6840/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 3

Old Schoolhouse Exploration 3
Date of Scene:	21 September 2019
Location:	Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
Synopsis:	The exploration team investigates the fifth floor of the Old Schoolhouse.
Cast of Characters:	Rean Schwarzer, 7002, 7075, Sarracenia
Tinyplot:	Old Schoolhouse Exploration
Tinyplot2:	Trails of Cold Steel 1

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Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Everyone meets outside the Old Schoolhouse, a somewhat dilapidated stone building at the back of the Thors campus. It's still pretty hot out, and there's still cicadas chirping, a sound that becomes more prominent in this quiet corner of the campus.

Rean's already here when you arrive. With him are Elliot, the red haired boy from the visit to Heimdallr,  a small teal haired girl that looked to be around 13 instead of in her late teens like the others, and a tall silver-haired boy who had on the green version to the Thors uniform instead of Class VII's red one.

"Ok, I think that's everyone." Rean says. "These are my classmates, Elliot, Millium and Crow. Millium and Crow are the two new ones I mentioned the other day".

"Hey there!" Millium says, giving an enthusiastic wave.  Crow also waves. "Nice to meet 'ya!" he says, grinning.

"Nice to see you again." Elliot says with a smile.

"So, there's an underground space beneath here filled with monsters, and we're basically just exploring it to figure out why it's growing new floors." Rean says, explaining for Nanoha and Sarrencia's benefit, as well as Crow and Millium's. "It's usually pretty straightforward, got through the new floor beating up monsters, and then deal with the big one at the end. Though..." He looks away for a moment, thinking about what happened last time. "...Last time a door appeared on the 4th floor, and it eventually let out a giant suit of armor. So something like that might happen again and we end up fighting something extra. Otherwise, that's really it?"

Once any questions are answered, you all head inside.

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
Mikoto was here in her civilian clothing, hands behind her head as the explanations and introductions are made.  She raises a hand in greeting towards the two new people, "Yo," She says, calmly.  No formal bow today, this appears not to really be a thing here.

"Dangerous bosses, exciting levels, potentially treasure..." She says, liking that last one quite a bit.  "Let's just hope we don't find Rean's sister on the fourth floor again."

Perhaps chiding, perhaps serious...who can say.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha arrives at the campus wearing a pink blouse and jeans. It is a weekend, after all. At least, where Nanoha's from. It's hard to tell on other worlds sometimes. The military school has a familiar feeling to it, seeing as how the aerial instructor works in one like it. Perhaps not architecturally, as this one looks like one of those old-school schools. But the atmosphere is certainly similar!

    Meeting up outside the Old Schoolhouse, Nanoha looks up at it. She smiles, "It certainly has that feeling of an old haunted house full of monsters!"

    But for the moment, introductions are in order. Nanoha nods to the new students as each is mentioned by Rean, finally responding with, "Captain Nanoha Takamachi of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. But, Nanoha is fine!"

    The instructions are pretty clear. Although, "It grows new floors on its own? Interesting! Sounds like construction magic. I wonder if it's following a predefined plan or just creating things randomly..." Nanoha will have to ask someone about such magic when she returns home. It's not one she ever learned. But thankfully she knows someone who has.

    Nanoha is still silently pondering the mechanics of the shifting building when the group begins to enter. She realises they're all heading off and quickly follows behind.

Sarracenia has posed:
     As is more and more common for her nowadays, Sarracenia is in her black toughened leather dress with red metal armor segments bolted on it. A dress she calls her battle dress. She greets both Rean and Mikoto with a quick little hug, then listens to the short briefing. As introductions are made she curtseys royally to the two new members of the group. "Greetings. I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom. It is nice to meet all of you." she says, then reaches into her purse to pull out her massive DK Hammer and gives it a showy twirling flourish before resting it over her shoulder.

     She then smirks lightly. "It does sound interesting. If not for your assurances that it is a magical phenomenon, I would definitely think it was from Kirito's world or something similar." she adds after Nanoha speaks. She then looks to Mikoto. "Are you certain you are feeling up to this?"

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Rean sighs. "She's back at her school, so that's not going to happen." Back at her school and /safe./

"So /that's/ where she wound up. Heard you guys were looking for her back then, but I didn't know she wound up in /there./" Crow says.

"...Yeah. It was...rough, but we got her out safely." Rean says, dodging around his secret. No need to talk about the specifics of what happened down there now, right?

Then Sarraencia comes over and hugs Rean. He stares into space for a second, not expecting this at all. "Uh...Hi, your highness." Rean says.

"Is this what you've been doing in your free time?" Crow says, feigning a shocked gasp. "Seducing princesses?"

Rean groans. "Please don't."

