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

[Aeromage]

Violet gestures idly, and the quiet rustling of reshuffling paperwork issues from deeper in the store. She retrieves a map from her folder and squints at it.
"We-ell, we are still fairly close to the harbour promenade, so we could go and take a look inside the Lorelei's Launch or the Icemoon Parlour... but given your stated plans, it would probably be a good idea to look around that potential... shopping district first. Prier's Paradise isn't too far from there, either."

Upon hearing the plans to move on, the Professor begins ushering the colection of bandits, kitten and goblin out of the shop to properly facilitate the continuation of the tour.


---~===~---

Willoughby unleashes the full force of (admittedly low-level) deific cuteness at Crasher! Her reward is... a somewhat confused stare.
"Uhh Stabs, the glowin' small cat-thing's pokin' at me. D'you know anythin' 'bout 'em?"

The other tall human-not-human with the fuzzy patches and the fluffy ears leans over a shelf.
"Thing's prob'ly one of them spirit-touched animals what you see around these parts sometimes. Prob'ly wants food or to play or somethin' of the like."

Another one with shiny black hands and chunky horn-spurs growing on her head looks over.
"Isn't that the lady's pet? Maybe she's got some food for it."

"Dunno about bein' her pet, but the lady def'nitely keeps attractin' things what are weirder than normal."


---~===~---


Dulcinea consults her mental map, and the rather-less-mental-and-actually-a-map-map held by Violet to get her bearings on the situation. They're technically in the bazaar already, or at least the outer parts of it. It looks like there's a couple of streets' worth of buffer between the big, fancy and better-kept establishments facing the sea and the bazaar proper, which sprawls from there up into the centre of the town, spreading like a... well. Given the interlacing structure of the streets, and the way the buildings sprout out of it, maybe like a mould. A mould showing the town's culture. A mould culture, if you would.

Shaking that odd train of thought from the forefront of her mind, she considers the area. While there's a lot of side-streets and mazelike passages, if Violet takes the fastest route there, she's fairly sure she could follow the others to that potential shopping district (if they're heading there) she had in mind and have a little time to look around within a half-hour time limit. Perhaps she'd find that merchant on the way?

[The Nottest of Daves]

Deeper into the bazaar it is!

After failing to produce the requested foodstuffs from the humans-not-human, Willoughby paws at Dulcinea, who produces a Tuna from her bag of holding to feed the hungry kitten goddess. She proceeds to float the tuna in front of her face while riding on Dulcinea's shoulders as they walk through the bazaar.

Dulcinea, meanwhile, is paying far more attention to looking for the "Safe Seed Rain Produce" than anything else, including the torn up shreds of Willoughby's messy attempt at tuna eating. Fortunately, Professor Rubiaceae is on the lookout, and quickly sees a handkerchief placed over her shoulder and under Willoughby, avoiding the dirtying of her Robes of Office.

Ryuutarou is simply looking around at the kinds of food-selling street vendors that populate the area they're walking through, trying to figure out what kinds of foods are particularly popular in this region.

[Aeromage]

The gang make their way deeper into the bazaar!

Dulcinea keeps an eye out for the mysterious Safe Seed Rain Produce purveyor as the group continues on, oblivious to the kittenish mess of shredded tuna piling up on her new shoulder-handkerchief. There are a few merchants around, but none seem to be advertising Seed Rain items. There also seem to be fewer manned stalls the closer the group gets to the quarantine zone at the centre of the bazaar. Hmm.

Ryuutarou takes in the (dwindling, as they progress) number of food stands and stalls on display at the bazaar! Much like that time he visited the Dreaming Moon Festival, all those... weeks? Months? Years ago? Something was weird with time, he knows that much.
Regardless, much like that time, most of the food stands look like they're making seasoned and fried vegetable wedges and chips, some served with fried or grilled fish, some without. a few stands that sell meat skewers and filled buns that look halfway between kebabs and hamburgers, a few that sell candied fruits and one or two making ice-cream through novel application of Ice Elemental Magic and various combinations of ingredients in cream.

