It looks like a Dire Sloth. A beastman Dire Sloth at that. With a massive, overgrown hammer that it slams down. "You no pass."

    Giganpor sighs, then looks at the others. "I... okay... if this is the boss's guard, I'm curious what the boss is... so..." He brings his sword out and and slams it point first on to the ground before pulling it out and starting to walk forward. Each step of his causes the very ground to shake as he goes as he moves forward at a quick walk towards the sloth boss.

"No surprise there." Mikage smirks, "You could probably drink me under the table, easily." Her eyes flick over to Amalthea, "Her, too." The later is said with a big more surprise to it. Xander, she fully expects could drink, where as she doesn't quite know what to expect out of the paladin.

Her lip quirks, followed by a laugh at the suggestion Shiruba gives to the Kobold. "I wonder what the Landers would think about that. Then again, if the drinks are good, most Adventurers won't care." She accepts Giganpor's offered brew with a little less hesitancy, but only sips it rather than shooting back the drink.

By the time the group moves along, she has a pleasantly warm feeling in her stomach that is wholely unexpected for the middle of a quest. It seems this place is a little bit of the unexpected in many ways. She blinks at the monstrous sloth. "Well, that's something you don't see every day."

Quick on her feet, Mikage does her best to avoid the lumbering blows of the guard, offering quick slashes of her sword before trying to make towards the boss room.

    "I'm fine, I'm fine." Amalthea replies to Xander as she gives her chest a good thump-thumping. "I'm just mourning the taste of good alcohol." She says, flashing a grim smile.
    She really misses sake.
    Though she does quirk her brow at Shiruba talking her way out of drinking anything in the least, it earns an amused chuckle from the old Odysseia Knight.
    But moving on, and encounrers... Something big enough to make Amalthea look between the Dire sloth... then to Giganpor. Then back to the sloth. Back to Giganpor.
    Sadly niether of them turn into diamonds.
    "Why does everyone ge that wrong...?" She mutters, taking a deep breath.

    "'You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'"

    She recites back at the sloth. "-That- is how the quote goes." She says pettishly as she draws her sword from the sheath and advances. But... That is when the old Paladin does something. She *flips* the sword in her hand, gripping it by the blade, raising it over her head and simply starts wailing on the sloth with the blunt end of the hilt and pommel. "I will beat down the next person who gets it wrong like they *stole* something, do you understand me?"

Well that was interesting. And Shiruba got through it without having to drink anything, so bonus. "I'm.. not sure if I should be drinking anything like that anyways," she confesses. "This body may be in her mid-20s... But I was only 19." Not sure what rules or laws apply there.

None of that is important when they come upon what is probably the boss' lair, and a huge Were Fang guarding it. That guy is like all mass and muscle... but he's not very fast. Because sloth. Even fast sloths are slow.

The wolfgirl scampers back a few steps, so she's behind the bigger tankier folk aka Grandma Paladin. Then reachs for her quiver to draw a pair of arrows. Noticably these are not tipped in points, but a rounded lump. It's not a very standard design, in the least.

Why becomes apparent when she takes aim at the hulking guard and fires. Because of the blunted end it slams into the behemoth's armor with enough force to make it rattle and stagger. The bludgeoning tip hits like a high speed hammer without punching through, thus causing the force to rock across the entire target.

A second shot quickly follows to help keep him off his footing, then Shiruba follows the darting Mikage towards the doorway. She can tell this is a fight they don't want to drag out any longer than necessary or that big lug might get the upper hand again. She is smirking at Amalthea's annoyed remarks though.

    "Was that... Was that Lord of the Rings? Oh geez, I haven't watched that since I was little, I always wished I could travel into Middle Earth!" Nevarri responds wistfully to Amalthea's reference, as she WHOOPSES and Stone Catapults herself well outside of Boss Monster Reach, before she summons a Mini Earth Elemental to pelt rocks at the beastman.

"But yeah, Jazz apparently didn't even know there was a crafting menu, so I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it was just dumb luck."

