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The Impervious Door
In the middle of the clearing, stone carvings laced with moss and leaves circle their way outward into the mountain before coalescing smirkly on the great adamantine door. Knurled into the surface of the door itself is a giant, featureless face that stares blankly into the empty room.
-Antonio PorchiaSet out from any point. They are all alike. They all lead to a point of departure.
Arcs
Quests
- Investigate The Impervious Door
- Reunite the Emerald Eye Pendants and return them to The Impervious Door
- Earn passage and receive blessings from the Southpaw Sentry at the Impervious Door
- Avoid being trampled by the Men in the Hoodies
Stretching out his muscles which had began to grow inactive due to the long period sitting, Blackheart snapped his fingers, prompting the undead Servitors to stand at the ready, weaponry locked onto Irral. Three gauss cannons, eight power swords, three laser rifles, four modified rotary autocannons, and one magitech cannon, all ready to light up the wounded dragon should he make a threatening move.
The elementalist said something about the dragon being useful, "Ironic," the Captain chuckled, considering they'd been waiting on Irral for sometime now. Even the door seemed impatient now. "Long time no see Gecko, you look well. Place the pendant so we can get started, M'lord."
"Blackheart my love," The AI chirped in his ear, "The Aschen retreated, presumably they will be here soon once they're better mobilized." Blackheart sent back non-verbal confirmation.
It seemed to stand like a massive snowman, half again as tall as a normal human, moving on a snakelike tail of blackened snowballs. On its back was a massive frozen claymore, easily longer than a human was tall, and the haft was the length of a man's arm. A tattered, faded black T-shirt was stretched over its huge chest, with "Gambit's Bar" barely being able to be made out.
"What in the name of the Ice Lord is going on here? I just hope there's still some fun to be had for myself."
That said, this new...being...seemed sort of interesting. A being made completely out of ice, and what from what he understood was probably a Dragon. To be honest, he had never really been in the pressence of a Dragon yet, so he found it interesting. To heat the thump thump, beat beat of a Draconic Heart...to hear it resonate.
Aoi had a bit of a thing for melodies and music, due to his sensitive hearing.
The Dragon didn't seem like it was sticking around, but this popcicle seemed like it would. Aoi could use this, he seemed like someone who could take a hit, or fifty.
"Well now, it looks like you made it right on time. We have not begun the party just yet, but don't worry, I think everyone here should make for a good group...that said, did I miss the part where everyone introduced themselves already? My name is Aoi, Aoi Azul, professional treasure hunter. You can call me Aoi, Aoi-kun, or however you might say it where you are from".
While he said that, Aoi made sure to listen to how they answered, to try and learn more about them. On the surface, people could fake voices pretty well, but Aoi could pick up things that no one else could with his hearing. He could hear the slightest traces of doubt, and sometimes if they were already thinking about it, he could even pick up hidden malicous intent...like the intention to betray their comrades, based on how they responded.
Of course, being able to hear heartbeats at a distance was very useful for that as well.
That said, from waht he could see, there was still a critical issue with this group currently...though the fact that Casren had not pointed it out either also interested him.
"So then, unless anyone wants to back out now, shall we proceed?"
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Then, through the clearing above the chamber where the Impervious door sat, a flash of multicolored light filled the room with brilliant rainbow colors, followed by an even louder thunderclap.
The flash culminated to a vortex, which flashed brilliantly, a figure in sleek, all black armor emerged, it’s face completely obscured by a glossy black helmet and visor. What betrayed the figure’s identity, was the sleek, compact disruptor PDW that was held in the low ready position while the figure moved forward, energy shields rippling a faint shimmering blue across the figure’s armor.
Another flash, and a second figure emerged, it’s PDW too held in the low ready position, it took position immediately to the left of the first figure, and then crouched on one knee.
A third flash, revealing a third figure, this one sported a full sized Type 53 disruptor rifle, modified with some sort of emitter attatched to the underside of it’s barrel, an emitter that, to the magically sensitive would seem unsettling, emanating anti-magical energies that while not outright suppressing or anti-magical, a keen sense could impart that this particular weapon dealt enhanced damage to magical entities.