Anyway, once everyone is actually inside, everyone gets on the stone platform elevator and goes down to the 5th floor. The floor has bridges that fold and unfold when certain switches are pressed like on the third floor, and as expected, there's monsters here too. Notably, large earthy sea turtles and purple accordion shaped jellyfish, and living boulders that are cold to the touch. Of course, the group is able to handle these well, including Millium, who has a silver object appear behind her that follows her motions, swinging its 'arms' when she swings hers and punching one of those boulders across the room at one point. Crow keeps up just fine as well, using his twin guns to strike from afar, and Elliot keeps everyone patched up with Arts or his orbal staff's ability to heal via sound.

Eventually, everyone reaches the door at the back of the floor. The door opens, and reveals a large dragon made of ice and stone. It roars, filling the room with a chilling sound. Not just because it's spooky, but because the temperature just dropped a few degrees.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia blinks at Rean's tone there, then blushes a bit at Crow's teasing. "Is that not a proper greeting between friends?" she asks uncertainly. She coughs a bit, then smirks lightly. "Besides, Rean and Mikoto is much more likely than Rean and me." she adds, just to make a bit of trouble and to deflect a bit from her. "...not to mention heroes do not appreciate a princess of my type."

     They descend and fight monsters! Sarracenia takes out plenty of them...and likely takes plenty of damage in the process. It is a good thing they brought a healer! She wields her hammer to deadly effect and shows little hesitation when it comes to leaping into the fray despite not being a sturdy combatant at all. She is all damage with little defense.

     When they reach the ice dragon she shivers from the chilling roar before pulling out a fire flower. It disappears in a puff of white smoke and her color palette changes to a more fiery one. It might help her to keep warm, but more importantly it will allow her to throw some fireballs. Everyone knows that is good against ice!

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
"I'm fine, I don't need defending.  If I was doing not fine, you'd know by now," Mikoto says, a touched annoyed but not enough to make it a big deal.  She does, after all, return the hug.  It's a bit PERSONAL for her, but unlike most, she is open to multiversal ideas.  

"No, we're just.../friends/," Mikoto says, "Besides, he's too focused on his sister," She says about Bean and her.  Instead of standing around and elaborating, she just charges ahead.  There is a flash of ~Magical Girl~ sparkles.

The normal outfit is replaced by the jade one, including a jade sword that seems to burst out of rough jade.  She simply charges forward through the monsters.  Her blade swings like a whirlwind, until they come to the dragon, who gives them a /chilly/ reception.

"Wow, talk about the cold shoulder.  Alright, let's chill down." She says, with a giggle.  Spinning her blade once and getting ready.  "I mean, dragons are cool...so if you want to stop being a jerk and be a pet of mine.."

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha glances around, looking rather excited as the group is lowered down on the stone platform. As they reach the target floor, she briefly glows with light as she transforms. Her combat dress takes shape and her staff appears in her left hand. She then follows the others into the dungeon.

    Nanoha sticks towards the rear as the battles proceed, using her ranged spells to blast the monsters to support the others. She doesn't go too explosive, concerned about bring the dungeon down upon the group. Though Nanoha wouldn't be surprised if the structure was magically reinforced. Nanoha looks impressed by Millium's combat pet/doll/golem/whatever she calls it. It's a unique means of fighting.

    As they reach the boss, Nanoha is still looking rather fine. Partially in thanks to the efforts of those fighting at the front. The previous monsters weren't too difficult which allowed the Mage to pace herself well enough too. There's a scorch mark on her dress where one of the monsters got in a lucky shot, but it's hardly any real concern. Especially with Elliot having provided support so far.

    As the dragon lets of an icey roar, Nanoha instinctively moves an arm to protect her face from the wind. Her Barrier Jacket helps provide protection against the ambient cold generated by the large creature. But she suspects its attacks are not going to be so easier.

    As Sarracenia switches her magic over to a more fire focused set, Nanoha is a little jealous of the elemental affinity. Leveling her staff to point towards the dragon, Nanoha calls out to Mikoto, "While some dragons can make good pets, I don't think this one will be very interested!" Especially as they've already started shooting at it!

    An orb of pink appears beyond the tip of Nanoha's staff, before bursting into a bright beam that streaks towards the dragon and explodes on impact.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Nanoha's attack streaks towards the dragon, smacking it in the head and exploding. It really doesn't like that though, and launches a bunch of ice spikes towards Nanoha and anyone who might be standing near her. "Lammy, barrier!" Millium says, pointing at Nanoha. The silver puppet chirps and moves to block the spikes for the instructor with a force field, if Nanoha doesn't deal with them some other way first.  Meanwhile, Rean has the same general idea Sarra has and ignites his sword, as Crow fires off a few shots as a distraction for him. Rean then runs in, delivering a strike to one of the dragon's legs. The fire does /much/ less damage than expected, and the dragon looks down at Rean, swinging its tail into him to knock him away. Rean skids across the floor,  "Fire MIGHT not work as well as you might think it would."

