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1st Resplendent Air

The group arises in the morning and travels back to the tomb. Apparently they are almost flat broke. Savvy's ladies of the night remain behind to par take in the time honoured tradition of pillow fighting.

As they travel through the alley to the wall they fill Phinnae in on yesterdays events ... old man, note etc ( some details are argued about).

Jade Wisdom uses his mighty craft skills to fix the automaton and tests it out. Low and behold it works!

Jade Wisdom descends into the darkness.

Phinnae realises she's not at the hotel anymore!?

Jade Wisdom says "UP" in Old Realm as soon as it hits the bottom, so they all hop aboard and go down.

They are in a wide cavern, with a low ceiling and musty air. It is pitch black except for the glow given off by Caste marks. A perfectly smooth stone wall stands 15m away. A stone wall, with a stone door. Jade Wisdom approaches. As he draws closer he is overcome by a mind, numbingly tiredness. He turns around and goes back to stand with the others.

Scarred, ever the foolish one, disbelieves the great wisdom of the Artisan's findings. He walks toward the doors. Gets tired. Makes attempts to not look tired and goes to sleep near the door. Savvy also tries to approach the doors and she gets half way before sitting down to take a nap. Phinnae meanwhile braces the wall.

Jade Wisdom drags Savvy and Scarred back.

At Scarred's suggestion, once the Solar rouses once more, Jade Wisdom asking the doors to open in Old Realm. This is not effective. Scarred shines his Solar Caste mark at the doors with no effect either.

Phinnae decides to fire an elegant arrow at the doors and only succeeds in taking a chink out of the mighty stone.

Scarred investigates the walls in the gloom and finds only more rock and dirt.

Savvy tries to use Heaven Thunder Leaves to attract a god, but to no avail.

Jade Wisdom focuses his willpower and trudges to the door, ignoring the overwhelming desire to sleep. Scarred manages to follow the Jadeborn's example, mostly out of spite, and together they open the doors. The Lunars follow the example just set and are soon across.

Remembering the note the old man gave them the adventurers enter a second room, ten yards cubed. At the opposite end of the room there are three mighty statues in front of another set of doors, each holding a giant stone hammer.

Oh No! More Automatons and more doors.

Savvy approaches the door and reaches out and touches them. This appears to upset the closest of the Statues and it swings its giant hammer at her.

Savvy, parries, parries, then becomes a Deadly Beastman and tries to disarm the stone monstrosity. Alas with no success.

Jade Wisdom activates Black Jade Transformation.

Phinnae springs into action with her Relentless Lunar Fury. Pouncing onto the head of the statue and stabs at it with her ... arrow??? ... she's wishing she had some sort of melee weapon now. But she's in her Deadly Beastman Form now too and hopes she'll have some success. Alas the arrow is parried but skewers the statue in the head anyway.

Scarred runs up its hammer and puts his fist into its face in an awesome, if foolhardy, move. It doesn't notice or care.

The first statue swings at Savvy and she skillfully blocks with her Golden Tiger Stance.

A second statue is now activated and comes to the firsts aid. It swings at Phinnae still perched on the head of the first. She jumps up to the ceiling to back flip but is caught by the massive hammer. A solid crunch to her side.

Statue three swings at Scarred who tries to dodge " I wasn't there understanding " Statue three runs into statue one.

Jade Wisdom swings twice and cracks statue number two in each knee. Cracks start to appear.

Savvy furies up and tries to dismember statue one with fans. Ping! A chip flies off.

Phinnae leaps up and back and fires an arrow at statue two. It whistles by its ear.

Jade Wisdom leaps up and brings Witty Retort down on statue two's head for a solid clang.

Scarred runs up statue three and jumps off to kick punch statue one ... and misses!

Jade Wisdom scoots between the legs of statue three and hammers it back. It shatters in a shower of stone and magical materials. Yay!!

Savvy slides through the legs of statue one and slices three times. Ping! Sparks! Ping! Chip! Ping! Chunk!

Statue one hits Phinnae solidly again. Kerrrunck! She should learn to duck better.