This figure moved immediately right, taking position near some stone outcroppings.
A fourth flash followed, a fourth figure in the same armor, sporting a subcomact MC-3 PDW, a newer Aschen styled weapon that fired magnetically accelerated projectiles, they took up position near the first two figures, moving to a crouched one knee position, weapon held at low ready.
A fifth and final flash revealed yet another sleek black armored figure, but this one seemed different, their figure obscured by a large jacket, which obscured two disruptor pistols holstered at their hips.
On close inspection, every one of these individuals sported all sorts of equipment, affixed to nylon, and kydex fasteners to their kanvium armor, from antimana grenades, to rucksacks strapped to their backs, every one of them looked like they were ready for a serious fight.
EVE’s voice chimed in Anquietas in the first figure’s ear.
“All assets in position, use extreme caution, one entity has been detected to have energy signatures matching that of an entity Classis I engaged in the Opsian’lik system.”
The lead figure sent a mental acknowledgement, before turning towards Irral.
It watched somewhat impatiently as he set the stone.
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This over-confident Pirate who insisted upon insulting him was getting on the Dragon's nerves to say the least. Who did he think he was? Speaking to a Dragon so casually? What in the name of the Light had this human's head so far up his own ass? Why did the Aschen likewise think they could contend with a Dragon? The metal of his gauntlet and lance groaned under his grip. By now his wounds from fighting the Aschen Fleet had mostly healed, and his damaged bones were being coated in calcium; hardening as the nerves likewise mended themselves, though with higher pain thresholds.
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A deafening silence blanketed the room. It was as if someone had turned off the sound.
The Impervious Door spoke again, the eyes in the door projecting beams into the eyes in the ground, which then projected beams into Sol high and far above.
"AWAKENED IS THE DOOR"
It wasn't a trick of the eyes, though to most who noticed it would seem to be so, but for a brief moment Sol dimmed. It brightened again, almost immediately, and as it did it presented another beam. A third beam of pure light, which seemed to be all colors at once as well as none of them at all, shot from Sol into the cavern.
The beam of light came to rest on the mouth of The Impervious Door. In the pure light of Sol, the mouth of the door looked to be alive. This time it was definitely no trick of the light-the door's mouth was moving, slowly, opening, slowly. A great hum emanated from the opening mouth, a strong gust of air whooshing in to the mouth as if by force. As the lower lip of the door descended, the great green beams from eye to eye faded, followed by the great green beams from the eyes in the floor to Sol.
The ground shook as the door's lower lip completed it's descent. It's mouth was left gaping open, revealing a long, dark passage. At first, the entrance was illuminated, revealing smooth stone and expert craftsmanship. A second later, the great beam of disappeared down the throat of the door, the door swallowing it whole.
There stood open the Impervious Door, mouth gaping, eyes glowing.
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"Well what in the Nine Hells? I seem to be late to a party here..."
Selena looked around at the odd group and at the door suddenly wishing her portal hadn't just closed behind her. "So um who wants to tell me what is going on here?"
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Havasikaji looked at the odd group around her; soldiers, dragons, wizards, strange synthetic creatures, pirates, vampires, snow creatures and now some magical woman. This last one asked what was going on, and to her Havasikaji replied, "Honestly, lady? I don't even know anymore."
She did, however, assume a combative stance against the soldiers. Flames grew and licked along her forearms and hands until it looked like blades made of fire had been grafted to her arms.
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An older man suddenly appeared, walking directly and deliberately in the crossfire of all the weapons that were being pointed, seemingly without a care in the world of the consequences. He almost seemed to appear out of thin air, but a few careful observers would've notice him walk up just before the door opened.
The man looked to be about forty or fifty, with jet black hair tied into a messy ponytail behind him, a shaggy beard that barely seemed trimmed, calm black eyes that seemed to settle like dust, and a casual grin with a piece of straw hanging out of it. He wore a faded blue kimono and a ragged white belt tied around his waist. He wore leather gauntlets, gray pants, and soft gray shoes. The only threatening devices he seemed to carry on him was a Yumi Bow and some kind of sword sheathed on his waist, though neither was drawn. His hands were behind his back, palms open, and he turned to face all combatants, which made sure everyone could see that he had no kind of attack planned.
