[Hanako] Chapter 15: The Garden

[Throndir]

《Chapter 14: Southern Mining Site

《Chapter 15: The Garden》

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10
Day 17 - 10 AM

From a distance you see what looked to be a ruined building. However, upon closer inspection, you realized that it wasn't quick so ruined at all. It was strange, all the other ruins that you had come across were old and obviously ancient that were close to crumbling, yet this particular structure looked fairly decent.

The most interesting thing was that there were some lights still on the ruins, it seemed as if there was still some semblance of power running through it.

[spoiler=Exploration]Marching Order: Kari's summons, Hanako's golem, Kari, Trudy and Hanako
Log
9-10 AM: Head deeper to Section 1, success, encountered ruins.
10-11 AM: Head deeper to Section 2, success, encountered nothing.
11-12 PM: Head deeper to Section 3, success, encountered moist stone creature.
Noon-1 PM: Head deeper to Section 4, success, encountered nothing.
1-2 PM: Head deeper to Section 5, success, encountered mushroom forest, lizard-like creatures.
2-3 PM: Treat Deadly Wounds, found alcove, encountered nothing.
3-4 PM: Gathering Mage's Gift liquid, encountered nothing.
4-5 PM: Head deeper to Section 6, success, encountered violet fungus.
5-6 PM: Head deeper to Section 7, success, encountered nothing.
6-7 PM: Explore section 7, success, encountered active ruins.
7PM - 3 AM: Sleeping
3-4 AM: Head deeper to Section 8, success, encountered flying brain.
4-5 AM: Head deeper to Section 9, fail, now lost, encountered roper.
5-9 AM: Rest
9-10 AM: Head deeper to Section ?, success, not lost anymore. Now in section 10. Found in-tact ruins.
[/spoiler]

[Asta]

[info]Requested roll:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 97, total 97[/blockquote][/info]

[Asta]

"Ain't that a sight..." Hanako whistled in appreciation. Clearly this is what was so important that Klein had felt the need to mark it on a map. "I guess we'll need to explore a little." Before she started off towards the ruins however, Hanako paused to take a quick look at her fairly battered body. "Actually, hang on a second. Id hate to walk in there and get creamed by a final boss type." She looked over at Kari, "I have an idea on how to heal up that I've been mulling over for a while... Seems one of my abilities lets me summon ahh... demons? Or at the very least something that resembles them. I figure, I can conjure up a weak one and you can sort of... drain it to heal us."

She shrugged, "Thoughts?"

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10
Day 17 - 10 AM

Kari looked at you strangely as she blinked her eyes a couple times.

"Thou shalt summon a demon only to drain it of its life? Tis almost deplorable for one such as thyself; a hero."

But then Kari smiled.

"Mayhaps tis won't be as deplorable if thou ensures the demon suffers. I jest! For a valkyrie such as I shan't ever willingly suggest torture for civilized folk. Thankfully, demons are not quite as such. Bring this demon forth... Tis a good thing they can provideth a use to us."

[Asta]

"Ok, need a few minutes to do some prep work."

Hanako took a few minutes to find herself a suitable rock with which to draw a magic circle, once one was found she set about scratching the arcane diagram onto a section of the cave floor that was reasonably flat. For whatever reason, she just happened to know how this process was done, it seemed to be a byproduct of her ever evolving array of abilities. Once the circle was complete, she took off a glove and dragged her thumb across one of her canines to draw some blood. It took a few attempts, to her surprise, once again anime had lied to her...

Once she had a small cut, she let some of the blood drop to the circle and then focused her mana and picked what she hoped would be a sufficiently docile "demon" to pull into this plane of existence.

"Across the Void I find you, heed my call and obey! Jaakuna Shōkan!"

[info]Jaakuna Shōkan - As Summon Creature 3
Summoning an Aurochs with the fiendish template, CR3
9 MP[/info]

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10
Day 17 - 10 AM

The demon was soon summoned. As you expected, it was an Aurochs, a bull-like creature, though this one had redder eyes, and multiple sets of horns.

It was at that moment that Kari acted, casting her spell as the familiar runes appeared, though this time it was draining the life from the creature, and transferring it over to you. You mentally made the command that Kari was not an enemy, and that it was to sit still, and due to the spell, it was forced to obey. However, you did feel a large amount of hate, anger, and resentment through the link you shared with the creature, though it never took any actions.

Finally it died, and Kari seem to enjoy her handiwork.

"Thou art still injured, summon another." Kari said as her lips curled upwards.

[info]You gain 39 HP, per 9 MP spent. Let me know how many times you do this, and who the target of healing is. MP costs for Kari is negligible, though I'll go ahead and still track it since you're using this to potentially heal hundreds of HP.[/info]

[Asta]

"Ah yeah I guess I should." Hanako said and went through the prep-work of summoning another demonic Aurochs. "They really don't like that I'm doing this... You look like you're having fun though."

It was a pragmatic approach to healing, though somewhat distasteful and morally ambiguous. With luck, the seeds they acquired would be used to grow a small potion refinery that would render this method unnecessary except in the most extreme circumstances.

