Obsidian: Fortress

The travel leading up to this place has been an arduous one. Hours upon hours of travel on foot. When one looks at the distance itself, it should not have taken this long. But everything has been a dangerous affair for the Adventurers. This far out from Fort Ouph means monsters of a much higher level. And over here, there's some dangerous roaming midboss like megafauna that could really ruin their days.

As such, Reika, Mikage, Shiruba and Baroness Wake have been leading the party and ensuring the safety of Akumeiji. With Shiruba and Mikage taking the duties of watching for signs of monsters passing through areas, while Reika and Baroness Wake ensuring that the group is moving in a manner that goes largely unnoticed by the monsters nearby.

This deep, they start noticing old holes and buildings dug into various trees far up. Some of those here might be reminded of the third floor of the Aincrad Tower, which held tree based housing. Except everything here looks... just ancient. It's not maintained, clearly. And it's not uncommon to see monsters peeking out over the balconies and ancient observatories. The high up tree city they are slowly maneuvering into doesn't have any modern ammenities. But there's various glowing branches and trees that still show that old magic is at work here. There's a few plants that fire thorns at flying monsters. And those who played the old Elder Tale Online might even recognize some tell tale landmarks of the old Sylph and Pooka home.

There's that fountain that you used to be able to sit on and heal. Now entirely overgrown... also, there's an enormous ant crawling over it chittering at another series of enormous cockroaches - which seem to understand the ant, and disperse.

And then, right before them... the enormous tree. The magnificence of it is hard to describe. Though not as large as the Aincrad Tower, it is possible to see it from most of the islands within the Yamato Regions, if the light falls on it right. The trunk is absolutely enormous, as its its height.

The large arched gate that leads inside is half crushed by what looks like a giant attack. But they're not looking to enter through there. Thanks to Reika, Mikage, Shiruba and Baroness wake - they start making their way around. Akumeiji and a Pooka that is traveling with them are able to direct them to a shadowed rear of the tree, and into a 'smaller' gate. The Elder Tale Offline people might recognize it as the old 'Collectors' home, which was largely inaccessible for anything but turning in 'artifacts' that they could find back in the day.

Stepping inside, they manage to find a few old statues that line the round hall. But the formerly inaccessible 'green door' at the back of it... stands open this day. The counter that belonged to The Collector is crushed and splintered. And there's a nasty groove in the ground that looks like something got dragged most of the way through the large hall... before disappearing. The enormous footprints of <something> are probably a tell.

"So Acra was right." Akumeiji offers the Pooka who's quietly traveled with them. "Of course I was right." The crotchety young Pooka remarks. "My mother always told me to watch for some of my crystals to remain lit. And to investigate immediately if any one of them turned off." The Eastal Free League council-woman crosses her arms, grunting and glaring at Akumeiji. The two of the have been quietly at eachothers' throats for most of this. That kind of 'angry respect' that two scholars have for one-another.

Proteus is used to travelling on foot. Rarely does she use mounts or, Goddesses forbid, carriages. Boats are unavoidable in an archipelago, however, and the Chaos Gates (when they functioned) were useful.

Still, that's no longer the case. The Imp Archaeologist moves, skirting through the grass and trees and following along behind the leaders of the party, her eyes sharp as she looks out through the area. It takes only a moment for Proteus to place the landmarks and reminiscence of times gone before, but she says little about it, her face turning into a shark-toothed frown in thought. The sight of the insects communicating makes the frown larger...

But there's something else to tend to. The massive tree. She moves along with the others, not attempting to break away from the group. Instead, she moves carefully, slowly, analyzing the area as they pass through. She crouches next to the groove in the ground, running her fingers along it, bringing her fingers up to sniff for a moment... And then she looks up to the green door. "Not so impassible now, are you." She mutters.

She straightens up, looking between the Pooka and Akumeikji as they more or less snipe at each other. "So I suppose that means our esteemed colleagues will be having us do the investigating?" She says, her tone carefully neutral. "Do you have any information on what it might mean that the crystal turned off?"

After her last encounter with Akumeiji of the Mage's Tower, Mikage had more than enough reasons to want to look further into her experiments and research. So, when another request had come through, she'd been one of the first to answer the call, ready to see what might lay ahead of them in this 'forest fortress'.

Getting there may have just been the hardest part. With Rama's keen nose, the Ranger had volunteered to help scout the path ahead. Between herself, her animal companion, and Shiruba's equally skilled abilities, they are able to avoid some of the worst of what lay on the path to the stronghold, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a long and tiring journey.

As someone who hasn't been in Aincrad tower much, the sight of the tree-village draws her interest. There is almost an affinity there, as if this were exactly the sort of place she would chose for herself to live, if it weren't for the monster infestation.

As they get closer to the large tree, it is those giant footprints that have her pausing, placing a hand next to them to get an idea of just what might have passed through. "We should be on our guard for something... big." As if that isn't obvious. Her eyes flick to the two arguing scholars, "So... what exactly are we looking for?"

    Ok, it all made sense now, this sorta thing was exactly why they had to fix the transportation circles. This was one of the many thoughts that Setsuna had time to chew on in the hours of walking they got to experience. There is some brief nostalgia as they pass through what remains of the collectors house and looks around at the statues. He looks at the footprints and stops at the freshest looking one to try to take a guess at what might have been through here. "I don't suppose anyone here has any guess what has such big feet to make these?" Given what they had came across last time with Akumeiji his bit was on some komodo dragon looking thing.

The potential concentration and aggressiveness of monsters in this region is something that Shiruba has had to adjust to over time. Even then, one can hardly ever be absolutely prepared. So it's slow going, looking for the signs of a presence, and guiding the group away from hopefully crossing any paths while their rear guard makes sure they don't draw more subtle attention. To find their goal.. and then circumnavigate it to find the -other- entrance, takes more time than one can really express in words or feelings other than, that, long.

And even with the length of time and tremendous patience to get to this point, Shiruba's eyes still light up when they step through the smaller gate in the shadows. "Oh, this brings back memories. More than once my brother and I came here in the original game to swap magic items for others more suited to tackling a certain boss or dungeo--" She stops, expression falling and ears drooping at the sight of the broken counter and ramshackle disregard for the place. "-- And it sure hasn't been used in a long time. I guess that was kind of expected." Nostalgia took a big hit there, but at least she can focus on business at hand now that it's out of her system. "This... is not reassuring."

She rolls her eyes as the two scholars are respectfully bickering with each other -again-. That hasn't helped this trip feel any shorter, either.