The odd procession of individuals make their way to what Violet introduces as 'Seabrook Square' ("Although I really had to dig to find that name, as people kept naming it after the other streets that ran into it, and there was that confusion a while back when two people had equal-majority ownership of the properties around it and couldn't agree on what they wanted to call it, and in any case you can change the name as you technically own it now, if you wanted").
The place looks... fairly bleak. Much like the rest of the bazaar, it's covered with cloth banners, a large central pole creating a tent-like arrangement with gaps that let the full force of the daylight through. The cloth is faded and full of holes, however, and one of the banners has come loose, spilling sadly over the flagstones.

Six roads (more lanes, really. Nearly alleys) branch off from the square- the southern one they entered from, one directly opposite to the north, and two on each side, at the corners.
Most of the buildings don't have obvious signage or are otherwise barred or shuttered from the inside, preventing a good look in, but one looks like it was a café of some sort, a few broken tables and chairs scattered around the square near it. One of the other buildings is emanating the unpleasant, unmistakable smell of rotting produce, and a third has some odd, chemical-like smells issuing faintly from its sealed door.

"I'm not sure what we'll find in these places," Violet admits. "As I told Mr. Ishinori, records regarding who owned what in the bazaar were... sparse, to say the least, never mind what it was they actually sold.
"It looks like there's twelve properties that make up the square's shops, and then there's four on Salt Avenue to the north- the part of it that hasn't been locked off, anyway- four on Mallow Road, which is further east, and the rest are on The Eddy, a circular-ish road that loops around from there-" she points at the north-east corner street, followed by the south-east corner- "To there."

Dulcinea is distracted from her search for the Seed Rain Produce Merchant by an odd noise coming from her pocket. A little investigation reveals that the culprit is that new compass she picked up. Its needle is juddering fairly intensely towards the north, but every now and then it points back towards Dulcinea, and occasionally violently snaps towards the east with a loud tick.

[The Nottest of Daves]

The needle pointing north to Ground Zero of the Atomic Sneeze-powered Explosion obviously makes sense, as does it pointing to her and her newly-gained additional power of Atomic. But what is that to the east? Dulcinea decides to grab the Professor and continue carrying Willoughby as she separates from the rest of the group to investigate.

---~===~---

Ryuutarou has a question!

"Violet, are there any sorts of permits from the city that are needed for burning? I think we might need to dispose of a great number of rotten vegetables and other burnable sorts of things and I want to make sure that there wouldn't be any trouble if we just burned them here in the square rather than having to arrange for someone else to come out..."

[Aeromage]

The compass leads Dulcinea, the Professor and Willoughby down the south-eastern corner-street off the square and into the street known as The Eddy. Shops line the street, all ignored by the Nightmare Scientist as she follows the promise (or perhaps threat) of ATOMIC MYSTERY. She passes a small drive on the left leading to a yard at the centre of the Eddy's central circle of shops, past a lane splitting off to the south, and finds herself before a shop with large windows covered in thick chain-linked shutters. Peering through the gaps, she makes out a small collection of mannequins posing in different outfits- men's styles on the left, ladies' on the right.
A sign stretching the length of the shop set above the windows reads "S. Crendall, Tailoring and Repairs".

Tick. Tick. Tick.
The compass is now rapidly snapping between the direction of the quarantine zone to the north and the door to the tailor's shop.

---~===~---

Violet taps a pen against her cheek. "Normally, yes. But this whole situation isn't. Normal, I mean. Ever since the... incident... happened, there was a townwide lifting on that sort of restriction, given how much... well... everything was destroyed and needed to be disposed of. When the town got somehow, um, fixed, the restriction stayed lifted due to situations like these being anticipated."

She waggles her pen vaguely. "Technically, all you'd need now is someone who works for the town in an official capacity to oversee the burning and make sure you don't end up setting fire to the place. And you've got me and the sergeant over there for that, if you needed to do it."
The pen points at the lurking form of Sergeant Archer, glowering from one side of the square.
"...to oversee the burning, I mean, not on setting fire to the place. Although you'd probably want to take the awnings and such down before you started."

[The Nottest of Daves]

Well, she thinks to herself, We paid for this place, so nobody should get upset if we open it up.

Dulcinea proceeds to inspect the door, using her Wizardly skill to try to detect any odd magic holding the shop closed, and making use of her skills as a Gearwright, Magewright, and Thief to pop open the door if it's only locked physically.