\     Xander smile's at Mikage, "Well, hang around me enough and you might get there as well or," he laughs, "Have fun watch me get drunk, dumb, and silly!"

The drinks were wonderful, the conversation was interesting, and Xander had some new ideas he would need to contemplate over. So, once the gang was ready to move again, he would frown at the next problem in their way.

Maybe it was the drinks, maybe he was really good at hiding how drunk he was till this very moment, but a giant creature, based on a Sloth stares at you and goes 'You no pass!'. That is a challenge-- and he is American! Well, partially American.

You don't tell an American, an Army Vet, he can not pass. It is a challenge. The challenge must be accepted!

    "I can't pass?!" Xander says, "/We/ can't pass?!"

If anyone can see an aggro bar, Xander might be grabbing for it right now.

    "You listen to me, you son of a monstrous mutt you!"

It is probably going higher as he starts to marching right up toward the massive creature with sword and shield in hand.

    "I am Xander F**king Scaleharth! And you!" He points his blade right at the Slouth Monster, "Can't go kiss my forsaken Mother-hating tail!" Then goes to charge right at the monster

"Now get out!" Getting closer, as his blade starts to glow, "OF!" The monster goes to swing his massive mace, "OUR!!" The mace comes down, "WAY!!!" Then he goes to leap up and then--

Xander gets punted right through the door and into the boss room, where outside they might here him yelling something about, "I AM OKAY!" pause, "FOR NOW!" Though he might not be as he has no desire to go splish splash at taking a bath with a creepy humanoid water element!

    Giganpor looks over at Shiruba, "Technically, I was 17." He comments. And the kid can brew drinks.

    Then he sees Xander get smacked. Between the evasion of the others and the wailing blows of Amalthea and slashes of Mikage's sword, along with a pelting of rocks by a mini-earth elemental... the Dire Sloth ends up getting a double smack from Amalthea and Giganpor that KOs it just after it tosses Xander away.

    Charging after Xander, the group finds themselves with a much bigger, and wetter problem in the form of a water elemental. A big one. "The Master has sent me to deal with you..." It hisses like a rumbling waterfall at the group before it fills the room with waterspouts, including some dangerously close to the party.

    Giganpor looks over at the others, "I'm kinda at a loss how to deal with this. What do you guys think? Can't exactly out water a water elemental, can we?" He asks the others.

    His sword is brandished and spun overhead before he shifts to his larger lion form, bringing it to a guard stance as he moves to get out of the way of the mine field for the moment.

    Xander slowly pushes himself up, to come face to face with the angry elemental. "Hi there, would you be interested in hear about--" Then watches as water bubbles under him. "No? Are you sure? It's a great book! About teamwork and---" He then attempts to stab the water element, which doesn't work. "Yeah-- I should have thought about that a little better, I admit."

Then gets turrented back a bit by the water blast. His health bar, is, honestly not looking the best. Though when he does get back up, he sees the others, "Oh hey guys! Anyone have a rubber ducky? I think this guy could /seriously/ use a rubber ducky?"

    Ladies and Gentleman. A slightly, maybe more than slight drunk, Xander.

    Though as a water spout goes off, he does a quick few steps back, as he hears the boss make is declaration, ".. I wonder who the master is." He says softly, before looking over to Giganpor. "Why not freeze it?"

Xander attempts to move in and gather some magical energy to /maybe/ try his hand at this. Only for the magic to fizzle due to possible debuff, and gets water spouted directly up, over and hard on his back.

He lays there for a moment, before raising up a finger very slowly, "I... think someone else can tank now.." Before his hand flops over to the side.

    "Don't we all wished we could have?" Amalthea asides to Nevarri.
    But then Xander gets launched into the next room, and the old Paladin winces at the sight that's for sure. But when he says he's okay that's good enough for her as the sloth is brought down and the group quickly rushes into the next room. To face down a water elemental.
    She's still holding her blade in halfsword style, and she rushes the elemental, HAMMERING IT IN THE FACE with the hilt of her sword.
    This doesn't seem to bother the elemental very much at all.
    "Oh. Well. Damn. Guess I'm out of ideas." She mutters as she's shoved away hard in a wash of water.
    Blub blub.

