Dragon Lagoon Beach

[Bloodedge]

There wasn't much required to keep the pace with the lizards, but Kou made an effort to avoid running into the group before the time was right. Soon enough, he could see the glowing acid pool that many lizards were falling into at the head of the group, and even farther ahead was Fiona at the center of the Dungeon. Miki used her lance to attack the lizards crawling along the ceiling, and at the same time, Kou continued his forward movement along the left wall with a quick run, in which he slashed at every lizard within his range on the way to the pool's opposite side. Once he reached the floor at the other end, Kou turned around and began slashing and stabbing with elaborate twisting motions to slay any stragglers among the wall and ceiling-crawling lizards, bar some which had gone ahead after initially crawling on the right wall. "Alright, let's clear up and clear out!"

[Apollymi]

While Miki initially took care of the ones crawling along the ceiling, Kou took care of the left side, and all of the stragglers. In the meantime, the rest of the right side would be handled, by a simple whistle, which caused the spear the lass carried to travel along the right wall lancing all of the creatures that crawled along and even flying past Kou to the ones which had gone ahead. All the while, stood on one end wondering how the little chick had managed to cross the gap. Eventually she found that along the middle of the pool there were tiny stones which seemed to be appropriately sized for one foot hopping to the other side at Miki's adult size. "Yare yare, that's a bit too risky for me..." she commented absently. A second later she was whistling once more, causing the spear to double back and she would eventually use it to carry her across the open acid pool by hanging on to it as it hovered over the rather dangerous obstacle. Once on the other side and sure all the stragglers had been dealt with she turned her attention to the podium.

Fiona was still chirping very angrily at the gem atop the podium. But soon she looked up to notice the two adventurers she thought of as her parents joining her on this side. An excited chirp escaped her instead as she moved her tiny body towards them seeming to recognize them both. She did a small motion around them before them as if she wanted their attention and was rather demanding in this entire situation. From all that they could see, it appeared that she was unharmed and not at all bothered by her dungeon adventure. "Awww.... we were really worried about you, Fiona." she managed reaching down for the little bird and bringing it up to eye level for the both of them to greet their pet properly.

[Bloodedge]

The remaining lizards were eliminated by Miki while Kou continued to move. The blonde then found her own way across the acid pool, using her almost telekinetic control over the lance she wielded. Once they were on the same side, there was nothing between them and the black Filolial chick they'd come to find. In fact, Fiona abandoned her angry chirping at whatever she'd been looking at previously, and approached the pair. Miki took the chick in hand while Kou extended the usual finger, having a look at the Filolial's stats. It seemed her Discernment stat had been affected very nicely by her adventure, but Kou was becoming interested in the gem at the center of the Dungeon. 'Hmm. Is that...?'

[Apollymi]

Kou petted the creature at eye level and Miki doted upon it. But after the necessary attention was given to Fiona she went back to her angry chirping now at the right level she hopped from Miki's hands onto the podium and pecked the stone there as if upset with it. This would bring further attention to it, and make the blonde lass rather curious about it. Her own senses let her know that it was indeed brimming with Dragon energy, but she didn't recognize the object as anything she'd come across before. "Sou ka, that's what's upsetting you," she said. Miki averted her gaze to Kou for a second and found him also looking in the direction of the stone. She approached the podium at this point looking upon it with a raised brow. "Uh... I've never seen this before. Do you know what it is?" she asked the lad. It was a rather strange object as it didn't register in her mind as something she could possess, which was rather odd considering.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was quite certain he knew what he was seeing, and if he needed confirmation, Fiona's anger at the gem's presence was it. Miki noted never seeing the item before, and went on to question if Kou knew what it was. Indeed, he did. Stepping forward, he extended his left hand to the gem, and the mask fragment he'd entered this world with appeared. One could note that upon this golden fragment was a black indent between two symmetrical holes in the forehead region. At the center of this black space was a slot which called the gem into it for a perfect fit. The ethereal glow around the gem then spread throughout the mask. Kou seemed transfixed as he briefly pressed the partial mask onto his face, sending a wave of Dragon Mana through his body before it was removed. "Sou ka. Two of five. I might actually be able to finish this thing. Good find, Fiona," he said, apparently still under the effect - at least mentally - of the energy he'd just experienced.

