Dulcinea de Montréal Goes To Clavia (and Marefore Too)!

[Aeromage]

The sergeant doesn't look happy. Then again, that had been his default expression since he turned up with Ryuu.
"If it is indeed a Spirit, I doubt it would be able to affect me. However, I am not equipped for a prolonged assault on a dungeon, as such things are 'extraordinarily out of the ordinary outings' expected of the Guard. Given the lack of proper procedure available for such a thing, I would ordinarily have it reported to the Spiritual Defense Force for them to deal with, all the more so for your stated expectation that this place will keep to itself barring the unexpected."

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Very well, Sergeant. We shall withdraw to make our report!"

Dulcinea readies the rest of the team for rapid departure, dismissing any summons that are slower than the slowest real entity, with the Professor making sure to maintain speed buffs as consistently as possible on whatever is left.

Finally, in an attempt to leverage her power as a Conduit and Rootmind of Vernat, she will attempt to stabilize a connection to the Moon to emulate the ability of The Sorrows after returning to the chamber where it was fought.

Dulcinea is a Geomancer and a Summoner, a Conduit of Vernat, a Rootmind of Vernat, and bears a Miracle Engine for a Heart. She will expend a Wish and any amount of XP necessary to stabilize the result.

Following this, they will retreat following the path they took into the dungeon.

MIRACLE COUNTER
Miracle Heart: 4/8
Wishing Engine: 4/24

[Aeromage]

Dulcinea readies her departure, dismissing the slower Water Elementals before continuing on.

She pauses in the room that was the site of the battle against the Sorrows, with a mind to taking one of its abilities for her own.

Taking a deep breath, Dulcinea makes a Wish.

She sees it. A simple path to what she desires- the ability to emulate the Sorrows' ability once, as the Wish can provide as standard.

That isn't enough. She wants more.

Dulcinea bends her knowledge of Geomancy and Summoning to the task, calling upon the echo of what took place, of the ability to manifest Fading Calls from the aether.

The echo of what took place is too faint; the Abstract too esoteric.

Dulcinea focuses harder. She is a Conduit of Vernat. A Rootmind of Vernat. She is connected to the Moon and to its plants in a very real way. She pushes harder.

She can feel the potential, there. She just needs something to solidify it.

Dulcinea spends XP, the raw mana of creation to bring forth what it is she desires. It's so close she can almost taste it, but remains maddeningly just out of reach, evading her metaphysical grasp, slipping through her metaphorical fingers.

She channels more XP. Surely, adding more power will grant her what she seeks, right?

The room shifts and ripples around her as it becomes saturated with mana, held in potentia only by Dulcinea's sheer force of will, her Wish, and her Vernat-connection.

Dulcinea spends more.

She's still recovering from that brush with the Will of Vernat earlier. Gaining more abilities of that stripe is going to be incredibly difficult.

Dulcinea spends more.

She reaches out. She grabs for that shining spark of potential, that ability she seeks--

She finds a large seed in her hand, thrumming with energy. The ability she wished for, however, did not manifest.

Drained and somewhat disappointed, Dulcinea examines the thing she's spawned.


Dulcinea gets:

-5,000,000 XP

Call Forth Torrential Verdure- (Spell, Druid Magic, Earth & Wood & Life, 500,000 MP, 50,000,000 Gold) +50,000 Magical Attack, summons 10 Plants below Caster's level (to a maximum of 50 total creatures summoned through this spell and related effects) that may optionally be summoned into the enemy's row-formations, this action repeats itself at the start of each round if none of its user's other actions have already repeated on the same round

(Alas, Dulcinea's semi-burnout combined with Word of Gad stating it's extremely difficult to manifest Abilities from pure XP, along with rolls dictated she could not get an ability)


Stumbling slightly, Dulcinea sets off back through the passage of fabrics, back into the T-junction storeroom with doors to the North, South and East.
She makes for the door Eastward, back into the hall from which she entered, but a noise stops her dead in her tracks.

It's the sound of rapid footsteps and panicked, desperate breathing.

It's coming from the Eastward door.

And it's getting closer.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea quickly turns everyone around. "BACK TO THE WEDDING DRESS ROOM!"

