Player Plot: The Crystal Temple's Secret

[princeandscholar]

Who: Characters signed up for this quest
When: 12th
Where: The Crystal Temple in Sen Devadatta
What: The Heroes of Light vs. Bahamut's Temple
Warnings/Notes: None


IC | Arrival

After a long flight to the Empire, a visit to Parasraya, and a meetup at the capital, the expedition members are loaded onto vehicles and delivered to their destination: the magnificent Crystal Temple. Alas, there is no time for a leisurely tour as the company gathers outside with caving gear and weaponry.

Once all party members are assembled, Orcelito addresses everyone:
"Thank you for coming. I know it was a long flight and there was a lot of preparation. Your presence here is appreciated, and we will be underway shortly.”

He gestures towards the Crystal Temple. “Two teams will be escorted into the basement of the temple. The rest will travel into the forest to look for a way in through the network of caverns. We have leads on where to start searching, so we can make the most of our time.

“As mentioned in the letter, the ruins have deteriorated over the years. Bahamut’s Temple is ancient, and parts of it are no longer standing. I’ve been told that some areas may be flooded or unstable.”

Orcelito pauses, scanning the group. He lowers his tone as he adds, "If you find evidence to suggest someone has tampered with the ruins recently, let me know. As well, please refrain from disturbing the ruins more than necessary. We are here on the Empire's good grace, after all."

And one more thing. "I understand it will be inconvenient, but the order not to use the Mognet is especially imperative while we're here. If you need to send a message to another team, ask one of the Moogles. They are here to help."

From where she hovers by his shoulder, Marigold waves the free paw that’s not clutching a lantern. Those traveling with their Moogle companions will notice they've been given similar lights.

Finally, he smiles; Orcelito may not know everyone here, but he's committed to leading each of them out safely. “Don’t take unnecessary risks. Look after each other.”

Once the orientation is complete, the parties are split. Orcelito turns to lead the way into the temple where a researcher stands ready to guide them to the basement. The other group will find a vehicle waiting to carry them to the forest nearby.


Team Thread Links
Team A thread: Orcelito, Tidus, Rutile, Naoto, Snow White
Team B thread : Ashelia, Castor, Terra, Klonoa, Frisk, Madhuri
Team C thread: Finn, Regis, Adrien, Sephiroth, Ursula, Papyrus, Kanji
Conclusion

Comments

[transect]

"Here!" Rutile announced, pointing with their free hand at the mimic's rear. Still keeping a keen eye on what everyone in the party was doing— and how they were doing. "There's a weak spot, behind its boards on the back."

With Orcelito's fire spell and Naoto bringing out the eidolon of fire— the doctor's brows knit together. "It seems fire will cause its venom to melt, if you haven't any light, then try ice instead— I'm not sure if water will wash it away either, but that may be worth a try, too." what was also interesting however, is the eroded spot in the wall.

Wanting to get closer to examine what, if any, benefit exploring those holes in the cave's walls might have. Before turning their attention to that however, the party will feel a wave of a protective Adloquium sparkle around them.

"And for goodness sake, don't any of you step in it!" They chastised, crouching down and trying to peer inside one of the poison-formed holes.

[hatejakku]

Finn hides his nose and mouth in his elbow, closes his eyes, and bows away against the cloud of debris. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. It all happened so fast that he didn't even have time to yell out in panic.

He looked back up again, actually missing the Stormtrooper helmet for once, and tried to look through the dust. "Where did that come from!?" It sounded like the noise had something to do with it.

... In retrospect, he thought it was probably dumb to yell right now.

I'll RNG for Rutile's Tabula Rasa ... Naoto got it!

[princeandscholar]

When Snow White attacks from the front and Naoto pelts it with light-enhanced shots from the side, the Ancient Mimic howls, staggering back, two of its six legs collapsing under it and the other four shaking as it struggles to remain standing. The light spreads more vicious than a burn through its gelatinous body, searing it far worse than the Broil did. Wobbling, the mimic rises again, it's lid trembling as it coughs out a Cackle. (And the party's Attack plunges by 10%.)