[Apollymi]

A few moments after they came to look at the stone, Kou summoned the mask fragment he'd possessed. Miki hadn't much thought about the artifact, as it was one of those things which simply didn't come up very often. To be fair she also didn't think much about her own. It seemed though that the one Kou possessed was still in pieces, and given this he placed the gem within the socket which was obviously meant to house it. This would make it so when he put it on, it would send a pulse of dragon energy through his body. Miki observed this and knew it had done him a service. "Sugoi! Probably should keep a look out for the rest of them. I'm curious about what it will be like when it finishes~" she chimed. In the meantime Fiona looked at the lad with decided skepticism. As he now had traces of Dragon power within him, she was a bit uneasy about his praise. A shrill chirp escaped her, she managed to look pleased and distrusting at the same time. "You can't take disliking dragon energy that seriously, Fiona... look," she said calmly to their pet while turning her to face Kou. "He's still the same person he always is..." Miki mentioned to the little chick while giving her a pat. A few seconds thereafter, Miki continued to have a look around this space, and though it was the center of the dungeon, there was no telling what other kind of loot could be found here for herself and everyone else. "I was thinking we'd cleared the most dangerous part of this, want to bring Hikari-chan back here as well, maybe see if we can't find anything else?" she said. It seemed like a pretty decent plan to her now that they'd taken care of the most frightening parts of this particular dungeon.

[Bloodedge]

'Dragon Emperor... Sou ka,' Kou thought. There was a great deal of mystery surrounding the Artifact, but he was beginning to understand at least a little of its potential. It seemed Fiona wasn't sure how to feel about Kou once he took the Dragon energy into himself, but whether she accepted this or not, said energy would soon be disappearing. "I feel like my senses just opened," he commented while looking around with the remaining Dragon energy. There was a glow in his eyes unlike the normal, but more reminiscent of the gem he'd placed within the mask. "I think I have Magic Find. I can see the shinies!" Kou was suddenly quite excited by the image of numerous sparkling lights around the cleared Dungeon. There was much loot to be gained, but Miki was right in suggesting that they regroup first. "Yeah, good strat. Besides... it looks like we're gonna need a lot of hands and bags for all this stuff," he explained as his special sight began to fade.

[Apollymi]

Soon enough Kou was explaining what he thought of the power gained from his magical item, this would occur while Fiona fidgeted still a bit unsure about how she felt. Whatever the case, the explanation that the lad had magic find, was something amazing to Miki. She'd been working towards such a bonus while she was playing and quite enjoyed it as an idea though she'd never experienced it herself, in the legitimate sense. "Nani!? I'm so jealous. I did so much work before trying to get it... and it didn't end up with it until level 46," she said thinking of all the hours spent grinding and searching for the appropriate item, weapon or enchantment to make her treasure hunting easier. Whatever the case, the lad having it was more than enough for her happiness. "Still a skill like that will make dungeon crawling significantly easier. Nice~" she commented absently. Having gone along with her plan to regroup the she would head out with Fiona in her arms back the way they'd come being careful of the traps they'd already passed. "Hai hai, I'm sure Hikari-chan will be up for a bit of adventure anyways..." she said with a knowing smirk.

Soon enough they'd be back at the cave entrance with Hikari in tow this time. "Ano, you guys found stuff like this while I was sleeping?! Why didn't you wake me up?!" she asked seemingly petulant about being left out of an adventure. Miki could only shrug of course, there wasn't much she wouldn't do to help the girl out, but she'd implicitly told her not to wake her, how was she to know she'd enjoy the adventuring aspect enough to want to be part of it the first time.

[Bloodedge]

The adventure was not quite done for this group. Some time after their escapade into the Dungeon to locate Fiona, the pair returned with Hikari in tow. Upon entering the cave, Kou lit the way once more. Hikari griped about not being woken for the adventure, prompting a scoff from Kou. "Urusai! It's not like you would have actually gotten up without throwing a fit! Consider yourself lucky we even brought you this time!" he chided. Nevertheless, Kou kept moving. Since he'd taken the time to return his normal clothes to his body, he had the Dragon Emperor's Mask affixed to his waist. From within the cave, Kou felt comfortable grabbing the mask and bringing it to his face, at which point he was able to point out any and all treasures to be found in the Dungeon. "Bags ready. It's gonna be a big haul~"

[Apollymi]

It appeared that Hikari was indeed upset and the pout on her face was oddly childish given the more mature lines and curves her face now possessed. Kou had returned her petulance with some of his own and she'd gone quiet after. "I mean yeah, but you could have tried is all I'm saying..." she said her frown becoming more prevalent. "There there, we didn't do much looting, we mostly only came down here to look for Fiona..." she said, as the little bird flapped on her shoulder with much pride about having been found in such a place as this. At the announcement that bags should be at the ready Miki opened a large plain looking sack which she would use to carry all the things she collected. She was also back to being dressed in a normal fashion complete with a cloak and her normal little black dress with a single legging and tiny boots. Hikari had a similar sack which she opened while recovering from her poutyness. "Hai hai, just point me in the right direction..." she said sounding less than enthused but there was a little sparkle in her eye which let Miki know she wasn't completely out of it. Everyone was at the ready for the lad to point out what they were looking for.

