+Duty: Spinner's End

A call has been sent out from the Hunter's Guild, looking for individuals willing to run through the dungeon known as Spinner's End. For those who have been there before, there is supposed to be new content after a certain level cap is reached, and players have fast been approaching that. It would be easy to assume that the game is trying to encourage those last-minute clears of the dungeon.

Needing to get some PvE practice in, Mikage has volunteered to head up a group to head into the dungeon. They are gathering just outside. The entrance to the mines is coated in spider webbing. Carts of ore have been left crushed or abandoned. There are large scrapes on the ground as if some sort of monster had passed through. It seems, despite the efforts of many in the Adventuring community, that the dungeon has not been fully emptied of all monsters.

"Alright, if I remember right, this one isn't too bad, so long as you don't have a fear of spiders." Mikage explains, "I think everyone knows me, but if not... Mikage Yurei. Ranger. I've already been through here once, so I'll be watching our backs for trouble."

Spinner's End. BlackRose has been there a few times, but now there's something new being offered? Might as well check it out.

And don't worry about spiders and things like that, BlackRose isn't afraid of them at all. After all, her trusty sword and her strength will make short work of those arachnids. Still, looking at all the spider webs, it does make BlackRose shiver a little as she thinks about the possibility of someone with arachnophobia seeing it and getting the willies. And there may still be monsters in the dungeon, but it's all the better for BlackRose, since if it were empty it wouldn't be that much of a challenge.

BlackRose isn't sure if she's met Mikage before, although she does seem familiar. "Just call me BlackRose," She says to Mikage. "I appreciate you watching our backs, especially since I don't remember the last time I've been through here. I can take point if you'd like me to?"

Goldenblade shows up, looking pretty eager, and bows to Mikage. "I'm .. er, Goldenblade." Her actual name, when inspected, is long, complicated, and hard to explain. "It's good to meet you all. I think I might've done one like this before, but I'm definitely interested in trying this one," she explains. "Spiders, I don't mind, as long as they don't need magic to fight them. I'm strictly a fighting person, I don't get the whole magic thing."

Joining Mikage on this trip, as friend, and as someone who is Mikage's supporter, Cyrus has joined the team. "I really need to shake this rust that got on me during that mission to Ezzo." The youth points out to the pale haired one, as he steps alongside her, carrying a small sized cart with him.

"I'm not too afraid of Spiders honestly. But there's still something creepy about them when they're all... /big/." Cyrus points out as he raises his hand to the others. He actually recognizes quite a few people here today; "Cyrus - Astrologian. I'll be your support." He explains to the crew.

He then looks to the dungeon itself, using his cane to push away the spider webbing so it doesn't get into his hair. He even takes some time to check out the ore in the carts - to see if there's something valuable left in there.

    Merek had come to assist in it once, this time he comes to assist for another award, he needs two from this one. That said, it gives the benefit of the fact it will increase trade production where he's building his shop. The man wears what looks to be a dark attire with a beltcape, and his Shadow Eclipse while he nods a bit to people.

    Uta rushes into view at the last minute, carrying her trusty staff. Those who know her might notice that her very long black hair has been dramatically downsized to a pixie bob. Voluminous, but still far shorter than what there was before. "Sorry I'm late!", she blurts out. "Gwen has withdrawn from social interactions to weave a tapestry, and I've been trying to take care of her, and while I was pondering this situation where she went recluse, I realized that brown recluses are spiders, and spiders make spider silk, and spider silk can be woven, and maybe I can distract her from weaving by getting her something to weave! I've tried to pat myself on the back because of this genius idea, but reaching my own back was a bit awkward, so I just flapped my wings and called it good-"

    Silence

    She shakes her head, blinks, and suddenly far calmer she introduces herself, "Uta Furore," where 'Furore' is pronounced the Japanese way: fu-ro-re. "Aerialist. Musical kung-fu nurse. At your service."

Cyrus kind of just gets halted in the midst of trying to check out the ores as Uta begins to talk. And keeps on talking. The entire line of thinking that goes from beginning to end just has the Cait Sith /staring/ at her. And when silence comes, he's the first to break it; "Breaaathe."