    Nevarri hrmms a little at Giganpor, and tells him, "I'll talk to Jaz about it, but I'm not sure if we can expect a whole lot of difference. Besides, what difference would hand-crafting an item even make."

At the appearance of the Water Elemental, Nevarri grins and pushes her glasses up.

GLINT.

"I don't need to out-Water a Water Elemental."

With that she raises her staff up and it crackles with electrical energy as a MUCH LARGER Air Elemental spins into existance, crackling with thunder and lightning, and proceeds to channel the Thunder Fury Spell through into the Water Elemental.

Quick wit doesn't seem to be one of Mikage's major skills, unlike Xander and Amalthea who both seem to be able to turn a phrase. Instead, the Ranger just laughs to herself, "I'm far too sober for this." Even with the mid-dungeon drinking session.

She ducks as the Salamander gets punted into the next room, squinting beyond to make sure he's okay. "Well, now both you /and/ Uta have tested the falling physics." Leaving the guard behind, she goes racing up the stairs only to skid to a stop in front of the elemental.

She sweeps out her sword, running her hand over the flat of the blade before channeling magical energy into it. Energy crackles around her as she tries to stay out of the direct path of the water, at least at first. "Come to me gods of the skies. Call lightning!" She lifts the sword skyward, electricity arcing off of it and then sweeps the blade towards the elemental.

At the same time as Nevarri's own elemental surges forward, a ball of condensed lightning shoots from the edge of Mikage's sword and slashes into the water Elemental.

Shiruba ohs at Giganpor. And then beams. "Well next time I won't worry about it then!" Settles that.

Xander got an express route to the boss room, but shouts that he is okay. Maybe. Sounds like there's something else up there. She picks up the pace to get up there before Xander gets in over his head (possibly literally). But stops when her steps splash in water instead, barely moving back in time to avoid the eruption bursting out of the puddle. Because the foe is a walking talking boiling mad elemental.

"Where's a bucket when you need one..."

She doesn't have a bucket, but Shiruba is good at adapting. She takes the out-watering route, kind of.

The Spell Fletcher draws an arrow and as she nocks it in her bow the runes on the shaft glow faintly and frost swirls around the point. She aims it for the center of the elemental's likely light mass, and fires. A krackle of icy hues erupt from the arrow, expanding outward in fractals of water rapidly freezing into ice.

Shiruba is hoping that freezing over some of the elemental's watery form will mess with it's cohesion and make it less amorphous so it can't move as.. well.. fluidly. And has more solidity to be hit.

    Giganpor watching carefully as he avoids the jets or flat out shields against them with some magic, stares and shrugs, "Good idea." He comments to Shiruba before he shoots out an icy jet of mist along his sword and starting to leave frosty paths along the water elemental itself.

    It takes time as smacking it just isn't doing it, and some enchantment work to get a few of the others back into the game, but by the end of it the group's managed to combination freeze and zap the hell out of the elemental until it collapses. Small plinking sounds come as a set of stones that are faintly glowing in the water come out and roll to their feet.

    Giganpor looks at the others, "So... that was interesting. Good idea with the ice." He says towards Shiruba, picking up one of the stones. "What do you think these are for?"

Plucking up one of the stones, Mikage quickly tucks it into one of the pouches at her waist to investigate later. Then, she walks over to Xander, offering him a hand. "You should probably learn not to tank with your face." She offers, chuckling to herself. "Otherwise, you're going to ruin that pretty face of yours."

Glancing over at Giganpor, she shakes her head, "No idea. I probably need to show this, and a few other things to one of the merchants I know, get their take on it." Her classes didn't come with those clever skills that people might use to look into the details and abilities of objects.