    Baroness Wake, outside of greetings, has been quiet. It's nothing personal, but for her silence is not a process, but an aura. She shares just a few hand signals with the others, making it unnecessary for her to speak when there's something to communicate.
    While the journey is not a quick one, her face is rarely seen until shortly after the team enters the tree. It is then that she explains, "We've put down enough false trails to keep the most talented of trackers busy for days. For the less talented, they will be lucky to survive where some of those lead." She at least assumes that those giant insects wouldn't turn down a meal that blunders right into their territory.
    She stands by Proteus, nodding to her. She flashes one of her signs that indicates something like << I've got your back >> and laughs softly.

    Amalthea is not getting anywhere in between Akumeiji nor Acra, lest both turn on her and start lecturing furiously. But the old Paladin is here, having followed without a single word of complaint for the whole journey.
    At least up until the bugs start getting really really big again.
    "Eugh. What is it with giant insects in this world?" She says with a shudder that runs up her spine.
    Pause.
    "What is it with giant -everythings- really?"

Sneaking around a forest is generally not too hard. Less so for a larger group. But fortunately, there's always way to move around the more dangerous obstacles. Plus she wasn't alone doing the work. Always helps to be part of the group.

"Always better be safe than sorry, really." She nods to Baroness "I've seen enough things to warrant the old saying anyway." She shakes her head, following the others once she made sure to erase the last tracks behind them.

    Hunter's Guild quest, well that means one bun has heard of it. She's the kind to look into anything weird and this sounds weird. The tall albino girl walks along with the party. Her long ears turn this way and that, the caerbannog woman working to keep from getting ambushed if nothing else.

    She sticks close to Mizuki and looks to Amalthea "Well if there were giant things, how would we have enough boss monsters or the like for there to be content right? Do I have that right Mizukichi? You know more about games than me." She tips her head "That they seem to be talking now THAT is weird." she says with a smile that shows too many razor sharklike fangs in ragged rows.

"Giant everythings are really easy to make when you have limited assets or imagination. Just take a small thing that would only be particularly scary or dangerous if it was super-sized, and super-size it. Giant everything is just shorthand for 'the art team is overworked,'" Prophylaxis explains, as the Doctor of Tolbana is here too! Though his archaeological skills are not exactly the most refined in the world, he *is* a rather effective cryptographer. When exploring ancient ruins, you need someone like this guy around to make sure you don't accidentally disturb a tomb belonging to an apocryphal god-king and unleash a thousand-year curse upon you, your companions, and the surrounding countryside.

"I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with Pooka mythos and folklore," he says, then, attempting to defuse the roiling argument (just kiss already you two) between the pair of scholars by inserting himself right into the middle of it. "What exactly are you talking about when you mention crystals? Is this something important to Pooka history that I don't know about?"

    "Is this what the game's high-level zones are like? No, the game's MID-level zones?" Hours of fighting through difficult encounters... in the beforetimes, Sam could've paused the game and taken a break. Now, well...

    Anyway, they find tree ruins. "If this were a different setting, I'd assume these were elven cities. But the alves in this setting were all magitechy, not nature-love-y, right?"

    And then a big tree, and a gate. "Wait, is this... the Collector's place?" She sniffs at the footprints, trying to tell if... whatever happened, happened recently.

    "Wait, did you say you had some kind of crystal security system readout tied to this place? How?"

    She shrugs to Wisteria. "Even if there weren't giant insects in this setting, there'd be something else, yes."

So here we go another day another job from Gwen's honestly favourite Lander Wizard. She didn't mind the treck there were monsters to deal with sure and Gwen as with the main party rather than the scouts. So she would be near Akumeiji for a moment as she looks at her for a moment. The scholars are making Gwen flashback to her schooling days but she's smart enough to stay out of it. She'll take a look at this thing for a moment and she pauses for a moment.

"Haven't been here in a very long time... this used to be the Collector's place I hope they are all right..."

She'll take a moment to check for any sign of the collector's fate but who knows how long it's been, right?

"So we should be on our toes for this..."

    Merek seems to be with the party to look at the place, and generally exploring. He wears the usual casual dark attire he often seems to wear, while he nods a bit to people, his beltcape about the waist while he begins to draw a gloved little hand along upon the cheek.

    Looks around "Ooh yah that's something I'd like to know too." she says skipping up in little hops towards Proph. She's an archeologist bun and maps and artifacts are right up her street. "Have they been long functioning? Were they enchanted normally, or did they use high magic like the Root cities, or psudo high magic like the banks? Or were they just like normal magic... just wave arts and enchanting reagents?" she chatters in that way that someone who normaly does all of this as a thought experiment and finally getting to talk to someone who might have answers.

Acra and Akumeiji quiet for a bit. "That is what we are paying you through the Hunters Guild for, yes." They both offer out to Proteus, almost at the same time. Before they glance at eachother, and kind of grump at one-another for having the same line of thought.

Acra then sighs. "My mother left behind many notes. There's various things down there - and based on the evidence here, it looks like someone made off with them. I'm intent on re-engaging the barrier when we leave - but we should look down below to see what is missing. Based on that, I can give more information." She explains. "I must ask that you do not take or try to steal anything when we are down here." After all, the punishment from the Hunters Guild' side would be fairly severe if they did.

At Prophylaxis' question, Akumeiji offers; "Some types of Crystals can be made to resonate with eachother with very little expenditure of magic. This allows you to set up alarms and the like without having to worry about the magic to run out in the next few lifetimes."

At Gwen's commentary about the Collector, Acra remarks; "You're probably talking about my great great great grandfather." Pointing out just how long it's been since the Sylph and Pooka home city was abandoned. "He passed a long time ago."

Acra then adds; "Root Cities are special. From what we figure, their magic doesn't seem to run out at all. At least, whatever is still functioning. Some of the architecture and devices do need maintenance from time to time. But we leave that kind of work to the Gnomes and Imps." She explains.

In the meantime, the open door to the back remains untouched.

    Wisteria nods "Yah that's what Gilgamesh was saying, I just didn't know if this was like that magic, or like bank magic, or some branch of enchanting I don't know yet. I'm a Shadow you see? So I've been working on my enchanting skills. But I'm also an archeologist and and explorer, I'm a Knight of Odyssia and so I like to see how and where everything works see?" she says with another smile full of razors "If this is something I could learn, we could use this for things like the SEA headquarters. Having alarms and sheilds and stuff that can run without lots of magic upkeep would be perfect. More than that... if these have run that long and weren't affected by the Black Wave then that means we might be able to make things that won't go pffft if another comes." she's bouncing on her toes as she walks and paying much more attention to the scholars than to any giant bugs that might want bunlunch.

While some of the others have recollections of this place from previous iterations of the game, Mikage crouches near the footprints, clearly engaged with trying to figure out what might have caused them. She uses her hand for scale, then slowly pushes herself up, lightly walking along the impressions, trying to get an idea of their pathing.

"Who the hell wears dress shoes this far into the wilderness?" Mikage comments suddenly, as if she were very confused at the prospect. Then, as if realizing that the comment has no context at all, she motions towards the tracks.