Miho had a lot to do for the Hunter's guild she needed to get out of the basement. As some of the jobs she wanted to do were above her current rank. So the only way to solve that was to get out and show that she can make. She looks over to Uta as she arrives and waves to the Spriggan girl her tail bobbing a bit as she does so.

"Well it might work we'll have to find out. Oh, I'm Miho and it's good to meet you."

Shea also takes note of Black Rose Mikage and Goldenblade as well.

"I'm not either but spiders this big should not be allowed to /exist/."

"If you feel confident, go for it." Mikage seems pretty easy-going about the whole thing. Perhaps her experiences with the dungeon mean that she isn't taking as cautious of a role as someone else might. She motions a hand forward, allowing BlackRose to lead the way if she so chooses.

"I don't remember running into anything that required magic only, so you should be good to go." She explains go Goldenblade, and then offers a smile to Cyrus, "Cy will keep everyone healed up. He's good at that." A glance is given toward Uta, showing a brief hint of concern for her story about Gwen and some sort of tapestry. "Well, Gwen has always been a little intense about her work, but maybe we can find something inside to help?" She suggests, then shrugs.

When everyone has finally gathered, they begin to move into the abandoned mine. Debris blocks the most direct path forward, meaning that the only other option is to take one of the side chambers. Oddly, this seems to lead them into a sort of cafeteria that the miners must have once used. Tables are overturned, filth is everywhere, moldy food sits on countertops. The place looks to be a mess.

However, it is not unoccupied. A group of dogs, thin, hungry, and scared, group near the far end of the room. They growl low, obviously afraid of the Adventurers.

Goldenblade winces as she sees the poor guard dogs, left here abandoned. "Oh, no," she sighs. "Poor dogs. I think I've got a bit of food..." She'll root around in her backpack, but then a dog is snapping at her. "Ah, poor boy," she sighs, even as it snaps at her, and she deftly reaches over it's head to grab it's collar. It growls, but can't quite reach around to bite her arm, and while she holds it, she pulls a small morsel from her pack. It gets a whiff and snaps at her hand, which she pulls back quickly, she likes her fingers, and she'll toss the food on the floor. She lets go its collar and it lunges for the food as she backs away and looks to see how the others are doing.

"It's nothing, really," BlackRose says as she takes point into the mine. She's always generally confident about things, especially when it comes to utilizing her sword to take out a few hostile mobs. The white-haired young woman looks around as she takes in the sights of the abandoned mine, only to frown as she finds that they're inside an old cafeteria. "I don't remember this being here before... or maybe it's been too long since I was last here?"

But then she notices that there are some dogs nearby as well, and they do not look friendly. They look nervous and rather hungry as well. "Oh no, poor things," BlackRose says with sympathy as she looks around for something possibly edible to eat. "Maybe there's something for them to eat here?" She mutters as she looks atop the tables, but after a few moments of searching, shakes her head. "It's no use." She says sadly. "Those poor creatures."

    Merek seems to be looking to the dogs, then he nods while he takes a package of food which he has made from the pack he wears about the waist. The Magic Knight takes a look to them, then he places the meat upon the floor of the place, nodding a bit also.

Miho seems ready for this o so she thought she was not expecting dogs who'd been left behind they'd been very aggressive. She doesn't draw her weapon. She has an idea as she sees her comrades get ready to engage this problem. She's not going to try and hut the dogs she's going to try to establish she is in charge rather than beating them. After all she's been accused of being a five-pound bag with a ten-pound load before. So she will get there and try to stare them down showing off she's the one in charge.

"Now BE NICE!"

Her tail has moved to a more alpha position maybe the dogs will listen enough that those who have better ideas can convince them to be nice.

"Yep, I'll take care of the healing. No worries there." Cyrus proposes to the rest of the team, stepping away from the ore cart and instead dragging his own along. "I really gotta get me a Peko to pull this thing for me. Maybe I should see if they have like... Pygmy Peko at that new farm that opened up near Carmina Gadelica Marina." For some reason, that name is just so fun to say.

