2019-01-20: Learn A New Trick
- Log: Learn A New Trick
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Lily Keil, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Ruins of Memory
- Date: January 20, 2019
- Summary: A few of the Black Wolves take a trek into the Ruins of Memory in search of something that might be able to be sold for cash.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Ruins of Altered Memory. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Speed-Running Old Content *>=================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- To reach the Ruins of Altered Memory, one must first cross through the Ruins of Memory proper. Although many of the dangers in the Ruins of Memory are no longer so great, and you may know of them, it still takes time to get through them -- unless you do something to shave time off. Perhaps some pits are leaped over; perhaps some secret doors are known. Whatever the reason, you should hurry! You will know when you reach the door into the depths of the Ruins. The large, double doors are covered in Elw runes. Those runes are inert, without any light to them. Nonetheless, when you approach, the double doors of stone open -- revealing chambers of dark green stone, occasionally alight with the glow of strange, spectrally lit blue torches. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Perhaps, a little birdie said something to Josie.
It would go a ways towards explaining why she'd proposed a short expedition into the deeper levels of the Ruins of Memory now. After all, she had apparently considered her time with the ruins done and dusted after a final expedition the over a year ago had met with success... and not the faintest suggestion it might hold the sort of thing she was interested in.
But times change, rumors suggest further riches... and honestly, Josie could do with some extra Gella in her pocket.
Particularly ASAP. It's entirely possible that celebrations and other matters might have gotten a little out of hand...
So it's back to reasonably familiar stomping grounds, it seems.
Particularly since the breached lower floors might hold something interesting indeed.
But first, there's the matter of getting to those floors.
Cue audio track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nOrswgFdNc
Yeah. It's like that. Running from bolders -- and evading a series of arrow and spear traps (these things are always, always still active, aren't they...?) is essential to getting further into the ruin.
Also, for one's continued survival.
Penelope clinging to her braided bun, Josie runs at a dead sprint away from an oncoming boulder.
...Oh.
There are two of them now.
Bad luck!
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Speed-Running Old Content.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Delving into ruins is good for most of them, frankly. There are reasons it's useful, reasons it's important...
But Lily is not talking about most of those at the moment. Instead, she is roving through ruins, when briefly she gets separated from the group. ...This involves a lot of explosions, but it makes it easy for them to loop back together, right?
Lily, for her part, remains in civilian attire, carrying the staff Fei brought her once out of the ruins--and she swings it, letting loose a ball of energy straight at one of the boulders.
"This is ridiculous," Lily remarks about it... and then gets moving again. "Why don't we just blast a door?"
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Speed-Running Old Content.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Speedrunning old content?! Well at least Fei Fong Wong is here. He tends to make combat a bit easier thanks to his willingness to his ability to selfbuff and do high damage but his average movement speed doesn't really help with speedrunning challenges. It's like watching someone play Donkey Kong 64 horribly for hours on end failing to push beavers into holes. you know it will happen eventually, but speed is not something you can really count on.
Especially not with traps which is something Fei generally tends to have a poor job avoiding. He is running around like a maniac from up the screen down the screen, going through one side of the screen appearing on the other. it's pretty wild.
He has no idea why they were coming here but he wants to help Josie a hand after she didn't shoot him in the face with anti-gear artillery.
"Yikes...! I don't remember it being quite this bad!" Should have read a walkthrough, Fei!
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Speed-Running Old Content.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Speed-Running Old Content *>=================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- To reach the Ruins of Altered Memory, one must first cross through the Ruins of Memory proper. Although many of the dangers in the Ruins of Memory are no longer so great, and you may know of them, it still takes time to get through them -- unless you do something to shave time off. Perhaps some pits are leaped over; perhaps some secret doors are known. Whatever the reason, you should hurry! You will know when you reach the door into the depths of the Ruins. The large, double doors are covered in Elw runes. Those runes are inert, without any light to them. Nonetheless, when you approach, the double doors of stone open -- revealing chambers of dark green stone, occasionally alight with the glow of strange, spectrally lit blue torches. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 1 *>===================== ====================< Results - Speed-Running Old Content >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(25)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(25)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It, well, doesn't go too gently for the lot of them. Limping into an alcove, Josie just glances over at Lily. Penelope, it has to be noted, has long since abandoned her perch in search of safer purchase.