"You all may be jumping too quick," he stated simply, "You all see enemies, but I see many allies to be made here. Now I came to see what this green light was about, probably like many, if not all of you, have done. We all come seeking the same goal. That make us allies, right?"
He turned towards the door, a calm and steady gaze made enlightened by the green hue the door was letting off.
"My name is Akio. I'm a wanderer by trade," he continued, "And where I want to wander is through that door, preferably with more friends than enemies. You all should do the same."
And before anyone could ask him anything, before anything could be done, Akio the Wanderer casually walked towards the door...and went through it, disappearing behind the green veil that cast it's inviting shadow to the rest of them.
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“The Door has been opened!” Casren announced, maneuvering to the center of the crowd. He looked to Selena and Havasikaji, addressing them first, “It seems there’s something going on here that is bigger than all of us,” Casren then turned to Irral with a wink, “Perhaps even bigger than you!”
He then turned to address who seemed to be the leader of the Aschen unit, “Impressive entrance, and welcome back to the party! Shall we lower our weapons?” Casren looked pointedly to the Pirate, “Shall we investigate what lies behind this door?”
There was a distant series of booms- and then a min closer quake, come from outside the Mountain Fortress. For those native to snowy areas, it would be the obvious sound of an avalanche. Casren froze in place as the light from where they entered from faded fast.
“Ack!” Casren dove as a giant pile of snow poured in through the open hole, narrowly missing him. The snow kept coming as the avalanche proceeded, forming a solid column of ice and snow, clogging the ceiling hole and officially trapping everyone inside.
Casren let out a chuckle, gave the room a bow, and turned his back on the rest. He passed under the green glow and began to walk after Akio down the hall.
As he progressed, he noticed his supernatural abilities were most certainly muted. Not altogether gone, but he was no longer at his full power. This worried Casren- but was no deterrent. He remembered his cell phone and took it out to provide light, only to find it completely inoperational. As was his watch, he noticed. Technology seemed to no longer work past the threshold of the door- and he wanted to take pictures! A pity.
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There were five of them.
They came in on rainbow lights.
They had martial arts and advanced tech.
The moment he saw them, he could not help but calling out despite worrying about the possible dangers....
"IS this...is this the Aschen Power Rangers?!"
He said it. After that, he looked over at the pirate and the Dragon.
"Uhh, guys....the Aschen Power Rangers are here...so instead of turning this into a big huge fight, we should probably enter the dungeon and start the...the...the..."
And then, again reacting to the litteral vortex of events that occured, he turned towards the one who introduced himself as Akio.
"Wait wait, Akio?! Your not...no, no. Just the same name, you two dont look the same at all. Sorry about that, its just, the last time I met someone named Akio...well, lets just say he was a very curious vampire scientist....who likes to experiment on people...yeaah, lets just go into the dungeon".
And with that, before he got caught up in the craziness, he followed Casren into the dungeon while pouting a little.
"You know, you totally forgot to talk to me at all....uhg..."
But when he entered the dampening field, Aoi threw up almost instantly. All of Aoi's "supernatural" abilities were actually abilities that were produced from his own body. It meant each time he used them, there would be recoil, even if it was small and managable, but the way this acted it felt like it was trying to worm his way into his body to dampen him, and caused him to throw up on the process in this hallway.
Hopefully people watched where they stepped, or they would be stepping in vomit.
Notably, his advanced technology also seemed to disable, but not his headphones. Of course, his headphones were made of special material even harder then the door of the Dungeon, which was Impervious, and enchanted several times over, due to the fact they were necessary for him to function normally.
In fact, if normal people wore these headphones, they would be totally incapable of hearing any sounds including the ones they made themselves, but Aoi had been wearing them and participating in normal conversations, even talking to people far away from him.
Thankfully, his supernatural hearing seemed relatively unaffected...if that got dampened, he would have likely passed out and been unconscious for days.
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Visions flashed through Marlene's head as she stared at the gaping maw of the opened door.