'a'.

Spotting the doggos when stepping in, his hair suddenly rises a little... before settling when he realizes they are growling because they are hungry. "Ehmm..." He opens his menu and tries to create a 'Jerky' using the menu, kneels down, and tries to offer it to the doggos.

Forgetting for a moment that menu food does not taste well. Or might very well be burnt, because he doesn't have the skills.

    Uta stares at Cyrus's suggestion about breathing. "...I /knew/ I was forgetting something!". Deep breath in... and out. "...there, better."

    And then, dogs! "Our descent into the inferno, and lo, it begins with an encounter with Cerberus. How themeatic." Her weight shifted in a stance of readiness, her eyes focused on the approaching beast, she performs a jump, describes an arc over the dog approaching her, and lands just behind the hound. "To control a beast, always grab the hind legs!", she explains as she does exactly that, followed by pulling the legs up, thus causing the animal to lose traction. "The hind muscles are the strongest, and once you establish control over those, their owners are rendered pretty much powerless, see?" She pulls the dog further up to demonstrate, but miscalculates the distances and reaches a little too high. The captured victim takes advantage of this, and with a swing, it manages to get its muzzle to reach far enough to bite Uta right in the face, which glows bright red. "OW. Bad dog! No treat for you. Spriggan is fren, not food," she scolds.

"Some of the dungeons seem to have different paths." Mikage explains, as BlackRose comes to the conclusion that this wasn't here on her last journey. "I've seen them before. I'm just hoping if enough of us clear the dungeon, maybe the Landers will come take them back home."

Some of the Adventurers seem to have come prepared. The dogs chomp into the food offered out by Merek and Goldenblade, though they still seem quite wary. Miho on the other hand, manages to just flat out be intimidating. One of the dogs snaps at Cyrus, obviously not liking his offering, while BlackRose comes up empty on finding anything to offer in the abandoned break room. Everything seems either eaten already, or too moldy to be enticing. Uta, on the other hand, just fails completely at trying to show her dominance with the dogs, and nearly has her face bitten off.

Mikage reaches for a one of the old metal pans, then starts to bang the back of her sword against it, making a loud sound that seems to carry in the open spaces of the mine. Those dogs who have food grab it and run, while the others seem startled enough to join them, fleeing back into the tunnels.

This allows the party to continue onward, but they seem to reach a dead-end after a time. A pool of water at the end of a tunnel, sloping downward. There is risk in trying to dive into the water, hoping that there is an opening on the other side. However, this must go somewhere. Large fish swim in the water, and they vanish underneath, obviously paddling towards pools beyond.

Goldenblade peers at the pool, looks around thoughtfully, and says, "I guess it's a swimming thing. I'm not great at swimming, but ... here goes nothing." She'll climb down into the water, take a deep breath, and slide under the surface. She's weighed down with gear, all of which is getting soaked, and her braid trails behind her, floating neutrally, as she mostly moves along the bottom, taking large steps through the gloom, hoping to reach the other side before she runs out of air. As the underwater trek grows longer, some sort of innate magic that she doesn't quite recognize or understand seems to be helping her move along. Her lungs hammer for attention, her pulse rings in her ears, but she manages to hold on until her head can break the surface at the end of the underwater trek, and she gasps hard for air with her head barely out of the water.

    Merek looks to the water while he takes a moment to begin weaving an ice wall shield about him that seems to keep water away while he begins walking into it, and using that to get along through the flooded place, taking the time to adjust when he's back, nodding a bit to people.

"Well, there's something interesting about finding new things in old places," BlackRose says with a slight smirk to Mikage as they move forward. "I can only hope the Landers will help them, those poor dogs." When the dogs are either fed or just run off, BlackRose nods, hoping they'll find something to eat somewhere in the mines. "Let's keep going then," BlackRose says as she moves to the front again.

Now they've got a pool of water in front of them, and there's no way of knowing if it's safe to swim in it until Goldenblade goes in first and BlackRose shrugs a little. "Don't mind getting my feet wet I suppose," She says with a little sarcasm as she slowly descends into the water, not wanting to risk hurting herself with a bad dive.