"Two sets of tracks. One seems humanoid, but apparently decided to wear fancy shoes out here. There are these indents here that show the completely illogical clothing choice." Then, she adds, "And something big that seemed to be with them. Two toes in the front, one in the back, and a tail behind it. Maybe insectoid by the look of it."

Uncertain if this aids anything in their exploration, she looks to the scholars, thoughtful. "So... get in, find out what was taken, and get out. And no stealing, got it." She does have thief as a profession, but it isn't often that Miki actually puts it to use.

With those instructions, she starts to head in...

"Magic alarm system, interesting... Well, then, shall we get moving? As much as history is important, we probably don't want to linger longer than we have to." Shiruba starts for the back door... Though she pauses when Mikage speaks up on the tracks. "Who the hell wears shoes like that while adventuring? Other than Gwen's mom..." She shoots a fangy smile at her best friend and a wink, before turning to head for the doorway.

Of course it's only to pause at the frame and peer past it, still on the watch for any possible trouble. Even moreso when they know that someone or something has been down here. "Keep our two guests," meaning Akumeiji and Acra, "near the center of the group so if something does threaten us, it can't immeadiately get to them."

    "Completely illogical clothing choice? So... maybe an adventurer?" Mizuki points out. And then... she looks to Arca. "Wait, you're the Collector's grandkid? He... existed, here? If he wasn't collecting artifacts from Adventurers, what was he doing?"

Proteus makes a little smirk back at Wake at the sign and nods, not making any additional noise than necessary at this point. Wake's known for her stealth, but Proteus makes do where she can. Though with her current abilities, she might have to start hiring escorts herself... She exhales in irritation at the thought.

"Lazy design." Proteus replies to Amalthea. "When they want to give you a challenge... When in doubt, make it larger." She shrugs. "More seriously, this area is likely full of life energy. Just take one look at the place. It might be a side effect of having access to that former healing fountain for so long."

The arrival of Wisteria gets a careful look from Proteus, but the Imp says nothing at this point, simply keeping an eye on her for a moment... Not out of fear, but as if she is looking for something in particular. If she sees it, she says nothing, instead turning to look over at Mizuki. "Have you spent any time in Ezzo?" She asks Mizuki. "A pity. You might have liked it there... Provided you could survive, of course."

However, back to the matter at hand. She looks over the tracks, frowning. Her hands splay out for a moment, quietly measuring the track. "Whatever was being dragged, it looks like it was wide... And look here." She gestures at the markings. "There's still faint signs of how the wood was being scored by the object. It's extremely heavy, likely metal at least on the edges. Hard to tell specifics past that, though."

The response from Acra and Akumeiji just gets an arch from Proteus' eyebrow. "Mmm. Indeed, you are. Let's hope to give you what you're paying for, hmm?" The Imp gives Acra a side-eye. "The barrier, eh? I wonder why it isn't here in the first place?" She asks, but says nothing else at the moment, making a little squint at the additional information from Akumeiji.

She says nothing else and simply steps forward, checking the door in the back to make sure it is safe before heading through. "... Let's just hope if they are Adventurers, they aren't who I think they could be."

    "Whatever security they had here, it clearly isn't perfect. I do agree with Wisteria. There's value in finding out how this works. Perhaps we could use it to at least delay some of the threats we're seeing as of late. I fear that game may be leveling up with us. Or ahead of us."
    She moves towards the door, but not to go through immediately. She's going to listen, and listen carefully to ensure there are no surprises. Her eyes are studying the path intently as well. This place has an air of a place she broke into years ago, one that was loaded with trip wires, deadfalls, and every kind of deadly trap she'd ever heard of. That place she was very happy to loot. The news of no looting is annoying, but it isn't a shock.
    Today, the Right Clothes are skin tight, a dull blueblack, and as close to utterly silent as can be made. Wake uses them to her advantage and draws the darkness around her. She has no intention of moving ahead in plain sight. Still, she won't let anyone get ahead of her, either. She's thankful there are other stealthy adventurers along. They may need to check several directions at once.

Gwen nods to Arca as she fills in more details to the rest of the group. She will think for a moment and then reapply.

"Got it."

She pauses for a moment.

"Understood, we will leave everything that isn't nailed down in place."

Look she used to pick up everything she could in Elder Tale Offline that wasn't flagged owned. She will behave though she thinks for a moment.

"We should be ready, for anything who knows what might be in there."

She looks for Arca for a moment pausing at how much time has passed.

"I see and yes I thin..."

She's gobsmacked about how much time had passed since then. Then again hopefully given the oddities of Adventurers, the landers won't think too much of this.

"I see, thank you for telling me."

She looks to Shiruba for a moment and then pauses.

"... You'd be shocked Shiruba."

She could be planning things she'll look back to the barrier for a moment and thinks.

"Something must have popped it we should stay on alert and I'll be one of the first to go through I'm a tank after all..."

Reika wasn't part of the game before for long enough to know anything about the Collector either, the others are better suited for it likely. At least, some of them. She crosses her arms as she listens to Proteus' analysis on the matter "So something heavy and dragged along..." She wonders if anything fits the bill that they know about. At least, within the technology of this world. It wasn't on wheels if it had to be pushed in at least.

She looks at the door from a safe distance. She's good at sneaking maybe, but that means stay away from potential alarm tripping.

"Who /would/ be wearing heels in a place like this? I've seen enough broken ankles in my day to know just how many come from an inconvenient footwear malfunction, and a damn jungle is just about the worst place to be wearing anything of the sort." Prophylaxis breathes a long, thoughtful sigh. "Well. I can think of one possibility if they aren't adventurers. I have heard of strange individuals appearing under certain precarious conditions lately, and I wonder what they get up to when they aren't otherwise making a nuisance of themselves."

Maybe 'disrupting ancient barriers' and... "If there is someone capable of breaking that barrier, is there anything down in this old place that could be considered a threat? Like, say someone were to know that a storehouse full of powerful artifacts was locked behind a powerful barrier, but possessed a means to tear down that barrier... Is there anything in there that such an individual would be interested in claiming?"

If the crystals are acting as an early warning system of some kind, then it stands to reason that there are things deep within this ruin that aught to never see the light of day...

    Setsuna just picked up a couple of useful things, one root cities have a infinite magic pool, and two crystal resonation was a useful magic trick. Turning his head to Mikage as she lists off the important details of the tracks and then stands and stretches, " So off to find Dorothy and her big grasshopper." He watches the group approach the backdoor and begins to follow behind, though keeping a bit of distance to allow those more suited for trap avoiding to do their thing first. He does look over at the groups supervisors, Akumeiji and Arca and ask, " So things could be missing? Was there anything in the notes about troublesome items we should be extra wary about? "

    Mizuki juust finds Proteus's comment confusing. "I've been there, but why would I like it?"