"Our technology won't work past this door; we need to improvise." She said quietly to herself, while her eyes were affixed to the door.
"Change of plans, beyond that door, our weapons won't work, switch the suits to manual, and power them down. I'm going to make a quick errand." She said to the rest of her teammates.
They all nodded in unison, slowly lowering their weapons, and letting them hang loosely across their bodies.
One by one they removed their helmets, letting them fold back into the suits with an audible 'snick'
Three females, and two males made up the Aschen team, including Marlene Angel, an individual whom had quite the reputation.
Throwing a few strands of hair away from her face, Marlene dropped her Disruptor, and placed her hand on one of the many large boulders in the chamber.
Undeterred even by the avalanche, a portal shimmered into existence against the Stone. The portal was a clear image of some kind of military lockup, but everything was in Taiyou.
Marlene moved first, stepping through the portal, she grabbed five Seburo Type 64 rifles from the rack, and began passing them out to her team. Each one of them took their rifle with a nod, while Marlene stepped back through the portal, returning with an ammo container in one hand, and a magazine container in another, along with load bearing vests in Olive drab slung over her back.
She passed out simple halogen flashlights powered by alkaline batteries, and attachments for the weapons.
"Let's do this, I'll take point. Connors, on me, Jacque, Duram, cover our six, Solis, watch the flanks."
Moving into a bounding overwatch formation, Marlene advanced first into the door, as her portal closed.
The rest of her team followed closely with flashlights illuminating the hallway.
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Right as she was about to go through, she noticed something strange. A man in a dark blue hoodie was walking towards the gate. He walked at a calm but steady pace, right towards the door. He did not speak to the others, but he just passed through. He hadn't been there before.
Havasikaji frowned. "Hey! Hey, you in the hood!" she shouted, but the man ignored her and kept walking. She scowled, but then thought about the semi-mysterious manner the others had entered. Thus, she shrugged it off and continued on her way through the Impervious Door.
Immediately she could feel her magic begin to weaken. She shivered. She felt cold with the heat of her demonic powers dampened. She saw the others weren't faring well either. The blue-haired kid threw up. Everyone's technology had oddly stopped working, though this did not affect Havasikaji as she had come from a third-world country. Even so, the others were definitely downtrodden; the vampire seemed upset he couldn't take any pictures, and the soldiers had to go back and get new guns that would work. The man in the hoodie was barely affected at all; as he entered, he stumbled a tiny bit, but then continued on in his brisk but calm pace. What's his deal? she wondered. But she just ignored him and instead went over to the kid who puked and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"
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Upon hitting the threshold, he cried out. "Agh! W-what? Some kind of magic...it's interfering with my ability to sustain this form. I can fight it off, but it'll drain my stamina. We have to move quickly." As if fighting against some sort of invisible tide, the Snow Warrior soldiered on into the breach, following the team of off-world talent.
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“Are you faring well? My deepest apologies, I didn’t mean to disregard you.”
His voice was higher pitched, too. Casren waved to the one in the hoodie.
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So, it's a door. Terra is an odd place. Well, this is where I was told a treasure was sleeping. Seems a lot of other hopefuls are here, though. Humans are annoyingly organizational.
It walked forward, intent on passing through the entrance, disregarding the presence of the others at the moment. The sensation that awaited was unexpected, however. It's expression never changed.
My strength fades... Is it Gastro Acid? Not quite... Definitely not Paralysis, and definitely not Confusion.
Throwing a few air punches while staying behind most of the main group, it looked at its arms.
I can still use some of my Moves. This shouldn't be too big an issue, and my movement feels unhindered. My eyesight feels less sharp than normal, but my senses are intact. This is... No. It's a Seal Trap? Have I been Sealed? ...That must be it. A Seal Trap that also applies the effect of Gastro Acid. It isn't a PP-Zero Trap, since I can still use some of my moves.
The feline would then fish around in her bag, as if looking for something, unless she was interrupted.
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"I wonder how long ago this was made, and the hands that must have made it... perhaps the descendants yet live? This light is curious, I wonder what it's purpose is."