[Bloodedge]

"High risk, no reward," Kou replied. Over the years, he'd learned to not even bother trying to wake his sister up, as she'd rise eventually and take part in something if she had the intention of doing so. He saw no point in making this happen earlier by risking injury to himself. Moving on, Kou began directing the journey toward treasure of all sorts within the Dungeon. Eventually, they ended up on a path very different from that which they'd originally taken, and it was even on the opposite side of the Dungeon's central room. This path led to the Dungeons Treasure Room, and what in-game would be considered its proper exit after clearing the Dungeon. While masked, Kou saw numerous items ahead as golden sparkles - bar a few things which he saw as if they were diamonds, but the group would find one additional thing upon entering the room. On the rear wall, there was a podium meant to house a chest filled with the absolute rarest loot. Upon that podium, was none other than Karna, while the ultra-rare loot lay strewn about the floor beneath him. What's more, Karna was not simply resting atop the podium... It seemed he'd fallen asleep on it.

[Apollymi]

"Oh please, I'm not that bad," Hikari managed, though she knew the truth of her brother's words, at this point she was simply trying to save face. They would eventually walk along ending up in the treasure room of the dungeon which was its official end, but upon reaching the area, this group of three and one bird would find they weren't alone. No, Karna was here sleeping atop the rare loot podium. It had been quiet without Karna present, and Miki held in an internal sigh at the thought of that peace being interrupted over waking him. "Of course, he's knocked over the whole thing..." Miki muttered to herself, still she was quite content to collect small material goods and a few other things without bothering to wake up the lad in the middle of the room. In the meantime, Hikari managed to look really surprised. "Karna-san is here!~" she seemed really happy about his presence, but perhaps this was because she was missing her partner in plotting. "Yosh! The whole crew is back together again!" she said as she started inspecting the ultra-rare loot immediately around the area the man was sleeping. "Oi oi! Wake up!" Hikari chided as she looked among the loot pieces trying to find something she might like or find useful.

[Bloodedge]

When they entered the treasure room, everyone became privy to Karna's presence. "Huh. You know, I figured he'd just made the decision to run off and do his own thing. He wasn't even that far away," Kou commented without a care in either direction. He performed a quick count of the top-tier items dropped from the epic loot chest, and found that only one was missing from the usual amount of three. The other two, from what he could see, were both a special form of Ancient Legendary, which required restoring before their legendary attributes could be unlocked, or even before they could classify as usable items. While Kou considered the surprising amount of courtesy presented by Karna, Hikari decided to wake the more aloof member of the Party.

"Ugh..." Karna said, waking in quite a huff. In spite of this, his rise was a quick one into a seated position atop the podium. "Took long enough. I've been in here for hours," he continued. Of course, Karna had been missing for at least two days, but he thought it best to leave the other details out for the moment. After all... the others would be finding out what else he'd been up to eventually, and it seemed to be something destined to happen sooner, rather than later.

[Apollymi]

Miki continued on her search for small valuables, collecting things that seemed aligned to her goals that had been overlooked, including a few rare stones she could use for rune-scribing and other items like it. All the while she looked over at the lad on top of the table, and when considering they could have come back to nothing at all, it was surprisingly nice of him to have left most if not all of what was here, even if he took something for himself. Miki quietly admonished herself for the amount of annoyed she always was at the other white haired lad, and decided she'd simply go without antagonizing him if it was at all possible. "Hai hai, nice to see you too..." she said though she couldn't stop the sarcasm leaking through. That being said, she tended to speak to Karna this way, and saw no reason to change it. To his commentary about waiting for them to arrive Hikari had a little something to say. "That's probably my fault. I was sleeping and apparently no one... wanted to try waking me up..." she said with a casual eye roll. Hikari had filled her bag with various loot items seeming not to care about anything she picked up one way or the other. "Nii-san, what do you have over there?" she asked of Kou, wondering if he'd found something potentially good for her as well.

[Bloodedge]

Karna yawned before any further words left his mouth. The next statement he shared was offered to Miki. "Hai, Oujo-san. Hope the place wasn't too murky for ya'!" He said. Karna hopped down from the podium thereafter, and began walking toward what the others would find to be the Dungeon's "exit" as it were. However, the path ahead clearly only led down even more. Whilst standing before the next opening, he addressed Hikari. "Oh? What about the last time I was here? That had to be a couple of days ago now, and I'm pretty sure nobody was asleep."

Kou had immersed himself in looting the treasury for whatever he could find, whether it would be useful to the group or not. He'd made progress on his Artifact, so he didn't really care about finding anything for himself, though he did notice one of the Ancient Legendary items happened to be a sword similar in design to his own. As such, when Hikari questioned him, he looked toward the aged, rusted weapon. "I don't need anything else. See that old, beat-up sword though? Grab it. It's the highest tier of loot-able weapon if you can find a blacksmith capable of refurbishing it."