Once she's confident that it's safe to swim in, BlackRose takes a deep breath and dives under the surface. Holding her breath carefully, BlackRose finds herself swimming forward with ease, albeit slower than she thought she would be. Eventually her lungs start begging for air and her eyes start to narrow a little as she struggles to keep herself from passing out until she finally spots the surface above her. She swims up quickly and, upon surfacing, gasps loudly as she starts drawing air into her lungs. "Ironic... considering... I was a good... swimmer..."

"I mean, they're mines. Of course they'd have different paths." Cyrus chuckles as Mikage speaks of the spider quests they've had to deal with. "Imagine how boring this World would be, if all the mines looked the exact same. We'd be stepping back like... ten years of technology." A comment that might seem almost strange to say.

"Though I guess... Elder Tale Online is the only one with this kind of world generation, isn't it?" He adds to that, as the dog snaps at him, and he backs off quickly. "Yeah, okay, I get it. I don't like menu food either." He grumps at the dog. Luckily others are dealing with it.

"The tournament was easier than dealing with those hounds." He points out, before the team continues in and come to that pool of water. "Shit... I didn't spec Undine." Spotting what Merek is doing, Cyrus joins him. Trying to create a neat Ice Tunnel for people to walk through. "Good idea."

    Uta sighs. "Water. Of course. It had to be water. Couldn't it have been spiders instead? I was promised spiders, NOT swimming pools!"

    She flicks through her menu, follows through the necessary steps, and hesitates. She breathes in, out (at least this time she remembered!), closes her eyes, and with a grimace, she confirms the action.

    Her gi/nurse's uniform hybrid shimmers, and when the shimmer subsides, it has been replaced by a one-piece swimsuit. It's a completely white design, completely blank except for Gwen's shop logo where a design would go, and PROTOTYPE superimposed all across the item in a red, official-looking font reminiscent of bureaucratic stamps.

    "...time for my second dive ever in this new world, I guess..."

    Eyes closed, she attempts to jump in the water...

Miho would note back to Blackrose and Mikage. "It also seems everything has changed. Most of what I knew from before is pretty useless at this point." She admit they seem to be doing pretty wll with the dogs. she makes a note to go find some of them later. The poor things need a home, but right now the monsters that drove off the miners needs to be elimated. They didn't have to kill the dogs which is a bright spot for Miho. Now however there's a new task and she mivhes as well go swimming. So it doesn't take long, she'll put a few bit of her clothing into her inventory and dive into the water what's the worse that could happen?

"That's part of the adventure." Mikage confirms, nodding her head towards BlackRose. She and her party often took to wandering to explore things just like this. Cyrus' comments affirm that much. "So long as the world generation works the way it's supposed to." After having witnessed the chaos of Ezzo, she has to wonder if there aren't other glitched places that don't quite generate right.

Seeing the water, Mikage sighs and starts to de-equip a few pieces of her armor. It wouldn't do good for her fur-lined cloak to get that wet, so it is stowed into her inventory. "Let's see if I do better swimming in water than I do with sailing on water." She wades in, taking the more direct approach.

It isn't until about halfway through the flooded tunnel that there is any sign that the water ends. A flicker of light leads them through to the other side, though it is likely a strain.

Uta, probably has the most interesting ride through the tunnel, though. She runs out of air before the others, but her flailing looks like food to one of the large fish. All that the others see is a large fish surfacing on the other side. It's belly seems to extend in certain areas, and then, it spews both water, and Uta out onto the shore. Apparently... she'd tried to beat the fish up from the inside.

Cyrus' ice tunnel, while clever, takes a lot longer. It leaves much of the party simply waiting, cold and damp, on the other side of the chamber.

Goldenblade looks around as she drags herself out of the water, and realizes that some of us, at least, didn't just go wading in our clothes. Dripping, no, raining water from her soaked clothes and armor, which is going to rust if she doesn't take care of it when this is done, she'll move forward up to the small keyhole in the stone wall. "This looks familiar," she says, and reaches into her pocket for her small tools. She withdraws a pouch, letting the water drain out as she withdraws a few small tools, and will poke them into the small hole. She seems to know what she's about, withdrawing them after a few moments and looking a bit pleased with herself.

