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Rishi	The hills you've crossed, while not "technically" in the Field of Endless Raitons, are close enough to the Shadowland to keep most people away. In fact your destination is on the very border of the cursed place. A hot dusty wind blows towards you, carrying the faint sounds of battle. As you come over the last hill, you can see an empty ochre plain, the red dust churned up by war and combat, dotted with the occasional dead trees that the Field of Endless Raitons seems to produce from nothing. You see a long low building glinting in the sun. For a moment, you think you're practically there, but the distance refocuses, and you realize the building must be enormous as it's still a ways off in this vally plain.
Rishi	As you approach the Manse, you spot a hint of blue in the ochre ground and an odd breeze. Scraping away the dirt reveals a small grating of bluish steel set into the ground. Air is flowing down into it."
Nine Roads Alani	At the sight before them, Alani lets out a long, low, forlorn whistle. "...Man. Just -look- at this. Hard to believe we were in some gorgeous grassland just a few miles ago. Any notion who's crossing swords over there?" The blonde stretches, arching her hands over her head and her back bowed, a satisfying pop heralding success. "Nngh. It's been a trip. What do you all suppose..." Her voice trails off, the concern on her face. "...That thing is -enormous-." Her boot scrapes the ground with a distinctly rough sound, definitely not sand or dirt. She blinks and looks down. "Oh, hello, you. What is this?"
Misa	Misa, by contrast, seems to have all but entirely ignored the people in the distance- perhaps to her detriment, but time will tell. She pauses at the same time Alani does, frowning slightly. "I am not certain who might be doing battle- but. I would presume, with little else to go of, this to be a sign of being on the correct track?" she suggests, kicking slightly at the grating for a moment. Her eyes rise up to scan the area before them for signs of where they might go. Truth be told she was not expecting this trip- but when the suggestion came, the potential dangers of the affair seemed to be the thing that interested her -most-, more than anything, despite her current loss of awareness of the threats in the distance.
Silk Moon Lotus	After discussing the manse with some of her allies. Silk excitedly agreed to go with on the hope of getting to fight some hungry dead and maybe looking for some artifact that will help her on her trip West. Dressed and prepared for trouble. She's surveying the area and looking into the sky and behind them not really seeing anything crazy. Attached to the noise from Alani's boot she stops and looks down.
Rishi	You would swear you can hear the faint sound of sword on sword, but there?s no-one here, beyond the occasional croak of the raitons in the dead trees. The ground surrounding the manse is churned up, however. Possibly the site of an ancient battle that echoes to this day? Or perhaps there are simply fighters within the manse... The grate of bluish steel is definitely pulling air into it, down under the ground somewhere. The shaft it covers looks barely wide enough for a child to crawl through and there's no obvious latch to open the grate, but with enough force and ingenuity, it might perhaps be a way in.
Nine Roads Alani	Alani's frown deepens as she looks around. Since the party is going into what's sure to be a dangerous situation, she has already had her chosen weapon in hand--the rather large, dark wood wagon wheel she's carried about before. Really, it looks like it should be absurdly ungainly, but she has no trouble. Now, she holds it over the grate and lets it drop, listening curiously at the sound it makes. While she's doing this, she eyes everyone else sidelong. "I could -try- for the grate but this little toy is a lot better at moving--and not moving--than breaking things. But it could be worth a try if no one else has a better idea. Also...I'm beginning to wonder if the clash of arms we're hearing isn't...ghostly. I -can- force lesser spirits to appear, but it could start a fight, I bet."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk looks down at the grate and listens to the noise from Alani's wheel. "If it's locked, I can open it. Otherwise, I'm not the strongest. I do have a staff with me so I could try to force it."
Misa	"I am more swift than strong, and will not be much help forcing it," Misa admits, turning her attention to her companions as she considers. "I also... may perhaps worry for the integrity of the place after so many years as we suspect, if we begin taking out such large, heavy elements?" She shrugs it off, looking to Alani for a moment. "A fight would likely not slow us down overmuch, if you think we could glean information on entrances from these figures?"
