Holowin special - Act III - A domain In The Night – Started!
Xiangling, Chongyun, Lisa and Eula found themselves in a completely dark room after the heavy doors closed behind them, cutting them from the outside world. They took a few moments to allow their eyes to adapt to their new environment, but were still unable to determine precisely where they were, or if there was anything of interest at all in their surroundings. Furthermore, not a single ray or light or familiar sound was coming from the outside of the mysterious place they were currently in. To remediate to that situation, Xiangling asked Guoba to breathe some fire in front of them in the hopes it would help find any useful information concerning their whereabouts. The fallen god didn't waste a second, happy to be of assistance, and breathed a few flames in the direction opposite to the door. At that moment, even if only for a brief few seconds every time, a better picture of the room became available. And there was more... a series of torches lit up slowly on the walls of the room after one of them accidentally caught fire following Guoba's fire breathing exhibition, slowly revealing what seemed to be a small table with a parchment and an hourglass. The orange-blueish fire bathed the room in a warm but eerie light. Chongyun moved forward, claymore in hand, and read the parchment in a loud enough voice so his allies could hear him clearly : "Welcome to the Holowin Domain, which opens once a year in Teyvat to mark a special occasion. As you are aware, only a few hours are left before said day officially begins... and this time is what you have left to complete the domain... Exactly three hours and seventeen minutes. The hourglass on this table will keep track of that time for you should you decide to carry it with you. The rules are simple, you have to complete the domain in due time to earn the rewards it contains. Good luck, adventurers..."
The group took a short moment to discuss the situation and, pondering their current options, they decided to move forward with the challenge ahead. Going back outside was out of question, both because the door wouldn't let them out and because they came to this mysterious place to investigate Mona's astrological findings. Lisa, who could more easily stay further from the action, took the hourglass with her to keep an eye on the remaining time to complete the challenge. When she got her hands on the time-measuring item, she almost accidentally dropped it, which revealed to them that the core of the hourglass could freely rotate inside its casing, thus preventing any time manipulation or miscalculation. The hourglass was a dark brown almost black with a slightly shiny glass container for the sand.
After a short debate as to how to proceed to minimize the risks, Eula moved in front of the group and opened the door located at the other end of the room before inviting her exploration partners to follow her towards the first part of their challenge. As soon as they crossed the door, they found themselves facing three paths that were parallel to each other, strongly suggesting they already had to make their first choice. All of their options were leading to a different door at the end of their respective corridors. Not knowing where they had to go, and even wondering if one of the paths was actually the right one, they decided to take the path on the right and went on with that choice... which led them to a wide room with the same eerie lighting they could observe a moment ago. A pressure plate was waiting for them in the middle of the chamber, patiently waiting for a soul brave enough to step on it. Chongyun, who didn't want his adventuring partners to expose themselves to a potential danger, took a moment to warn them about the unusual negative energies he was feeling in the air thanks to his exorcism abilities. He then moved a few steps forward, observed his immediate surroundings as well as the ceiling for a potential trap of any sort, and stepped on the pressure plate. A few unknown creatures levitating and visibly wearing some sort of long blurry robes appeared out of thin air at the exact moment a disembodied voice echoed through the room : "Here is a riddle for you, brave adventurers. I exist in different sizes and different shapes and am present in many objects. Although I can be observed, nobody can touch me. I can be either planned or accidental... Who am I?" The voice repeated itself a second time as the ghoulish creatures were charging towards Chongyun, the closest adventurer, to initiate the battle.