Cyrus finally arrives on the other side, giving everyone a look - since they'd been waiting. "... look, at least I am dry." He remarks, motioning at himself. "I don't like smelling like wet cat." The male expresses as he makes it onto land, and quickly holds up his hand. "And don't even think of ruining this moment by splashing me." Here's looking at you, Mikage.

Coming to the empty chamber, the youth rubs his head. "Huh..." Stepping closer as the others start toying with the stone formations, Cyrus pulls up a small function on his player menu, and continues swiping for a bit before taking out a small glass orb. Holding it up, he stares at the stone formations.

"Those two are false - ignore those." He remarks, noticing through divination that there's danger in those buttons.

    Merek seems to be content to look around while he nods a bit, "I don't see anything," hye notes. The man takes a look to those people with him while he watches. For now he will support as needed.

BlackRose emerges a little on the wet side, but none the worse for the wear. With a sigh, she says, "When I get back, I'm spending some time in a warm spot under the covers!" She continues to proceed until they reach the empty chamber. Before she can do anything, Goldenblade seems intent on picking the lock with her tools until she gets through. BlackRose decides to check the lock with her tools just in case, and it turns out Goldenblade may have missed a part. Fortunately, BlackRose can easily amend that.

"All right, what's next?" BlackRose asks as she stands up, nodding to Goldenblade with a smirk on her face as if to say, 'We make a good team, don't we?'

    Uta, after responsibly poking the large fish back into the water with her stick (with a series of 'leap-in-close, poke-fish-towards-water-with-the-staff, leap-out-again' moves reminesecent of a fighting game), changes back into her starting Gi/nurse's uniform hybrid and begins scanning the area with a frown. "Yikes. You won't believe the junk that fish ate. There even was a wooden puppet in there... "

    "...are you sure you would smell like wet cat?" Silence. "If someone without the 'handle animal' or 'cooking' skill were to dip a cat in water, would the cat and water count as ingredients? Would the whole action result in the cat smelling like soggy crackers? Oh. Speaking of cats. If anyone has a cat, or is a cat were fang or-" She glances at Cyrus. And back. "ANYWAY. I know squat about how cat were fangs or cat cait siths are affected by laser dots, so... a warning for sensitive audiences!"

    She twirls her staff and clasps it to a stop with a lowered stance, and points it at a wall.

    A chant is begun, the staff lights up in different colors in different sections, and soon a blast of light emanates from the item, making it effectively function like a searchlight. She slowly moves over the walls, to look for any hint that might point to a way forward....

A very wet Miho comes out the other side of this into the chamber she looks at Uta for a moment.

"A wooden puppet?"

Miho boots up a menu dries herself off with it and puts the things she took off back on. She takes a moment at Uta's comment and just stares dumbfounded for a moment. With that over there she'll start to search the chamber. It doesn't take her long to find the lock, and she pulls out a few smithing tools. It's not lock picks but after some fiddling, it seems to work well enough.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Mikage replies, with complete innocence. Of course, as soon as the Cait Sith's back is turned, she flicks a bit of water at him. Just a few drops.

There seem to be a number of small places to interact within the empty room. Holes, alcoves, buttons, pressure plates, the room seems filled with any number of possible routes forward, and plenty that likely lead to danger.

Cyrus' guidance rules out a few of the bottons. Goldenblade's deft hands move in one of the locks, giving a satisfying 'click'. When BlackRose goes back to check, she finds that it actually diverges into two separate channels, meaning that it is two locks rather than just one. Soon enough, another 'click' sounds. Miho finds a third one, clear on the opposite side of the room.

Symbols begin to appear on the wall as each part of the puzzle are completed. Between Uta's search-light and Mikage's manual exploration of the room, they manage to find the last two switches, causing a door to open in the wall.