Nine Roads Alani	"Hrm~", Alani murmurs to herself as she thinks. "Honestly, we could try, but my best guess is if we -are- hearing ghosts, they're part of a battle and might have no idea the manse even exists. There's definitely air coming in here, though. Silk, I know you're better at fiddling with locks than I am. Maybe there's a way to get it open? Let me know if I can help." With that, Alani kneels to one side, brushing away more of the dirt over the grate and trying to find a way to open it.
Rishi	There is a muffled clang from the wheel as it thunks onto the grate, with no indication of damage or breakage. If it's lasted this long, the blue is likely from a tiny amount of jade reinforcement, so it'll probably resist most normal weapons, but a determined enough attacker should find a way through eventually. A raiton croaks at you as you approach the main building of the manse, the dirt dry and crumbly underfoot. A hot wind blows at you, a heat shimmer hovering above the roof. At this distance you can see the building properly. Tall as a dynastic villa, it's one giant curved wall, covered in tiny triangular ceramic tiles creating large mosaics of iron and flame, with lions and serpents creating decorative borders and carved triangular basalt columns regularly breaking up the massive decorations. The section of the wall nearest what you think is the old road, however, has a massive art deco design in gold and iron taking up the entire wall between two of the pillars. Possibly it's just more art...but mayhaps it could be a door?
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk pulls out a leather tube from her pack. She removes the caps and unrolls the leather reveiling an impressive collection of tools. She sets to work with verious probes and picks determining how the grate is kept closed. Her hands moving faster than many would believe possible.
Rishi	Despite not being conventionally "locked," the assault from Silk's picks is enough to shift the grate out of it's slot of many centuries. Now that she has a better look, Silk can also tell that she could squeeze into that shaft with relative ease.
Silk Moon Lotus	"Misa, do you think you can fit down the shaft? I'm sure that I can get down it. I'm guessing it's some kind of ventilation shaft for the Manse. If we want to go in the front door instead, I completely understand as it looks dark down there." She looks over at Alani, "Which way do you feel we should go?"
Misa	Misa pauses a moment, looking outright confused at the question as she looks Silk up and down. "I could... try... but you are rather smaller than I am. I am not certain why you defer?" She steps to the opening, frowning slightly as she crouches above it. "These ruins are... not my specialty, I confess."
Nine Roads Alani	Alani is still thinking while Silk works at the grate. "Hum. Y'know, if the ghosts of soldiers here were defending the manse, maybe they might know how to get in. Or the grate works too. I think I could get down there, though my weapon might be a bit tricky! We could try actually going in the door, too, though I'm not yet sure where it is. If Misa can get down in the vent, though, we might be able to slip past a lot of defenses." "Alani looks up, a bit surprised. "Misa, it's not deferring so much as making sure we don't leave you behind. I'm sure Silk can get in there and I -think- I can, but I don't know how you are at that kind of thing." She chuckles faintly. "All of a sudden I'm glad we don't have any beefcake along with us."
Misa	"Ah, well, in that case- I suspect so. My flexibility is certainly not lacking in that respect," the woman answers, nodding slightly.
Silk Moon Lotus	"I agree that we should probably take this shaft as we should avoid some of the traps and such at the front door. I have no problem dropping down the shaft. We will need some light down there. She then slips into the shaft and shimmys down.
Misa	Indeed, it turns out Misa's true to her word. While she might be Alani's height and somewhat... figured... she's athletic in the extreme and worms her way down in a variety of contortions- even manages to work around the short swords at her hip, moving and adjusting htem as she goes. About a third of the way down however, she rolls her eyes, and simply calls out dryly; "Try not to call the Realm about this." And then the duct system is abruptly washed in pink, violet, and gold as dawnlight emanates from her body, a blazing sunburst burning visibly through her heavy brow's worth of hair.
