Xian Yin Delve 1

===> COH <===> 1/14/2020, 5:03:20 PM <===

Gam Saan Mine - Xianyin(#17151RM)

	Welcome to Xianyin. The Grey Maze. The Necropolis of the Lost. Essentially, a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. This city of the dead is modeled on the Qin capital Xianyang, divided into inner and outer cities. The circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km (1.55 miles) and the outer is 6.3 km (3.9 miles). The central tomb is located in the southwest of the inner city and faces east. The main tomb chamber housing the coffin and burial artifacts of the Lost Emperor is the core of the architectural complex of the mausoleum.

	A garrison of terracotta figures stands silent sentinel at the entrance to the outer city, locked in precise military formation according to rank and duty, in eternal vigil facing east. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses.

	Standing similarly sentinel on the periphery of the inner city is a group of other terracotta non-military figures including officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

	In the very center and heart of the inner city is the Lost Emperor's tomb itself, surrounded by a lifeless garden maze where two large Imperial Guardian Lions, or Shishi (a traditional Chinese architectural ornament typically made of stone), stand watch at the mouth of the maze that leads to the tomb. The lions are presented in pairs, a manifestation of yin and yang, the female representing yin and the male yang. The male lion has its right front paw on a type of cloth ball carved with a geometric pattern. The female is essentially identical, but has a cub under the left paw, representing the cycle of life. Symbolically, the female lion protects those dwelling inside (the living soul within), while the male guards the structure (the external material elements).

	*** PLACES CONFIGURED ***
Contents:
Grace
Ying Yue

	*** Nightzone ***

Obvious Exits:
  Mine Shaft <MS>

	Mo wasn't a regular in Chinatown. Rumors were that he holed up somewhere up north. Or somewhere out east, depending on who you asked. Despite this, it was Chinatown where he would go when he needed to seek out temporary help on this or that task that was too big for him to accomplish by himself. This is how he had become known to Ying Yue and Grace. He had a job, you see? Out in the mojave desert just outside of Laughlin.

	To those in Chinatown with any occult or supernatural bent, he was known to be a practitioner of Zi Wei Dou Shu, known to those in the West as Purple Star Astrology, one of the most well-respected processes for laying out "The Destiny Path" or "Fate". Zi Wei Dou Shu has been used by professional consultants and practitioners for the past 1000 years to determine one's destiny and as remedial Feng Shui strategies.

	Ying Yue would be enticed to come along, just out of sheer curiosity. She would at the very least come to hear what was needing to be done. It wouldn't be until after that that she would decide if it was in her interest to help.

	Mo knocked back a swallow of beer. "There's jade that needs recovering. Mind's Eye Talismans. At least one piece, maybe a set of three. Lost in the hidden necropolis underneath the Gam Saan mine."

Grace is in, she is always in as she finds a ride with well probably Mo as driving out here is well, frankly cruel to the pedestrians.

	Ying would have arrived from the other side of the mirror, with her own mode of transportation. "Necropolis. It seems like everything that is needing finding or doing is in a rather horrible place around here." The woman says in her quiet voice.

	Mo smiles rakishly as he tosses the now empty beer bottle aside onto the dirt floor of the mine. "Yeah, love isn't always on time. SOmetimes all we can do is hold the line." A pause. "Or something." Mo shrugs and heads to one of the many shafts that litter the interior of the abandoned mine. There's a grapple with rope that's been set up. Mo pops off a flare, walks up to the lip, and peeks down onto the neverending darkness before dropping the flare down the shaft.

Grace smiles to Ying and says "Ah miss White." She grins and says "If there is an inside joke to that I still don't get it." She turns her head to the mind and ask "Is it deep?" She walks over to the lip, but does not bother to look down as well she isn't using a flashlight or have use for one or the flares for that matter."

	Mo offers up a shrug, as the burning flare winks out of existence, swallowed up by the darkness below. "Depends on what you consider to be deep. Ten stories, at least?" A grin, "The grapple and rope will hold. I'll go down and check the doors and corners!" And then he teeters over the edge, murmuring to himself. "I Am One With the Tao and the Tao Is With Me." His hands form a set of mudras, and then? He dives over the edge. Just like that.

	Mo screams out in delight as he plunges into the darkness. No rope. No parachute. No net. "Yaaaaaaa-hoooooooooooooooooooo!" And then he too disappears from sight and sound.

	Ying Yue, not really ever having developed more than the slightest bit of modesty, removes her shirt, but this is for a purely practical reason as she concentrates, partially shifting to grow a pair of feathered wings, which with her skill at flying and her naturally light bones, allow her to float down easily.