"You know what."
She looks Lily in the eyes. "Let's blow up some doors. Walls, too."
She is completely, absolutely serious right now.
For Fei, things go much more gently -- he outpaces the traps and tricks, and perhaps before the other two -- which he has been separated from -- reaches the entryway leading further in.
It is here that Penelope touches down and promptly starts grooming as if it were just an ordinary day.
From behind him there may be explosions...
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Forest of Pillars *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter is cavernous, but it is not empty. Pillars of a variety of heights, none quite touching the ceiling, fill the room. In many cases, they are too close together to squeeze through. However, clearing a path does not /just/ require brute force. Instead, you need to carefully carve a path through... lest you be caught in the midst of collapsing dominoes. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Stupify, Injure====================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Thought you'd never say that," Lily answers Josie.
There are indeed explosions. There are a lot of explosions... and in short order, Lily and Josie reach Fei at the entryway--Fei, and in fact, Dog! Who is with Fei. Totally has been. They are a little dusty, after everything. That's natural enough. But the entryway--
Leads to a larger room full of pillars. "...In we go," she suggests to Fei, and then considers, thoughtfully. "Let's see..."
Lily adjusts the chains wrapped about one of her hands, and pus out that hand forward. "We have to do this carefully," she says, and then, because she is extremely careful--
Well, Lily fires a disintegration beam that, on the bright side, shouldn't actually push anything through.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, The Forest of Pillars.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong pants for breath for a while, "We...made it... whew..."
He straightens up and he looks over towards Josie for a moment. "Oh uh." Pause. "Yeah. You okay?"
He must've noticed the limping. Nevertheless, he looks to Lily and nods to her as well. In they go. He knows how this ends and he isn't looking forward to it, but Josie wants to come here for some reason. He doesn't need to ask why.
Fei frowns at the closeness of the stone pillars here. He doubts he could push through let alone the others. He tries to push one of the pillars with both arms just enough to open up some space. Assuming Lily's DISINTEGRATION RAY works, maybe that's all he'll need to do.
"Sorry in advance if this all falls on us." Fei says.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Forest of Pillars.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I'm just dandy. And you?"
Brushing off her duster -- the new one, her old favorite a sacrifice in the battle against Mother -- Josie advances towards the entrance leading further in. "Well, now with all that out of the way~"
At least her mood is, as always, indefatigable.
Though she does flash Penelope an overdramatic look that, in the subtitles, probably reads:
'Oh, betrayer! You have betrayed me!'
But it's inwards and onwards, as with any good expedition.
"...Hm," Josie comments, tilting her head to look at the forest without trees. "Don't suppose these are supports? It'd be a bother if it fell in on us."
'We have to do this carefully', Lily says.
"Right, agreed."
Which is the point where she withdraws from her pack that old favorite of the field research side of archaeology:
The mattock. This, she applies to the sections close to where Lily's beam eats away at the stonework.
Carefully.
"Let's hope not! I doubt I'll be able to do much if I'm a pancake of an archaeolgist," she comments, flashing Fei a grin.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, The Forest of Pillars.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Forest of Pillars *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter is cavernous, but it is not empty. Pillars of a variety of heights, none quite touching the ceiling, fill the room. In many cases, they are too close together to squeeze through. However, clearing a path does not /just/ require brute force. Instead, you need to carefully carve a path through... lest you be caught in the midst of collapsing dominoes. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Stupify, Injure====================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 2 *>===================== ======================< Results - The Forest of Pillars >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Slow(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily, at least, seems less tired and unpleasant than usual, a little more like back before Adlehyde. She does glance over Josie again, though. She'll have to keep an eye on her condition.
Dog, meanwhile, happily looks up at Penelope as they go. It would appear that she wants to play.
