Duty Session 215: Spinner's Deep

    The path down into the spinner's dungeon is long and windy, and eventually it reaches a point the light of day no longer reaches and only torches and magical light , lights the way. A good portion of the mine had been cleared but taking a turn here and another there arrives at a spot adventurers are known to wait at. Infront of a shoddily made wwooden door, with a sign that says, 'Death comes to those who enter.' It appears to maybe be a warning. Next to the sign is a large lizard man , sitting by the door waiting for others to show. He had left word at the hunter guild he would be waiting here today to help clear it , now all there was to do is to wait.

    Merek walks along and into the dungeon of Spinner's Deep. The place where there are different levels to take on. At this point, he's been rewarded for assisting, this time he wishes to gain even more, and to further assist. The man wears the dark attire he often does with the beltcape as well as the hood up. The man nods a bit to Rizadoman, "The Goblinbane poison looks to be coming along nicely."

Been here, done this... But there's more to be found most likely.

"Why don't they just get some bug spray in here?" Kotono suggests with a slight smirk as she arrives at the familiar cave of spiders. And yes, Miyako is accompanying her as well. "Oh wait, we don't have any." She shrugs. "Oh well, it's more fun if adventurers are here to take these creeps out!"

    Miyako was only in the area because she'd heard rumors of some inscriptions similar to the ones she'd found under Shibuya. So she's been poking around quests in the region, and when she heard about another request for Spinner's Deep, well.

    "Ugh, Ko-chan, bug spray smells awful. And it's much more fun when you can stab them and blow them up, isn't it?" She shrugs and claps her friend on the shoulder as they walk along. "C'mon, sooner we finish this, sooner we can get lunch. I still have a couple of bento left."

Honestly, Jazz would rather be doing other things than ... being ... here.

But duty calls, literally in this case, and she has spider chitin to collect. Or try to collect, anyway. There is a bone-weary sounding sigh from the small Undine lass, her hands tucket into the pcokets of her long overcoat, her witch's hat and hair sweeping over her face making her cut quite the twee-anime vibe today, even more so than usual.

"Let's get this over with," she half-mumbles. Her voice is no less ridiculously twee than the rest of her.,

    Rizadoman looks up at the footsteps and smiles as the first adventurer appears , giving Merek a friendly nod though his smile fades and an audible sigh could be heard at mention of the poison. Saying nothing about it however as the Kotono and Miyako appear next, " Greetings to all of you. " At Miyako's reaction to Kotono, Rizadoman's jovial mood seems to return. " Your friend with the warrior heart is right, better to face the problem head on. However if you truly wish for such poison then you should ask the poison maker." Nodding his head towards Merek and pointing a claw. As the final party member appears, final because Rizadoman was impatient he smiles a toothy grin. " Let us do this then."
     As they walk down the path they come to what use to be a boss room there is a raised dais now with a circular platform. Carved runes are located on the plaatform and through out the rest of the room. It appears the party will need to figure out the runes to progress further.

    "Here we are," Miyako mutters, "Finally. Let's get at this." She eyes the teleporter, copying the circle into a sketchbook she produces from her inventory. "C'mon, where's the key-rune...." she mutters, scowling as she continues examining it. "Bloody hell..."

    She shakes her head and starts copying down the runes from the walls, while she waits for someone else to work out the circle.

"You're right, bug spray would smell bad," Kotono says to Miyako as they head in with the others. They arrive at their first challenge, and while Miyako doesn't seem to be having much luck, Kotono seems to take a different approach.

"You gotta think outside the box sometimes," Kotono says as she activates her magical energies and channels them into the teleporter. With that, things begin to light up a little. "Good try Miyako," She says with a thumbs up.

Jazz tilts her head, tentacles drooping down as she leans over to inspect the runes. A little wiggle of her fingers in their direction makes a few of them light up and she casts a glance towards Miyako curiously. "Don't have any experience with this, but is that a good thing?" she asks of the runes flaring up.

Seems to be, anyway, at least as far as she's concerned. Hey, it might even help .

    Merek looks to the place, while he begins to work on deciphering the teleporter with magic, nodding a bit to the party.

    Rizadoman cracks his claws and begins to chase down the patterns on the platform and begins to describe them to Miyako. At this rate another 30 minutes the two may get however as the others begin to touch the runes with magic the runes begin to light up. Rizadoman reaches a conclusion. " It appears that these hieroglyphics say, feed them magical energy and they will activate." Eventually the adventurers light up all the runes on the platform and a bright flash occurs moving everyone in the room to an open cavern.
    They are in a set of collapsing ruins of what appears to have once been a town. It is awe inspiring and at the same time a bit eerie at the ghost town feel. However the moment the first person moves it's like the mere vibration in the air has started the area slowly collapsing and only with fast hands and fast thinking will the party be able to get out unharmed.

