Player Plot: Let's Explore Mad'ni Shrine!

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Who: Everyone who signed up!
When: Around November 3-6ish
Where: The Mad'ni Shrine
What: Searching for the lost ruins beneath the Shrine!
Warnings/Notes: It's another dreaded water level.

Although the flight provided by Curti Center takes them as close as they possibly can, the Heroes still have to take a brief walk through the woods to reach their destination. It remains to be seen whether the trip will be worth it. After all, their hope of finding a Legendary Eidolon, or even just clues pointing to one, is based on little more than guesswork.

But, with the time ticking down towards the end of the world, they don't have the luxury of ignoring a lead, no matter how vague. A shot in the dark might be what saves them all in the long run.

OOC info and sign-ups are here!

Comments

Mad'ni Shrine - Mingle

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Despite its remote location in the shadows of old woods, surrounded by wild vines and thickets of poisonous plants, the Mad'ni Shrine itself emanates a rather peaceful aura. The aged stone building is safe from monsters, and a small handful of devoted continue to work there.

The employees don't object to visitors, only requesting that the Heroes don't make a ruckus or otherwise disrupt their daily rites and hymns. Beyond that, they're mostly allowed to look around as they please.

[Feel free to use this top-level for general mingling!

The Ruins(?)

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When questioned about the rumored ruins, an employee asks the Heroes to follow and leads them down a flight of stairs, opening a sealed door for them with surprisingly little prompting. The reason for the generosity quickly becomes evident.

"It pains me to say this after you came such a long way, but there is nothing of interest down here. You are free to investigate to your hearts' content -- just let us know when you're done." And with that, the employee leaves them to their own devices.

The ruins are... rather underwhelming. It's more or less just a large, damp room with blue walls. There are technically several side rooms, the floors covered with water, but the walls are so badly destroyed that it may as well be one gigantic room.

Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything besides some rubble and junk.

"This can't be all there is to it..." Uendo frowns, stepping further inside. "Let's have a look around, shall we?"

[Please keep replies to this top-level in a single thread.]

The Temple

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[OOC Note: ICly, this part of the ruins only opens up after finding the entrance in the previous top-level. For the sake of not clogging up that thread with 20+ characters, you may skip ahead to any of the lower floors. Please keep each set of floors in a single thread.]

After finding the hidden entrance, the Heroes make their way down from the top of the ancient temple. The temple is circular, lit by blue lights, with a giant flight of stairs going all the way from the 12th to the 1st floor. A giant pillar stands in the middle, wide enough that it could easily host something inside it.

Each floor has two doors, one on the left and one on the right. The right-hand doors all seem to be locked...

Floors 11 & 12

[whirluendo_of_puns]

The right-hand doors on these floors are locked.

The left hand door on Floor 12 leads to a veritable maze of corridors, as well as a stairway down connecting to the corresponding door on Floor 11. Some of the paths have caved in, but with some effort the Heroes will be able to find a seemingly empty chamber with a switch waiting at the end... But doesn't this seem a little too easy?

Floors 8 & 9 & 10

[whirluendo_of_puns]

The right-hand doors on these floors are locked.

The left-hand doors all connect in an utter mess of twisting corridors and stairways. Other than the occasional cave-in, everything looks pretty much the same, making it difficult to navigate.

Eventually, however, the Heroes may come across a room that stands out from everywhere else. Unlike the rest of the temple, this area is rather poorly lit. There is a wide hole in the floor, but due to the lack of light, all they can see down below is darkness.

...Jump in?

Floor 7

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At first glance, it looks like there are no doors on this floor. However...

"Guys! Look!"

Uendo points the others' attention towards the central pillar. The pillar has a door on it... and above the door, there is a symbol of a phoenix.

Unfortunately, the gap between the stairs and the pillar is far too large to jump. The Heroes may have to return here once they figure out how to proceed...

Floors 5 & 6

[whirluendo_of_puns]

The right-hand doors on these floors are locked.

The series of corridors connecting the left-hand doors seem surprisingly straightforward this time... That is, until the Heroes find a more literal maze further in. The paths are very narrow and the walls of the maze go all the way up to the ceiling, creating an uncomfortably claustrophobic feel.

Still, with time and patience, they should be able to make it to the end, right?

Floors 3 & 4

[whirluendo_of_puns]

The right-hand doors on these floors are locked.

The left-hand doors, as one might expect by now, are connected through a series of corridors and stairs. These ones are rather badly flooded; there's no getting through here without wet feet. Which is just as well, as the Heroes will soon find a room with a massive pool. On this side of the pool, a ball made of some kind of floaty material is gently bobbing on the surface of the water. At the far end of the pool, there's a very ball-shaped cavity.

Oh, and the surface of the water is also littered with an unreasonable number of extremely spiky balls. Certainly spiky enough to skewer a person if they're not careful. Who wants to go for a swim?

Floors 1 & 2

[whirluendo_of_puns]

The right-hand doors on these floors are locked.

The left-hand door on Floor 2 leads nowhere; the corridor beyond it has caved in completely, preventing passage. The door on the bottom floor leads to a large room, filled with water up to about ankle height, with plenty of wide open space... and everyone knows what wide open space means.

Smack in the middle of the room, a powerful Medusa awaits the intruders. After all, what is a dungeon without an optional mini-boss?

