In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Description: The temple has been reached- a towering old pyramid of black stone, covered in giant vines and mosses. A long staircase leads up into what seems to be the entrance of the dangerous pyramid, filled with live traps. At the center lies a golden statue of a black mamba, with eerie red gems for eyes. If the statue is picked up by anyone other Ilhiana Vones, the temple mission would turn into a “Run away before you’re forever trapped inside of the temple and die.”
Minimum Number of Players: 1
Minimum Word Count: 2500 per person
Location: The Forsaken Region
NPC Information:
Enemies: Reanimated Skeleton Explorers x 10 per Magic Knight
Ylvehla [Boss] x 1
The Reanimated Skeleton Explorers are adventurers that died within the walls of the temple many ages ago and were influenced by the dark magic essences around the location. They have intermediate health, move at 10 m/s and have the ability to cast the magic that they had within life! Most of them use attack creation and physical reinforcement magic from copper and bronze elements.
Ylvehla, the dangerous black mamba to whom this temple belongs to, slithers silently around the inside in its undeath. A bony husk, reanimated through dark worship, the creature is inherently evil and impossible to fully kill unless the Magic Knights use silver magic. Once its Health drops to zero, it will stay dead for 5 posts before reanimating again. It has grand rank health and deals senior rank damage with its venomous bite, which causes a hex upon anyone that has become its victim. Ylvehla is impossible to see by mages with under 30 sensory unless it has already attacked someone. It moves with a speed of 20 m/s.
Special Conditions: All damage taken in the previous mission by the Magic Knights and the party of adventurers will remain going into this mission. There is a very short rest between the end of the last mission and this one, but not enough for health or mana skin to recover.
The mission is only a success if Ilhiana gets the statue and escapes with it (along with the Magic Knights and as many of the adventuring party as possible).
Upon completing this mission chain the players achieve the Notable Achievement "Crusaders of Archaeology". [break][break]
Having spent that night sleeping like a rock, Gawain woke up early that next morning to the sound of people gradually waking up themselves as others were already preparing what gear they needed for the venture ahead. Finding that he hadn’t been sleeping under any kind of cover with only what remained of the barely burning pyre to keep him warm, the sun had already taken over. This was something he could live with, he thought to himself, as he rose to his feet and took a look around to see what everyone was up to. The cook had already started preparing food for everyone as miss Vones had retreated into her tent with a select few people that had been charged with uncovering specific portions of what they would undoubtedly run into down there. Gawain was really just the hired muscle, so there was not a whole lot of need for him to know anything.
Besides, he was clever enough to figure things out on his own most of the time, as had been the case in previous dungeons he had delved into. Fighting strategies and combat tactics were not the only areas in which his mind was considered prodigious. After all, one was either a prodigy in all things or not a prodigy at all. If all he could do was fight well, it just meant that he was a capable combatant, though that was hardly something to take pride in when the whole country that learned of his grimoire expected him to be good at everything. And so that was what he strived for, to be the best in every field his fingers touched, to become someone his deceased parents and runaway mentor could be proud of. Someone whom he himself might one day be able to be proud of, though that point was still quite far away.
Right now, all he could really do was to wait for the big shots to finish their talk and come up with a plan of ‘attack’, so to speak. There was a chance that there were a lot of valuable things to be found down there, both in terms of actual riches and in the cultural sense. He could already picture it in his mind: idols and figurines, gold coins, tablets of lore regarding whatever kind of worship had been done within the temple and more. Because at the end of the day, that was often the kind of thing people forget when they entered some sort of temple, the fact that it had at some point been a place of worship. Thinking of the tree creatures that had been stationed outside, along with the large black serpents that came from the temple’s halls below them made him believe that whatever they had worshipped down here, it couldn’t have been good. At all.
It in part made him wonder what the church would make of it if any kind of odd religious material came up that didn’t quite line up with their own beliefs. Honestly, it had been something he had been wondering about for quite some time. In a world of magic that seemed filled with demons, monsters, spirits and fae beings, it made him wonder what happened to all of the things that were uncovered in dungeons or temples such as these. Whatever didn’t disappear on the black market must be going somewhere, or there might be an influx of new, different kinds of religions popping up. But since that was as good as never the case, it led him to believe that maybe the church got rid of these objects and artifacts by either outright destroying them or sealing them behind lock and key in some place. Though he didn’t know the church well enough to really be able to tell for sure, it seemed like an interesting thing to look into.