The oddity of this man was perhaps compounded by the fact that whatever seemed to be effecting the others had no hold over. The curiosity of the door however did cause a very strange sort of mirage to shift in and out of visibility.
At once there was two figures. The old wizened man with his robes and curious eyes, and the ungodly massive body of a dragon larger than the whole of the planet.
Dorant Magthulia, that was his name, and there were perhaps a handful of people that might recongnize him, for he the beast for which Dorant Valley Was named. He was the great and ancient dragon that had nearly destroyed the world merely through the act of being present upon it's surface.
He peered at Akio and said suddenly "My dear fellow, you seem to be surrounded by ghosts, and some of them seem quite old." The blue eyed Dorant carefully walked over to Akio, or rather to a space on his left, peering at something that wasn't there. "Hmm, interesting. They look like you. I figure your related? So very curious, you little things."
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By this time, Casren Bistreo was exhausted. Bristly clumps of hair emerged from random spots on his body. His ears had grown to points. His suit hung on him, and his pupils were far too large. The adult male, who had been of fair complexion, was now gray skinned and dark haired.
He gave a weak smile back at Cryoface, gesturing towards the Gollum. The two kinda looked alike.
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Selene looks to the hall and the hellhound dashed into the hall. It let out a howl and it could be seen that the fire with it's mouth had died down. Selene didn't like this but she followed her hellhound into the hall. She felt a drain on her power and frowned she hoped this was only temporary... She hoped this even more as she reached the end of the hall and saw the gollum.
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When the golem suddenly formed, Havasikaji started a fire spell, but then saw it appeared to be friendly, so she left her powers on standby. The Man in the Hoodie, however, continued to walk forwards, attempting to bypass it and continue on his/her/it's/their way.
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“It’s... alive?” Casren panted out, maintaining his human form a labored task.
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"Well, that was...is...unpleasant. And, just dont keep forgetting me okay...old man? Sorry, dont think I got your name. Or, the vomit impulse is screwing with my memory a little" Aoi told him as they entered the main room, looking upon a huge golem with its arm in a weird way.
Curiosity took over Aoi a little, as he began to circle the statue. At least he could move himself just fine, and he had his mind and his ears. Not that his hearing could do much here, but...it was still something. At the very least, he was able to tell that this statue was strong, sturdy, and possibly invincible. It made him wonder if it was made from the same materials as his headphones, but he decided to not attack it in fear it would react...poorly...
Actually, as he circled it, and he looked at the position, a thought occured to him...however...
"No way...it can't be that. That would be ridiculous".
The only reason he even thought of it was because of that friend he had who did that all the time, but in a dungeon? He dismissed the idea entirely as being foolish...
"...well, maybe?"
Not entirely dismissed it though, but he still didn't bring it up because he didn't want to be seen as someone crazy or foolish on the likely chance he was wrong. At the very least, he decided to wait and see what all of the others thought up first before making the suggestion...if someone else considered it, then he might mention it as well. Or if they ran out of more plausible ideas.
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Southpaw Sentry frowned from his crouched position, hand extended forward and open. Slowly the Gollum’s mouth widened. In a low rumble, he spoke:
Your greatest tools will pay the cost,
But grip in numbers met against mine,
Will open the way to power divine.”
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BTW Fish, not sure if you saw since the posts happened about the same time, but I had a post before lost that we were worried might not be seen....so in case you didn't see it, Aoi also has some ideas about the door one might want to ask about.
by LookingAtPerks
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He tapped the golem in several places with his walking stick, testing it's firmness and solidity. He gave it a slight kick in one of it's legs and, seeming satisfied by the impact he made, or rather the lack thereof, he came to circle in front of it, seemingly oblivious to the others in the room.
"I do so love riddles... Let's see now.. Power brought is power lost obviously refers to the studious drain on magic this place causes... I haven't the foggiest about the greatest tools, but Grip in numbers... perhaps that refers to cooperation among multiple members...." He turned and gestured widely at the group "I think the way it's offering it's hand is some sort of symbol, a gesture of unity."
Dorant then turned back and placed his hand in the golems own, looking up at it expectantly.