"We'll be fine," Lily suggests, and indeed--between the three of them they are. Lily's magic is able to carve the beginnings of a path, but Josie and Fei, between punching and, more to the point, that mattock, make it big enough for them to pass through. In short order, they've made it all the way through... And nobody even died.
Lily glances back to the columns before they make the next room. "...Hm."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Ring the Bells *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When you enter the next room, you discover a cavernous hallway, with a stairwell leading down to a door at the center of it. The door at the end of the stairwell is locked. Over the hallway is a massive set of wind chimes, writ large and far bigger than any one person. Some large wooden mallets offer one, but not the only, way to play the chimes. This is when a song from someone's childhood is remembered unbidden. If the song is played upon the chimes, the doors will open -- and a soft, refreshing light washes over all. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "Well...yeah that's true. But on the plus side, we'd be an archaeological discovery ourselves." He chuckles faintly at the morbid gag. How is Fei? He gives a small shrug on that question for the moment. "Hanging in there," He says.
He smiles faintly at Lily and then slows a bit as Lily glances back. "How 'bout you Lily? You doing good? This dig can get pretty trippy." Courrse, Lily already knows that much, but in this case he might be a bit more concerned on Josie's behalf as she called for the expedition.
Maybe he should worry about Penelope though. Who knows what dark memories lurk within her heart.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V0R5YaXhNo
Fei stops as he hears the music. "This one again..."
He approaches a massive set of wind chimes before the groups and the large mallets and he reaches out to take one in hand.
He thinks about his talk with Claude that wasn't all that long ago, really, and closes his eyes and exhales out a sigh. Earth. This music. The ideas they represent infect his mind and he can't quite get rid of them.
"I still don't know what this melody is trying to tell me." Fei says. "But Leon said I needed to find the truth about who I am. So that's my next goal."
And with that he gets a-swinging.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ring the Bells.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Now that's the sort of field participation I'd rather pass on. No thanks!" comes Josie's response, coupled with a roll of her eyes and a shake of the head.
Before she delivers a few careful strikes to first this then that pillar. The way forward is crafted.
"I've been in a site where the waterfall flowed upwards," Josie comments, as they head into the next room, "so a few odd things or ten's not a problem."
She still falls silent when she sights what lies before them in the next room.
"Huh. Chimes? I guess they want us to play a tune. ...Too bad, I don't know much about the Elw, let alone their musical tastes. Guess we might as well..."
She pauses. Music rings out -- an unfamiliar tune. She glances over at Fei. "Familiar again? You know, it's a shame you don't remember much. I'm starting to think I could use you to solve all kinds of archaeological mysteries, junior."
Fei hands over the mallet; Josie eyes the mattock she still has in hand, shrugs, and holsters it at her hip before taking the mallet.
"When in Kislev. Might as well play along, eh?"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ring the Bells.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Heh," Lily answers Fei with a faint laugh of her own. "We'd really confuse them, too. I have a notebook full of Zeboim script with me. What would they make of that?"
She glances Fei's way, when he checks in, and shakes her head lightly. "I'm all right," she answers. "...Could use a drink. But it'll keep 'til we're done. Nothing in here's gotten to me yet."
Yet. She knows full well there might be something here. And indeed...
"I don't either," Lily murmurs to Josie, considers. The mysteries... Admittedly, that's something that Lily thought, too.
"I think you should. ...Maybe..."
Maybe somewhere she'll learn, too. But for now--
Lily lets the Ether flow through the runed metal about her hand again, and this time the glow from her is red, swelling towards each of them to restore energy, soothe wounds. It makes it easy to miss humming the tune under her breath.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Ring the Bells.
========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Ring the Bells *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When you enter the next room, you discover a cavernous hallway, with a stairwell leading down to a door at the center of it. The door at the end of the stairwell is locked. Over the hallway is a massive set of wind chimes, writ large and far bigger than any one person. Some large wooden mallets offer one, but not the only, way to play the chimes. This is when a song from someone's childhood is remembered unbidden. If the song is played upon the chimes, the doors will open -- and a soft, refreshing light washes over all. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
===================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 3 *>==================== =========================< Results - Ring the Bells >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Well," Fei jokes to Josie. "Guess I can be on both sides of the archaeology then. I am the pancake. It is me."