Every possible speed enhancement is stacked onto Ryuutarou, including the Hippocampi-start-of-battle boosts and Augmented: Haste from the Professor's Caffeinating Aura. Everyone jumps onboard, and he speeds back through the hall of fabric, returning to the room of the no-longer-bedecked mannequin and sealing the door.

Dulcinea uses her Geomancer and Thief abilities to lock the door against entry, hoping this will prevent the spirit from entering this room should it be following them, then listens for the telltale signs of it passing this way. Given its speed of travel, she should be able to determine this relatively quickly.

[Aeromage]

The cry to seek bridal shelter is given, and the group abruptly turn about-face and stampede their way back through the room, hitch a dragon-ride down the corridor of fabrics, and firmly ensconce themselves inside the previously-dressmaking-themed room!

Dulcinea attempts to lock the door! It has no keyhole, however. Attempts to forcibly manifest a lock or make it count as being locked similarly fall flat. Perhaps she's just trying to do it too fast.
The Professor helpfully steps in and offers the alternative solution to barricading it with the desks and workbenches around the room until the potential catastrophe passes.

Dulcinea is somewhat distracted during this by her earlier knowledge-granting wish informing her that, due to a massive influx of Vernat-aspected mana, the dungeon's spawn table has changed.
It now contains Blossoming Elyoii of the Verdant Moon (Spirit & Wizard's Shadow, Level 39). It has a similar skillset to the Atomic Elyoii from earlier, only related to Vernat and focused more around the element of Wood. It Absorbs Wood, and has a decent resistance to Earth, Life and Good, along with the lesser resistance to Crystals and Crystal(2).
They likely aren't going to enjoy being here very much, given the generally-radioactive nature of the place.

Somewhat more concerning is the new presence of *The Ashen Bride (Spirit & Wizard's Shadow, Level 39 Boss).
It also counts as being an Elyoii, with a combined Atomic/Wood skillset and additional problematic constant-fallout-ash/petal-storm effect that follows it around wherever it goes, dual-inflicting Thermonuclear Meltdown and Verdant Air every round.
Oh, yes. It goes around. It wanders the dungeon, in fact, although in a far more orderly and less-frantic fashion than the Tailor's Fleeing Echo. And, more concerningly, far less-telegraphed fashion.

Dulcinea is rudely jolted out of that train of thought by the faint sound of footsteps and panicked breathing, which die away again shortly after.
Right, so it decided to go North instead of--

A terrible roaring noise; a concussive wall of sound that shakes the dungeon and rattles the room the group stands in. Dulcinea's Atomic Compass goes wild again in the direction of the T-junction storeroom, and she thinks she feels the levels of background radiation increase, too.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea will keep an eye on the Compass and the radiation-feel of the area until she feels like the levels have probably decreased enough for safe transit. She will also attempt to keep a Geomancery eye on any dungeon-indicators she can read that would suggest the imminent appearance of *The Ashen Bride in the area between them and the exit.

[Aeromage]

With one eye on the Compass and her mind's eye on the lookout for the surprise second wandering boss, Dulcinea's group begin a fraught waiting game.
The Compass determines that the area the Fleeing Echo went through is very, very radioactive, although the levels are ticking down far faster than would normally be the case elsewhere. The dungeon's restoration is the culprit for that.

As she waits, more information filters into her brain from the wish she made earlier.

*The Ashen Bride has qualities of both the Atomic and Wood Elyoii combined. It Absorbs Atomic and Wood, and has high resistance to Null, Time, Universe, Earth, Life and Good. It has a similar powerset to them, too, only amped up to Boss-level.
Which is a concern, as it also counts as wielding an artifact, even though it isn't. It has Wood/Atomic variants of the various Elyoii abilities, which includes that Instant-Death/Vanished Infliction attack (thankfully single target, although with the looming presence of the Nearby Baseball and its Endbringer(?) status, it's even more of a concern than it would normally be), can inflict Atomic/Wood Moderates and Stun, can attack with Earth/Air/Fire/Water/Atomic/Wood pick-and-choose optionally-multi-hit multi-target attacks, lower enemies' To Hit whilst regenerating large amounts of health, can mass-hit with a tide of Wood-element seeds and petals (that inflict further Moderates), transfer HP and MP to allies- it appears to be able to call up an 'Ashen Moonrose Guardian', an equal-level and potent Unknown with a bevy of elemental attacks, buffs and debuffs, although thankfully its worst effects won't be able to hit people at Level 39- and use a chance-to-reflect-attacks-back buff.