[info]Hanako will repeat the process once more for herself, and then at least once for Kari provided she needs healing.[/info]

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10
Day 17 - 10 AM

It took a few more minutes, but you eventually summoned two more demonic creatures, and had Kari heal both you and herself. By the end of the ordeal, apart from obtaining the extreme hate and disfavor from the demons you had summoned, you were now tired and slightly injured.. Kari was slightly injured and tired as well.

[Asta]

"Boy they really really didn't like that." Hanako said wiping her brow, hopefully her healing stopgap wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.

"Ok then, let's get to exploring... cautiously."

Having completed preparations she set off with a certain amount of caution.

[info]Proceeding stealthily, presumably everyone else is as well, and keeping an eye out for danger.
Stealth:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+20 : 5 + 20, total 25[/blockquote]
Perception:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+11 : 10 + 11, total 21[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10
Day 17 - 10 AM

Approaching the building, there wasn't anything lurking or hiding. The closer you got, the more you realized that the building was in great condition as compared to most of the ruins you had seen earlier.

Kari commanded one of her skeletons to open the door, and surprisingly it easily opened. Inside was a view that would have been completely unfamiliar with Kari, and even Trudy living in Refedoria which was a lot more modern than what Kari was used to, had her eyes wide open.

To you however, it looked very much like a very neat office. It was rather dark, with the carpet being grey, and furniture being black. There were various glowing strips of blue that you couldn't quite tell if they were decorative or functional, but they at least gave a soft light in the area. There was an office desk set in place in front of you, and directly behind it was a long a passage. You noted that the lights were only lit at the entrance, with the rest of the tunnel being dark.

"Hanako. Isn't that...?" Trudy said pointing towards a plant in the corner of the room. Moving your gaze towards it you realized it looked familiar. It was the Mage's Gift plant, this one looked just as bright and glowing as the one you had found in the caverns earlier. But what made this one stand apart from the one you had found was that this one was in a pot: being treated as simple decoration.

[Asta]

"Huh... what is this an office building...?" Hanako muttered to herself as she stalked into the room.

When Trudy pointed out the potted plant she clapped her hands together once in an exaggerated gesture of happiness. "Oh ho! Naisu! We can just take the whole damn thing up with us when we leave and can get a head start on farming the things! This alone probably made the journey down here worth it!" Hanako tapped one of her golems on the shoulder and motioned to the potted plant. "If you'd be so kind as to carry that, please protect it with your life."

"How about we investigate a little deeper?" she asked the group.

[info]Provided the party is on board, they will press into the darkness to explore further, same marching order as before. Don't know how you wanna handle it.[/info]

[info]Perception/Stealth if needed:
Perception:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+11 : 16 + 11, total 27[/blockquote]
Stealth:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+20 : 7 + 20, total 27[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10 - Office Building
Day 17 - 10 AM

The golem made a noise with it's mouth by grinding it together, and after nodding, it moved towards the plant and picked it up easily. You had noticed this earlier, but ever since getting the last title 'Their Own Mind', you didn't have to direct every single movement of the golems anymore, it also seemed as if they were able to follow orders much more fluidly as if you were giving them to Kari or Trudy. The second golem even looked towards the first as it picked up the pot, and then back towards the front. It almost seemed like the second golem was jealous about not getting a personal job - it was an action you never commanded, and from your previous interactions with golems, such as the yard golem, Jitsuko, or the stone golems, it almost seemed human.

After that, the group moved past the empty office, and the moment you neared the tunnel, more of the lights turned on. As you moved further, you then realized that the lights would remain turned on at your given location, with more lights appearing in front as the group moved forward, and with the lights behind you turning themselves off once you were far enough.

The passage narrowed down to a 10 ft. wide lighted tunnel. The architecture of the place was rather unique. Where the previous room looked like a modern office, the various lines and structure of this particular area was a lot different. The carpet was replaced with metal, and the tunnel almost looked like something you'd see in some sort of sci-fi show. Altogether, it stretched perhaps the distance of two football fields, but eventually you came to the end; a door.

The door itself was fairly plain. It was all one color, so your eyes were quickly drawn towards a circular panel on it. On the circle was 6 gems equidistant from each other. They were in a myriad of colors: black, white, red, blue, brown, and green. It was around eye-level as well.

There were words written in a circular pattern around the panel: "Only Those Blessed by the Goddesses"

[Asta]

That's interesting. Hanako thought watching the free-handed golem react to its compatriot being given a task. Starting to get into some free will territory that I don't really want to think about...



Standing in front of the door Hanako had to admit to herself that despite being in a parallel world with magic and monsters for a week, there could still be things that surprised her. She took a minute to study the round panel on the door. "Only those blessed by the goddesses. Guess that means me?"

She glanced back at her companions and shrugged "Well, get ready for anything I suppose." She poked at the circle with a finger, and just for good measure dumped a little mana in as well just to see what would happen.

[Throndir]

Mining Site #2 - 5th Level - Section 10 - Office Building
Day 17 - 10 AM

When you poked your finger at the center, you felt a pull of mana going towards the colored gemstones.

[Asta]

Guess I'll give it more. Hanako thought and started channeling a nonstop stream of mana into the gems until something happened.

[info]Though if it starts to look like shes gonna pass out she'll stop.[/info]