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
"Well... let's just see what exactly is beneath the surface of this dragon," Mikoto says, as she holds a hand out.  Around her arm data seems to form in the form of a bracelet.  

Spikes made out of data shoot out of it, before pointing towards the dragon, like a gun.  Even as it fires ice towards Nanoha, she leaps back, aiming to force herself to skid back, before firing a dark ball of energy forward.  

Should it hit the dragon, it would attempt to apply /every/ status effect it can from 'The World', as well as shoot data back to Mikoto, hopefully, something useful for them.  

"Hey, I don't judge a dragon by its appearance or temperament.  Sometimes they just are hungry.  Others it is because they are jerks...this one is more a jerk."

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia looks confused as Mikoto declares she doesn't need defending. "What? What said you did? I was merely concerned that..." She huffs softly and shakes her head. "..nevermind."

     Rean's sword and Sarracenia's fireballs do little it seems, and Sarracenia huffs in annoyance as she watches Rean slide past. "Well, if fire does not work...I suppose I'll go back to my hammer!" She giggles a bit at what Mikoto says, then charges in and leaps. She aims to hit the dragon right in the head if she can, her hammer causing a resounding thud when it hits and sending out a small shockwave.

     She bounces away after her attack, then looks to Mikoto. "...did you always have that sword and outfit? Well, either way they are quite fetching. Jade always seems to be in style."

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha seems to have drawn the dragon's ire, a wave of spikes sent flying her way. Thankfully, Nanoha has some help! A forcefield appears, created by Millium's strange bot. Nanoha quickly glances at the owner, "Thanks!"

    Not needing to worry as much about defense at this point, Nanoha raises her staff in the air above her, calling out, "Axel Shooter!" Several orbs of pink flash into existence around her. She then swings her staff down in the direction of the dragon, shouting, "Shoot!"

    The orbs begin to fire multiple beams of magic that arc up and then down atop the dragon, targeting multiple spots with explosions in an attempt to either overwhelm or identify a weak point.

    As she concentrates on her barrage, Nanoha counters to Mikoto, "I don't think it's so mucha jerk as it is created to defend this place? So it's just doing its job."

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
The dragon tilts its head, and Mikoto's attack goes wide, blowing up on impact with the back wall. Nanoha's attack DOES hit, though, exploding as it breaks the ice spikes growing out of the dragon's back. Sarrancia hits too, the impact ringing out with a loud thud. Airgetlam comes flying in after her, delivering a punch of its own. Crow starts firing at the broken spikes, and Rean quickly sheaths and unsheathes his sword with a flourish, sending an arc shaped wave at the same spot. Elliot's still in the back, and after a few moments with a casting ring around him, he raises his staff, and three balls of golden light surround the dragon before ramming into it from all sides. The dragon roars again, and the room gets even colder. Frost might even be forming on weapons or clothes now...unless you're Sarrancia and extremely hot. Then a ring of light surrounds the dragon, before becoming a bunch of arc shaped chunks of ice headed off at Sarrencia, Mikoto, and Nanoha, as well as at Rean and Crow. Crow tries to side step the attack but gets a gasg in his arm for it while Rean tries to block and skids back again.

Sarracenia has posed:
     "Defend it from what though?" Sarracenia wonders aloud, then blinks. "Wait, do monsters from this place actually threaten the surface? Or did we simply come down here because there were monsters in a strange growing dungeon?" she asks. Just before one of those ice arcs catches her and sends her sprawling across the ground. Her fiery color-scheme disappears in a puff of smoke, and she mmphs as she gets back to her feet.

     What little warmth the power-up provided is gone, and Sarracenia is quickly shivering as frost forms on her hammer and the metal parts of her dress. "I-it does not even have to fight us! Merely freeze us!" she exclaims irritably before she reaches into her purse.

     And with a few flicks of her arm she sends a number of the cute little creatures known as Bob-ombs flying toward the dragon. The explosions aren't huge, but they are quite powerful! "We had better handle this creature quickly!"

     She reaches into her purse again after that and pulls out what looks like some kind of raccoon doll with just a black area for a face. She squeezes it, and in a puff of smoke...she is wearing a full body tanuki suit! The plush fur does more than the fire flower actually was anyway. And it looks cute! If you ask her, at least.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Blasts of ice are sent at Nanoha again. This time she protects herself as she raises her hand towards them. A spell circle appears beyond her palm, forming a barrier. The crescent icicles smash against the shield, shattering in the process. Some of the shards blast past the edge of the round defense, piercing Nanoha's Barrier Jacket in a few places along the edge. Nanoha winces as a little red begins to stain her clothes. But nothing serious.