But with the emergence of Vones and the other honcho’s, it seemed that the time for pondering and deep thought had come and gone. Stating that not everyone would be entering at the same time for obvious reasons, as the place had to be checked for traps and pitfalls, as well as structural integrity so as to not get everyone stuck inside of an unknown and potentially evil temple complex with the entrance buried under rubble, Gawain was obviously the first choice for the entry party. With his magic, he would be able to scour the place for potentially dangerous magical threats, allowing Vones, the architect and the trap specialist to check the places he had cleared of threats that were more on the nose. There was no doubt in his mind that there were more of those snakes down there, which was a sentiment he was quick to share with Vones and the others so they would know what to expect at the very least.
With that short talk out of the way, Gawain and the others made their way towards the temple, being the first to get a good look at the complex that seemed like it had mostly sunk in the quicksand and loose soil that seemed to exist in abundance within the area. As he looked around, he could tell that he wasn’t the only one who might have thought that the downfall of this place and its worshippers might have come with their poor choice of location. Still, if that had been the only reasons why it failed, that either meant that its followers weren’t devout enough to continue in another location, or that those that had actually been strong in their beliefs had perished here when whatever caused part of the complex to sink beneath the ground. Whatever happened, the boy was certain they would figure out more of it as they got further in.
Leaving the entrance to the stone structure behind, the first thing he came upon was a large stone staircase heading deeper down. Since the boy had reached a point where he no longer needed to activate or deactivate his Ki as it had become a part of him that came as naturally as breathing, he could tell when there were certain things out of the ordinary. Movement and the like that could not be seen, but could be experienced. As it were, no such things really seemed to be the case as he descended down the steps into the next room. Once there, it started becoming more clear to him what might have happened down here. For as he entered into a central chamber that seemed to have been used as the main place of worship, there was a massive stone serpent that stood against the far wall. Having cracks all over, it had likely been hit hard when this place collapsed.
The internal decoration showed that there had at some point been a lot of people here, as shown by the stone benches that had been worn from all of the asses that had rubbed them over the years. And judging by the amount of benches and the size of an adult butt, he estimated that the total amount of people that could be seated here was between one hundred and fifty up to roughly three hundred at best. Depending on how much they had to scooch together. And that still excluded the amount of people that could fit into this space if the rest stood, at which point he believed the total amount of people that could be squeezed in here would be roughly around six hundred souls tops. But, as was often the case with places of worship, they usually set out more seats than they could fill, something Gawain considered to be on the side of strong belief. Belief that they might one day be filled.
Truth be told, with the amount of activity there had been in recent months or maybe even years related to the hells below, he could understand if more people felt inclined to head towards the church for that false sense of security it provided. The promise that their eternals souls might be saved. Unfortunately for him, the terrible things he had seen in short amount of years spent alive more or less acted as proof that no higher powers existed. It was an idea he opposed so fiercely that it almost bordered on hatred, though it hadn’t gotten to that point just yet. Further inspection of this place showed that there was a plethora of bones strewn across the stonework floors, which were always worth inspecting for a bit. As it were, the boy could hardly count on two hands the amount of times when something that seemed dead actually just pretended and pulled a spooky by standing back up and attacking him where he stood.
Kicking against the bones to see if it got any kind of response to give, it turns out that these bones were just bones. Some of them were wearing robes, though they had been tattered and torn to the point where it was next to impossible to figure out what had once been embroidered upon them. Others however wore different clothes, some even wearing armor and having carried weapons. What was interesting about these was that, while they seemed old too, they seemed to be not as old as the robes. Even the bones themselves seemed… cleaner. For the time being, Gawain had seen enough to know that they were not in any immediate threat of danger, prompting him to collect the three people that actually needed to be down here the most. Not long after, you had Vones inspecting the massive stone serpent, the architect looking around the walls and points of interest to inspect it for anything that might give away when it had been built.