Statue two swings at Jade Wisdom and misses, cracking the floor. He brings the Hammer up into statue two's belly in rapid succession for two solid blows.

Phinnae starts aiming.

Jade Wisdom brings Witty Retort in red arc into two powerful hits that shatter statue two's mid section. Yay!!!

Scarred spins around to uppercut statue one and connects, but for no damage.

Savvy pirouettes into whirling death - Miss! Miss! Chink! Chink! Chink!

Jade Wisdom appears in the rain of stone chips and cracks statue one over the head, knocking it off ... Yay!!!

Phinnae and Savvy are still Furious, but calm down quickly.

Savvy and Jade Wisdom push open the door, and luckily avoid the sheer drop.

Phinnae shoots an arrow across the gaping maw. It chicks and falls only a little way. It appears to be hanging in mid air. She flies across. Her feet find purchase on an invisible ledge.

The ledge is about three metres long. Savvy turns into a bird and flies across the pit ( 200m deep ). Phinnae picks up Scarred and flies him across. Then strips Jade Wisdom to his Rumour of Glory and flies him, his armour and weapons across separately.

Jade Wisdom examines the ledge and believes it to be made of Adamant.

Scarred and Savvy push door open.

...---^---...

Behind the stone doors lies yet another room ten yards to the side and ceiling. This room is incredibly ornate, with many bas-reliefs gilded and glittering in the Exalts' animas. The left of the room depicts battles and wars, while the right show wonders being built or created. There are two large sarcophagi in the middle of the room, one towards the wars, one towards the crafting scenes.

Trying not to appear too excited, Jade Wisdom begins investigating the battles side. The focus of all the scenes is a large man in a suit of magnificent golden armour. Obviously Su Chi.

Savvy looks around the crafting side. The Exalt depicted there is slender and beautiful. The Solar gets straight to the point and tries to dislodge the battles sarcophagus but it is too heavy for him alone and he asks everyone else to lend their aid. This also fails to work. Some investigation indicates a magical lock and Scarred grins with triumph as he uses Lock-Opening Touch upon it.

The weary party are able to push the lid off with an echoing thud but before they can celebrate something swings at Scarred's head. The Solar easily dodges despite his surprise and the thing reveals itself as a large clawed arm attached to a very angry ghost.

Realising it is immaterial, and thus immune to his attacks, the Jadeborn goes into a defensive crouch behind Resolute Denial. Savvy grows her Claws of the Silver Moon as Jade Wisdom begins slowly backing away from the creature. Scarred starts masturbating and cavorting around like a drunken fool as he activates Orgiastic Fugitive Form. Phinnae is still too taken aback to react.

The ghost claws wildly at the slightly stunned Lunar girl. She backflips to the centre of the room in an attempt to avoid its deadly attack but it manages to gouge a deep channel into the flesh of her legs and she collapses with a girly scream! Seeing his friend collapse, Jade Wisdom risks rushing in to attack the ghost and distract it away from Phinnae. He reasons that perhaps if it can harm the material world, then maybe the material can harm it! Aas, his goremaul merely whistles through the air and through the ghost, doing no harm. The attack does serve to gain its attention though.

Savvy edges close to the open coffin and sneaks a look within. A golden bow is resting gently upon the desiccated corpse! Feeling victorious, she lunges forward to remove it, and is startled to discover how heavy it is! She quickly remembers the properties of Artifacts, both attuned and not, and is crestfallen to think it would take her at least 20 minutes to attune to it properly. Fortunately Jade Wisdom sees her predicament as he backs away from the enraged ghost, and comes to the same conclusion as the Lunar. But the Great Maker blessed the Mountain Folk with some of his grace, so Jade Wisdom dashes to Savvy's side and utilises his Great Maker's Grasp on it, instantly forcing attunement, although draining his already small essence reserves.

As the Artisan has his back turned the ghost punches its ghastly claws through Ascending Fire Unit 17 and drawing blood. As Jade Wisdom staggers forward he calls out "Destroy the body! Destroy the body!" into the echoing room. Scarred hears this and leaps into the open sarcophagus and hammers down a mighty punch with his Orichalcum smashfists into the body's chest, shattering all the ancient ribs in one blow.

