Lemon, Board 2

[battleshipmod]

Your voice has dropped to something closer to a croak, but finally the last of the lunch rush is leaving the place. Mr. Snikkit is counting the cash, snapping rubber bands around bills with an air of extreme satisfaction. Earning goals met and exceeded, it looks like.

It also looks like a fog bank has rolled in. A strangely delicious-smelling fog bank, to be fair. You ask your manager if there’s anything to be concerned about, but he just looks up from stacking gold coins to point out front. The golems are all standing at a respectful distance around the dragon, occasionally carrying a vegetable forward to drop into the hotpot boiling on the magic flame the lemon-yellow dragon is breathing out. “Hotpot for dinner rush,” he says by way of explanation. “We’ll need more ingredients, actually, think you could help with that? But wait,” he says, stopping himself. “Professor wanted to meet you.”

“You rang?” a voice says in delight, and you look up as a dramatic figure emerges from one of the private reading nooks. The tall woman is wearing a black shirt and pants ornamented with yellow shibari rope knotted into an intricate harness. “Ah yes,” she says, smiling at you and then pulling a notebook from where it had been tucked into the rope. “The cafe helpers. I had some questions. You don’t mind helping me out a bit, do you?”

Your manager has gone back to counting, and you do admittedly want to know what this woman has in mind. Absolutely you’ll help. The professor flashes you a brilliant smile and leads you through the fog back to the garden. “So, the dirt.” She prods the garden plot with the toe of a pointed yellow shoe. “It’s not everything that comes to life when a dragon gets involved, and the golems are still hanging around even ages later. Do you mind digging up this ground a little bit more? If even the dirt here has special properties, I’m so interested to know what else we can find!”

The knots on the harness she’s wearing seem to have no clear beginning or end, and when you glimpse the notes she’s taking in her notebook, it’s in no language you recognize. If she thinks this is mysterious and interesting, she probably knows what she’s talking about. And at least it isn’t singing; you think your voice still hasn’t recovered. You pick up the shovel, squinting at the ground through the fog. Let’s see what’s in here.

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Lemon Board 2 Grid and List of Goals

Lemon 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!