There's also the worrying possibility that if one of the bosses is tackled, it's entirely likely that the other will be encountered during the fight- either the Fleeing Echo fleeing through the battle with a devastating blastwave on its heels (which the Ashen Bride will absorb) or the Ashen Bride being encountered and either attacking, waylaying, or giving chase to those attempting to deal with the Fleeing Echo.

Eventually, the Compass ticks down to what Dulcinea judges to be safe levels, and she leads the group rapidly out through the dungeon.

The storeroom-chamber is an absolute wreck. It's blackened, charred, there are significant holes in the walls through which an eerie green light shines, and radioactive debris is scattered everywhere. The place is slowly re-knitting itself back together, however, and Duclinea knows- thanks to her study and wish-granted knowledge- that once it reaches a certain level of 'fixed' it will immediately spawn more things to fill itself. It's most likely they'll be aggressive entities, but it's possible items will spawn instead.

Not wishing to hang around to find out, the Nightmare Scientist leads the gang out through the significantly-more-damaged corridor and sharply turns at the shadow-stain that marks Simon Crendall's final resting place to exit the dungeon and enter the tailor's back office.

Immediately, the sense of pressure and levels of background radiation both drop off sharply.

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Excellent, we have successfully exited the dungeon!" Dulcinea lets out a sigh of relief, and stretches her arms and back to release some of the tension. She then turns her attention to Archer, "Sergeant, we should go report our information as quickly as possible; where do we need to go?"

While awaiting a reply, Dulcinea has the various plants she managed to take control of as summons matryoshka doll into the Harvest-Bearers until only one of them is immediately visible, and directs Bunyip #1 to enter its most unthreatening-looking form-mode (likely its Fae form). The Professor proceeds to deliver a lecture on appropriate behavior outside of the Dungeon to both entities, hopefully to good effect.

Ryuutarou proceeds to dismiss the rather crowded group of Tritons, Hippocampi, and the other three Bunyips in order to ease space and avoid having an entire train of monsters cavalcading behind them to wherever Archer wants them to go.

[Aeromage]

"I will be making a report to headquarters immediately through my communication strip," Archer replies, fishing a pocketbook out from within his armour and retrieving a symbol-covered strip of thick paper from it.
"The Captain requires all members of the guard now carry one. 'Connection brings correction', as one might say. It will take some time to properly appraise them of the situation and reach the Spiritual Defense Force, however."

The strip begins to glow with a faint light, the ink pulsing from black to a bright sky-blue. Archer immediately begins talking to it.

While that happens, Dulcinea commands her plant-summons to nesting-doll-bundle themselves into one of the Harvest-Bearers! The Bunyip, in turn, assumes its fae guise. Which apparently in this instance looks like a short, plump, bipedal and somewhat mopey-looking mixture of otter, sabretoothed tiger and dragon.

Ryuu, meanwhile, lets his summons go, dispersing them back into the mana from which they sprang.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea sends Ryuu off to report to Violet what they managed to figure out, and to finish seeing to the clearing of the square.

She then proceeds to enter a meditative state to concentrate on her geomantic senses, slowly spreading her awareness through the city at large, looking for any additional signs of other active and/or forming dungeons in the area. Given the many strange events to face the town recently, she suspects that S. Crendall Tailoring and Repairs is not the only place that has had sufficient weight of events and mana to spawn a new dungeon.

The Professor stands ready to answer any questions on her behalf from Archer. The Bunyip snoozes in the corner, bored. The Harvest-Bearer practices not being absolutely horrifying when grinning with its mouth of sharp fangly wooden teeth.

[Aeromage]

Dulcinea sends Ryuu off and settles down to feel out the geomantic flow of the area, while the Professor explains her intent to Archer.

S. Crendall Tailoring and Repairs, being right behind her, is easy to detect as a snarl of contained, pulsing mana. She follows the flows backwards, elsewhere into town, looking further.