---~===~---

Ryuutarou proceeds to lift himself off his front feet and balance to reach high enough to grab the various awnings and banners on the shops, going around the square to pull them all down. "While I do this, Violet, could you open the door to the produce shop, and the rest of you, start gathering the broken furniture in the middle of the square, then the rotten veggies once that's opened up?"

While he's pulling down banners, he also tries to use Apprentice Wind Synchronization to kick up a light breeze to help get the nasty smells out of the square and up into the air.

[Aeromage]

Dulcinea inspects the door, and with her Wizardly skill detects there is indeed some odd magic holding the shop closed!
Iiiiit's probably the same odd magic that's been sealing all of the properties they (or at least Ryuu) been investigating thusfar.
Gracefully recovering from that ever so slight slip-up, the Professor is dispatched to retrieve the relevant key from Violet and, one unsealing and a little fiddling with a fairly standard lock later, Dulcinea stands within the slightly-dusty confines of the tailor's shop.
Racks of suits, jackets and dresses neatly line the shelves with neatly-written little cards neatly tucked into the corners explaining that they can be purchased as-is or adjusted for a small fee. A neatly-arranged counter sits before a neatly-arranged wall of various neatly-folded fabrics, with neatly-organised drawers of measuring tools and other tailor's accoutrements hanging open next to an upturned chair, a shattered box of pins spilling over the carpet next to it. A door, presumably to the back room, hangs open.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

There's another sound Dulcinea can hear, too, one that only became audible once she stepped inside. It's faint, but it sounds like footsteps. Rapid footsteps. Rapid footsteps, and desperate, laboured breathing, fading in and out of hearing range.


---~===~---


Violet, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't flinch at the question. "I got fairly used to unpleasant smells working in the Evergarden," she explains as she tightens her gardening gloves, "and the uniform helps filter the worst of it out, somehow. I could probably use some of what I learned to convert some of the produce into bags of compost, come to think of it. I mean, that probably wouldn't help too much with the smell, but it might be a bit less messy and easier to clear out. I doubt it'll be the only place that has rotten inventory, though."

Ryuu begins the process of pulling down the tent-like arrangement of awnings and banners, kicking up a breeze as he does so! Some of the banners rip apart as he does so, either having been aged by whatever lingering Time-effects have been going on, or due to not being maintained or changed in so long.
Come to think of it, if nobody was technically in charge of this square for years, doesn't that mean nobody was bothering with that sort of upkeep?

The bandits and Glorbuk begin the process of piling up the wooden furniture in the square! Glorbuk points out that putting the bonfire-to-be right around the large wooden pole in the middle would probably cause problems, and begins ushering the bandits to set it up somewhere a bit less central. It's a little hard to tell if he's being a good butler, or if he's just being snarky. Or possibly both? Butlers do that, don't they?

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Sounds like there might be someone in here, Professor! Quickly, to the back room!" Dulcinea speeds into the back room, readying Detective's Investigation to scan the (possible) patient, and Doctor, Healer, Scientist, and Apprentice Atomic Synch to try to diagnose the issue. Atrocity Procedure is at the ready if HP-healing is needed, though more exotic issues will require some additional preparations!

---~===~---

Ryuutarou proceeds to add the various tattered awnings and banners to the newly located burn pile, then joins Violet in hauling the rotting junk out of the first shop! After that's cleared out, the weird chemical-smelling place will be opened, and he and Violet will head in to inspect it in case the chemical smells are something particularly dangerous.

[Aeromage]

Dulcinea and the Professor hurry through the door to the back room! They pass a desk with a neat stack of papers and an open ledger, a safe, several rows of shelves, and through another door, where she finds herself in a spacious hallway leading off to the left and right, the wall in front of her blackened with an odd stain.

Several things suddenly come to her attention.

Firstly, the feel of the area abruptly shifted the moment she stepped through that second door. Thanks to a combination of her Geomancy knowledge as well as scholarly knowledge of area mana patterns, she is fairly confident in declaring that this is, in fact, a dungeon.

Second, given the way the compass is rapidly spinning around (and sometimes snap-pointing in two different directions, both further into the place), she's pretty sure the place's primary determining element is Atomic.

Third, the place looks like it's slowly fading into solidity, overlaying something... else. She thought she saw a hole in the wall, there, but it's being overlaid and filled with a whole version of itself as she stares.

