On the theory that the well preserved corpse was a disciple of the forgotten sect, Velvet and the small crew with her took the token they found back to the door. They didn’t have a formation specialist among them, so they could only make guesses based off experience. It was expected that any rejection of the token shouldn’t be too catastrophic.
The one to actually place it in the door was Misi, one of the last two in their group. He was one of a pair of twins, though his sister was somewhat behind in cultivation. He was in early Integration, but she was still in peak Life Transformation.
He nodded as the door accepted the symbol. “I thought so. It felt right. There’s something with tricks that is different.”
Velvet had that same feeling as well, though it was always possible to be wrong. She didn’t mind someone else taking the risk.
After the symbol clicked into the door, it began to open- revealing a large robot. No, for cultivators it would be called a golem or the like. Either way, it was made out of some sort of red tinted metal, though whether it was natural or dyed somehow Velvet didn’t know.
“Intruders detected,” the vaguely humanoid creature spoke in a monotone. “Those not authorized by the Nighstar Sect will be eliminated.”
“A bloodsteel defender!” Juli, the second twin, commented. “It should be weak to resonance from moonlight crystals!”
Just as Velvet was about to comment that her information wasn’t relevant when they didn’t have any of said presumably rare crystals, Juli pulled something out of her storage bag. Well, apparently Velvet had been wrong. Even Misi had one. Presumably that had something to do with their particular cultivation style. They were from… the Acroamatic Scale? A rather obscure group, but generally well regarded for their techniques.
“We’re fighting, right?” Durff said, stepping forward.
“I don’t think it will leave us alone,” the old lady Jyotsana agreed.
“Then let’s do it!” Durff charged forward, swinging his massive two handed hammer right at the golem. The golem reached forward, predictably catching his attack in its palm, clutching its fingers around it. Meanwhile, its other fist pummeled him right in the chest. He would have done better to let himself get sent flying, but he held his grip on his hammer. It was to his credit that his defenses were sufficient for him to not have his chest shattered to pieces, but it didn’t seem like something he could withstand often either.
Velvet dashed in along with the twins, circling around the golem while Jyotsana attacked it with fire. The attack was similarly ineffective as Durff’s swing, though even Velvet didn’t find herself effective. She tried to slash at weak points, but her weapons weren’t able to cut through the durable metal. Her voidsteel blade would have been useful if most of the durability came from enchantments, but that wasn’t the case with the golem.
Velvet had positioned herself in the back, opposite Durff, and the twins moved to either side. Each of them had pulled out warhammers- modestly sized instead of exaggerated- though their following actions were somewhat odd. They tapped the crystals with the hammers before swinging at either side of the golem.
The twins’ weapons struck, and while Velvet didn’t observe anything spectacular like the golem suddenly crumpling in two, she did spot small dents where they struck.
The two quickly backed away when the golem let go of Durff’s weapon, its arms swinging out towards them. Durff hit it straight in the chest, but his weapon bounced off uselessly. Meanwhile, Velvet danced around behind it. She hadn’t cause any damage so it had no reason to focus on her, which let her position herself to strike the already dented area. Her weapon barely scratched it, and with the greater power she’d used for that strike she thought she could have done the same anywhere else. Whatever the twins had done clearly didn’t have much in the way of lasting effects. Not yet, at least.
Realizing her flames weren’t hurting the golem, Jyostana focused on its head. It wasn’t clear if it actually had vision focused there, but the concentrated flames seemed to have some effect as the golem tried to push past Durff.
The twins rushed back in, striking two more points each. “There!” Misi called out. “Attack the convergence!”
Velvet was going to assume that meant the center of the triangle they’d both hammered out. With the golem charging towards Jyostana, she had to circle around Durff to reach it. Durff might not have been listening to the twins, but he did swing his hammer, striking it on the opposite side of where Velvet was going and actually resulting in the sound of crumpling metal.
Velvet’s dagger stabbed into the guardian easily, sinking into it like butter. Her weapon could only go so deep, but her energy reached deeper beneath the armored surface, attacking the formations that animated the guardian.
“Sustained damage is unacceptable,” the guardian said. “Activating extended threat protocols.”
That was… an entirely unnecessary announcement. Not that Velvet didn’t appreciate it, because it meant she was attacking before its energy began to surge. The ultimate result was far preferable to whatever it was going to do.
She stabbed through the second weak point the twins had created, angling her weapon towards the core of its power. She kept her energy just below the level of augmentation, and the burst of power from the golem as its core came apart caused it to tear apart from the few damaged areas. Fortunately, everyone was able to get out of the way, because the resulting burst tore through the highly enchanted walls and floors along the lines of effect.
“Good work,” Velvet said to the group. “It was tough, but we managed to take it down.”
“Indeed,” Jyostana said. “But it was a bit suspicious that the twins had something perfectly suited to counter it. Would you two care to explain?”
Juli tilted her head. “Of course. Why wouldn’t we?”
Misi nodded. “It’s only natural.”
Their candid responses made Jyostana narrow her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“We try to carry everything. If you’d like, you can peruse the contents of my storage bag,” Misi said.
Jyostana took the opportunity without saying anything. Her energy wove its way towards his storage bag, then she shook her head. “That’s… a very large amount of eccentric things.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Carefully planned to resolve any situation,” Misi countered.