Josie and Fei play the tune while Lily heals her own wounds and hums along. After playing the melody for a little while, the door onward pops open and everybody can move on.
"Oh cool." Fei says. "It worked." He sets the mallet back down rather than trying to walk off with it. "Though in this case, I think it's just the ruin playing with my memory. I don't think I've been here before. I mean, aside from the times I've recently come along here. I think this is my third time here?"
He give Lily a small nod. "Okay. If you need anything...don't be afraid to speak up."
He starts a-walkin'.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Ball of Crushing *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- After you step into this hallway, the door behind you slides down and locks shut. That 'click' noise, alone, might be worrying to a veteran ruin explorer. More concerning, however, is the way that a massive stone ball drops down on the far side of the hall. It fills it almost completely, and begins rolling towards you! Outrunning it isn't an option -- but obstructing or destroying it may yet be. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie's lips twist in a wry smile. "Suit yourself, junior," she quips, before putting her musical talents to the test and attempting to play along with the song.
She glances between the two of them. Really, between those two... it might be that she won't lack for assistance for some time, what with what she's looking for.
The door obliges the lot of them and pops open. "Now that's what I like to see. No muss, no fuss, eh?" Tossing the mallet to one side, Josie strides onwards.
Behind them is the telltale sound of something feathered in flight. Penelope makes her way into the room just as they exit and settles atop the row of bells... but goes no further.
It's hard to tell whether or not that was a form of warning sign.
Though it might have been.
The door to the room slams shut as soon as all three are through. Distressingly, it's a narrow room.
Alarmingly, there's a click.
And downright fearfully: the grn-grn-grn sound of rock on rock.
If they thought they had left the rolling stones behind in the upper levels, they're sorely mistaken. Worse: there are no clever alcoves or for that matter, room to get around the oncoming boulder. Just them, the boulder, and the sealed door and wall behind them.
"Lily! Fei!" You know it's serious business when Josie uses someone's real name. "Do your thing and weaken it! I'm gonna--"
She draws the mattock, tilting it so the pick end is facing forward and braces herself for impact.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Ball of Crushing.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"It wouldn't be the first ruin to be able to read minds," Lily suggests. She does not comment on pancakes, though truthfully, she could use something to eat too. ...The fact that she'd even consider it is perhaps a sign.
"But I feel the same. This isn't the kind of place I like to see get interesting..."
Click. Dog tilts her head in confusion, and then barks as the boulder starts. Lily looks immediately for alcoves, for entryways, for something...
Josie actually uses their names.
"On it!" Lily calls. "Fei! I'm going to make it brittle!"
Both hands rise; she has no time to check the chains, just to begin building Ether, and the space they're in abrubtly becomes uncomfortably hot, hot enough to make someone sweat, a small shockwave erupting around her as she reaches forward with both hands, staff held out before her as a focus horizontally..
Blue light erupts from her hands and a visible crash of ice erupts from the boulder in all directions, frost tracing its entire surface. It is not enough to stop it, ice cracking where it intersects with the floor, but--
It's getting there, deeper, making cracks. Lily grits her teeth.
"Now!"
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Ball of Crushing.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is not sure exactly what the tile is for but what it is suggested to be is very curious judging from thst last conversation. It is nice that there hasn't been a fascist terrorist group also going after the tiles, though, and its a relief to know the adventure there may purely be archaelogical based. It is nice.
Fei sweats faintly as Penelope fucks off. He knows what that tends to be a precursor for. He reaches into his pocket and closes his eyes for a moment once more. He does not run. There is little point at this rate.
But when his eyes snap open, he is smiling to himself and raising his hand and aiming it towards that boulder before unleashing a hefty wave of chi for it. intending to brutally blast it apart.