And fourth, the strange blackened mark on the wall isn't fading away with the rest of the weirdo-restoration happening.
In fact, it's not just a stain.
From Dulcinea's experience with the element of Atomic, she thinks it looks like it could be, for example, all that would be left of a person if they were unfortunate enough to be standing in front of a wall when a large, destructive Atomic event happened nearby.

The sound of rapid footsteps and panicked breathing fade back into audible range somewhere down the hallway to the left.


---~===~---


Tattered awnings and hangings are detached, torn away, and added to the heap of broken furniture! Bright sunlight and lavender-hued skies are revealed in their absence, the moon hanging serenely amidst it all.

Violet begins carting (literally- it seems she found a wheelbarrow in there somewhere) piles of horribly-rotted possibly-once-vegetables (or maybe fruit?) out of the shop to add to the pile. Ryuu finds that some of the aforementioned rotting junk has apparently been turned into bags of compost, sitting in the middle of horribly-rotted counters or sections of floor.

"Some of the... stuff... was so liquified that I wouldn't have been able to pick it up, so I had to use that technique I mentioned on them," Violet explains as she comes in for another go around with the wheelbarrow. "It'll definitely need some repairs in here before you can use the place, I think."


The Grotty Grocery dealt with, the duo move to spearhead the investigation of the source of the chemical smell! Violet takes the ward down, and as Ryuu rolls the metal shutters up--

Whoof.

A roiling cloud of noxious fumes burst out of the shop, catching in the wind and whisking up and out of the square.
This shop, it seems, was an alchemist's. Little signs stand here and there amidst stepped shelves and rows of bottles, advertising potions and tonics for a variety of uses, from minor healing potions to ones targeting ailments, some promising increased strength and improved constitution, and some rather hilariously blatant 'health aid' advertisments promising, among many other things, 'outstanding vigor and stamina'. Also on offer are a number of cleaning agents, pesticides and an oddly well-stocked collection of condiments.

Many of the bottles' contents have gone unpleasantly cloudy or gritty. A fair few have cracked or melted, leaking their contents into greasy pools of commingled gunk. Further inside, behind the counter, a number of stills and tanks sit, several in a similar state of disrepair and leakage. Presumably, the alchemist who ran this place would have had a colourful array of his more-popular brews-in-progress acting as an eye-catching display to help entice buyers in.

It's hard to breathe in here. The breeze is helping a bit, but Ryuu is fairly sure hanging around is likely to start levying unpleasant effects on lingering parties.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea checks behind her, to see if the route back out of the dungeon is sealing itself with the reconstruction effect. If it is, she should probably retreat, at least long enough to let Violet know that there's a dungeon in this shop.

If not, it is time to gird the loins of battle!

---~===~---

"We should probably get some safety equipment before we try clearing this place, Violet. Let's move on to another..."

[Aeromage]

(Post round 2: Dulcinea was leaving if the door wasn't vanishing)

The door back to whatever passes for normal reality is not, as it turns out, being sealed off. Apparently whatever effect this is seems to be strictly sticking to restoring the place.
Thus resolved, Dulcinea and the Professor (and the ever-present Nearby Baseball) set back off and out to appraise Violet of the situation.

---~===~---

"I agree. I don't really want to risk breathing in whatever might happen if a bunch of random potions mix together..."
The pair head on to the previously-blocked-by-broken-furniture shop. Seals are lifted along with shutters, and the pair walk in to behold what was once, obviously, a café.

Once a café.

Now, it is so much more.

Shining, white-and-gold-tiled floors reflect the incoming sunlight. Regimented rows of magnificent tables set with pristine tablecloths surrounded by grand-looking chairs march off into the interior, grand condiment sets atop them.

Imposing counters clearly mark out the territory of those that run this establishment, and those that exist to be thoroughly served.
Behind them, visible through great windows into the place beyond, a space laid out with an assortment of shining implements of food-prep-battle, stately towers of plates, a washing station whose shining array of faucets would put even the fanciest of waterworks to shame.
Before them, rows of gilded cake-stands, racks for ready-made fare to be taken from the establishment from those unworthy to dine within, a till-podium that would surely render unto those that approach a true reckoning, and a coffee machine.

The Coffee Machine.