Finally, there was the trap specialist that went around the walls along with the architect, making sure that the things he wanted to touch wouldn’t end up taking his hand off and crush them both under rubble or toxic darts. In all honesty, Gawain didn’t believe this place would have any such traps built in, as this had been built as a place of worship rather than some kind of treasure room belonging to a long since deceased king from ancient times. In time, it would turn out that Gawain was actually correct in this statement, allowing the specialist to look for other places throughout the building that might pose threats based on their structural integrity potentially being compromised. Through it all, Gawain felt rather lucky to be surrounded with a team of people that seemed to know what they were doing, rather than leading a bunch of people with big mouths and little to no skill to back it up.
In truth, he had allowed himself to be pushed into such situations because he kept taking the lead in all sorts of dungeons that he considered to be interesting, not caring who he had to more or less carry along for the ride. Now, he felt like he was truly just here to keep people safe and kick and punch his way through the things that might pose a threat, which was more or less exactly what he was good at. Still, since there was nothing of the sort to be done, the boy began wandering about, checking in with the other members of the expedition that had been brought in. Because when the room had been checked for traps, more people had been brought in to inspect the skeletons and their clothing, while others had been brought in to inspect the literal writings on the wall. In both cases, there were quite some of them. With the bones strewn along the floor being quite numerous and the texts inscribed into the walls, it took quite some time.
Instead of doing all of their work in the dark, the boy looked on at how the specialists proved their skills and know-how by bringing in large amounts of thin velum and blocks of charcoal. Placing them against the wall and rubbing the charcoal along the velum, it left a clear inscription of what had been inside of the temple so they could bring it out and figure out its meaning at a later time. As for the bones, several of them got brought back in boxes and crates filled with hay so as to not damage them during transportation. Once back in the royal capital, all of the things they had brought would then be inspected in far greater detail with multiple skilled people and much more intricate and expensive tools. Once all of these things disappeared along with all of the trinkets, antiquities and relics into the royal capital, Gawain doubted he’d ever hear anything about them or what they uncovered again, though that didn’t matter.
Everything he could learn while on the scene here would work towards making him a more well educated individual, or so he believed. When his pondering was broken up by Vones yelling for him to come, the boy made his way from one side of the room in record time. In fact, he moved so quickly that miss Vones seemed shocked at how quickly he arrived by her side. Smiling at him for a bit and claiming that she was just re-affirmed in the choice she had make to hire the kid, she told him to look down at the base of the stone serpent. On the altar, there was a small opening. Inside, there was a statue of a snake, though not just any kind of statue made of stone. This one was made out of solid gold, with rubies for eyes and many, many smaller gemstones imbued into the exterior to give the appearance of scales. It was quite the sight to behold, though there was a reason why Vones had called him before just pulling the thing out and bringing it topside.
Together, they waited for the majority of the people to get outside with their findings, as this was the one thing the specialist hadn’t been able to check for traps. Calling the man over while Gawain went about to let everyone know that it was time to pack up their shit and leave, the specialist was able to inform Vones that there was in fact some kind of intricate mechanism imbued with magic encasing the statue. Not quite sure whether the ceiling would end up coming down upon their heads if they removed it or not, Vones reached in only after the last person had left before taking the thing out. As they did, a loud rumble could be felt throughout the exterior of the temple, prompting the three of them to begin a proper sprint towards the stairs at the back of the room.
As the reached the stairs, Gawain waited for Vones and the specialist to make their way up the steps as he made sure nothing could follow. This was why he had been hired, and this was his time to shine. Watching as the cracks in the massive statue grew larger and larger, it wasn’t long before pitch black scales could be seen as pieces began falling to the floor. With powerful shakes resonating throughout the building, a monstrous form broke free from the statue almost completely. A massive snake, its flesh seemingly being withered and its skin only barely containing the bones within, showing this was not your average mana beast. This creature was along the lines of some kind of demigod, a being powered by the belief that was being fed into it, not to mention the sacrifices of life and magic that were undoubtedly bestowed upon it during its prime.
But as it was now, it was clear to see that it was no longer in its prime, nor even close to it. It seemed as though the creature itself was in an extremely malnourished state and should have died a long time ago, had it followed your average confines of life and death. No, there was more to it. Releasing a low, rumbling hiss as it attempted to break out the rest of its body from stone, Gawain could feel how a pulse of magic resonated throughout the room, causing the bones of the fallen to start coming together as a sickly green mana began connecting them as they should be. Some however seemed to be missing an arm, a leg or a head, as these had been taken by the researchers that had been down here just minutes ago, which turned out to be somewhat beneficial to Gawain in this moment. Heeding the call of their master, the undead began swarming towards the ashen haired boy with intent to kill.