    She looks at the tracks. "Metal? You think it might be a construct?" That stirs another thought -- She tries to remember if Spahtjar's intact leg included something akin to a 'dress shoe'.

    Merek seems to be content to listen while watching and nods a bit to people, and begins adjusting the gloves which he would be wearing, "Alright, well it looks like the place..." There's a look to the people that lead all of them about, "Are the things that are about intelligent?"

"The barrier likely failed due to lazy magic." - "You take that back. My ancestors were masters of barrier magic. We didn't need physical walls to hide behind." - "And see how well that worked out for you people. Our people live in various protected villages, and your people are all stuck on that floating pile of rock." Arca and Akumeiji get into a frustrated 'talking match'.

Acra grunts. "The barrier here should have lasted easily for a few more hundred years. Something really extreme must have shut it off." She points to the entrance they just came through, pointing to a series of runes. "The runes are still there. So the magic must have worn from defending against something rather extreme. Enough to disrupt its connection to the old magics and vitality of this land. I'll be able to reactivate it when we depart." She points out.

---

The team, or at least parts of the team, start to head through the back door. Above them, they can hear the heavy footsteps and hissing of monsters. Luckily, they are not in this part of the tree. But no doubt things will get dangerous if they make too much noise - which might get the monsters to dig. Regular talking volume is fine though. The walls are thick. And they're only picking up loud noises through them.

Through the doors, they start heading down along a long and broad winding staircase that does a one-eighty over a long enough distance that they end up a few 'floors' below where they started... and into what appears to be some kind of dungeon. There's green crystals firing subtle lights across the place - illuminating other crystals. There's a dias at the front with a light pointing forward. This is... a very obvious 'puzzle lock' of sorts. Except, instead of being an easy game lock, it has over a thousand crystals in various configurations pointing at eachother. And there's only like nine crystals actually showing light going through them like a laser. With a thousand crystals, there's countless configurations needed to potentially unlock one of these.

"Strange. The collapsed room is what I expected - if you try to force your way through, these places are set to go down. But this... if you don't know the right configuration, it would take /years/ to figure out how to open even one of these chambers." Acra points out. After which Akumeiji glances around and admits; "... she's right. Even if you were a super genius, following this many angles is nearly impossible. And those crystals each hold the equivalent of a 'code' in a coded letter. You can't just mess with them. They must have had the password."

"That's impossible." Acra groans, "Even I don't have the passcode configuration for these."

The place they are standing in is like a hall - with various barriers in place - thick enough that it's impossible to see through them. At least one of the 'cavities' here is completely collapsed in on itself. There's eight others that still have barriers in front of them, with the tenth cavity open.

Acra then steps forward to the chamber where the barrier was removed. The dragmarks start from there. "Shit... they took The Mirror." He mumbles.

"That's bad." Akumeiji agrees, with a dire tone to her voice.

"Very bad." Acra agrees, as she turns her head to stare at the stone that has been left in the large open cavity. "And they knew to remove it from its seal."

The two then turn around. "They took the Moon Mirror. An artifact created by the Alv with a terrible power. The original Adventurers asked us to keep it here, for the Final Battle. Or so goes the tale." Something that would... not be familiar to anyone here that's played Elder Tale Offline. But then, nobody ever figured out how to finish that game. Even after that long of a time.

    Mizuki is working out the number of combinations in her head. With having to move the crystals by hand... "Well, someone had it. Who made this, and who had the passcode originally, and why do you think noone has it now?" Mizuki asks. "And just what IS the terrible power of the Moon Mirror?"

    "Oh that's a low blow Shiruba." Amalthea says gently.
    Not that she knows Gwen's mom.
    That hilarity can come later though.
    A lot of lore is lost on Amalthea though, having not played Eldertale offline, she's mostly just following along.
    "I will pass on big grasshoppers." She mutters before raising her hand.
    "What's the Moon Mirror and what does it do?"

Reika tilts her head in thought. A moon mirror, with powers? If that's some sort of game design, then it could be based on some legend too. If it means nothing to the game players, it might still sound familiar to others. But she can't talk about that with the Landers present, likely, so she keeps it to herself for now.

"A Final Battle that never happened if it was still here...." Shiruba starts, then trails off as things start to click together. And they're not good things to have to think of either.

She turns to Arca and Akumeiji after all that exposition. "Are you saying someone somehow got down here, and knew the right process to get to that specific chamber and open the seal for that particular item?" She jabs a thumb over her shoulder at the magic laser grid of impossible possibilities. "Because even an -experienced- puzzle afficiando would take longer to try and find a combination than a Rubix Cube here."

Then after a moment she turns to add to Amalthea. "You haven't met Gwen's mom yet, have you?"

"It seems like you might be interested in it. Besides, Ezzo was full of high level content. More than I could even get to before..." Proteus frowns. "Well, another time will come." She leaves it be for now. Acra points out that the runes were supporting a barrier, and the Imp surrepetitiously checks the runes, perhaps looking for something, before moving on with the others. "Something extreme enough to disrupt the magics... Backed up by the power here? I wonder if it will be the sledgehammer or the stilleto we need to be concerned with."

Proteus goes silent as they move on, not wanting to get the attention of the monsters above. This place is higher level than they are in a lot of ways and she has no intention of seeing how well the number scaling goes. It's when they get to the crystals that there's a little glint in Proteus' eyes, the Imp moving forward quickly and looking down over the tableau as she looks at the beam rushing through the crystals and the way that they all gleam in their places. "Mmm..." She says, her fingers twitching. As the two speak, Proteus squints down at the crystals and tilts her head for a moment, humming to herself, and then turning her head back the other way.

Abstracted, she taps her foot as the pair of sages investigate the mirror chamber. "Would the mirror happen to be edged with metal?" She asks. "And perhaps be... oh... yea thick?" She holds her hands apart a few inches."

"If you didn't have the pass code, who did?" Mikage asks, looking over the elaborate locking system. It is far and beyond what she might be able to figure out, and certainly more complex than she has seen in any other dungeons thus-far.

It isn't hard to tell that something was taken from here. She opens her mouth to ask, but plenty of others beat her to it, so the Ranger decides to close her lips again, taking a look around the chamber that the mirror had been in. Rama sniffs, too, as if both of them were looking for anything that might give another clue as to who might be the culprit in this crime.

    Setsuna follows the group down into the vaults and looks at the group, his eyes catch the crystals and he starts to approach one to examine before he hears the information about the mirror. He turns to look at the rest of the group his eyes stopping on Arca before he notices the collapsed cavity. "Hope nothing important was in there. " He walks over to the cavity that was holding the mirror and peers in. "So I guess the question is are we to late and whoever took it is gone? Is there another way out or are we about to be ambushed? " So many questions are being flung at the two he takes a moment to walk the room they are standing in worried about any form of shadow hiding a hallway.