It is huge, taking up most of the wall between the windows into the Areas Beyond. Shining golden surfaces and pipes, mirror-polished facings and racks, a veritably panoply of steam wands and stirrers, waterspouts and dispensers, filter ports and bean-grinders, roasters and tanks. Regiment upon imposing regiment of cups, precisely-warmed to bring the heat down upon those whose thirst for caffinated beverages begs to be vanquished. Valves and levers, cabinets and buttons, all polished to a near-blinding shine stud the edifice and promise a swift and victorious campaign against fatigue.

It is glorious.


---~===~---


Dulcinea and the Professor (with Willoughby and Baseball in tow) arrive back in the square to find Glorbuk, the bandit-brigade, and Sergeant Archer goggling at a newly-opened store, from within which a glorious glow emanates.

They, too, bear witness to The Coffee Machine. The Professor falls to his knees in awe of the sheer majesty of the device.

It takes quite a lot of work to drag Violet's eyes away from the spectacle. It takes a fair bit of work for Dulcinea to drag her own eyes away from it.

"...dungeon? What?"

The clerk blinks.
"Oh! You mean there's a dungeon. In a, uh, shop. Right. Sorry. I got distracted by the... the..."

She gestures behind her at the Imposing Caffinating Glory that is The Coffee Machine.
"...uh, anyway. Are you sure? I mean, that sort of thing doesn't really happen outside the Spirit World here, unless it's places that have... well, I suppose from what I now know, I'd say 'hung around for a long time mostly-forgotten, or in places where a lot of mana gathers that hasn't been dragged into the Spirit World'. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert on the topic, but the Evergarden crew had me learn the basics as apparently that's a thing on the Holy Imperial Homeworld..."

She opens her folder and rifles through it.
"I, uh, don't think there's any laws or precedents for that on the books. I mean, this sort of thing doesn't just happen, and if it does it's usually because somewhere has opened into the Spirit World or something. Maybe it's linked to the... um, I mean, it's almost definitely linked to the... things... that happened here, and the event that set the town back to being mostly like it was. I could contact the Spiritual Defense Force about it, and the Guard should probably know, but..."

Violet pauses.
"...from what I remember, there's different kinds of dungeons, and knowing what they're dealing with would probably help with how we could handle it. If it's just one of those self-contained types that keeps itself to itself and doesn't spill out, I'd predict that you'd probably be told to keep the shop shut and they'd let you keep the place, so long as the relevant authorities were able to access it as they needed. If it's one of those ones that grows over time, that'd be a bigger problem. And if it's one that has its, um, residents invade the outside world..."
She pales.
"I don't want to think of the worst case. Given dungeons generally... stop, after their 'boss' is beaten, this would probably be a case for the Spiritual Defense Force or Spirit Hunter's Association... I don't suppose you happened to pick up what type it was, or any other details about it? I heard you Arena Members are fairly good at doing that, and I think we'll need to know how big an issue to make this."

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to gather such information before we evacuated to let you know it was there. I simply thought it would be best to inform the town authorities before attempting to go in to deal with it myself, in case effects began to spread out while inside."

Dulcinea steps over to Sergeant Archer and attempts to drag his attention away from The Coffee Machine.

"Given that you are the representative of the Guard present at this time, I would appreciate it if you would accompany Ryuutarou, The Professor, and myself into the dungeon so we can attempt to clear and eliminate this threat to the Public Safety of the Bazaar and Marefore itself."

---~===~---

Willoughby is completely amazed by this land of new and wondrous enormous shiny. She attempts to look at it harder to know what it is. Is it a thingy? Is it a thingy-not-human? What is this Coffee? So many questions!

[Aeromage]

"Of... of course. I'll send a message off to the Spiritual Defense Force and Guard, appraising them of the situation and letting them know a qualified party is already investigating it with the intent to clear it and render it... inert? Less dangerous? ...while trying to find out how dangerous it is. Um. This might require a few drafts."

Sergeant Archer is roused from his Coffee Machine-induced stupor, rewarding Dulcinea with a sour look as she explains the inconvenient dungeon situation.

"There are no existing guidelines in the Guard Handbook for dealing with such situations, as such situations do not, as a rule, arise to deal with. As this is a potential threat to public order, however, I shall accompany you 'in order to re-order an out of order situation', so to speak. Lead on."