A sedate, steady flow of mana is suffusing the world from the new season and Moon above, being channeled by geography and the makeup of the buildings around it. Most of it is flowing off into the harbour and from there, into the ocean. Some of it is, however, pooling in places.
One place is somewhat nearby, probably(? Dulcinea isn't too familiar with the town's layout yet) within the confines of the bazaar. It doesn't feel fully realised yet, however- it is a dungeon-in-potentia, on the cusp of becoming one. Perhaps she'd be able to prevent that from happening by going in there and draining or rediverting the mana, somehow. Or possibly attempt to change the outcome of what the dungeon might be by altering the flows. She isn't entirely sure what kind of mana is pooling around in there, though.

More obvious is the great well of swirling mana that lies rather closer by, hemmed in on all sides by something- presumably the area walled off and quarantined in the centre of the bazaar. There's a big, bright well of what is clearly Atomic mana bang in the middle, and multiple other obviously-dungeons dotted around the confines of the area.


The Bunyip snoozes! The Harvest-Bearer tries not to be horrifying! Unfortunately, it can't exactly hide its teeth. The best it can do is look somewhat sleepy and dopey.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryuu heads back to the square, finding Violet, to his surprise (and the obvious surprise of the bandits) lifting an entire broken cart over her head to add to the now significantly-large pile of broken furniture, boxes, assorted rubbish and debris in the square. The tattered and faded fabrics that once formed a tent over the square have been piled up against the grocer's shop.
The place looks oddly even more desolate now it's open to the sky.

"I, uh, think I've gotten stronger due to growing in Level," she explains as she dumps the broken vehicle on the pile. "At least, I think that's how it works. It's still really weird that everything can be abstracted like that. The gloves help."
She waggles her fingers inside her Evergarden Gardening Gloves by way of explanation.

Her expression changes to one of slight concern as Ryuu relates the Tailor Shop Adventure to her.
"It's good that it sounds like it's mostly going to keep to itself, but another boss being spawned in and the slight chance of it spilling out into here is more of a risk than I'd like, so clearing it out does sound like a good idea. On the other hand, the possibility that new entity can just immediately kill people so easily is really worrying. I hope the Defence Force have members around here that are capable of preventing that..."

She shakes her head.
"Either way, I don't think I'd be much help, I'm afraid. I mean, with the dungeon. If you're wanting to open up more of the shops, I can definitely help with that. Unless they also turn out to be dungeons. Um."

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea focuses her senses first on the proto-dungeon outside of the Quarantine Zone. She is a Scientist, an Apprentice Scholar, an Apprentice Elementalist, and has Knowledge of Esoteric Elements, and she will attempt a short battery of non-invasive tests to identify the type of mana by process of elimination. She has recently become quite familiar with the effects of Atomic, Time, and Glory mana in the local area, so hopefully that will ease the identification process as well.

----------------

Ryuutarou approves of the clearing of the square that has taken place so far! However, there is one more thing that might be useful! He inquires with Violet whether there is a well nearby that could be used to draw water in case the fire needs to be extinguished, or to mix with the ashes once it burns out.

[Aeromage]

Now having a point to focus on, Dulcinea turns her mind and senses to the dungeon-in-potentia, using her elemental knowledge and recollection of the elements she's encountered in the town to figure out what flavour of problem she might be dealing with.

To her pleasant surprise, she's able to find out a match almost immediately. Time. Time Mana is gathering and pooling in the area in question, and is likely to end up creating a dungeon based off of the element. What form it might take, and how big an issue it might be, would require a closer look at the place in question.

----------------------

Violet helpfully points Ryuu up the northern-side road- Salt Avenue- stating that she noticed wells in the yards off the street while checking the rest of the area for burnable rubbish.

Salt Avenue, or rather what little remains of it before the abrupt barrier-wall set up around the Quarantine Area, contains four shops, two a side, both with alleys between them leading to the yards in question.
The barrier-wall draws his eye first, however; flashes of colour shift in the breeze allowed in by the square's newly-open status. Bunches of flowers (of varying levels of freshness and quality) have been laid against the wall, alongside pasted messages, paper talismans, ribbon-strung charms, scattered trinkets and burned-out candles.

