Duty Session 267: Spinner's Deep

This isn't the first time that Cyrus and Mikage have been down here in the mines. It's been a while though. And in fact, there has been rumors from the miners that the continued cleanups by the Adventurers, while helpful, have not been quite enough. As such, the Hunters Guild has put up a posting for some more ranking members to take a look at this once again.

"I feels like it's been ages since we showed up here. Didn't we get stuck here last time?" He asks Mikage. "Or was that a different place?" The youth runs his hand through his fuzzy hair as he steps in towards the mines and begins his descend with his adventuring partner at his side.

"We'll have things checked out." Cyrus calls out to some of the miners who greet the pair of them - as well as their lynx companion.

"Not so much stuck as... it was just a pain in the ass to get out." Mikage replies with a shake of her head. Rama seems to share her sentiment, giving a huff as he blows some rock dust out of his nose in a sneeze. "Let's try not to cause a cave-in this time, if we can help it."

There is some measure of relief that things are still going well for the Landers, here, but it isn't enough to set her at ease about whatever strange happenings seem to be lingering below the surface. "I just hope nothing finds a way back up here. That could be trouble."

As they walk through the tunnels, following the path, she only gives a casual glance down the hallways, making sure there are no signs of monsters. Thankfully, things seem to be clear.

"You know, I still really don't like spiders." Cyrus mentions as he affixes a few potions, and prepares a few fire ones for when he has to deal with webs. Each jingle of potion seems to chime in the area, and the male begins to rather idly whistle to it.

It seems he may be used to this teleporter. Perhaps he's done some powerleveling here before. Whatever the case may be, the teleporter begins to light up just from him messing around while approaching it in this incredibly casual way.

"Please ignore the creepy-ass murals." He then remarks as he steps into the teleporter.

As they reach the telporter room, it brings back that familiarity that comes with having delved into a dungeon before. And perhaps, a bit of overconfidence. "I think, last time, I channeled magic into these runes..."

Mikage moves her fingers over a series of runes, which to the uneducated would look like the right ones. They even light up, at first, but when she finishes, the room gives a rumble and sends an electric shock through her fingers.

"Ahh! Damnit, that hurts!" Luckily, Cyrus seems far more capable of solving this kind of puzzle, and she just shakes her hand out, trying to get rid of the tingling feeling in her fingertips.

"Yeah, it seems they changed the way the magic works after the last time we were in here. Sorry, I should have let you know." Cyrus remarks as he takes her hand and draws her into the teleporter, bringing them to the other side.

On the other side, amidst torches and spider webs, Cyrus lets go of Mikage's hand and lets out a little thoughtful sound. "Uhhh-ugh. That statue." He then suddenly remarks, making a disgusted sound.

He looks at the altar, then to Zia. "You find some rats, I'll prepare a bushel. I think that should do." He says, approaching the altar itself.

The way seems to follow a familiar route, which is both comforting and disquieting. The strange figures that seem to be part of the theming of this dungeon always set her ill at ease. "You know, I bet this is all foreshadowing for something deeper in the dungeon." Miki comments, trying not to look too long at anything, as if it might start looking back at her.

"Ugh, rats? Really?" She is a capable hunter, but... it might be enough to at least get them past the altar and further into the dungeon. "Rama, think you could help?" The feline doesn't seem to have any qualms about hunting down some particularly emaciated looking rats that must be having their own difficulties surviving down here. Eventually, he lays a few at Cyrus' feet.

"Next time, I'll save some of the meat from a hunt. It'll save us a step."  

Cyrus takes the rats offered by Rama, and strokes the feline's head. "Good. Good Rama." He remarks to the feline, then takes the rat by the tail - the thing barely hanging on at 1 hp, and slowly lays it down on the alter while making this weird expression.

Eventually, the altar seems to make a chime sound, and he carries on along with Mikage and their feline companion. There, along the way, they meet an Adventurer stumbling towards them. Cyrus frowns, spotting their strange movements as he pushes away from the wall, motioning for help.

"I've got you." Cyrus notes, taking out an anti-poison potion and handing it to him. "It may be a bit weak. Mikage, think you could add a heal to that, to help him get off of his feet?"