Leaving Violet and Glorbuk to corral the bandits into finding other things to add to the growing burn-pile, Willoughby to her own devices inside the café, and after some effort spent to drag the Professor away from the scene of Glorious Caffination, the Dungeoneering Contingent sets out to return to unlikely staging-ground of S. Crendall Tailoring and Repairs.

The shop remains as Dulcinea left it- quiet, slightly dusty, with everything neatly arranged- the chair and fallen box being the exception. Now she's taking another look, Dulcinea's detective-skills tell her the scene suggests someone leaving- or, more likely, fleeing- the front counter as fast as they could into the back rooms. Given the ominous silhouette burnt into the wall just within the dungeon, however, it would seem that whomever it might have been- the eponymous S. Crendall, perhaps- did not meet a pleasant fate.

Leading the group down the left-hand hallway, from which she originally heard the sound of footsteps and panicked breathing, something she can no longer hear, Dulcinea opens a door into what looks like a large storeroom. Shelves full of neatly-folded fabrics line the walls, forming a large T-junction space that leads to other doors on the north and south walls.

Also present are two hovering, shifting bundles of sharp, erratically-formed glowing green crystal, whose radiance fills the room. They make unpleasant noises as they twist and judder, somewhere between nails on a chalkboard and a distant, tremulous roaring.

Dulcinea is immune to Poison: Irradiated! Through the grace of the God-King of Chefs, Ryuu is too! The Professor is fortunate enough to avoid being hit with the status effect himself.
Archer, however, isn't so lucky and is hit with an instance of Poison: Irradiated.

The gang is faster than the whatever-these-are, and get to act first!


---~===~---


Willoughby gazes upon the wondrous form of The Coffee Machine, and is rewarded with the following piece of information:

*Undeniably Glorious Coffee Machine Of The Marefore Bazaar- (Bound Item, Antiquity, Glory, 80,000,000 Gold)

She cannot gain any further information. It is too glorious for her at her current level of understanding.

[The Nottest of Daves]

19:33] Ordo Hereticus: Quick question, can Summons act on the turn they're summoned into battle?
[19:34] Caelzeph: Generally not
[19:34] Ordo Hereticus: What about start-of-battle effects?
[19:35] Caelzeph: I'd allow it for that, as quest threads have more wiggle room
[19:36] Caelzeph: Assuming you're talking about summons on start of battle
[19:36] Ordo Hereticus: the Citadel summons at start-of-round, and Lesser Hippocampus has a start-of-battle effect that boosts a target's turn order
[19:39] Caelzeph: I'll let you finagle a summon in as part of the prep
[19:39] Caelzeph: Just post this bit

PRE-BATTLE

Dulcinea uses the Citadel to summon 3 Lesser Hippocampus and a Triton before battle begins! The Lesser Hippocampi target their speed-boosting effect on Professor Rubiaceae, in order to improve his buffing ability.

NOTE: Dulcinea has the following equipped, boosting all Water-element summons and pets (the Professor is also Water element!)
Port- (Item, Property, Water, 15,700,000 Gold) Wielder's Water element pets and summons gain +7,500 to all stats as a non-stacking bonus

START OF ROUND 1

The Citadel brings forth another set of 3 Lesser Hippocampus and a Triton! The Professor's Caffeinating Aura gives everyone Augmented: Haste!

ROUND 1

The Professor goes very first! He proceeds to provide an illuminating lecture on dungeon construction to Dulcinea, who gains the potentially-stacking buff of +15,000 to MIN.

Next are the Pre-Battle Summons! They all send 0 MP attacks (Overrun from the Lesser Hippocampi, Great Trident from the Triton) towards one of the crystal monsters, unless at some point in the sequence the first happens to die, then the remainder will redirect).

Dulcinea is next! She uses her action on Detective's Investigation to scan one of the atomic crystal monsters, particularly focusing on elemental resistances, immunities, and weaknesses. Hopefully this will reveal more about the secrets of this dungeon!