Both of the yards are, unlike the rest of the bazaar, open to the sky. Perhaps only the 'public' areas are supposed to be covered? One is a flagstoned expanse, clearly used as a loading, storage and general-purpose area for the shops and businesses around it.
The other has a similar area, but is mostly taken up by small gardens or sitting-areas. Presumably, one or more of the shops around this yard are- or rather, were- also the owner's homes.

Both wells (of the pump variety) thankfully seem to be in decent repair, with buckets stacked neatly nearby. The garden-yard one has clearly had some modifications done to it to better irrigate the gardens, with little channels built into the ground to send the runoff to feed that herb patch, that flower garden, and that desolate and blasted stretch of soil-turned-dust.

...well, perhaps that last one is a holdover from the prior tragedy that didn't quite get restored.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea emerges from her meditation, confident in her discovery of the Time proto-dungeon! She looks around the room, making sure no one has wandered off in the intermediary time, and checking to see if Archer has finished his message to the Spiritual Defense Force. If he's ready, the group will depart and head back to Violet, to see if she knows how to get to the dungeon-in-potentia, that it may be disrupted before formation!

-------------------

Ryuutarou will fill all available buckets from the wells and transport them to Seabrook Square. Then he'll take a short time of practicing water manipulation, to see if he can direct the stream far enough to reach the square while pumping at the well.

Ryuu has Apprentice Elemental Magic and Apprentice Water Synchronization. If he can't direct the water far enough, he'll see if Veilwalker will let him sneak the water from the pump to a point in the square, taking advantage of his Knowledge of Ethereal Pathways.

[Aeromage]

Dulcinea brings herself back to the here and now! Archer has apparently finished his conversation, although Dulcinea's revelation of a new dungeon-in-progress elicits a sour look and a return to his communication talisman once again. He motions for the Nightmare Scientist to lead on as he relays the latest piece of potentially-disastrous news to whomever it is on the other end of the spiritual line.

Dulcinea, the Professor, Archer, the Bunyip and Harvest-Bearer file their way back to Seabrook Square and its bonfire-under-construction!
The Bandit Brigade are currently doing Things with broken furniture and a damaged cart (which Crasher is busily breaking down) to add to the pile while Violet is supervising. Squishy is also supervising, in his own way, perched atop the central pole of the square in crow-form.

Violet's look of relief that Dulcinea is still in one piece gives way to concern as news of the dungeon-to-be is relayed.
"That sounds like a serious problem, especially if we take Lady Fina's earlier announcement into account. Objects that get old enough or left in a place with enough spiritual power can gain sentience, become spirits, or more easily get possessed by spirits, and this new moon seems like it can make that happen a lot more easily. And if they're given enough time- or Time, I suppose, in this case- that'll make it happen even faster. And adding a dungeon to the equation... I really don't want to know what it would do to the area around it if it's not one of those 'keeps to itself' types. I know Evergarden had a few that spread from their entrances and needed trimming back, after a fashion..."

The displaced clerk pulls out her map of the town, re-orienting itself to the group's location! Dulcinea looks it over.

Well.

If she was to hazard a guess from what she sensed with the flow and pooling of mana earlier, using the quarantine zone as a major landmark (leylinemark? Geomark?), that part there probably corresponds to the flow she felt earlier, which means that it ended up pooling there...

Dulcinea's finger comes to a stop on a highlighted building indicating a property for sale, marked off as being one of the ones on Dulcinea and Ryuu's earlier list of purchases.
The handwritten label next to it reads 'Prier's Paradise'.

"Oh dear."

-------------------

Ryuu busies himself with buckets, filling and relocating them to the Bonfire Zone! Using the collection of water as a kind of elemental marker (and telling the bandits to yell if he ends up on-target), he's pleasantly surprised to hear a shout of affirmation from Stabs as the resulting pumped stream of water is successfully bent up and over the buildings into the square.

He's going to need to maintain his focus on that while it happens, though. Still, so long as he's in the area to keep an eye on the bonfire, he shouldn't have too much of an issue putting it out unless something gets really out of hand.

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Well, Archer, it looks like the Time-mana-agglomeration has decided to happen in yet another of the properties we've purchased: Prier's Paradise, if you know it. Do you have any directives from the Defense Force with regards to it or the existing dungeon in Crendall's Tailoring?"