    That news evokes a hiss and curses whispered too softly to carry. Which is honestly for the best. A deadly artifact lost to someonw who was already skilled enough to break their way into this place. Wake hates it. Mostly cause she's not sure how that compares to some of the burglaries she commited in the pre-Apocalypse days. The one thing she does take comfort in is that she never left nasty traps behind her to deal with whoever might follow in her footsteps. So maybe this thief didn't, either.
    Still, she is wary of anyone touching anything, and keeps an eye out. It is safest in her experience to presume everything in a dungeon is out to kill you. When you are wrong about that, you are usually still living.

Aaaand that's the other (high heeled) shoe drop. Prophylaxis grimaces, his expression turning grave. "Yeah, okay. That's about what I thought would have happened. But the fact that they were able to do all the right things to bypass security means that they've got someone more familiar with the setup of things than we are... Or that they have a power not unlike an Enigma fragment that's capable of brute-forcing access in an instant."

"Of course, that's just conjecture at this point." He shrugs helplessly-- there's little they can do to chase these mysterious thieves down from in here at this point, but... "How do we deal with the Mirror? If someone were to use it, what would they use it for and when? If we can catch them in the act, we might be able to retrieve or destroy it then."

But then-- Proteus seems to have something in mind. "...What are you getting at?" he asks, turning his gaze her way. "You've seen a powerful magic mirror somewhere before?"

    "Or, they programmed it in the first place." Mizuki realizes, and points out to Prophy. "Or were told the solution by the person who did..."

    "I like when the words moon and stars are used in anything," Merek notes, with a nod along to the party. He does take a look around while he would begin to pat those gloves together, "Alright. what does the mirror even being taken mean for the place?"

"The original Adventurers never told us. But they sealed it within stone when they found it." Acra remarks, as she takes a moment to step into the cavity itself. The green crystal above it glowing. She then steps out again and turns towards the Adventurers, bearing her smaller stature.

"That's exactly what she is saying." Akumeiji then tells Shiruba.

Acra then answers Mikage; "Nobody... that's it. Nobody should have had that passcode. We let that secret die when the Adventurers disappeared from our land." And at another insinuation; "No... they are definitely dead."

The two women then nod to Proteus. Acra notes; "Yes, a metal frame, a black mirror, with the green moon as an insignia at the top. Quite thick at that, and unable to be broken."

    Wisteria gets out parchment and pen to scribble down runes when they're pointed out. The girl just can't help herself, this isn't stealing this is learning. "Maybe it's a decendant of someone who helped code these? Family knowledge handed down is a tradition and the way most secrets of a clan end up getting out. Someone who is decended of a trustworthy line who shares what they are not suppose to." she says. "What is it suppose to do?" she'll try to get a look at the 'seal' if she can. "Like the seal and the mirror... if it's like Alves magic in the mirror then was it psudo magic in the seal or was that made by the Alves too?" she has to phsyically resist the urge to pick up the seal and start studying it.

Gwen looks to Prophylaxis "I know right I can get flats or lifts but /high/ heels? God in heaven Prophylaxis I wonder about some armour and clothing designers." She will look at Arca for a moment with some concern. Gwen nods to them for a moment and she'll move to take point as they head onward. She'll look at the lock for a moment and then look back to Arca and Akumeiji. She grimaces.

"The Moon Mirro? That doesn't sound good."

She looks over to Proteus for a moment. Then something forms in her mind out of nowhere.

"Proteus? Not sure where you are going but I had a thought. You think Glass and her ilk might have snuck in here to raid it? She'd have the firepower to break in here?"

    Wisteria looks up "The Adventurers sealed it?" she taps her lower lip with her pen "Weren't there adventurers from another world who were suppose to be dead? OR did I misunderstand that note?" she tips her head and looks at the seal again.

To Westeria's remark, Acra notes, "... yes. The decendant would be me. And I don't have the code." She pouts - clearly taking this matter rather personally! "And again, we don't know what the mirror does. The seal was made by the original Adventurers."

Akumeiji then adds; "The original Adventurers left hundreds of years ago. This artifact was placed here... hundreds of years ago."

"Ah, so obviously the ones who took it were some of those Original Adventurers, returned here after hundreds of years! Or their descendents, maybe." Prophylaxis simply taps a fist into an open palm as if the answer were plain as day and not at all something terrible to even begin considering. "After all, they disappeared, did they not? They didn't actually die? And who's to say that time passed different for them than it did for you? Oho, the rabbit hole may yet go deeper...!"

Proteus rummages around the crystals, moving from one to the next and speculatively examining each one. But true to instructions, she does not touch one, nor does she move to steal it. ( * # Her hand swivels, quickly crossing in the air as she summons up an Arcane Eye and looks upon said crystal for several moments, then sends it sweeping through the room quickly.

Soon, it returns to her, the glow of her hooded purple eyes fading as the Arcane Eye leaves with it. "... 1024 bit key. It doesn't seem to match any format I've seen before. Artistic, at least..." She mutters to herself, and taps her chin. "I can't even access the...- hmm?"

She looks up and turns towards Prophylaxis. She waits to answer until she hears from the sages. "I see. Then we're even later than I thought. The Mirror is gone from here, we won't be finding the culprits." She gestures. "The thing they were dragging above in the Collector's Room. It wasn't being dragged in. It was being dragged /out/. That would have been the Moon Mirror."

She folds her arms. "It would be effectively impossible in the time frame we have right now for someone to brute force the passcode, never mind any possible punishments there might be for getting one wrong." She nods to Gwen. "You're right, Gwen. If anyone would have the ability to pass the lock, it might be those people. And if they are looking for something to destroy all the Heroes of the world..." She frowns. "Perhaps that might be it. Could we be looking at an apocalyptic weapon?"

Acra chimes in; "The original Adventurers would never do such a thing! They saved our people!" She angrily answers Prophylaxis, while Akumeiji motions her hands in a calming manner. "Now now, Acra. Let's not get too angry." She then turns to Prophylaxis. "The original Adventurers were not like you. They were extremely respectful and kind to us Landers. It will be hard to convince anyone of the Sylph and Pooka people that such a thing could possibly have happened." In other words, she's being nice and saying 'This is possible, but let us not upset Acra further'.

"Somehow someone knew the right combination to access the specific item they wanted. How they got that information.. that's another mystery." Shiruba rubs her chin with one hand thoughtfully. Or maybe to keep herself from snipping at the Scales being kind of finger-pointy with some of their questions. "That we don't know that this magic mirror *does* is another unknown. Though I doubt someone would go through all this trouble just to style their hair."