Orcelito steps to the side, moving along one wall in hopes of getting behind the monster. Ice... that's a good idea. He can restrict its movement so it can't lunge again. "Prepare to get behind it! Freeze!"

The cold wind is barely felt in the already chilly room, but the Mimic's lower limbs and body are incased in ice. It chomps its' lid, flashing sharp teeth, straining to break free.

Meanwhile, Rutile will find the air coming out of the hollow is stale and less humid; aside from this opening, the area beyond may be completely sealed. It’s pitch black inside, but if they shine a light within, there’s a small room with a corridor leading to the side – probably to the area that is inaccessible from the main hallway. (And while the party could squeeze through the openings, it’d probably be best clean up the venom still sticking to the edges before trying!)

[beariot]

Ursula let out a panicked yelp when the slab hit the wall, going into a fit of coughing once the dust started to overtake them. In her panic, her torches went out, leaving them in darkness...

[littlemhigan]

"Aye!" Castor hollars in response. She takes a moment to steady herself and hefts her axe. She looks at Terra and nods. "Together, aye?"

Whether or not he responds, she dives back into the fray, trying to land a fell cleave on the shield.

[princeandscholar]

After hundreds of years of being in a cold underground cavern, ice crystals coating the Shield are negligible; Frisk's physical power is still enough to damage the outer surface. Fell Cleave strikes hard enough to knock the Shield back, leaving an indentation in its front. Still, the metal remains unbroken.

The Shield rushes forward to Bash the now-vulnerable Frisk. It’s a heavier physical attack than Ram was, but luckily for Frisk, Ashelia’s wind spell catches the broad surface and slows the shield just enough to spare them the full impact.

[princeandscholar]

Finn and Ursula yell, the flames go out, and the ruckus comes to an abrupt halt.

There's silence from the chamber ahead, with only the lingering rustle of settling debris. The thick dust obscures the area, rendering any rekindled light as a haze around the party.

And now there's a crunch as of something heavy pressing into gravel. A curious noise, like a series of clicks, proceeds it. It does not sound mechanical.

[neverbeamemory]

Sephiroth had also covered his face somewhere in the crook of his elbow as the slab of rock had collided with the wall and erupted all sorts of rock dust into the close air. Slowly he raised his head from it and cast a careful look around in the darkness, the haze from Jennifer's mog-lantern floating like an iridescent misshapen orb of light nearby as she caught up to the group. He waved his hand at her, which followed with that light being extinguished as well. Better to have naturally adjusted low-light vision than the lanterns in the haze they were left in, a pity however that adjustment would take a few moments; given human limitations.

The crunch sound immediately pulled Sephiroth's sharp attention from others, back in the direction of the archway. What he wouldn't give for the superhuman senses that he'd once taken for granted, those clicks certainly don't sound like a machine of any sort...but then that led to trying to guess what manner of creature they were about to encounter.

"...curious sound." He mused lowly, ensuring to keep his voice as low and quiet as possible.

[modelcivilian]

Adrien took off his hat to try gusting away some of the dust around his face, coughing at the bit that still managed to get into his nose and mouth. Not at all pleasant - he didn't even notice Blanc's light go out, but that was probably for the best.

A knock to the head from the large moogle, and Adrien listened closely to the strange sound ahead.

"... Pincers?" he questioned just above a whisper though that wasn't all that could make a clicking noise. He put his hat back on and got ready all the same. Whatever it was, it was probably going to attack them.

[poisonwish]

Snow White scrambled back to his feet. Now that the mimic was immobilized, it was easier to run around to the back of it.

Once again, at its weak spot this time, Snow sent Dual Sacre at the creature's wood-like body. Maybe this would end it for good.

[pishirogane]

The Mimic might be immobilized, but Naoto needed to move and quickly reload. Also, with the ice, she decided Ifrit couldn't risk melting it free and the ghostly beast shifts, becoming more serpentine as Leviathan materializes.

With a fresh clip, Concentrate is passively activated as Naoto took the next shot from the front at the Ancient Mimic - hopefully with the elemental coat still on - again going for the mouth while Snow White attacks from behind. Following the single bullet shot, Leviathan would douse it with Tidal Splash.