"With your power behind it...it shouldn't be too bad...!" Fei shouts. "Thanks Lily!!"
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Mother's Cross toward his party's challenge, Ball of Crushing.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Ball of Crushing *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- After you step into this hallway, the door behind you slides down and locks shut. That 'click' noise, alone, might be worrying to a veteran ruin explorer. More concerning, however, is the way that a massive stone ball drops down on the far side of the hall. It fills it almost completely, and begins rolling towards you! Outrunning it isn't an option -- but obstructing or destroying it may yet be. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 4 *>===================== =========================< Results - Ball of Crushing >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 25 --(5)--> 30 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Mother's Cross 4 Brute Effects: None -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
What happens in the end is approximately this:
Josie, preparing herself for the swing which may make or break the day, grips the mattock tightly, ignoring the pain that streaks up her forearm.
A shockwave ripples through the oncoming rock, making it shudder and slow, but not actually stop. One good hit, Josie thinks. Just one good hit--
Which is the point where the massive wave of chi impacts the rock and renders it to so much gravel.
Josie, for her part, blinks.
"Huh."
She hangs the mattock again at her hip. Scratches her head.
"Well, I'm sure not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. C'mon, kids." She gestures for them to follow after her and continues along.
The door behind them shunks open again, moments later.
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Black Tie Spectral *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter the next room, you find that blue spectral lines begin to trace in the air. They are translucent, and they take the shape of a man wearing a dusty shirt and tie, and wearing a facemask. The man turns towards you, directing an ARM. The heat that pours from it feels real -- and the spectral fire that leaps from the flamethrower is, too. The powers within this dungeon have reconstructed a Black Tie, somehow, from your memories. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Frankly, Lily wouldn't rule out that Penelope is the one who set off the boulder trap in the first place.
But for now, Lily nods, looking at the gravel to ensure nothing else is coming. "...Anytime," she says to Fei. They really can do more together. Though... Lily glances to Josie after that. "...Yeah, that works for me too."
Lily doesn't look back to the dumb door. Instead, she walks further along, Dog at her side, until the blue lines trace in the air, translucent...
It's a man, then, holding an ARM. he spews flames at them and Lily throws out her hands to create a barrier to shield herself and Dog first. "...Great. Fire. Of course it's fire."
She narrows her eyes. "But I've been burned too many times to mind."
Lily snaps her fingers, and a blue aura surrounds her and Dog--both of them rush forward to take it to melee. Time to find out if ghosts can be bitten.
But the fire is more than enough to go for everyone here. Might be best not to leave it to her...
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Black Tie Spectral.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong says, "Alright, alright."
He follows after Lily and Josephine. He makes his way along when the hazy figure of Fargo Foobach appears before him. This too is not for the first time but this time he has a better understanding of why he keeps appearing before him.
"You thought drifters like us had to be stopped," Fei murmurs towards this image. Not the real thing, of course, but it may be the closest thing he ever sees again as he walks forward towards the familiar opponent. "You thought that we would cause problems. That we were dangerous."
Fei draws out his RPS Badge, a familiar reminder of who he had personally slain. He flicks it into the air and then darts forward, eyes narrowed as he throws several quick palm strikes, chi enthused in his arms and hands as he moves with a sudden nearly uncharacteristic confidence in his movements that can be mistaken as viciousness.
"You're right." Fei murmurs. "We are dangerous. Dangerous enough to change things."
It'll be okay, Fei thinks, you've fought this battle before. Keep it up.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Black Tie Spectral.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's the sort of bet where you're not sure if you do or don't want your pick to win.
Regardless. Anything you can walk away from is a good encounter, by Josie's reckoning. Trailing after the other two, she's already gotten the idea that something may be a bit amiss within.
Still, it's one thing to suspect something and yet another to come face to face with roiling flame. With a shout -- raising her bad hand to guard against it -- she falls back, twisting away from the oncoming blast. With her free hand, she works something out of her pocket.
Too bad about this one, she figures, before ducking away from the figure -- Fei recognizes them, huh? -- and rounding about them from behind.