    "Usually," Miyako says to Jazz. "Typically means whatever spell it's invoking is about to - " And the party is teleported. " - Activate." She shakes her head. "Dangit, Ko-chan, I wasn't finished copying everything down yet!"

    Still, there's nothing one can do now, and onward it is. She pays little attention to the falling rocks outside of dodging away from them, instead sketching out a map of the group's path and any interesting formations she might see along the way.

"I'm sorry," Kotono says with a sigh. "I just wasn't..." She looks down at her feet. "Oh, what's the use?"

What is the use, indeed?

It seems these daggers can be used as makeshift cutting tools. The girl is able to cut up the wooden frames and whatnot to keep things steady and secure.

    Merek nods a bit while he takes a look, then he tries to build along with the party, "I'm not great while working with materials like that," the man notes. Then he nods to Rizadoman, "Well, that's true, although the poison will provide a bit of extra assistance."

"Makes sense," is what Jazz says.

The teleportation left her some what disoriented, clearly not a game experience she's had very often, but it doesn't take her long to right herself. Upon doing so, she takes a look arounnd and thenn sighs. "This doesn't look terribly stable," and she is quick and keen on summoning plants to help. Kelpy vines sprout from the ground to help stabilize their passage and ensure its soundness as she invokes the magic available to her. Sea-Witch, you know, so of course, they're sea-weeds that do the trick.

    "It's collapsing!" Rizadoman shouts before he does his best as he places his hand to his wall and coats the ceiling and floor with a layer of ice trying to hold it in one piece. With the help of Kotono , some frames are put into place quickly , using Merek's poison like a glue. Finally the kelp like vines bind everything together and itappears to be holding for now. This gives Rizadoman a moment of breeathing room as he consults Miyako and her map, " Seems like you think we should head that way." His claw finger extends putting to a tunnel
     Whether that was the best way or not it is unknown but as they head deeper down the walls get rougher and more jagged. Giant scratch marks on the walls does show something came through here though what exactly it isn't known. Finally however it opens up into a much large room. The floor is also nice and soft, though sticky, very sticky, almost as sticky as a theater floor after a movie. It appears they are standing on a giant web, leading acoss a chasm and now they have to be very quiet and quick if they wish to get by without alerting anything.

If she's built like a ninja and moves like a ninja, then shouldn't Kotono be a ninja?

Maybe... But right now it's worth noting that the girl knows how to move by stepping in a way that she doesn't make a sound. It's almost like she's walking on air as she moves past those spiders.

    Merek looks along the walkway, while he nods a bit to the spiders that seem to be covering the place. The man walks on the threads while he takes a look from that hood, "Alright, we should be able to," he notes, then he nods while assisting in finding the path.

    Miyako looks about, but sees little that needs to be taken down in her sketchbook right at the moment. Better to focus on getting by without aggro'ing too many spiders. Then she pads along in Kotono's path, letting the ninja take the lead, since she knows from sneaking.

There are times being 'smol' has its advantages. One such time, even when you're wearing a large, pointy hat, is now. Jazz keeps her steps steady and careful and thus far manages to eavoid trggering any of the horrible spider webs, avoiding them in their entirety for the time being.

Rizadoman has trouble walking on the webs as his clawed feet keep getting stuck, " By my Naga ancestors I swear this damn stuff." Looking over to see if the others are having difficulty, it appears they are not, as the others seem to be moving along just fine in the process of moving across teh web unhinder. Merek seems to have found his footing and the two , Kotono and Miyako seem to be helping each other along. Even Jazuhanzu seems to have no problem, using her small status to sneak by the spiders.Finally Rizadoman pulls his way through before sighing relief that his brute force approach didn't alert any spiders.
     The path they are forced down has lead them into a jungle , right here under ground. Strange purple and green plants, oozing black sludge all around as spiders , the size of humans, move through the trees. Stopping every now and then to dip their pincers in the sludge. Just as any predator though they are aware the adventurers are in their forest and now they are on hunt for fresh prey.

Sometimes, when it comes to dealing with your enemies, it helps to use your weapons. And sometimes it pays to use magic.