The door leads down a long tunnel, which exits into what is clearly some sort of spider's nest. Huge egg sacks are visible, some broken open, while others seem to almost pulse from within. Two huge spiders dangle down from the ceiling. The room is quiet, at least at first, but do they sneak past, or fight?

Goldenblade gives Blackrose a thumbs-up as she comes by afterward and checks her work. She's done the lockpicking thing on a few adventures now, she thinks she's got the hang of it now. "I totally never did this in real life," she explains. "I didn't even select it as a skill. The game picked it for me somehow," she says, her tone puzzled. "I have no idea why." It's a Twinblade thing, it seems.

Finding ourselves in this room, she hrms, "This looks familiar." She's light on her feet, and the water still dripping from her at least falls quietly, and she manages not to sneeze. A good fire and a soak in the onsen will be nice. She proceeds quietly, with no sound, and using as much overhead cover as she can to move through this high-ceilinged room.

Cyrus gives Mikage /such/ a lot as she decides to lightly splash him. He then points two fingers to his eyes, then to her, then to his eyes again, then~ UTA-LIGHT

"Oh geez, that's bright. I'm glad this is not one of those things where heal spells are blindingly bright." Cyrus remarks while holding his hand up a bit. "Don't worry, I'm not going to chase a common laser pointer. I'm still just me." He points out, as the others open the gate and they go forward.

Right into the spider nest. "Ah... guess this is why we were hired." He whispers. It's so many of them. "Best start cleaning house, so others don't have to deal with this after we are done." As he joins Merek in using Fire. And a lot of it. Throwing potions into the still unopened egg sacks first, in order to burn what he imagines are hundreds of smaller spiders stuck in those disgusting sacks!

    Merek looks between the people there, and nods a bit. He assisted in a similar thing with the power of flame. He does not know what to make of things that sometimes don't change, he then takes both of those hands of his to draw Shadow Eclipse in its full glory, then he twirls the weapon with both hands. "Ragnarok's Wisdom!" he then swings the blade with the hip, the flames rolling into the webs, the egg sacs, even the spiders, while he uses a rare magical technique also.

Miho says "Lockpicking might have come with your class picks."

Its the best guess she has as the party moves on ahead. Thenc omes the spiders so many damn spiders she doesn't think too much she takes a deep breath and is going to attempt to breathe fire. However something gowes wrong and Miho just about chokes on it smoke trials from her nose and mouth for a bit, she'll need a moment to recover.

    "That's a consolation, Cyrus. I'm... I mean, I know that most people seem to have been mentally unaffacted, but I am mildly worried because of this recent series of... shall we call them 'creative trances'? Att Syne, Gwen... I'm afraid that the game is starting to mess with our heads..." She makes an expression so eloquent that the only way to make it even more eloquent would be to add a tin foil hat.

    "What about wooden puppets?", Uta asks Miho, abruptly, just as they reach... The Chamber.

    Uta gapes. Points up at the spiders. Then extends her arms as if describing the size of a fish that got away, but in an up-down direction instead of left-right.

     She is apparently try to silently express her surprise at how large these spiders are.

    She gulps, and, not looking very confident at all, she begins an attempt at sneaking past the creatures. And displays a hint of concern as fire starts being thrown around, probabbly afraid of disturbing the guardians.

Spiders. Why did it have to be...

OK, let's not go there, shall we?

BlackRose wrinkles her nose, albeit in disgust rather than fear. "Well, looks like we found their main nest," She says as she starts to go for her sword, when she suddenly pauses. Why not try a different approach? Why not try bypassing combat entirely?

"Worth a try."

Despite the armor she wears as well as how strong she is as opposed to being nimble on her feet, BlackRose carefully steps through the area, not wanting to alert the spiders. She almost trips at one point, getting her balance back at the last second, before making her way through fully.

"No, he really isn't all that intersted in random shiny lights." Mikage can confirm, "Catnip, though, that works." She laughs softly, amusement in her voice, "He gets /super/ mellow."