Grace listens from the top as you both scale down as she says "Sounds deep. Hey once you guys are clear why don't you let me know." She waits for Yue to reach the bottom and once it is safe she just steps off the edge and here it comes, super hero landing. She falls to the bottom free form and lands in a kneeling crouched position as well she simply isn't physically strong enough to land standing on her feet.

	The drop is nearer to 15 stories than 10, but who was counting?. Quite a ways either way! At the bottom? A small pool of fresh water, maybe 5 feet in diameter. MoGui? Impossibly managed to dive right into the heart of the pool, and emerged from the water, gasping in a breath, and lighting up a new flare after he clamber out of the water. He offers up a rakish grin to the others as they join him. Ying Yue gets an especially envious and awed look. "Wow. Wings," he murmurs.

	"Ugh. this place is always such a fucking maze," mutters Mo. Because, well. It was! "And not even the same maze twice. A pause as his eyes do their best to adjust, picking out the path that leads to edge of the city of the dead. "But at least we'll be hard pressed to get backstabbed." He shakes off excess water as he trudges forward, doing his utmost best to keep from reaching out and touching the lovely wings that bore Ying Yue down.

	"The jade mind's eye talismans in question will be disc shaped, I think. And in the outer city somewhere. So hopefully not a lot of Bump Inna Night types to stand between us and them," offers Mo as he shakes his head, sending water flying from his hair. "But there will be some sort of guardian, and maybe a ward. The client was real light in the finer details," he offers with an apologetic shrug.

Grace was not expecting the water and she flails as she flounders for the edge of the pool as well evidently she was not expecting or does water. Seems it is a bit of a deal breaker for her as she flops onto shore. Swimming isn't her thing evidently.

	Ying Yue folds the wings back, as she isn't sure if she will need them again soon or not. "Just what we need. Getting lost in another place in which people do not want us here. Why is it that we are retrieving these things? And why were they down here in the first place?"

	The Wall down here is impossibly thin. Like gossamer. And while one might expect a necropolis to be a hub of activity in the Yin realm? It is rather quiet. The Yang realm, however? That's a whole different situation!

	Mo looks over a shoulder when he hears Grace struggling with the water. Eyes widen, but then she manages to drag herself out of the clear clean fresh waters of the pool. he's about to say something, but then YY asks a question. "The discs are memory talismans. They contain knowledge required to successfully access the rest of the city of the dead. Among other things. They were a ... what do you call it? ... a failsafe?"

	"And we are to remove this failsafe from the city? That seems foolish." Ying Yue comments, looking back at the other woman who might not have had so graceful of landing. She is also paying attention to what else is around, the blessing and curse of seeing many realities at the same time.

	Mo looks to YY. "Well, like I said, the client was real light on details. But generally, when a dragon asks for something, I try not to pester them with too many questions. The legend goes they were being delivered to the lost emperor, but the messenger was waylaid. So he hid them among other relics, in plain sight before he expired. They'd do harm in the wrong hands. Me? I'm betting a dragon's hands are as good a place as any."

	Mo appears to ready a remark for Grace, but the sorcerer suddenly vanishes from sight. Mo's hackles are raised, being somewhat familiar with Conjuration, but having /that/ particular trick be outside of his own grasp. "Damnation! Stay sharp, I think we're not alone down here."

	"No. Likely we are not. Nothing is ever simple when it comes to these situations." Ying Yue says, looking about as much as she can. "We should likely keep moving though. The sooner we get to where we need to go, the better."

	Mo frowns and nods, then plunges ahead into the darkness, using the flare to light their way. Eventually? They come onto the entrance to the necropolis. A gate. Terracotta soldiers stand silent stony sentinel. In the yang realm? Viper spirits flicker in and out of sight to those with Sight. Because the Wall is paper thin? Some even flicker into plain view. Beside the entrance gate, several open chests, laden with offerings for the secret emperor. Small discs of jade, of all colors. Mo wasn't kidding when he said the relics they sought would be hidden in plain sight!

	"Feng. Fan. Fu." Mo utters the names softly. "The dragon who contracted me for this little job - Feng Fan Fu."

	Mo smiles ruefully, "Not his real name, mind you. But all the same, that's who it was." He sighs and eyes the scattered jade discs, then begins rummaging through one pile.

	That is the plain sight part, but the hidden part is the key. Hidden in plain sight is not the same as out in the open with the chests. Instead of searching through those, she'll look at the statues and in various other places. "I would be careful. Things left about like that could be traps."

	Mo reaches deep into one of the chests, but then the sound of something rustling behind him causes him to withdraw his hand. Just in time, because the chest snaps shut with bonecrushing strength! Another second, and he might have lost a hand. Some of the gate guardian statues have small indentations in their foreheads - where small jade discs (well, more teardrop shaped really) would fit perfectly in approximation of a third eye.

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