"Let's see how you like some of this!" Kotono says as she starts activating a spell rune. "You're gonna get a real blast out of this!" She finishes preparing to cast the spell...

And a tiny 'piff' occurs instead of a blast.

"Oh no, no again!" She says whistfully.

    Merek begins lifting up both of those hands to work the spell that will bring frost along the place, then it covers the pools, while the man nods a bit to the party.

    Miyako smiles as the group enters the chamber. Finally, something worth adding to her map. Taking down the details fills several minutes, while the group attracts the attention of the spiders. It's not until she hears the 'pif' of Kotono's spell that she actually seems to take notice of the peril.

    With a put-upon sigh, she slides her sketchbook back into inventory and starts setting up a spell. "Blow with the wind of the twilight, harbinger of the end," she chants as she inscribes her runes upon the air. "Bring the white snow, the harsh cold of winter..."

            VALKOINEN KUOMELA

    And on her command, needles of ice rain from the 'sky', slashing like knives into the carapaces of the spiders, ripping and tearing at the arachnoids' HP until they shatter in cascades of pixels.

Being hunted by spiders is nothing new for Jazz, who had pulled a frilly and purple feather duster, of all things, from her belt. Indeed, the tip of it turns blue and bolts of water magic are being fired off by her feather-duster wand.

Her hair lifts and floats as if it is creating in invisible currents of water. "Always gross," she grumbles.

    "I call upon those ancestors of mine, the Nagas of the north. Grant me your weapons of ice." Rizadoman shouts as his claws extend made of ice as he begins to rip through the spiders as they come after the team. It seems he is not the only one choosing to call upon ice, as Merek freezes the sludge. Miyako steps it up even further, literally raining down ice upon the spiders ripping through them here and there. At the end of it all though Jazuhanzu is the one who literally cleans house using her feather duster water magic to wipe the rest of the spiders out.
     As they continue deeper into the jungle they find themselves in a tunnel , whether its made of rock or folliage is questionable but acid seems to drip from the ceiling in certain spots. Finally as they approach a wall it seems to slide away almost inviting the adventures into the parlor. The room looks like the one they started in, meaning only one thing. It's a boss room.
     In the center of the chamber is a massive spider , or it would be a spider if it's head wasn't actually the upper torso of a humanoid. The entire spider centaur is armored heavily, and it will take some serious coordination to pierce the armor and slay the boss.

Kotono thinks that she's got this made, and goes in with her blades slashing...

Only to wind slashing nothing but air. Meaning the poor ninja girl winds up flat on her face and getting caught by the spiders. She has to fend them off while pulling back. Fortunately, she's not poisoned, but she is embarrassed.

After all is said and done, Kotono will tell Miyako, "Let's get some lunch, then I think it's time to take a breather."

    Miyako sighs softly, and a quick series of runes renders her invisible in the shadows. She slips up quietly on the spider-warrior while others keep it busy, and as she closes in on it, retrieves her naginata from inventory.

    stepping forward with a twirling dance step, she lashes out, her blade smashing through the creature's shell and into the delicate flesh beneath. "And that," she tells it, "Is what you get for dissing Ko-chan."

    Merek throws what looks like an alchemical potion at the boss, which then explodes with the material within, the flame within that drawing about the enemy while the man nods a bit, then he takes both of his weapons, the twin weapons. The man swings the two about along the creature.

"Oh, hey, another giant spider. Maybe this one won't spid acid."

Either way, though, the coordination required that falls to /Jazz/ in this case, is throwing up ice. Ice shields, water bubbles, and more. Mostly, she sticks to that, though there's the occasional blast of water directed at the spider, as if she wanted to drown it, or bubbles of water placed around it that tried to do exactly that, filling it's hook lungs with water.

Either way, she's helpful. Somewhat.

    Rizadoman looks at the enemy as he does his best to direct the fight, " Focus on the attack and I will cover teh defense. " With that said the lizard man does his best to project shields for his comrades where they need to be. Meanwhile Kotono and Miyako strike from the shadows, and while Kotono may have been struck she was able to get her strikes in too. Merek lobs his potion on to the boss, as the fire begins to eat away and weaken the armor. Jazuhanzu even taking it a step further to literally try to wash the spider away, by force. Finally the beast is slayed and all that remains are pieces of armor chitin that is handed out to the rest of the party. Rizadoman himself picks up a piece that is about the length of his arm. " This is a fine trophy. We all fought well. " It appears two paths have opened, one blocked by a system barrier and the other provides a clear path back up to the entrance.