This is the last commentary that Mikage makes, however, as they step into the room with spider pods. Making a loud noise here seems like a bad idea. So, the party seems to have a relatively even split in tactics. One group, that seems to be herself, BlackRose, Uta, and Goldenblade, decide to take the cautious route and sneak around the edge of the room.

Mikage, however... ends up stepping on something as she walks which makes a loud crack underfoot. She turns, just as the spiders start to descend.

Luckily, the others, seem to try the more direct route. Fire fills the chamber, causing a screetching sound from the two guardian spiders. One descends nearly right on top of Miho, the long pincers trying to grab at her, but Merek's bout of flame drives it back.

Beyond the nest, the chamber extends into what appears to be the final boss room. Thick layers of webbing cover the walls, and at the center, there is an absolutely huge, monstrous tarantula. Massive pincers click together, venom dripping from them, as it starts forward towards the party, with dire intent.

They made it past the other spiders, only to come face-to-face with the big kahuna!

"Oh oh, looks like there's no sneaking past this one!" BlackRose says shaking her head. "Looks like it's time for a little combat!" With a slight smile, she activates her sword and raises it towards the spider. "I'm gonna cut you down to size!"

With a couple of evasive maneuvers as if to try to taunt the spider, BlackRose then goes in with a slash of her trusty sword!

    Merek would come upon what looks to be the spider's lair, and nods to the tarantula. "Alright, I'll tank with the defense," he notes, then he calls up what looks to be a shield of light, maneuvering to take a moment to swing into the creature, drawing attention, then beginning to shimmer a light shield about all of the party. "Alright, we can win!"

"Hmmm, interesting. Yeah, I've been hearing about these trances here and there. They're not common though. I wonder what is triggering them." He offers to Uta, as he carries on with the rest, while things are burning all around them. It looks like nobody's HP has dropped yet into a position where Cyrus is having to do any healing. But luckily the fire is working.

"How are you holding up?" He asks Mikage, as Merek and him do fire support - what with her having alerted some of the Spiders. Right as they turn the bend and find an enormous tarantula rushing towards them. "Oh shit! I guess it is angry at us killing all of its babies... Don't care - it's a Monster!"

As he rushes forward and takes out two potions and crushes them in such a way that he gets a bit more control over the magic stored within, and then sends two wind blades for its legs - trying to cut them off and stop its movement, before trying to hop up on it and stab his cane down into its body and send a spell through. Accurately targetting it for its weak spots and removing 'portions' of its body to ensure better drops.

Miho is looking surely after nearly choking on her own fire breath. She seems to be more flustered than hurt, however. As they get in deeper however there's one big, spider. One so big the lizard part of her brain is screaming as loud as it can. KILL IT! That's what Miho intends to do, she'll draw her bow. An arrow is notched she lines up the shot going for the Spider's head, where there might be more weak points and she'll let the arrow fly timing the shot to not get in the way of any of her allies engaged in melee with it.

Goldenblade nods to what Miho says about her class picks. "Yes, I think that's the case also. I don't know -why-," she goes on. "Are people who use two blades less trustworthy? More likely to turn to crime?" This line of speculation fades as we see the final boss, huge, menacing, and nasty. "Well, I guess this is what we're here for," she says, blades out, slashing with both. At first, she uses one to keep the monstrous thing at bay while using the other to whittle down it's strength. A stop-thrust seems to get it to edge back as it comes after her, amid all it's other distractions.

But as the other distractions grow and it's paying less attention to the Bladedancer, Goldenblade changes tactics and crosses her blades, slipping aside and under the spider to deliver a vicious, rending attack, blades moving together to cut a horrific X-shaped wound. On a person, a cut like that would have their guts spilling out. On monsters, it's just a glowing X where the blades struck, but the HP bar does drop nicely when she does it.

    Uta replies to Cyrus, "There are other strange stories circulating..."

    Her discussion is cut short by more urgent matters, in the shape and size of a giant tarantula.

    Staff twirled in place again, Uta exclaims, "Fine then! If light is safe..."

    An aria similar to the previous one is intoned, bright, solemn, this time around even stately, lights dance on Uta's stick, and when she hits the last note, the gem bursts into a massive flash of light, this time not really directional, but illuminating the whole place.