As Jade Wisdom tries once more to lure the ghost after himself, and away from the others, Savvy crushes the withered and dusty skull of the corpse. The Jadeborn tries to use the golden bow, hoping it has some ability to affect the immaterial, but his arrow flies through ghost as ineffective as the rest of his weaponry. It does enrage the ghost some more, however, and it rushes forward to attack him again. Fortunately Jade Wisdom is able to duck and weave away from the frenzied attack.

Seeing that bodily destruction was not working, Scarred gets an idea. He splashes some spirits from his golden gourd over the corpse then punches the side of the stone sarcophagus to create some sparks. These sparks ignite the spirits with a blue, nearly invisible, flame. Savvy quickly jumps out of the sarcophagus before the flames engulf her as well!

The ghost clutches at Jade Wisdom as he tries to retreat yet again. The claws are barely turned aside by Resolute Denial. Jade Wsidom cries out for the others to make the fire burn faster in a voice betraying his rising panic.

Scarred runs to Phinnae's prone form and tries to pick her up, but the Western Juggernaut is too much for the inebriated Solar to carry alone. He calls to Savvy to help him and she leaps to his side as the ghost once again lunges at Jade Wisdom. This time Jade Wisdom backs into the wall and throws himself sideways causing the ghost's grappling to go awry and carry the creature through the bas-relief.

Scarred and Savvy manage to drag Phinnae to the door to the chamber as Jade Wisdom runs to the centre of the room to keep a wary eye on all the walls for the ghost's return. Then Scarred sees that the fire has died down and rushes over to pour more alcohol into the stone crucible.

The trio wait nervously for the ghost to reappear or the flames to destroy the body completely.

Suddenly the hungry ghost comes running towards Jade Wisdom who only just manages to dodge its frenzied attack. Once again the Jadeborn begins backing away from the creature to lead it away from the Exalts.

Savvy tries to move Phinnae on her own but fails, as Jade Wisdom starts backing away from the ghost towards the doorway she is in. Once again the ghost slashes at the scared Artisan, and once again fails to land a blow. As Jade Wisdom gets ever closer, Savvy finally gives a mighty heave and manages to drag Phinnae into the room, away from the doorway.

Jade Wisdom gasps with pain as the ghost manages to finally pierce his armour while he continues leading it outside. He is attacked again and yet again, but no further slashes connect, while Scarred desperately feeds yet more fuel into the sarcophagus to keep the bones burning.

The hungry ghost keeps attacking Jade Wisdom as it is lead out onto the adamant ledge. Jade Wisdom is glad for his armoured helm as his face betrays his rising fear and disappointment that the ghost can leave the chamber. But then Jade Wisdom becomes aware that the creature is becoming more solid as he leads it further from the room! Finally feeling some hope, he tries to manoeuvre the ghost off the ledge. This slight over-confidence causes Jade Wisdom to misstep and the ghost manages to slice his arm. At last, though, the ghost is fully materialised and the duo attack simultaneously - Witty Retort blurring through the air as the ghost screeches and tears at Jade Wisdom one last time. There's a satisfying thump as the ghost's head is knocked clean off its shoulders and ricochets off the wall and into the cavernous pit below.

Jade Wisdom is relieved.

He re-enters the room. Scarred and Savvy come over and examine the bow. they all agree it looks to be the right one.

Over the course of the next three hours, Jade Wisdom heals and gives an enlightening and instructive lecture about the scenes shown around the walls. And also the type of stone used. And the style of chiselling involved at that period. Scarred gets quite drunk and is bored out of his head at the sound of Jade Wisdom's voice. Savvy is more polite and at least feigns an interest while she watches over Phinnae. Phinnae is probably glad she is unconscious at this stage.

After the three hous, Phinnae does manage to rouse. The others tell of what happened and their new plan to investigate, and steal from, the other sarcophagus. Phinnae immediately flies to the ceiling to stay safe, but then comes down again as Scarred realises he would be the best person to attune to the Golden Bow. Jade Wisdom gladly hands the Powerbow to the Solar, and they all wait another twenty minutes for the attunement to occur.