[righthandstand]

Okuyasu stands with one leg on a higher step and a hand resting on his hip, the other shading his eyes against the nonexistent underground sun. It was one hell of a gap, but no one would design a temple that was impossible for a person to traverse.

"Think I can teleport over to that door?"

Uendo | Open

[whirluendo_of_puns]

[Uendo is available for questions and greetings before they head further in. He's also following the advice he got from Sylvarie and making sure everyone's stocked up on Antidotes. With the area surrounding the shrine being as venomous as it is, you never know what might have snuck into the ruins.

Come and poke him?]

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi can't help but stare down the hole at the end. Sheesh, that seems like a long way down. But, she can't give up here!

"Hey, guys! I got a few light spells! Should I try to shoot something down there?"

[saint_sami]

Sasami nodded at Uendo's suggestion, holding onto the staff of her new White Mage gear close. After the incident at the museum and seeing everyone worry about her using such strange attacks, Sasami opted for something a lot more... natural.

"There's always something hidden. Something mysterious." Sasami mused.

He's not showing off, honest

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja has arrived, of course, in his usual over-the-top manner; descending from the sky on dragonback has that effect, usually. He doesn't even need to care overmuch about the local temperature- Myste Aura is fairly tropical, so when he shows up in the practical-yet-inevitably-eye-catching combination of pristine white wetsuit and red feather-patterned sarong, hair pulled back into a braid, it's abundantly clear he intends to participate fully, and is in no way showing off for the sake of it. "Good morning, everyone. How many are we waiting for, do you think?"

[timecrash]

"Yeah, I mean, come on. A big spooky ancient temple with no secret passageways or anything? Lame..." Serge walks along the walls, curiously examining the stonework as he goes.

Re: Floors 3 & 4

[wind_in_my_ears]

Klonoa looks uneasily out at the enormous pool. It's times like this he wishes that he could just fly. Or at the very least had Popka to chuck him over the pool. He takes a deep breath before exhaling, looking at the ball more closely before he smiles. "Well, I can think of a good way to get it across, but it's going to require a lot of balancing."

[princeandscholar]

Orcelito hesitates just a moment before stepping down onto the floor; fortunately, his boots are water-resistant and the footing secure. Watching the ripples and splashes from the team members walking around leads him to examining the flagstones and edges of the room.

"Do we know where the water is coming from? It's not rising... there must be an outlet somewhere."

[spaceforged]

That makes him wonder. "It has to be towards the bottom of the walls or coming from the floor, seeing as it isn't up higher than this. If anyone can summon Leviathan maybe we can have a little help locating where it is." He could swap to summoner if need be. Shiro kneels down by a wall and looks for anything out of place.

[spaceforged]

"I don't think that's a good idea. Let's if there's any mechanism we can trip, first." He studies the distance. He likely couldn't jump that distance even as a dragoon. "And it might be trapped."

He glances around the area. Is there anything that looks like it could be moved or pulled on?

[mythmaker]

Why did it have to be a maze...?

[Azusa's voice, sing-song even in a moment of complaint, echoes out into the maze. She has her left hand placed against the wall. Her sense of direction has never been her strong point (it's more like her greatest weakness), but with so many people around she's trying her best to keep up and put on a good show.]

If we keep one hand on the wall like this, we'll make it out. Right? I read about that somewhere, I think...

[sullenstallion]

"So, do you think a lot of people have died here?"

Without prompting, Dylas interrupts with a morbid question of death. Slithering around like always, he's considering putting his ear to the ground and using Ghostly Whisper to see if there are any chatty spirits around. But at the same time, the last time he did that, he and Monika accidentally summoned Ultros.

He'll just slither over here, then, and let people wonder why he asked that.

[pishirogane]

"I can try... Shiva, do you mind?"

Naoto had Shiva at her side again only as a ghostly and rather Egi Summon, her active occupation her mastered class as opposed to the others which had lower experience in them. With a single nod from the Lady of Frost, she allowed herself to be dismissed while the serpentine form appeared shortly after she'd gone completely.

It's just enough of the Eidolon's language passed between them before the small water deity 'swims' away. Meanwhile, she doesn't answer Dylas's question because honestly, she'd be more surprised if people hadn't died here or nearby.

[princeandscholar]

While he has no doubts as to Klonoa's skills in puzzle management, Orcelito studies the maze of spines (namely, the very thin, precise paths between them) with a frown.

"I have a basic ice spell, but I don't know how much help it would be to you here." He offers. Alternatively, he could turn him into a frog but... the situation is not that desperate.

"What are you going to do once you've reached the alcove? Can you dive back?"

[littlemhigan]

"I'll have a look," Castor hums, though she lingers looking at the gap a little longer. "Anyone with a rope or a grapplin' hook? Might be too far te jump but if we can get sommat over there, we might be able te climb our way across."

[wind_in_my_ears]

Klonoa frowns, looking over the pool. He bends down, trying to glance underneath the surface of the water for a moment.. spikes above, no spikes underneath. It's not an impossible puzzle; he's fairly confident he can make it through. But then, he wouldn't want those spikes popping the ball before he can manage to get it to the end. "Do you think you could use your ice powers to freeze the spikes in a path? As for getting back.."

He shakes his head. In all honesty, this whole water thing has been unnerving him. "No, I.. hadn't thought that far yet. If you had any ideas.. I, um.."

Klonoa glances down, rubbing his head a little.

"I.. can't swim." He says.