Final Summary for Team C

[princeandscholar]

The heavy crunching and intermittent clicking draws closer… and moves further away. Keen eyes may detect the shape of something large moving beyond the archway, easily ten feet long and taller than the party members. Whatever it is, it seems to be examining where the slab of stone it threw broke apart; there is clattering as debris is shoved aside and snuffling as the remains are nosed through. (Fortunately for the party, the mud they accumulated during their spelunking and the cloud of dust are covering their scent. For now.)

-

Whether the party chose to engage the Boss, or the Boss chose to engage them, they finally get a good look at each other.

Covered in scales the color of dried blood and ridged along the back and tail with spines, the beast is easily ten feet from snout to tail tip, standing higher than the party members on muscular hind legs. Raptor? Wyvern? It's a little of both, but definitely suited to the earth. The sinuous body with a wide, powerful chest and shoulders support thick arms and claws suited for digging. After so long in the darkness, its pale amber eyes squint shut at the party's offending lantern lights, and the beast repeats the curious clicking noise from its throat.

While the claws may be blunt, its teeth are definitely not, and the party gets a good look at them as the creature snarls. (It’s not a wholly unhappy snarl… I mean, who turns down free food?)

As expected, the beast puts up a furious fight, and it takes some doing to finally defeat it.

Once they're no longer fighting for their lives, the party can examine the beast's work in the room. Set within one wall of the spacious chamber is a great fireplace… which has been aggressively hollowed out. Seems your scaly opponent was illegally excavating a historic site ripping the stones out of the mortar to get to the area behind it!

With effort, the party will be able to finish breaking through the remaining wall into a new room! It's dirty in here, as wet and cold as everything else has been, and the doorway needs to be cleared. But once they're out and shining a light into the main passage – hey, are those footprints passing through here? They are! And following them leads to familiar voices and warm lantern lights.

Congratulations, Team C, you've entered the main part of Bahamut's Temple! Teams A and B have reconvened and are ready to tackle the final area together, so why don't you join them?

HP 120/150

[sassafrisk]

Funny thing about Ninjas: they're fast little buggers. Especially when they're combined with another speedy asterisk and have their already through-the-roof speed boosted by another effect.

But there are downsides. Frisk cartwheels out of the way of the slowed shield with ease, but their skin is crackling with orange lightning that leaves welts behind, they're sweating hard, and their breathing is ragged. It seems that Bravery Mode, which is boosting Frisk's Speed, has some downsides.

Regardless of the slowly mounting scratch damage, they throw down another brief Smokescreen and disappear from sight.

Final Summary for Team A

[princeandscholar]

The ice restraining the mimic shatters from the blows, and the damage is done. The enchanted wooden casing the mimic used to protect itself falls in splinters. From the broken back, it appears a mass of thick, ebony sludge crammed into a box. The water rushes through the room, diluting and washing away the venom.

The mimic staggers and falls forward. It does not get the chance to rise again as Orcelito casts Morpheus's Embrace over it. With a final strike, the Ancient Mimic enters eternal slumber.

(Since it will take a day or so for the Ancient Mimic's corpse to dry out, the party members are free to harvest some of the poisonous goo while it's available. Properties are as laid out in the Libra scan; remember to handle with care!)

With the mimic taken care of, the party members can now squeeze through the holes into the adjacent room. Sure enough, the doorway leads past the blocked hall and into the rest of the building the group couldn't access before.

This place has a distinct musty smell, but the air is noticeably drier. Seems this area has been sealed off for longer and protected from the local monsters.

The passage leads past two rooms with long tables and chairs. But the real prize is when the hallway opens into a large room at the end of the corridor, and the party finds something particularly special!

Lining the walls of the chamber are bookshelves housing a collection of tomes! Though they were carefully shelved for their centuries-long sleep, the pages cling weakly to the deteriorated spines and the covers are heavily discolored and threatening to fall off. Many of the titles on the spines have faded to illegibility. If they open one with great (GREAT!) care, what little ink persists to show on the pages is indecipherable. Hm… if you can't read it, perhaps someone who's a native can?