-----------

After making sure that he can pump water into the square, Ryuutarou heads back to catch up with Dulcinea about what has been figured out about the dungeon!

[Aeromage]

The sergeant returns his communication strip to his pocketbook, closing it with a snap.
"I have been informed that the majority of the Defense Force in the area are presently 'Well-focused on keeping the glowing well and its environs well' and occupied with setting up defenses to prevent the new moon's effects from causing untoward interactions with the existing dungeons they have found. It has been relayed, however, that one or more persons may join us to examine the current situation with regards to your properties. It has not been recommended that you return to the tailor's shop before then."
He scowls.
"Regarding the property and premesis of Prier's Paradise, it is a place well-known for skirting the bounds of the law, using its status as a seller of second-hand items to disguise the true age and provenance of its stock. More than once, it has been subject to a raid by the Guard, but each time its prior owners were able to evade proper punishment by feigning ignorance and exploiting loopholes. It comes as no surprise that the 'prior sins of the Prier are set to pry open what they shouldn't.'"

Pumping successful, Ryuu wends his way back to Dulcinea and gets a heaping helping of EXPOSITION.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuu gets EXPOSITED on the way to the DEN of PRIER'S DEPRAVITY, whilst Glorbuk, Willoughby, and Squishy continue to watch over the assembling of the Great Bonfire.

Violet sees to the undoing of the Magical Lock over Prier's Paradise, while Dulcinea sees to the opening of the more physical kind of lock, assuming that one exists.

[Aeromage]

The (now considerably sizeable) party is once more split, and the Prospective Dungeon Team sally forth to Prospective Adventure.

Prier's Paradise is as Ryuu remembers it- a large-for-the-bazaar shop of somewhat oddly thrown-together design, built up into an indeterminable number of floors (the levels and number of the windows don't match up with each other, and the rooftop is uneven). A large sign bearing the name of the establishment takes up a good part of its facade, depicting a nosy-looking old woman bent over and peering short-sightedly at a treasure chest.

Violet, with some trepidation, retrieves the warding key for the shop and presses it against the door. A familiar sharp tingling ping reverberates through the air and the assembled group as the ward drops.

Dulcinea sets to unlocking the physical lock! After a quick handle-rattle to gauge the shop's particular level of locked-ness, she squats down to get in a better position to pry at the Prier's lock.

The Prier's prior lock, as it turns out. The thing collapses into rust and dusty splinters as she begins to probe it, the door swinging open with a laboured creak and a jarring CLUNGK as the store's shop bell plummets from its rusted chain and crumples onto the floor in a pile of aged parts.

That's probably not a good sign.

The interior of the place is dim, dusty, and full of terribly stale air. A counter sits opposite the door in the gloom, surrounded by shelves bearing a wide variety of... stuff. None of which seems to have a particularly coherent theme. More large shelving units turn what little Dulcinea can see of the rest of the ground floor into an oddly-shaped maze, broken up here and there by dusty, near-opaque glass cabinets containing hard-to-see objects.
The air feels heavy, strangely spongey, and worryingly still, as if the area is holding its breath for something soon to happen.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea stands imperiously, one hand on her hip and the other extended out towards Ryuutarou. "Ryuutarou!" she exclaims, "The pen!"

Ryuutarou pulls out the

Pen Caught In A Minor Time-Loop- (Weapon, Other: Quill, Water & Darkness & Time, 250,000 Gold) +250 Magical Attack, wielder regenerates the amount of MP used to cast spells that cost 250 MP or less at the start of the round two rounds after they were cast, Time-element spells cast by wielder that cost less than 250 MP to cast may repeat at the start of wielder's first action in the next round, to a maximum of one spell being repeated in this manner per round

and hands it to Dulcinea.

She then proceeds to seat herself upon the floor to meditate, while holding the pen in front of her in both hands.

First, she will accustom herself to the eddies and flows of mana through the area, feeling out where the mana likes to move through and where it likes to sit and pool.

Once she feels she has a good handle on that, she will use her Geomantic powers to try to redirect a trickle of mana off of one of the flows and into the pen she is holding, and carefully observe any effects therefrom.