    Its main focal point, however, is aimed straight at the spider, to hopefully blind it, make it harder to see or, at least, make it uncomfortable. They do seem to like it in darkness, don't they?

    "...Oh. Is that a gaming thing?", she asks of Goldenblade's incision. "X marks the spot? Is that where the monster is going to drop treasure?"

This is a familiar boss monster for Mikage. Enough so that there is almost an audible groan from her as she steps into that final chamber. "I'm starting to wonder if the Tarantula is the only end-boss to this dungeon." There is a sideways glance towards Cyrus, "I'm fine." And then she lifts her eyebrows, almost as if challenging him to say otherwise.

The group rushes in towards the boss monster, leaving little doubt as to their strength as blow after blow land. Though it has multiple health bars, they easily start to chew through them. Perhaps it is due to their higher levels, but the boss monster almost seems /too/ easy. That could be why there is level gated content, afterall.

After what seems to be a very quick fight, the spider cries out with an unearthly sound, falls onto its back, and curls up. Then, it shatters into points of light. More interesting, though, is that the arcane circle on the floor begins to glow with light, a message appearing: "Congratulations! You have unlocked Spinner's Deep." Below the message, there is a countdown timer, which seems to suggest that the new content will come online in two weeks.

Treasure drops for the party, however Mikage sees a familiar message of: 'You have already gained this quest reward.', to which she scowls, "Oh fuck you, game."

"No reward?" BlackRose rolls her eyes before shrugging. "At least we completed the quest, so the experience should be worth it." With that, BlackRose looks to the others and says, "Well, we all did well there!" She gives a thumbs up and a smile.

Miho will ready another arrow to go after the boss and let it flw, however the monster seems. Easy, way too easy when she thinks about it. It dies well enoughb and leave a strange runic circle behind which she'll go to take a look at. She pauses for a moment "Unlocked another dungeon?"

She pauses at the countdown and thinks for a moment.

"Gated..." She'll scoop up her loot then comment.

"Let's get back to town shall we?"

Goldenblade is inspecting the chitinous plate she received, but looks up at the mention of Spinner's Deep. "What's that?" she wonders. "Gated ...?" So much of the MMO world she just has no clue about. On the other hand, she understands about standing around in wet chainmail, and agrees, "Yeah, lets get back. I need a hot bath."

    Uta knocks on the plate. "This sounds like a nice thing to make other things out of. I cannot think of anything to make out of it, right now, but-"

    Silence.

    "We have 'unlocked' something?", she asks, as she walks over to the runic circle to take a better look at it. "I don't remember anything like that from previous duties. Have we... I don't know, opened up a new area like people who clear the tower do?" She suddenly beams up with a smile, hopeful. "Do we get a plaque with our names in this room?"

    Merek looks to the place in full, while he collects the award quest item. Then he nods to the party, "This should be useful in ranking up, not to mention making new projects. Thank you all, it was nice to fight alongside you all," he notes.

"Neat. I got some Chitinous Plate." Cyrus remarks, as the creature disappears, and he holds up the item. He inspects it, flipping it about a few times. "This looks a lot like Giganpor's shield." He then remarks, clearly not having been paying attention to some of the going-ons. But at least he remembers that guy's name! He then glances at Spinner's Deep and the commentary about content. "That's... weird. I've never seen a message that blatant before." He squints at it in confusion. "Anyhow... guess we'll come back in two weeks - and for now, we go back to report this to the Hunter's Guild?"

"It's the same stuff that Giganpor's shield is made out of. I had one, myself, but I gave it to the efforts to clear out Shibuya." Someone probably turned it into a piece of armor or traded it for supplies, perhaps. Mikage stretches her arms out over her head, "Oh well, at least it's experience. And that new level of the dungeon should be interesting."

She doesn't seem too bothered with the lack of treasure. "Doesn't look like it does anything special like that." She explains to Uta, "We should probably report back. The Hunter's guild will be interested to know what's going on." With that, she motions to Cyrus, and then starts heading out.