The wolfgirl shakes her head a moment. Then gives Arca a nudge, mostly to turn his attention to something else. "Can you make sure the rest of the security system is still working? In case someone comes back looking for other items."

    Setsuna calls upon a light around his staff as he shines it on the ground and begins to pace back and forth and back again a few times. "Looks like there are some tracks here of someone pacing." His light moves to shine on the wall as he paces near one, "Also someone or something scraped the walls up well, perhaps climbing or marking something? " He swings the light along the wall seeing some of the wood having water damage without the surrounding wood appearing damaged as well, "Also looks like there was some water damage or I guess possibly some ice damage here. " He motions to a section of the wall and then looks back to the group, "Anyone know any thieves with ice magic?"

    Wisteria keeps studying the seal stone. "That's what I was saying with the whole thing before... it isn't necisarily the old Adventurers. But it could be their decendants. Or It could be someone who got information from them or their decendants... it could be a savant but that's not really something I think is credible really." she says still tapping her lip and doing her best to examine the enchantments without touching. "Hey... do we know... HOW to use the seal? Having it and using it to lock down the mirror when we find it could be really important. I might want to go home, but I'd really rather nothing blows up the world... either world that is." she says her razor teeth nibbling at her lower lip in concentration.

    "The problem with prophetic weapons is that they are never used quite the way we expect to achieve the goal we expect," says Wake. She directs her attention to Proteus, "That's a quick catch, Dr. Strange," she says playfully. "I'll make a note to invite you to any mysteries I encounter."
    The Baroness turns to Acra, "I would ask that you accept that at least some adventurers do respect landers and care for them. Myself included. Are there any other dangerous things kept here that you need to check on? Or is our mission now narrowed strictly to getting you safely to restore the wards and out of here?"

    Merek looks between everyone in thought, "Just how important is it we find that Mirror?" he asks then of the people, and all of them that are leading the group, "I just need to know that."

Like Gwen, Mikage seems to realize that Proteus seems to be on to some kind of thought, and thus she looks towards them. Her own knowledge of computers only extends to Dive Gear and it's interaction with human beings, so most of the cryptography simply goes over her head.

"A mysterious artifact, with unknown power, stolen by an unknown entity for unknown reasons." There seem to be a lot of questions, and little in the way of answers to be had, at least from what they had on hand at the moment.

Setsuna is able to add a bit more information, which just seems to leave Mikage looking curious. "Maybe the creature with the tracks we saw up above?" It's a guess. "Whomever they are, they came and went a while ago. We could try to back-track, see if we can't trace their path out of here, but they'll have quite a head start on us."

Though Rama is an excellent tracker, it wouldn't be hard to cover tracks if given enough time.

    "Merek, that mirror is a weapon for the end of times, as I understand it. And nobody ever finished Elder Tale. I'd say we should be extremely concerned that it's been reserved for the sequel," says Wake.

Acra nods to the Baroness, and Akumeiji agrees. "At this point, all we can do is go back, unless any of you have a better idea." Acra notes. "We can head back and restore the wards. And that will be it. The way back is arduous, and the longer we stay, the more likely it is that a monster will get in here."

    "Then that's all you need to tell me," Merek states, then he takes a moment to take from the pocket of his an orb, then he looks to it. "I want to know where the Moon Mirror will be traveling, I need to. We need to protect the world, we need to know where it will be," he states, then he lifts up the orb to above him, while he nods a little.

"Hmm," Prophylaxis casts the flailing pooka a flat gaze before turning to Akumeiji with a shrug. "I apologize, then. I was just looking for the simplest solution to the problem that we're facing. I suppose it's possible that some Adventurer could have just written down the combination somewhere and these invaders could have found it." But that adds another step to the possibility-chain, another complicating factor. Occam's Razor demands otherwise, and yet...

"I for one take mild offense at being thought of as inconsiderate towards Landers, however," Prophylaxis sniffs in (possibly? Feigned??) consternation. "My clinic sees all sorts, not just Adventurers, you know. And didn't I literally throw myself onto a devil-worm to save your life the other day? Hrmph!"

HRMPH!

"Ah well, can't get too angry about it," he shrugs again, then suggests: "You should change the combination on our way out if you can. Otherwise our invaders might just show up again and take another apocalyptic superweapon out of storage."

"The original Adventurers... And it's been sealed since then. How much time has passed since it was locked away, I wonder." Proteus rubs her chin. "I might be looking at this from the wrong perspective considering... Still, we will have to find the thieves eventually."

Proteus turns to look to Setsuna and shakes her head. "No one that specialized in it, but one of the people I am thinking of is capable of using elemental magic." She shrugs. "Nothing specific enough yet."

The Baroness blindsides Proteus with her playful comment, the Imp arching a brow. "I, ah... Yes. I will be happy to help with any mysteries you might have. After all, I already am."

She looks to Merek, and shakes her head. "It's important that we find it, but I am not sure how much time we /have/ to find it. If you are asking the question, it's because you are considering expending something valuable, I assume. Hold onto it." He raises the orb nonetheless, and Proteus squints, frowning. "What are you up to?" She asks, looking intently at that object. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Right. The longer we linger, the longer something might take notice. And a monster getting down here to -break- things would be worse than one being stolen. If there's nothing else to learn..." Shiruba trails off, watching as Merek takes out something and askes it important questions. "I hope that thing is more accurate than the Magic 8 Ball."

As Merek asks that question, the Enigma Piece he is holding suddenly begins to flicker... and then suddenly jumps into the air - in the middle of the chamber for everyone to see. Pieces of it unlatch from the cube, twisting and whirling around one-another... until it suddenly seems to implode on itself...

And there's a burst of bright light.

It's there for but a moment, but they can see it clearly. A demi-human monster type of sorts, with a gray spiked tail, wearing a red suit and pants, a red tie and a white undershirt. He's wearing glasses that almost seem to push into his eyes, they're that close. He's wearing black dress shoes, and has slicked back black hair. Elven like ears, with a series of rings on the left side, grinning.

Next to him stands an enormous creature, easily twice his size. It's some kind of... blue insect creature with large pincers, with four arms, a long tail with an 'icicle' pattern at the end. It is holding the mirror, presumably, within a brown rag.

They are standing aboard what appears to be a ship made out of bone. And some of those here might recognize the coast they are sailing towards.

There's a sudden jerk of the head of the one in the red suit, and he glances towards those 'gazing' at him, furrowing his brow. They can hear him say; "We are being watched, Cocytus." Right before the mirage suddenly disappears!

    "Huh." Amalthea muses, rubbing at her chin at the Vision. "That's... In the south. Can't tell if it's Aincrad or Eastal, though, all I could see was a small segment of the coast.