Oh hell, she realizes. The Black Ties.
Or the spectre of one, anyway.
"Hey! Let's see if you like spirits!" she yells, before hurling her flask right at them.
The flask, which is full of alcohol.
Really bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, too. Her wallet's been a little empty.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Black Tie Spectral.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Black Tie Spectral *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter the next room, you find that blue spectral lines begin to trace in the air. They are translucent, and they take the shape of a man wearing a dusty shirt and tie, and wearing a facemask. The man turns towards you, directing an ARM. The heat that pours from it feels real -- and the spectral fire that leaps from the flamethrower is, too. The powers within this dungeon have reconstructed a Black Tie, somehow, from your memories. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 5 *>===================== ========================< Results - Black Tie Spectral >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Dog 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Unfortunately, Fargo's spectral copy has little to say to Fei in the moment; this is only a memory, and in that memory it was not quite like this. The blasts of chi rocket forward for him, and it could seem vicious as Fei brings them in with his hands.
But then, there's little that isn't vicious about throwing a flask at someone wielding fire.
Lily and Dog, shielded for the moment by Lily's icy shield, take advantage of the confusion Josie causes by setting one on fire. Fargo and the nameless figure both fall, and dissipate, fading into nothing.
"...That's right," Lily says to Fei, when she turns towards him. And then to Josie...
"We need to get you some better liquor. I'm pretty sure the fumes off of that one are poisonous."
Flawless victory for all of them, aside from the cost of that flask.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Alone in the Dark *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your trek through the emerald halls of the Ruins of Altered Memory ends in a spiral staircase. It leads down into an oxagonal chamber, cut of the same emerald stone as the rest of the room. A hallway leads beyond -- into a honeycomb of treasure rooms, nooks, and hiding holes. Those are visible through a shimmering portal, where a blue energy field has risen and blocks your way forward. When you step into the room, however, darkness pervades your senses. You are driven to your knees, as your memories are pulled forth -- and you are overwhelmed by them. The torches all go out, and darkness overtakes the room. You are trapped within a memory. It may be pleasant or unpleasant. However -- until you succeed this Challenge or are helped in the next -- you are not aware of reality. It is STRONGLY suggested you OOCly do your +acts and then draw the next card immediately. It may affect what happens. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Alone in the Dark. DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Mikaia's Mirror toward her party's challenge, Alone in the Dark. DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Alone in the Dark.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Alone in the Dark *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your trek through the emerald halls of the Ruins of Altered Memory ends in a spiral staircase. It leads down into an oxagonal chamber, cut of the same emerald stone as the rest of the room. A hallway leads beyond -- into a honeycomb of treasure rooms, nooks, and hiding holes. Those are visible through a shimmering portal, where a blue energy field has risen and blocks your way forward. When you step into the room, however, darkness pervades your senses. You are driven to your knees, as your memories are pulled forth -- and you are overwhelmed by them. The torches all go out, and darkness overtakes the room. You are trapped within a memory. It may be pleasant or unpleasant. However -- until you succeed this Challenge or are helped in the next -- you are not aware of reality. It is STRONGLY suggested you OOCly do your +acts and then draw the next card immediately. It may affect what happens. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 6 *>===================== ========================< Results - Alone in the Dark >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 30 --(25)--> 55 Fail Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 25 --(25)--> 50 Fail Mikaia's Mirror 1 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 15 --(25)--> 40 Fail Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 90 --(0)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ================<* CHALLENGE - With Some Help from My Friends *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Finally, at least one of you emerges from the illusory prison of memory. With that, you can enter the other's memory -- and help draw them out of it. You can choose who helps who, based both on successes and desires. The degree to which memories might be seen by others is left to player discretion. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed. <SoundTracker> Alex Roe - The Grosvenor Manor / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWUe_-QM2EM
Even in spectral form, there are rather obvious consequences that ensue.
"It wasn't a good flask," Josie states, shrugging at the destruction that ensued. Before flashing a grin over at Lily. "If you're treating, then I accept~"
Before she gestures over at the next doorway. "Well, let's go!"