“Don’t care,” Durff said. “What was this thing guarding?”
As he said that, he reached for the far door in the room. A door which was… apparently unlocked.
Velvet felt extremely suspicious. Even more so when it opened up to reveal a mostly empty armory. Among the many empty shelves were those stocked with various pieces of weapon and armor and other assorted equipment. It was far too much to be just a few scattered remnants, and they seemed too valuable for an invading force to leave… or an assaulted sect to not use to defend themselves.
Everything about this place bothered her, but she couldn’t quite pin down why. And now that they’d found something valuable, she was worried about more than just the place itself trying to kill them.
-----
After the battle with the guardian, Velvet moved ahead of the rest of the group, remaining cautious as the sense limitations around them meant that enemies could show up quite nearby and unexpectedly. She had participated in the distribution of loot, as not trying to get her ‘fair share’ would have been abnormal and she really did need some wealth for her travels, but there was nothing she actually wanted to use.
Before Augmentation much of it would have been quite tempting but she’d had some opportunities to gather generally better equipment, on par with her voidsteel blade. The Scarlet Alliance had many talented people working to equip those who needed it.
Everything she had was focused to suit her specifically. Velvet’s defensive equipment required ease of movement, but she also wanted it to limit her presence. Modest enchantments that didn’t radiate energy were better for her than something that could withstand huge blows but would give her away.
The mundane side of stealth remained important, and she avoided anything reflective or that made too much noise. Scent was also a frequent issue. While she could minimize any of these with her techniques, having a lower baseline was better.
Not long after they had found the armory, they had run across other members of the expedition. A short discussion with them had made it clear that everyone had gone through portals to end up in the same space they were now in. Nobody quite knew why the portals had opened, but it was theorized that it was when there were people at every entrance.
While the first group had no malice about them, Velvet didn’t trust that of others, and she also had to watch out for traps.
She came upon another group acting oddly, huddled around a map of some sort. She wanted to get close enough to look at it, but decided it was better to report back to her group so they could decide whether to avoid the others or not.
Flames barred her path as she approached. “Halt!”
“It’s just me, Jyotsana,” Velvet said. “What’s your problem?”
“How do we know it’s you?” the old woman asked.
“Looks like her,” Durff said.
“She could be in disguise!”
“As herself…?” Durff said.
Jyotsana rolled her eyes. “I mean someone else disguised as her.”
“... what name did the golem use for the sect?” Misi asked.
“The Nighstar sect,” Velvet answered. Now the twins didn’t trust her? Perhaps something had happened to them.
Juli frowned. “Perhaps she heard that name elsewhere,” Juli pointed out. “What did we use to defeat it?”
“Some sort of moonlight crystal resonance,” Velvet said. “That’s all you mentioned about it besides smacking the crystals and the golem with your hammers.”
“We tapped the crystals!” Misi emphasized.
“So are we going to continue on?” Durff asked. “Because we’re standing around a lot doing nothing.”
His lack of suspicion was odd. Velvet would need to keep an eye on him.
“Ugh, fine,” Jyotsana said. “What did you see?”
“Another group up ahead. They had some sort of map, I think.”
“We should say hello,” Durff said.
“Indeed,” Jyotsana agreed. “Things like that are important to the whole expedition.”
Velvet got the impression their reasons were very different.
When they finally caught up to the other group, there was a battle already taking place in some sort of old dormitory- where everything was strangely intact. Upon noticing Velvet’s group, both parties turned towards them.
“Aha! I knew you had to be up to something!” someone from the first group said. “Conspiring with others against us!”
“We could say the same of you!” said the second group. “We know they’re not on our side, which means you’re the ones at fault!”
“Careful,” Jyotsana whispered. “I believe these two groups aren’t actually in conflict, but looking to take out anyone incautious about them.”
“... is everyone okay?” Durff tilted his head. “You’re acting funny.”
Suspicious. He was suspicious. Everything was suspicious. Even the amount of suspicious details in this place was suspicious. Was it a setup? Were the suspicions intentional, some sort of misdirection to keep them blind to the real dangers?
Even her suspicions were suspicious.
That was where things snapped into place. “Hold on,” Velvet said. “Something is very wrong here.”
“You’re telling us!” said the speaker from the first group. “Others from the expedition snooping around, attacking us!”
Even though they said that, people were still listening. Yes, it wasn’t unusual for cultivators to fight each other… but she hadn’t even heard a reason yet. “Why were your groups fighting, if I might ask?” Velvet said.
“What kind of question is that, huh?” the second group said. “Obviously they had it out for us!”
“Please. You were just about to try to take our hard-earned treasure!”
“It’s suspicious, isn’t it?” Velvet said. “Everything.”
“... Is it?” Durff asked.
“Okay, you were actually helpful before. But this time it’s not helping,” Velvet said. “Let me explain. Have you felt more paranoid since you came here?”
“Why should we tell you?” Jyotsana frowned.
“Because I have. And it’s pretty obvious everyone else has too.”
“... Concerning,” Jyotsana said. “What do we do about that?”
“We recognize it… and look for a way out,” Velvet said. “Because something is trying to make us kill each other.”
Having figured out some part of things, Velvet felt better. But there was something she couldn’t quite place, just out of her conscious recognition. Or maybe that was nothing.