    Wisteria taps her lips again with her pen. "Well that makes sense... sort of..." she hrrms "We are going to need Golden I think." she says and nods her head "Yah Golden will be the best person for sealing the mirror when we get it." she says standing up and stretching. "Huh... wow... okay... looks like... that's the Fourland Dukedom." she says "And those guys...they look like bosses... or maybe WereFangs based on bosses?" she says as it dispears.

    Suddenly, there's a... thing? Spinning in the air, and-- "What IS that?!" Mizuki exclaims, but then she watches the vision intently. Once it's gone... "What was THAT?!" She asks Merek.

This is the second time that Mikage has seen a piece of Enigma be utilized, and this is an entirely different sort of power. No wonder they were considered quite so powerful. She ends up staring, seeing the figures who she had only previously known from their tracks formed to life.

"Those two would definitely have made the tracks we saw." She confirms, "Looks like they're already pretty far off, though." The fact that they are onboard a ship seems telling about the distance. Without any sense of the world, Mikage doesn't even have a clue where they might be sailing towards.

    "You all need to what you can to learn where that is," Merek states, then watches while the piece would likely begin to shimmer into black circles. The man looks to the vision and along to the party. A fair few people already know what it was that he was using probably, for a few it likely looks pretty interesting. He seems to be distracted by the fact he just used an Enigma Piece. "That, was the Power of the Enigma Piece." With a nod a little bit to Mizuki.

It's only a brief glimps, but it's possibly a glimps enough as Shiruba notes a few things from her previous travels. "Right, I do believe that's a Dukedom shoreline," she nods, agreeing with Wisteria. "And those people... What if they are from another world like Glass or the ghost ship captains?" She grasps her chin thoughtfully. "The Dukedom hasn't had a Calamity Wave appear in it yet.. they could be preparing for something, and required an artifact of considerable power..."

    Setsuna's search is put on hold as a light show begins above him, he isn't sure how it started but its certainly not what he was expecting. The creature is his focus making note of the insects make, model, and name. "Cocytus." Setsuna repeats the name to help commit it to memory. It is only when he hears some of the others call out where it is, that he realizes the point being to try and track where they are. " That is definitely the Fourland Dukedom. Though where exactly I don't have a clue."

Reika is blinded for a momment, but then blinks her eyes back into focus, as she watches the images "What... hmm... that looks familiar." She thinks at the areas she's visited. "I'm pretty sure that's the Shoreline at the Fourland Dukedom." She looks at Amalthea "Did you see something different?" At least Wisteria seems to recognize it too.

It was what she thought it was. Proteus throws up a hand as the light flares, Merek invoking the power of Enigma. "... If that was your decision, I suppose..." She sighs, but she doesn't pass up the opportunity to gain information. She observes the information provided in the mirage, and frowns for a moment. Others come to the same conclusion she does, and she nods. "Looks like we know where we have to go if we are to catch up to that trail. A ship of bone..." She squints for a moment, but grimaces, bringing a hand to her head. "Tch. This just got more complicated than I like."

Turning, Proteus looks to the Sages and bows to both in turn. "I, and likely most of us here, will be doing our utmost to retrieve the Mirror and return it to where it belongs. Is there anything you require to help restore the sanctity of this place?"

Added for completeness sake, as the GM totally forgot for a moment - as the Enigma Piece is used, strange black circles rise from it. Though those who had seen the last occurrence may note that there's just a small few of them as they rise into the ether, and then disappear.

Gwen nods thinking if other Adventurers wanted something /sealed/ that's just how dangerous it was. Given the stupid tricks with items her Alliance might get up to? It says a lot about this thing needed to be locked away. She looks over to Proteus.

"Some things need to keep locked away, we had such things back home, right?"

Then everything else happens with the Engima Piece occurs.

"WOah..."

    Merek looks to the people that are about, "I know it might be like I used it without thought, but time is of the essence, and not only that... There are people with pieces that can use their own in the future," the man nods a bit to people, then thinks about it, "If we seek that place, the coast, we might be able to find any news of them traveling." Thinking to himself, he's glad it was used like that, he didn't want to think on using it to gain from it either way.

Another Enigma Piece? Used so... well he can't say it was used frivolously, all things considered. They needed to know where that mirror was heading to, after all. But while Prophylaxis himself can't pin down the location, the others seem abundantly capable of doing so. He makes a thoughtful sound and then adds, "They seemed able to detect our spying, and were able to break their way through all this security. Those two are likely going to be formidable foes. If we could find another Enigma Fragment like the one the worm was guarding the other day, though, then maybe..."

Shiruba gives Amalthea a light nudge. "I think we're going to have to bring this up at the Leadership Meeting as well," she remarks to the other Guild moderator.

The sages look to Proteus. "We just require your escort back. We can provide the magic needed to seal this place back up." They glance at the other chambers. "Let's hope they do not have the combination to the others. But at least the gate to this place will be reinforced anew. So it will not be anywhere so easy to open it again." The latter is said by Acra as she begins to move to the entrance to this place, warily looking at the Adventurers.

Akumeiji asides to Prophylaxis, touching her hand to his shoulder, "Don't take it personally. We know not all Adventurers are like that. But this generation seems a lot more... destructive."

Acra then nods to Proteus. "Any aid at all to seal that mirror anew will be appreciated." She expresses.

    "So they are taking a weapon of doom towards my homeland," notes Wake. "Passing with Aincrad on the right, so they are coming from the east. They might turn any number of ways from there. There are many islands, and it's not certain where they might disembark. Assuming they aren't simply planning on ditching the thing in the deepest ocean trench they can find."
    The Baroness shakes off that useless worry for now. It has no purpose. "Let's focus on what we must do first. Let's get the wards functioning, then we must depart."

"Agreed. I think we've learned all we can for now." Shiruba turns to follow the scholars out, pausing along the way to rest a hand on Merek's shoulder for a moment and reiterate from her Chimlink comment "Thank you for utilizing that potential piece of power to prepare us." Then heads up with the rest.

"Unfortunately, that is very true, Baroness. We don't know where they could possibly land, or what they intend to do with it. Other than it is likely very bad for us and this World if not dealt with."

    Wisteria walks along side the sages "I think I see how it was done before and I know someone who should know how." she nods her head. "Do you mind if I watch how it works, powering up that is?" she asks "I really do want to know everything I can about Enchanting and I've been doing pretty good but there's just so much to know and I have to keep up on my sword work and that takes up time and you guys are experts and all." yup she's just not great at this kind of thing rembling is her thought speed when it comes to anything that excites her.

Acra answers Wisteria, "You are welcome to watch. But I will simply be infusing it with the related magic spell. The enchantments and catalysts are already in place. They've just... run out, and been disrupted from connecting to the vitality well beneath this place." She points out.