(Once the Crystal Temple staff is called in to investigate, they'll be able to confirm that these books are written in Old Vaikunthan, an early form of Vaikunthan which was used a thousand years ago. The researchers will express surprise that the party can't make heads of tails of it; from their perspective, the Heroes are speaking Vaikunthan, so Old Vaikunthan should be at least a bit legible. It's strange, that.)

But for now, the books will have to stay here. Reluctantly, Orcelito reminds the group that it's time to rendezvous with the other team. Perhaps they also found something of interest?

Final Summary for Team B

[princeandscholar]

As the party was not able to discover the Shield’s weakness, they are left pounding it into oblivion through physical force. As the casing finally shatters under the blows, circuitry is revealed beneath. Only once it's in pieces does the Shield finally accept retirement.

(On being examined by local magitechnology experts later, the party will be informed that this was a prototype likely meant to accompany the Iron Giant model still found in the region. Without a body to defend, the Shield defaulted to basic programming and took up a command position in a room to guard. It's a shame the Heroes had to damage it so much… such a well-preserved model was quite a find!)

With the stair clear, the party can finally proceed upwards to the second floor! This area carries the same architecture seen so far, though being on the second floor has allowed for a domed ceiling. Through an empty passage, the party reaches a side wing where they enter a room like many of the others… save that this room is far from undisturbed. That much is apparent the moment the team steps into the room and find their footprints mingling with a chaos of shuffled dust and someone else's footprints.

Searching the space, there are distinct prints where things were removed recently, the fine layer of dust scattered as if from hurried motions. Tabletops are clearly missing multiple pieces, chairs have been moved, and unlike the rooms below, the furniture here is not on its last legs.

Oddly, there were no footprints in any of the rooms the party traversed to reach this point. Moreover, the party were certainly the first ones to encounter and fight the Shield.

Once the team finishes examining the area, it would be best to head back to the entrance to report. The others should probably know they’re not alone down here….

Conclusion - All Teams

[princeandscholar]

On gathering at the entrance and exchanging information, the parties learn the following: They are not alone down here.

Orcelito is startled by this; he forbade use of the Mognet for communication expressly to prevent this from happening! But someone found out they were here nonetheless… It’s unsettling. He directs the teams to stay close together as they proceed, in case the intruder decides they want to do more than just shuffle furniture around.

-

Everyone’s time of digging around in the darkness is not quite over; aside from visiting the other teams' uncovered rooms, there’s more to explore. Down one passage, there’s a particularly stubborn set of large double doors. It may take a little bit of magic, but the doors finally yield to allow the teams in.

Within is the main hall, a stately room even by the austere standards of the temple. Long and wide and mostly empty, it’s as dusty as the rest of the place. Although the contents are sparse, what décor remains is of great interest….

On one wall hangs a painting. It may take some brushing off the dust to reveal the portrait. Does she look familiar to anyone? There is no name plate as there was at the Mad'Ni Shrine.

Across from her stands a single door. On it is pictured a dragon and set into the artwork is a hollow. Those who were in teams A or B may recognize the shape of the charm that admitted them into the temple.

After someone fetches Orcelito from the library, he arrives with the Fairy Charm in hand. On being asked, he confirms with a Time Mage's certainty that the fairy was active for two hours, after which she returned to this form. He’s tried to reawaken her, but without success.

On some deliberation, he bids the team to stand ready as he places the key in its lock.

Once the charm is set into the space, the door is easily opened. The glow of firelight flickers within. The room is already lit, all torches along the walls blazing in their sconces. A scent drifts out, fragrant and warm: freshly burned incense. Opening the door further, the group finds themselves in a well-kept chamber.

Dominating the center of the room is a statue of Bahamut… but this is far from the broken relic the cenote-going team found. Pristine and undamaged, it stands as tall as the party members; the wings reach up to the ceiling, the tail coiling around the pedestal base, the serpentine neck arched proudly. The great dragon's form is polished to a shine, reflecting the firelight from the torches.

There are no other exits from the room. Though the party may search, they are alone.

Fin.