Rishi	The shaft has been hewn out of the stone here, so it is nice and cool in contrast to the blazing heat outside. Much dust and dirt has fallen in and collected in strange places, so squeezing through is still a challenge in a few areas, but a mere duct cannot stop heroes such as you. The best it can do is dirty your trousers. Silk can feel the cool air from the surface flowing past her, sinking down to the bottom and moving throughout the entire facility. From this, she can tell this place extends deep underground and has some idea where to crawl to reach the uppermost levels, the middle levels, or you could simply slide all the way to the bottom.
Nine Roads Alani	There's a bit of grumbling from Alani as she makes her way down the shaft--not because she's hampered by it in any way, but because she can't -see-. In fact, she's limber like linguini and has not the slightest trouble moving where she wants to go. The wagon wheel is, however, not in evidence. Maybe she'll have to go back for it later. As Misa erupts in dawn's light, Alani smiles just a bit, but is mainly focused on the task at hand. "Even if I -were- a snitch--and I'm not--I still wouldn't want them taking any notice of -me-. So you're all right, Misa." She chuckles quietly. "And it's not all that surprising a revelation, anyway. I feel a bit better about getting my ass kicked, though."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk closes her eyes for a moment and concentrates expanding her senses of hearing and touch. She chooses the path that will lead them to the middle levels of the manse in hopes of making a home base to work from. The bottom of the shaft may not be so easy to climb back up. The light from Misa makes it that much easier for her to find their way.
Misa	"I'm sure that monk would too..." Misa mumbles to herself, dropping herself out from around the corner of a duct to follow Silk out into the open space of one of the middle levels, dusting herself off for a moment and taking a moment to look around- convenient, when the light source is yourself. No need to shield your eyes or avert the thing out of your sightline like a torch. "So. I know demons better than ghosts. Either of you have particular expertise there? Seems like the more likely case, given where we are."
Rishi	With a *sproing* and a *clang* a grate falls to the floor out of the ceiling as three nimble figures land lightly upon the ground. Awash in red and gold light it takes a moment to get your bearings. Looking around, you see: A basalt ramp under you, wide enough for two fine carriages to pass, and the ceiling you just came from tall enough that not even Fudou would be able to reach up and touch it. There are two rails of reddish steel set into low grooves, so that walking along will not cause anyone to trip. The ramp curves away leading further down in front of you. To your left is a steel grate, but the scale dwarfs the ones you've seen so far. More reddish steel formed into a repeating triangular lattice that reaches up from the floor all the way to the ceiling stones and many yards wide. Red light coming up from below illuminates the space beyond the lattice. On your right is a curved stone wall, lit with high glass sconces each holding a flickering flame. The walls here have been carved with more images of iron and fire, with more normal looking doors set at regular intervals.
Nine Roads Alani	"Huh," Alani murmurs, quietly so as to not echo too badly. "Look at this place! Not the first manse I've been in, actually, but still, very impressive. And between iron and flames...I wonder if this was a forge? Maybe artifacts were made here?" Alani's voice trails off, and the blonde shakes loose her hair. She then eyes the huge ramp they're on. "Maybe a lot bigger than just weapons. You could fit a -lot- through here. Want to try these doors?"
Misa	"There are certainly weapons that are larger," Misa notes, smiling ever so slightly and wryly. "That ramp is certainly sized enough to transport the parts for, say... a warstrider." She shrugs it off, following Alani's gesture to consider the doors. "Likely better to find one that can be used as a reference point, before we delve that much deeper, yes."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk lands and listens to the wind and feel the flow of the air across her skin to determine where the wind is going. She looks at Alani, "This one certainly feels like a foundry. I'm happy to start with the doors nearby. We might find some interesting things in the rooms. Let's see what through that grate.
Rishi	The wind blows past you all through the vast lattice, keeping the area comfortable. Looking through it, you can see that it opens onto a vast hexagonal shaft, formed of five more of these lattices, reaching up to the surface and further down, past a number of strange engines and metal ...sails?, into a goopy mass of molten stone glowing red and yellow. It's hard to be certain, but you think there's a large metal grating at the bottom of the pit and a number of metal catwalks, so, if you went out there and fell you probably wouldn't land directly in the magma. . Probably.