You sigh in relief at surviving the lunch rush and hitting your earnings goal. Hopefully you’ll get an excuse to go playing in the dirt instead. A light fog has settled over the café, hiding the disconcerting wiggling pears on the ceiling from view. Fuzang is curled around the pear juice fountain and seems to have dozed all through the lunch rush.

Before the Manager can flag you down, though, Fuzang rises and eels his way over to you. “You know, I am quite fascinated by the ground here,” he begins. “The golems here are completely unique, and several aspects of them suggest that there might be something even more interesting buried in the soil. I’ve tried applying for a permit for an archaeological dig here, but the Manager keeps blocking me. I know you have other, more pressing duties, but if you dig out anything else interesting from the fields at the back – or even just some more of that dirt – I would be more than happy to compensate you for your labor.” He then produces a business card, revealing that he is a professor at one of the most esteemed dwarven universities.

“Of course, Professor,” you say.

“Oh, no need to stand on formality with me. I’ll be right here.” He curls back around the pear juice fountain. A golem brings him hotpot. It looks suspiciously pear-flavored. Unlike all the other customers, he doesn’t need a shoulder dragon to keep the hotpot hot.

The Manager hasn’t given you new instructions yet, so you go back out to the back, pear hat wiggling jauntily on your head. The fog is even worse here, making you unsure of how much you’ll have to dig, but you’re sure you can manage. You’re really digging this archaeology sidequest, and who knows – maybe you’ll find something to escape this cooking simulator.

Time to embrace the dirt again!

Pear Board 2 Grid and List of Goals

Pear Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

Each square on the 12 x 12 grid contains either mysterious artifacts or ancient coins.

There are 36 mysterious artifacts hidden on this board. A team must find all of them in order to move on from this stage. Squares with ancient coins contain clues that will help with strategy.

There is no X-ray mechanic for this board (even a diligent X-ray machine needs to recharge).

Coins

Coins come in quantities between 400 and 1000, and will be applied to support your efforts when you return to the cafe again (ie. reduce the number of hit points needed to clear the boss). Additionally, each strike of overkill beyond a board goal claims a bonus equivalent to 300 coins, up to a maximum of 10 strikes of overkill against each board goal.

How to Clear a Square

Each square is assigned a goal. The list of goals is displayed below the grid. A goal consists of a number and two tags, such as "16, Enemies to Lovers, IN SPACE." Meet the goal by posting works that claim one (or more) of those tags. A work that uses multiple tags on a square contributes to a goal multiple times.

The goal number for each square is initially hidden from the team. A team must use either of the tags on a square to reveal the number of works required to clear it.

In addition, there are board-wide goals for AO3 labels such as “Major Character Death,” work mediums, and freeforms that do not appear on any board. You must collectively achieve these goals to complete the board.

Teams may continue to fulfill board goals beyond the required number to claim bonus “overkill” points. Each board goal counts up to 10 strikes of overkill.

Claim relevant tags in your author's note, in a comma-separated list (e.g. "First Kiss, Fisting, Friendship"), with the tags exactly as they appear in the tagset. The mods will only count tags claimed this way. Fic and podfic may claim 1 tag per 100 words. Art may claim all tags that are clearly present in the work. Metadata such as ship type will be claimed automatically.

Every work must fulfill one of this year's requests in the prompt collection, and be gifted to the prompter.

Each team’s members (and only members of that team) should post works to their respective team collection. Each team member is capped at 7 works per board. The collection is moderated, and works will be approved as the mods count them.

Once enough works have been approved to fully clear a square, it will be marked "Ready to Call." Call the (specific, with grid location) shot in the team’s shots channel in Discord to finish digging up the square and retrieve what's beneath it: an artifact, or coins.

Advancing to the next level

Once the team has retrieved all the artifacts and met their board goals, the team will collectively decide whether to keep digging for coins or return to the cafe. When you've decided, announce in the shots channel that you're ready to begin the next boss. Good luck!