Responding in kind, Gawain struck the nearest skeleton as hard as he could, finding that their speed relative to his own wasn’t exactly noteworthy. Striking the skeleton down with a single punch, it turned out that their stamina wasn’t anything to write home about either. As such, Gawain made use of the full totality of his movement speed to dash back and forth between the risen undead, striking at rib-cages, skulls, shoulders and knees with kicks and punches so as to limit their mobility and the chance to lash out at him. In so doing, the boy quickly made short work of all of the skeletons that had formed, though he wasn’t sure how long it would be before they might reform. After all, if he went by the clear assumption that the snake was the cause of them being raised from the dead, that meant that it might be able to make them rise again if they weren’t obliterated. But as it was, the boy did not yet see a reason to destroy them completely with a spell.
As soon as the last of the skeletons had been defeated, it was then that Gawain noticed how the snake had broken free from the statue and had, for lack of a better word, disappeared entirely. Strangely enough, not even his Ki seemed to register where this massive serpent might have gone off to, leading him to fear the worst. Because if it had somehow made its way to the surface, there was a very good chance that it had already started murdering people in the expedition camp. Once he tried to turn around and face the exit, his more neglected senses suddenly warned him of something moving at a high speed throughout the dark. At times like these, the boy almost forgot that he could track mana to some extent, which was the only reason why he managed to barely evade the snake swallowing him in a single bite. Dashing to the side as the snake crashed its massive maw into the staircase, the entire building shook as pieces of the building started coming down.
Getting up and dashing towards the exit, Gawain appeared to only be slightly faster than the creature itself, meaning his head start was far more impactful than he might have thought. Seeing the light of the sun outside, he didn’t bother looking over his shoulder as all he would see would be the massive monstrosity slithering after him throughout the darkness. And that was when it hit him. There was no longer anyone inside the building. They had more or less obtained what it was that they had come for, meaning he no longer needed to hold back. Forming the seals required for the execution of his current most powerful spell, Gawain turned around the moment he reached the top of the stairs. Extending his fist towards the opening of the stairs, he opened his hand, releasing a powerful spell that would shoot straight down, ripping and tearing its way throughout the entire passage and anything unfortunate enough to be passing through it.
Making contact with the snake, the grid-patterned blades of highly compressed air would leave the creature dismembered, disemboweled, bifurcated and beheaded all at the same time as it was rendered into small cubic stacks of flesh and bone. But as the spell kept digging further and further throughout the structure before it eventually hit the end of its trajectory, the structural integrity that was caused by the release of the snake god monstrosity thing was pushed to its utmost limits, causing the temple to begin collapsing upon itself. Quickly leaving the place behind and running towards the expedition members, he watched as the staircase collapsed, burying what remained of the snake under tons and tons of rubble. Still, even if the being was defeated, the temple complex breaking down meant this whole area was an immediate threat to the safety of the team, meaning they had to all high tail it out of here right this instant. Luckily, they had what they had come for.
Name of Spell: Grid Elemental Type: Air Pressure Rank & Spell Type: Grand | Attack Creation | Sensory (Homing) Range & Speed: 150m | 85 m/s Mana Cost: 50 | 25 Stats Effected: +12 Power Applicable Perks: Overpowered | Quick Shot | Battle Knight Description: By pointing his right fist at a chosen target or direction while simultaneously forming the half-dragon seal with his left hand, a grid-shaped pattern of air pressure magic will rapidly form right in front of his right fist. When he opens up his fist, the grid will launch forward instantly, slicing through buildings and obstacles in its path and leaving it in the shape of cubic bits and pieces of roughly equal size, leaving deep lacerations and cuts and being potentially lethal on a direct hit. For every 50 Control, an additional shot can be fired. In addition, the accuracy and chance to hit can be further improved by utilizing Homing rules, including following the target in adherence to those same rules. The square-shaped grid is roughly 12 meters wide, being invisible to those without at least 50 Sensory, appearing as a wispy green grid to others.