"It seems like there's more to this dungeon, too. But there's no spawn for a second location yet." Unlike Spinner's End, which seems to have a level-locked additional area inside. "I wonder if there's some trigger we haven't done yet for it..."

Shiruba grins at the praise. Finding clever ways to deal with foes is something she prides herself on. "Thanks. Sometimes it takes being clever as much as it does being strong."

She stoops down to pick up one of the stones. "I don't know, but I'm assuming they're attuned to the same element as the boss. Could be useful down the line."

Then gets up. "Several of the duties seem to have branching paths to a degree. That could be a connection to an area we didn't go through. Like if we had gone through the front gates instead of that secret path."

"If I had to guess... Probably as a spell or magical crafting component..." Nevarri holds up one of the stones and takes her time to appraise it. "I think we can make some half-decent Water focused gear out of these, or just maybe a better spell focus staff."

She looks to the others, "I think we've got a pretty decent haul for the moment though."

    Picking herself up and giving herself a good shake to clear the water out of her armor, Amalthea takes a moment to wring out her cloak.
    "Well, I guess that's my bath for the day." She mutters, plucking up a spare blue stone curiously.
    "Huh. Interesting haul."

    Xander lays there, only to hear that the battle was over. He closed his eyes for a moment and it was probably a good thing the fight /was/ over. He wasn't sure he could take another hit really given how low his health was.

The Salamander raises to his feet with the help of Mikage, "Aw, thanks gorgeous." He says with a chuckle, though he winces a little after the laugh. Xander then uses a little bit of healing magic to try and buffer out some of his health so he isn't a near walking zombie.

This also allows him to catch the glimpse of the shard, which he picks up with his claw, scaly fingers. He looks it over as the others discuss it and hrms, pocketing it into his inventory.

    He looks over to Nevarri, as his tail sways gently. "Water focused stuff, huh? Interesting. Something to keep in mind once someone figures out how to make better armor than just white gear."

Xander looks at everyone and gives Mikage a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Is everyone else alright though?" Giving a close inspecting eye to Amalthea, as she was the other tank who got knocked off her feet.

    Giganpor nods as he looks at the others, "For now, let's get out of here. Maybe get a bunch of those drinks at the bar on the way out?" He asks the others, then shrugs.

    "Still surprised that bar was there." He comments as he shakes his head, "I think we're mostly fine." He calls up a small light elemental, bird shaped from the looks that starts circling the party. Healing them as they chat and get ready to get out of there.

Nevarri waves off her elemental after a point and then steps back to the rest of the group. "I think we came out of that pretty okay overall..."

    "I'm fine," Amalthea replies to Xander, "Just soaked to the bone. It's not the first time I've been bowled on my ass." The older woman says with a chuckle, still dripping.

"Not that big of a surprise," Shiruba replies as she tucks her stone away in her inventory and turns to follow the lionknight out. "These guys seem to have some pirate connections, and they tend to be heavy drinking types. Alcohol is easier to preserve for long periods... especially when your other options is salt water, and that's bad to drink."

    Xander nods, "Yeah, I probably will pick up a few of those. Might taste horrible, but at least they have a kick to them." he says to Giganpor, before looking over to Amalthea with a gentle chuckle to her remark.

He looks over to Shiruba, "You did a great job." Then to everyone else, "Everyone did." He says with a soft smile, before making his way for the steps, then looks back to Nevarri, "And I will hit you up later," He sends her a friend invite. "Like to hear more on that theory of yours on the Landers."

Then looks back to Mikage, giving her a two finger salute from the top of his head, before heading up the stairs. "Race anyone to the bar!" Then he takes off!

Nevarri blinks a little as she calls back up at Xander, "Why even bother drinking the stuff! It all tastes like the blandest soda water!"

"Just because it tastes bad doesn't mean it won't have the same effect," Shiruba calls back to Nevarri.

She's going to grab one or two herself, just because she won't feel bad about it now after Giganpor's comment on ages.