The unease seems to fall secondary as Mikage spots the injured Adventurer. "Damnit, looks like this has been a troublesome dungeon for more than just us." Rama bounds over, trying to nuzzle up against the fallen Adventurer, while Mikage seems to linger back, more thoughtful.

"I'm not the best with healing magic." She looks to the blue stone that is slotted into her bow, and slowly pops it out of the slot, holding it briefly before channeling some mana into it as she crouches down, reaching for the shoulder of the stumbling man.

"Easy, friend." Her magic isn't particularly powerful, and certainly not enough to raise him completely out of dangerous health. "If you stay here, we can help you get out when we make our way back." Assuming they don't end up running into trouble, themselves.

"I think I can get back from here safely. Thank you. I just didn't want to risk some spiders ambushing me and having to head all the way back here from Westelande." The Adventurer offers, appreciative of the aid.

The trio says their goodbye, and go their own way, and Cyrus and Mikage head deeper in yet. The spider webbing starts getting more annoying. Some of it getting stuck on them as they head further. Then, stairs. "I don't remember stairs. But I think we took a different route last time." Cyrus points out, tapping his cheek for a moment, then starting to head down.

Soon, they are below, spotting... grunties being farmed by spiders? "I guess this isn't too unlike ladybugs being farmed." He proposes to Mikage. Until one kills a grunty!

"There goes that theory... and it's still hungry! Laying down some fire!" Cyrus reports, throwing his flask forwards and letting it shatter into a firewall right on top of the insect!

There is some concern that lingers, but if the Adventurer believes they can make it, then there is no reason for Mikage to argue with them. "Good luck, then! We'll hopefully see you when we get back."

It does seem that they have found themselves on a different route through the dungeon, at least enough that there is some unfamiliar territory. Mikage nods her head, "I'll take this over the problems we ran into last time."

That is, until she sees a spider drop down onto one of the grunties in quite so gruesome a fashion, "Uh, nevermind, I take that back."

Crackling storm energy at her fingertips, she starts to lash a series of blows with her sword, sending a surge of that elemental force into the spider, trying to toss it back and clear them a path across the field.

Flames wreathe around the spider, devouring its defenses, allowing Mikage an easier time to come in with her blows. Blade striking its body and quickly carving the rest of its health away, until it detonates into sparks of light.

"Curious biosphere." Cyrus points out as he starts heading deeper into the chamber. "Let's not stick around, in case the other spiders get hungry. Let's figure out the source of some of this trouble."

But things don't get more normal. Instead, they get more strange. The biosphere turning bioluminescent. Acid hissing and falling off the ceiling and onto the floors in pools of green.

Then suddenly, a giant spider appears right in front of them with a spark of lightning arcing out from it. "Whoa! Miki, look out!" Cyrus calls out. "I'll try binding it!" Followed by him throwing two flasks. "Detonating Chains!"

Arcane shackles attempting to bind the giant spider in place, and to hold it from being able to 'blink' again to another spot.

"Curious is a strange way of describing it. This is definitely a monster nest of some sort. Probably where the creatures that were infesting the mines came from." Mikage answers as she follows along, Rama trotting at her heels.

The cat seems to be giving the spiders way more distance than normal, likely feeling like these monsters would treat him as a snack. As they seem to reach the final boss, there is a look of surprise as the creature begins to seemingly teleport, or at least vanish and re-appear.

"Woah. That's a neat effect!" Yes, she is more interested in how it is done than defeating the monster, at least at first. Then, Cyrus seems to snap her back to reality. "Right, I think I can follow where it is going to go." When it blinks out, she points.

"There, bind it there!" She gives Cyrus just the right direction, allowing him to keep it still so they can DPS it down.

Cyrus works with Mikage, locking the chains in place on the ground where MIkage wants it, and then works with her to DPS it down. Luckily, the spider tries to blink away. Which is locked by the movement restriction, but also then sends detonations all across its body which chunk into its health. "I used to be able to use Blink as a Monk. But it didn't come with lightning effects on the end of the dash." He points out.

The creature tries to move again, but Mikage catches it this time. Carving it apart with precision attacks and soon, they have finished it off. "Phew... good thing I have that kind of crowd control. That could have been a pain if we'd both been focused on melee." He points out. "I guess that's why they wanted us down here. Alright. Let's grab the thing it just dropped, and head on out to report to the Adventurer's guild."