Ryuutarou is after her! He is the Purifying Blade of the Kitchen, and none shall impede his Great Work of providing delicious foods to the suffering citizens of Marefore! He casts Purifying Blade

Purifying Blade- (Spell, Holy Magic, Light, 3,000 MP, 2,100,000 Gold) +2,200 Melee Attack, Demons, Daemons, Devils, Darkspawn, and Undead killed by this attack may not be resurrected by sources below Level 50

through his Culinary Keenknives

Culinary Keenknives- (Weaponx2, Knife, Physical, 3,000,000 Gold) +3,000 Melee Attack, 40% Critical, Culinary Arts spells cost wielder 30,000 less MP to cast

and takes a furious swing at whichever crystal monster is the most damaged and not yet eliminated.

PRESUMABLY ARCHER ACTS NOW.

[Aeromage]

Preparations made, battle is joined!
The Professor is, indeed, very first. He proceeds to provide Dulcinea with an elucidating lecture on dungeon construction and mana pattern theory from a scholar's perspective! Dulcinea's MIN is boosted!

The Lesser Hippocampi and Triton charge in with hooves and trident, crashing against one of the hovering, glowing entities! The Triton's aim is a bit off- Dulcinea thinks it might have been able to land a finishing blow if it hadn't whiffed the attack- but the front-row of opposing pair looks critically damaged as a result.

Dulcinea steps in, and thoroughly Investigates one of the creatures.

She registers it as a Celirium-α Elemental (Elemental, Level 30). In many regards, it's an Atomic-element analogue to the regular array of elementals of that level, although it also seems to possess the stats SAN, RES and INF and has an INF and Critical boost. It Absorbs Atomic, as is probably to be expected, possesses Resistances to Earth and Light, and possesses a notable weakness to Time.
That also seems to key into the differences between it and comparable Elementals. Whatever Celirium-α is, it seems to be very radioactive and unstable, and being hit by Time element actions has a chance of killing it outright- but also making it explode violently, damaging and afflicting large numbers of targets on both sides of battle. It gives off a constant aura that can inflict Irradiated, and is also capable of inflicting Overload: Thermonuclear Meltdown.
It can Stifle Zones of Time, although Dulcinea gets the impression this is more a result of whatever Time-nonsense happened to the town (maybe?) bleeding through and influencing the species to fall more in-line with the general Elemental template.
It can also summon more of itself.

Ryuutarou steps up! He plunges his Purifying Blade into the heart of the crystalline menace!
Or tries to, anyay. The thing's Light-Resilience prevents a great deal of the damage from going through, but it proves enough to take the thing out.


Archer does indeed act! He doesn't look happy about becoming radioactive. He also looks somewhat surprised that it was able to actually do anything to him.
Hefting his mace, he hits it with a grey-glowing strike that deals it Moderate damage, but fails to trigger any other notable effect that Dulcinea can tell. He scowls.


The remaining Elemental responds by promptly unleashing a point-blank nuclear explosion to engulf the room.

For a nuclear explosion, this particular example isn't terribly impressive. Everyone manages to scramble more-or-less out of the way of the blastwave, taking Light damage. Ryuutarou and one of the Hippocampi are afflicted with Overload: Thermonuclear Meltdown.

[The Nottest of Daves]

START OF ROUND 2:

The Professor's Caffeinating Aura provides Stat Boost: SPD Boost to everyone!
The Citadel Summons 4 Lesser Water Elementals.

ROUND 2:
The Professor uses Coffee Shot on the most injured non-summon member of the party.

6 Lesser Hippocampi Overrun the Celirium Elemental. If it is still alive somehow, the two Tritons engage as well.

Dulcinea performs a
Miracle-Engine-Heart Activation- (Active Ability, Miracle Engineer) Possessor may, up to (Possessor's Level / 5, rounded up) times per thread, spend an action to replicate an action performable by an entity of lower Level that is normally fightable on the Enemy List for drops as though an instance of said entity were performing said action

to replicate the Tanuki's
Jolly Beat- 14,000 Damage, Heals HP, Cures up to 3 minor status effects and up to 1 moderate status effect, 1 hit against 18, Air, 20,000 MP

Curing all allies of Poison: Irradiated and Overload: Thermonuclear Meltdown.

MIRACLE COUNTER: 1/8

Ryuutarou offers some Osquiddling Fruit to Archer.

When combat officially ends, Dulcinea will take some time to observe the Dungeon with Geomancer and her Detective-subtree of Diviner, while the Professor prods anyone else who needs it with healing-form Coffee Shot. If she's particularly successful, she'll try to detach the Zone Effect that's inflicting Poison: Irradiated on people.