Then they all get into position. Phinnae once more taking to the ceiling, the others around the sarcophagus. Scarred uses his Lock-Opening Touch once more andthe lid is pushed off with another echoing thud.

Surprise attack! A clawed hand swipes at Savvy scratches her arm. Jade Wisdom looks within the coffin and spies a length of cord some two feet long. It is clearly magical so he grabs it and uses his Artificer's Insight to discover it is a wondrous triumph of magical creation of a utilitarian nature. He calls out to the others, "Flee!" as the hungry ghost comes out swinging at him in deadly imitation of the first ghost. One of its claws sneak past the Myrmidon Armour and Jade Wisdom can feel its icy caress over his ribs. The Artisan starts backing away in another dance of taunt and guard.

Scarred runs out of the chamber and along the adamant ledge. As he reaches the end of the nigh invisible construction he spins and punches a handhold into the rock wall of the cavern. Without glancing back he starts descending the smooth stonework, leaving handholds all the way.

Savvy runs out of the chamber door and becomes a bird to fly across the chasm while Jade Wisdom continues his guarded retreat.

Phinnae swoops down from the ceiling, skimming over the ghost and grabbing Witty Retort and Resolute Denial' from the Jadeborn. She then soars across the chasm and dumps the artifacts next to the crumbled Automatons. Upon doing this she remembers that Jade Wisdom is a bit useless at crossing the chasm on his own, and realises that if she activates her Full Moon Anima she will be twice as strong and twice as fast and thus able to carry him in one trip! Her thoughts become action as she shoots back towards the nervous, feeling-kinda-naked-in-a-bad-way Artisan.

The hungry ghost edges closer to Jade Wisdom looking for an opening. It can sense his fear...

The Solar is about a quarter of the way down when he remembers just how deep the cavern is, and changes course to edge around sideways along the wall.

With its prey against the drop the ghost lunges in for the kill but is put off balance as Jade Wisdom dashes forward past it running to the other end of the adamant ledge. Again the Jadeborn can feel the claws caress his skin on the way past.

Savvy arrives at last at the other room barely avoiding the speeding Phinnae as she lands. Scarred can feel the rush of air around him from Phinnae's flight as he continues around the wall, blow by blow.

Jade Wsidom reaches the very far edge of the ledge and stands warily watching the ghost come after him and Phinnae flying towards him. As the ghost comes running in, the almost panicking Artisan leaps into the air towards the oncoming Lunar. Time slows down for him as he starts to scream with his arms outstretched and legs kicking wildly in the air... then with a triumphant cry Phinnae catches him and carries him to safety on the other side. Jade Wisdom is quite relieved but manages to hide his quivering legs and shaky voice as he re-equips himself.

As Scarred climbs up into the room the others can see behind him in the shadowed cavern the hungry ghost running towards them. It slowly dawns upon the quartet that as a ghost it may not be affected by the god of falling down...

They flee once more. This time the magical zone of sleep does not hinder them, although they hope it affects the ghost as they reach the elevator and summon it down again.

The ghost appears at the doorway and Phinnae fires a deadly accurate arrow through the space that it would occupy if it were standing two yards to the left and a yard taller. As it starts a cautious approach, the lift clicks into place. The four scramble into the gilded cage and yell for it to ascend. Just before it reaches the top level an unearthly howl echoes around the chamber.

Breathing deep sighs of relief they ascend the stairs. Scarred informs everyone that the time is currently 3:47pm.

They yet again breach the stone wall and enter the dark and cold Sijan street. Quickly patching the wall they all hurry back to the hotel, trying to be quite nonchalant about the gigantic golden bow Scarred is carrying. It gets draped in strips of cloth and rags as best they can manage. It might fool a blind man facing the other direction...

During the walk Scarred casually mentions how he is in fact second in line for the Scarlet Throne. Before the others can react, he remembers his Easily-Overlooked Presence, and turns effectively invisible to hide the bow.

Once in the hotel, they discuss a cunning plan to get out of Sijan as fast as they can come the morning.

28th <-- | --> 2nd

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