Quickly, Chongyun took his claymore and recited a few quick exorcism lines. His weapon emitted a few weak flashes of light that seemed to stop the progression of the hostile beings heading towards him. However, those entities resumed their movement shortly after, as expected from the low level of power from the exorcism technique used by Chongyun. Despite the short time of effect of his intervention, he was satisfied to notice his friends quickly equipped their weapons and joined the battle. Lisa fired a few quick lightning bolts towards one of the opponents that stopped abruptly as if paralyzed by the electrical discharge applied to it. Without losing a second, thanks to her knowledge of the battle techniques used by her colleague from the Knights of Favonius, Eula picked up where Lisa stopped and dispatched the ghoulish creature with an elegant and accurate sword slice that made quick work of her target. On her side, Xiangling moved towards Chongyun to support him more directly and poke a few holes in an enemy that was getting too close for comfort before seeing Chongyun finish it with a powerful overhead swing of his claymore. That violent strike attracted the attention of a few other opponents nearby that were initially heading towards Eula to divide the efforts of the explorers. Without delay, the young cook from Liyue unleashed her elemental burst, sending her projectile-like blade flailing around her at full force, severely slowing down the numerous targets who were still trying to get closer. Lisa used that opportunity to push back the enemies affected by the fire element of Xiangling thanks to the reaction she induced with her lightning bolts, buying some respite to the group in their battle. Even though that was sufficient to dissipate a few of the levitating beings, a new group appeared almost immediately to replace their fallen comrades. A few more electrical shocks later, the librarian addressed her allies : "We should still figure out the answer to the enigma we have to solve; it seems we are facing a never-ending assault. If we can't find the correct answer soon, I fear we might end up being overrun...
-We have to find something that is present in objects and can't be touched, recalled Chongyun. Do you have any ideas of what it could be? All I can think about or objects themselves.
-Something that can have different shapes and sizes... continued Eula. Could it be a shadow? It suits those criterion.
[The flying ghoulish monsters started laughing eerily at that wrong answer. At that moment, they seemed to grow a bit larger and taller as their robes started showing a few glowing symbols on them reminiscent of the abyss mages ritualistic symbols. Said symbols were representing the different element colors known to the group.]
-We'll take it that this answer is not the one we are looking for, replied Lisa, but that was a good try.
-The enemies are getting even more reinforcements, suddenly added Chongyun as he was almost miraculously dodging a projectile fired by one of the enemies.
-Guoba, we're counting on you to light them up for the barbercue! exclaimed Xiangling after a short silence. Let's prepare those targets for our next cooking session!
-Bwing~ happily replied Guoba before resuming its work.
-Is there something we know that can be observed but not touched? asked Lisa. I can think of the sky and stars, but it's not in objects... and stars could be touched if we succeeded in reaching them."
The battle resumed with more intensity after that comment by the librarian who was trying to stimulate her colleagues' imagination. Even though she was in theory the best riddle solver of the group thanks to her librarian position and the more than surprising amount of books of all kinds she had the privilege of consulting since she started her career with the Knights of Favonius, letting her brains do the thinking was not exactly her priority with those ghoulish creatures assaulting them relentlessly. She possessed impressive brain capacities, but at the moment she had to focus on the fight going on all around her because of her lack of recent activity on the battlefield. Thanks to their combined efforts, the courageous investigators managed to thin out the numbers of opponents facing them. After slicing a few more targets, Chongyun took a deep breath and a short break to resume the conversation with his team : "Even though we keep dispatching them, there doesn't seem to be an end to their offensive. Is there any hole we could find in their ranks to break them down?
-I wish I knew of such thing, admitted Lisa. There's something I'll have to tell you once we're out of this battle, but it can't help us at this precise moment.
-You're right, Chongyun! suddenly exclaimed Eula. The answer is a hole!"
The ghoulish creatures, after that word was said as a potential answer, started laughing eerily again. Their laughed echoed through the room as they started growing again, but suddenly dissipated as their growth halted and eventually regressed until they completely vanished, covering the floor in a disgusting rainbow-like slime-glueish liquid. A few moments later, while everyone was catching their breath, Xiangling took out a small bottle and filled it with the strange liquid with a glimpse of excitement in her eyes. Eula and Lisa turned to each other with expressions as worried as surprised while Chongyun actually bursted out laughing. He patted the young cook on her head commenting on her intriguing but interesting addiction to discovering new recipes with the most unexpected ingredients, making her blush to her ears.
A few moments later, a hidden door opened in one of the walls of the chamber, indicating the path to follow to the successful adventuring party. Before proceeding, they consulted the hourglass they were carrying, and noticed that challenge ate almost thirty minutes of their allowed time. They crossed the newly formed door in a hurry, but then allowed themselves a short break to catch their breath...
Holowin special - Act III - A domain In The Night – Completed!
To be continued...