With most of the information seemingly having been pulled from this place, Mikage gives a nod towards the two scholars. "I can help scout the path back." It's how she can make herself useful, since most of her skills don't tend towards what they'll need for investigations. At the very least, it was a new location and someplace she may come back to investigate further when the world isn't currently under immediate threat from multiple sources...

Proteus nods, and gives a little smile. "Then our escort and support you shall have, fine sages." She turns, a little spring in her step as she emits a little chirpy note of happiness. "We have some new mysteries to unravel, everyone. Let's keep an eye out." She looks over to the Baroness. "Expect me and the rest of Plant Duck to visit soon. We solve problems." She gives a little grin at that, and begins helping everyone back up and out.

Once outside, Proteus takes a very keen note of the process to recharge the wards. Perhaps her interest is the same as Wisteria's. Or perhaps not.

    Wisteria's ears droop a bit "Aww, well I'll still wana see, I've never actually had something run down completely that didn't disentigrate into pfuff and blow away." she says "That was a real disapointment till I figured out catalysts let me tell you." she says nodding her head.

    Setsuna follows along the group as they head back up glancing back down towards the vault a few times , it seemed kinda a waste to be leaving such powerful artifacts down below. However perhaps it is best to save them for another time. At the mention of someone wanting to watch the repair of the barrier Setsuna speaks as well, " Would it bother you if a second person watched as well. I think you underestimate how novel this concept of enchanting crystals is. " He asks as they continue on.

    Another Enigma piece. "How many of those things are there?" Mizuki looks at Merek, then around the room. "This mirror is really a WMD, huh...?" She scratches her head. "We don't know what we're preparing for or how bad it is. We don't know that the mirror's a weapon, only that it was needed for a 'final battle' -- it could be a countermeasure to a defense the enemy in the final battle would have, or a defense against one of its attacks. Orr, maybe it is a weapon."

    Mizuki paces. "They want to destroy the world, and they're going east of Aincrad. Why there? Why ANY country in particular? Unless..." She stops and turns to the others. "Ezzo. Maybe they're going to use the mirror there. Or... if they can break the shield..."

    Wisteria tips her head watching. "Do we know they want to destroy the world Mizukichi? Do we even know they're all part of one group? I mean... we've all kind of split up.... adventurers I mean. We have lots of different goals but we all work together when we need to." she says looking at Proteus with something between dislike and fear.

    Merek looks to the hand upon his shoulder, nodding a little bit to Shiruba, "Thank you," he notes, while he takes a moment to think about it. "There are a lot of the pieces I just used with the people we know. I don't know, I've seen the Power of the one before used by a man that was at a Wave, although he didn't look to be using any piece."

    Mizuki looks back to Wis. "We heard that the people from the other world, that according to their religion they must destroy our world or theirs will be destroyed." She scratches the back of her head. "I still wonder if we can talk to the gods somehow. Do the different worlds have the same gods?"

    Wake smiles at Proteus, "We will be most grateful. Sadly, I cannot race right into that hunt. We have an undead problem to deal with, too. I will not set aside Giganpor's summons. I trust you and the others will save some of the fun for me?" The Baroness may not be a scholar, but she does tuck all of this away to shape her developing philosophies about how this world is going to work.
    She looks forward in silence, then vanishes once more into the darkness. Assuming the danger lies far ahead is a good way to die. She will not lower her guard just yet. Besides, this is exactly the situation where people tend to blunder into a trap.

Gwen looks to Akumeiji and nods frowning a bit. "Yeah it seemns that way, Things have changed where we hail from and not for the better in a lot of ways." She frowns at this wondering about that she doesn't say more as she'll make ready to fall in line when it's time for them to pull out of here.

"Well at least we have some idea about what happened here..."

She looks Mizuki for a moment. "We need to find what's causingf this whole mess and put a stop to it..."

    "Apocalyptic mirror, Giant ants, Army of undead. Sure feels like something or someone is trying to throw everything at us in such a way that we can't really put the effort to solve problems, just react." Setsuna comments to the crowd as they keep heading up. Definately feels like the adventurers are on the defensive more then the offensive.

    "... Oracle, the ability to see into the Future and across the distance," Merek muses, then nods a bit to people. He then takes a moment to watch people, "I think I am going to assist with the enchanting. You know, you mentioned Catalysts, I might like to examine that for Alchemy work," the man notes, while he nods. There's a snap of fingers to Setsuna, "You would imagine they accomplished it when they put us all in ETO itself."

    Mizuki blinks. "Wait, that image was of the FUTURE? It hasn't happened yet?"

Reika hrms as she listens to the others. "Well if that's the future then we should try to do something about it. If that's the past, then I'd guess there could be a clue if we go there?" She wonders, questioning the others on the subject.

    Wisteria looks at Mizuki "But were the people saying that the same people? I mean these guys looked like monsters or werefangs... so are they same people who want to destroy the world to save theirs, or are they people who might want to move here? Or what if they're from a third world all together? Like do we know what worlds we're dealing with? I know there was something about the game makers having lots of games to take stuff out of yah?" she chews her lower lip a bit.

    "When you lash out at the world, the world tends to strike back," notes the Baroness, in response to Setsuna's comments. It might be a bit ominous, her words apparently coming from nowhere. "I believe that as we advance, the world itself will advance along with us. We can expect danger to grow as our powers do." It's not perhaps the cheeriest of things, but today has been a day for stark realism, not sunny day optimism.
    "Regardless, though, we have work to do." And with that, she stops speaking and gets back to her wary duties.

    Mizuki shrugs to Wisteria. "We know too little. Maybe he should have asked the Enigma Piece to tell him who they are, instead. Maybe this has nothing to do with destroying the world -- maybe some of the devs trapped inside with us are finally making their move?"

Gwen says "So like Cassandra then?" She looks at Merek for a moment. She looks to Mizuki for a moment

"Looks like it."

There's a bit of a grin on her face as she says this but doesn't go father on it."

She looks to Wake and nods "Yeah and this is a world where there are thing that could just finger flick us and we'd be /done/." Gwen's thoughts drift back to someone she met recelty. "I don't think the devs have any more control than we do Mizuki."

    Mizuki waves her arm where the image was. "They don't need powers, they'd have *knowledge*. And not in a hope-you-spontaneously-exalt-for-knowing-more-than-the-celestial-incarnae way, this isn't Creation. They know every secret in the game. Hidden sources of power, sure, but also the answers to puzzles like this. All the ways to sequence break, any easter eggs left in that can somehow be exploited..."

    She rubs her chin. "I guess there must not be any useful cheat codes or an easy-to-access developer console or anything, though, or they'd have moved on that right away and done whatever they were gonna do."

    Merek would take a hat from the pack, doff that, then he places that upon his features while he makes a way to assist people, and to relax a little while, before they need to travel along and all of that while he yawns.