    Nanoha notices the cold beginning to rise, her quick breaths beginning to freeze. Nanoha nods along in agreement with Sarra, "We can't let it continue decreasing the temperature for much longer!" Although the unusual tanuki suit does draw a brief stare from Nanoha.

    Returning her focus to the icy dragon, they might have found a weakness in the form of those now destroyed spikes on its back. At the very least it's a decent enough spot to aim. And Nanoha plans to make doing so easier. As her defensive barrier fades, Nanoha shifts her hand to point towards the dragon itself now, calling, "Ring Bind!" Several rings of light appear around the dragon, quickly shrinking moments later in an attempt to wrap the creature up and limit its movements. Hopefully to give the others a better chance of striking it.

    Nanoha takes advantage of her own bind as well, a quick blast of pink firing from her palm to streak towards the damage they've already done to the dragon.

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
"Seriously..?  How does that even miss by the dragon moving its head slightly?  That's bullshit!" Mikoto complains, before thrusting her sword down into the ground as the ice attempts to wash out and consume the three of them, plus friends.  Jade spikes out of the ground around her, protecting her from the ice magic as she waits for the attack to subside.

Then leaping out of the top, she rushes for the dragon by jumping off of Rean's head as he slides past and attempting to get some air.  Swinging down in a mighty blow, channeling the Superior Strength of Haguro, she attempts to bring the sword down in a mighty arch.

This would put her just slightly behind or to the right of the dragon, blade extended as the force of the blow would come through seconds later.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Nanoha's Ring Bind spell wraps around the dragon, holding it in place. Rean grunts as Mikoto jumps off of his head, and her attack lands, placing her slightly behind the dragon. Nanoha's attack hits the broken spikes, and the dragon roars again, but it's a normal pained roar this time, and not one that lowers the room's temperature.

"Alright, together now!" Rean shouts, and Class VII makes a directed attack at the broken spikes with guns, sword, puppet fist and magic, and any other attacks others want to throw in here.

The dragon lets out one last roar, before exploding into a burst of violet light. The room returns to a more normal temperature, and then....

Nothing.

"...Huh." Rean says, looking around. "No quake this time."  Maybe there's no extra door?

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
"Well, that's anti-climatic," Mikoto says the sword coming up and then down, flicking whatever was left on it off as she turns towards the now dead dragon.  Thankful that the temperature wasn't freezing now.  The sword on her shoulder, she turns around, looking for a door or something to find.

"Man, that's it?  Or is this one of this weird 'Oh hey we're going to just sit here and not advance for a few weeks' things like one of the last few locks were?  Ugh, and here I thought there was some treasure to be found."

"Not even a dragonscale.  Worst dragon ever."

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia watches the dragon explode like that and peers. "...are you certain this is not some sort of game zone?" she asks Rean once things seem calm. She nods in agreement with Mikoto. "Nor any jewels." she says, looking around the room. "Well fought, though! This dragon never stood a chance, despite the cold temperatures and the fire resistance."

     She dusts off her dress, then smiles to the group. "Well, it was a short adventure overall, but it was nice working with you all. And it was nice to meet you Nanoha, Elliot, and Millium." She curtseys, then starts for the exit.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha shields her eyes at the unexpected light, but quickly looks again. She relaxes a little as the dragon appears to be defeated. Though a part of her still expects something else to show up. But she's just being cautious.

    As Mikoto expresses her disappointment, Nanoha considers the dragon's vanishing, "It does seem like it may have been a magical construct. Rather than a real creature. Which isn't unexpected given this place is apparently expanding on its own. Still, I'm curious as to why it's doing all this."

    There's a brief pause. As yet more stuff doesn't happen. Then Nanoha smiles and shrugs, "But I guess we don't get to find out today?"

    Nanoha begins to head out herself, "I think some dragon slaying deserves a nice reward. How about cake?" Nanoha appears to be offering!

Mikoto Shimizu (7002) has posed:
"Sold to the woman with the cake," Mikoto immeidately says to Nanoha.

Sarracenia has posed:
     "Yes! Let there be cake!" Sarracenia agrees. Even a princess won't turn down free cake!

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
"Sorry to disappoint you?" Rean says in response to Mikoto and Sarra noting the lack of treasure.

"I...hope not?" Rean says in response to Sarra's comment about game worlds. That'd be all kinds of weird, if their world was a game and they didn't know it! It wouldn't really change much, though. It'd still be real, right? "I'm pretty sure the bigger monsters that show up down here aren't normal, that's for sure." Rean says to Nanoha.

"Ooh, Free cake! Let's go!" Millium shouts, unsummoning Lammy and immediately bolting out the door.

"Millium, wait-" Rean says, and then chuckles. "I guess that's that. The cafe near the train station should have cake, if you want to stay here. Or if you know a place outside, that works too!"