Something awaits just beyond here. It's hard to see, though -- is the lighting in here failing...?
The room draws in dark, grows ever darker still. Josie whirls about, a spell on her lips then at her fingertips--
But even that flares only for the briefest of moments before it, too, is consumed in the growing blackness. She can see nothing. Hear nothing.
Feel nothing.
We go into the circle at night...
The birds scream.
They're terrified. Those that can fly erupt towards the night sky, a flood of wings and feathers from the flames. She runs without ceasing, towards the fire that licks upwards as if to engulf even the heavens. It knows no mercy..
She runs into the source of the fire. The door nearly comes off its hinges.
The fire. The fire is everywhere.
Where. Where is--
She reaches for the burning beam, to move it aside. Even if it consumes her--
...and are consumed by fire.
Wings beat steadily in the darkness. Alighting on Josie's shoulder, Penelope leans in and delivers a decisive nip to the archaeologist's ear.
With a shout, clapping her hand to her ear, Josie whirls about in the heart of this level of the ruin, torn free from the ensorcelling nightmare. "...Owe you one," she mutters to her bird, then hurries over to Fei and Lily, shaking the both of them by their shoulders. "C'mon, kids! Time to wake up!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, With Some Help from My Friends.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei hesitates before moving into the next area. He knows what's about to come. He is going to see things. He is going to go on a trip. He will see memories that aren't wholly his own. It happens all the time. It especially happens here. In this place. Minds open up, slices of neural information splitting apart into wedges like an orange. The wedges unravel into thin strands, opening up into a thin strip of film feeding into a projector.
Fire is used as a tragic implement often. Fei's own spirit is heavily attuned to that of the flame, the burning phoenix, the destructive wildfire, the carelessly made campfire. Prometheus is chained and tortured for an eternity for delivering the dangerous tool into humanity's hands, a punishment for all the majestic ways fire can be used to ruin lives. The world.
You know this is bad for you, so why do you come?
Because Josie wanted to come, Fei thinks. Josie wanted to be here.
Why?
Fei can't answer that.
Fei reaches forward towards the film steadily running through the projector. It catches flame. Birds on fire rip out of the projector screen and engulf Fei.
The fire burns him, but it does not hurt him. Wings of flame rip out from his back built out of blackened flesh.
Fei looks at his hands. It's only a metaphorical flame, Fei. Josie never made the promise, she resisted following through as long as she could on his request and even when she opened fire, it was to disable not kill him.
It seemed so foolish at the time. There was no guarantee that Riesenlied, Elly, Lily...the rest. No guarantee that he could be stopped.
But he was stopped, by her. Can you trust Josephine Lovelace, a woman who reminds you of so many others who use smiles and winks to hide terrible things? She reminds you of Agatha, Fei, Agatha.
But she stopped him, helped save him.
Fei closes his eyes even in this mental space, even in these flames. He becomes flame. He travels with the flame. The smoke is his resistance to opening up his mind. It hovers nearby, apart--but there. Why is he hesitating, even now? A memory lies out of reach. He can't reach it. It's going to have to remain there.
He spreads from a lightning strike. He spreads across a battlefield. He burns, he burns, he burns.
But in a quiet moment, by a campfire, he finds himself quietly crackling and warming another. Their bodies lean into each other. The Star Ocean feels smaller and closer, Filgaia a tiny world.
'Come, Fei! It's time to wake up!' She?? says.
The fire pours back into him through his back. The smoke pulls in through his nose and mouth. It's not painful. It's a relief.
His eyes snap open. It isn't 'she??' at all. It's Josie.
"I'm fine." He says. "Getting used to it." He smiles, weakly.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Why not? This once, anyway."
Lily moves towards the next doorway, walking along... And does not quite notice when things change, and become other than they were. It just happens, with the only warning Dog's sudden whine as the world shifts...
The night sky above is dotted with stars...