[Aeromage]

CAFFEINE occurs! Everyone is speed-boosted further!
Four Lesser Water Elementals pop into being!

Round two begins!

The Professor judges the most-injured of the group to currently be Archer, and immediately speed-delivers a shot of healing coffee to the guardsman, healing him back up to near-full (due to the stat decreases) and inflicting Augmented: Haste: Excessively Energetic on the man.

A flood of Hippocampi charge at the remaining Elemental! The first two hit it with glancing blows, but the remainder of the stampede redner it firmly ground underfoot and destroyed.

With the Elementals defeated, the lurid green radiance sputters and dies, leaving the party in a dimly-lit storeroom full of fabrics and bits of green crystal.


The party gets:

2* XP for a Level 30 opponent

Celirium-α Isotope Crystal- (Item, Material, Atomic, 5,000 Gold)
Large Celirium-α Isotope Crystal- (Item, Material, Atomic, 50,000 Gold)


Dulcinea takes advantage of the break to try out her new Miracle Engine-Heart, replicating the jolly drumming of a Tanuki to clear away people's radioactivity problems and top them back up, healthwise.

Archer doesn't seem to be happy about what just happened.
"Spirits shouldn't be able to affect me. Those things are clearly 'unnatural abominations caused through means of abominable nature'."


Battle thus ended, the Nightmare Scientist studies the dungeon from the room she's in!
It's early days at the moment, with regards to being able to form a proper conclusion about the place, but the encounters-waiting-within-rooms (well, room) format they just experienced seems to suggest this is more of a static-form dungeon which has its residents stay put. She did hear the sounds of panicked fleeing from outside the dungeon's bounds, however (albeit literally right outside it), which suggests there may be some small possibility things could leak out. Exploring a few more rooms should help build up to a more-solid conclusion.

Geomancy-wise, the aggressive irradiating-effect died off with the Elementals. She does detect a higher-than-normal level of background radiation, however, which seems to be an intrinsic part of the dungeon. Staying here for overly-extended periods is liable to start levying chances of being irradiated naturally. The Atomic-seeking compass spinning (and occasionally pointing off somewhere else in the dungeon) certainly helps cement that opinion.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea feels a burning need to CORRECT someone who is WRONG in her presence!

"Well, Sergeant, that would be because those weren't Spirits at all, but Elementals, mobile manifestations of concentrations of elementally-aspected mana. Specifically, in this case, of the Atomic element, presumably related to the release of such mana as a part of the explosion that originally destroyed the bazaar area."

After completing here analysis of the dungeon, she sighs briefly.

"Unfortunately, we will need to continue our delving to complete the Risk Evaluation. I cannot gather enough information from here to give a solid conclusion. To the next room!"

Dulcinea sends a pair of Lesser Water Elementals to the south exit, away from the steady ticking of the compass to the north.

[Aeromage]

Somebody is WRONG! This CANNOT STAND!
Lecture on the basic difference between Spirit and Elementals thus delivered, Dulcinea has her Lesser Water Elementals go ahead of the group to the next room!

A few moments pass and they return, apparently none the worse for wear. Satisfied, the Nightmare Scientist leads the party onward!

The next room is, as it turns out, more of a wide, long hallway. The floor and ceiling are made of multiple stretched sheets of fabric. The sound of hundreds of pairs of scissors, quietly snipping away, fills the air.
As Dulcinea watches, various parts of the fabric-floor are cut away by invisible forces, falling down into a deep pit filled with high piles of fabric offcuts and unpleasant-looking clusters of swirling rags that appear to be shredding the discarded material. Parts of the ceiling drop to fill gaps in the floor a variable period of time later, the process repeating itself in multiple different parts of the hall to no obvious pattern.

Deciding to stick to her initial directional bearings, the end of the hall (which she decrees to be 'South') ends in a door, while the long eastern wall has two doors set into it, approximately a third and two-thirds of the way along.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Dulcinea has the pair of elementals head for and open the first East-side door. Provided they survive, everyone else will gather on dragonback and have Ryuutarou fly them from the beginning of the hallway through the door. While they await transit, Dulcinea once again extends her Geomantic senses to try to get a feeling for how this portion of the dungeon operates and fits into the greater whole.