Lily's hair is tied back as she looks down from the sky over to the man--no, boy, really--looking sheepishly her way as he approaches, holding a cloth to his ear. "That look again," he says. "I almost think I'd be better off hiding than braving Lieutenant Keil's glare..."
Lily rolls her eyes, and quips, "You do that, and when you get back your mother'll ask me why you have half an ear left. Come on, Roanie, let me see." She smiles despite the rough moment, and beckons him closer, pulling her medical bag and setting it on a rock nearby. "Sit down." She does the same, so she can work more easily.
A woman in the same dark gear they all wear--emblazoned with a black wolf, naturally--grins, and steps over. "It's nothing big," she says. "We had it all taken care of."
"And you," Lily says to her, "Told me you'd keep him out of trouble, Jann. Maybe I should send a chaperone with you. I thought two would be enough to restock..."
Jann grins, and Lily can't stay mad--not that she was, to begin with. "...All right, all right. Just set it all down over there. Maybe I won't put you on KP."
"Aah, Lily..."
For her part, Lily pulls the alcohol out, and Roanie, naturally, squirms as she starts to disinfect the wound. "Stay still," she chides. "It won't be so bad if you do. Only a few stitches..."
When Josie moves to wake Lily, she sees the younger woman smiling, faintly. Dog keeps nosing at Lily, trying to bring her back to awareness. But--
Lily blinks, and stirs, looking back up to Josie. "What--Where...?"
It all comes back; where they are... where she isn't. Lily pauses, and there's a distance to her eye, a glimmer like a bittersweet wound. "...Ah..."
She shakes her head, closing her eyes against tears she told herself she's too old for. From her jacket comes a little mirror, alchemically treated long ago.
...In it is her own reflection... And she looks just the way she did then.
"...Sorry," Lily murmurs, and takes a slow breath before she ruffles Dog's fur and starts to rise. "...Damn this place," she mutters.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Mikaia's Mirror toward her party's challenge, With Some Help from My Friends. DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, With Some Help from My Friends.
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ================<* CHALLENGE - With Some Help from My Friends *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Finally, at least one of you emerges from the illusory prison of memory. With that, you can enter the other's memory -- and help draw them out of it. You can choose who helps who, based both on successes and desires. The degree to which memories might be seen by others is left to player discretion. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
====================<* Ruins of Altered Memory - Round 7 *>===================== ==================< Results - With Some Help from My Friends >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 55 --(0)--> 55 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Mikaia's Mirror 1 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 90 --(25)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Save Point(1)|Stupify(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Ruins of Altered Memory!
=========================<* Ruins of Altered Memory *>========================== ===============<* CHALLENGE - Emeralds For an Emerald Dungeon *>================ |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The honeycombed treasure rooms cannot all be explored in one trip. Many are empty; others contain only a few scraps and gems. However, within one, you find a small heap of glittering emeralds. These were used in the construction of this place; time and a lack of Elw technology, however, has made them much rarer now. You could sell these for a pretty gella. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She'll never forget that night.
But the immediate at times can be more pressing than the past may be.
Lily comes first.
Josie pauses for a moment, gazing at the former soldier as she rouses from her own dream.
"Bad memories, huh?" She smiles, the expression bittersweet. "Don't I know the feeling. But come on. We're back in the here and now, right?"
It's telltale that she hesitates a moment before patting Lily on the shoulder, before breaking away to turn to see to Fei.
"...That's good. Wonder what that was..."
She looks into his eyes a moment longer, then shakes her head. "Some of these old ruins have things like that. Traps, I assume, yeah? ...Though I haven't run into one like this before."
A sigh. "Guess even an old dog can have to learn a new trick. It won't get me again."
She smiles, lopsidedly.
"Come on. Let's go see what they were protecting with a trap like this, eh?"
There's a good-sized cache of them within. Emeralds.
"Well, well. Looks like my lucky day," Josie comments, picking up one of the stones to inspect its quality. "Guess they're the same stuff the walls are made out of. Once cut and polished they'll fetch a pretty Gella, don't you think?"
As well as pay for a new flask... and, quite honestly, pull her back on out of her current budget crisis.