2017-02-19: Exploring the Sacred Grounds with Future Enemies!
- Log: Exploring the Sacred Grounds With Future Enemies!
- Cast: Alisha Diphda, Amelia Rose, Claude C. Kenny (cameo), Hiro, Jean, Lemina Ausa, Lucia (cameo), Sorey
- Where: Sacred Grounds of Linga
- Date: 2-19-2017
- Summary: Alisha calls on the people of Linga to help explore the Sacred Grounds. Sorey is with her -- and Amelia, too. But the others... have a secret to hide.
DG: A party led by Alisha Diphda is now entering Sacred Grounds of Linga. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Annoying Ascent *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The path to the Sacred Grounds of Linga leads your party up a long and twisted mountain slope. Bare patches of earth suggest a path once existed, but now it seems you'd have to be half-goat to follow it in places. The first challenge of the Sacred Grounds, it seems, is climbing your way to the entrance. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Linga -- Earlier Today
After confirming that their Prime Lord Seraph hadn't vanished -- a truly frightening prospect -- and then getting something cool to drink with her, Alisha Diphda went to the Academy at Linga. She has a little more focus than Sorey and Mikleo, so she asked questions. They needed to find out /where/ they are -- and that led her to find out about the Sacred Grounds of Linga.
Which led to Alisha standing on the steps to the Academy. The princess, clad in her white and pink tabard, with her crystal-steel gauntlets, had her hands clasped. And she looked out with bright eyes at the students, faculty, and visiting scholars.
"Brave learned people of Linga!" she cried out. "I am Princess Alisha Diphda of the Kingdom of Hyland! I and my companion have found ourselves far from home! We have heard that the Sacred Grounds near here may have lost knowledge, to help us return to our homeland. Please, we ask you to consider our request, and help us explore it to find the truth!"
Sacred Grounds of Linga -- Now
Alisha walks at the front of the party, with her head slightly bowed, and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment that hasn't gone away. "R-Really," she says, sputtering slightly. "The teachers there didn't have to laugh at me! It wasn't very nice at all. Not that..."
She almost says 'not that I'm not used to it,' but it sounds pathetic. Her shoulders slump. Then, she finishes: "...But thank you for coming with me."
She looks up, peering up the long path. The... very long path. It winds and weaves, twisting through the mountainside. She wrinkles her nose, and then keeps walking up the path, one step after another. She tries to grin and bear it with a princessly countenance.
It sort of works.
But she comes to a stop, as she finds where a landslide caved away the path. Alisha's nose wrinkles more -- and she frowns. "That looks... hard to get across. Please," she says, "be careful everyone!"
Then, the knight rears back, and darts forward -- leaping across the gap as best she can. In her armor, it's a feat.
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Having ended up on a strange new world, there were of course no end to the number of problems that could arise. Like the problem of 'none of our money seems to spend that well, and the best it can be used for is trading as a novelty'. Which meant that the Shepherd and the Princess were going to have to find some work in order to buy supplies and a ticket to the next city!
Then they had discovered the Adventurers' Guild was a thing.
After, of course, Sorey had spent the better part of a few hours boggling at the local artifacts they had on display at the local Guild office, it was time to head out and get to work. And so Sorey walks alongside Alisha, looking a little amused at her speech to the assembled scholars. "It was worth a try - I guess that not a lot of these academics want to do the legwork themselves. That's why they pay people to go out and do it for them." He grins, holding up a badge he had picked up from the Guild. "Permission to poke around in ancient ruins? And getting paid for it? I wonder why we don't have one of these back home?"
Sorey pauses as Alisha makes the jump across the collapsed path, and tilts his head to the side. "I don't know," he responds to no one in particular. "But that IS a good point!" Mikleo, keeping himself hidden as Seraphim often did, had made a snide comment that if you just told people where to look for things, how would you find anything new?
But Sorey pulls out a rope with a claw hook on the end, and tosses it across the gap, making sure its well anchored. "If you think you might have trouble with the gap, use this to pull yourself across!" he calls to their companions. "It'll make things easier!"
DG: Sorey has used his Tool Grappling Hook toward his party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Naturally, the mere instant Lemina learned that there was an academy anywhere even remotely near their landing location, Lemina *insisted* that the rest of her merry band -- or at least some of them -- check it out. After all, they need to know what they found last night!
This is surely the only reason, and not just because Lemina wants to put up more posters about her carpet.
This does put her within earshot when Princess Alisha asks everyone to help her -- and 'lost knowledge' and 'return to homeland' are the only words Lemina needs to hear to go 'sure, why not.' 'Hyland' doesn't exactly hurt, either -- the odds of there being a 'Hyland' on both planets isn't /zero/, but...
Of course, she knows better than to give away who they are, too; when she introduces herself to Alisha, it's as "a local scholar! Yep! Definitely local. Definitely a scholar. Um... A scholar named... Sasha... Nash? Yes. That's definitely it. Mega-it. And these are my friends, um," followed by some helpless gesturing.
Which, at least for Lemina -- sorry, INTREPID SCHOLAR SASHA NASH -- brings us to the present. Lemina looks at the ruined path with a clear despairful expression, murmuring, "Mega-awful..." before trying to use her Thieves' Staff to move some of the rocks around to make the caved-in passage easier, or at least a little shorter.
She really doesn't want to have to run or jump in both her dress /and/ her creepin' cloak. No sir.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Thieves' Staff toward her party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
~In Town~
Finally healed from her case of Acute Zombie Gut-Stab Disease, Priestess Amelia Rose has found herself in Linga walking out of the Academy. There's a fair few scrolls on her now, mostly for others' perusal at the Ship, and one or two in braille. She pauses immediately.
And wastes no time approaching. "...Hyland royalty, here? It seems the Guard aren't the only ones lost. Priestess Amelia Rose, combat medic for Althena's Guard. I'm coming along." That soft voice is one that offers no expectation of an argument.
~Now~
Sorey helpfully uses that grappling hook. One dark elven ear perks. She now, thanks to the man, knows more or less how far she has to go. Spinning her cane in it's whip form, she lashes the thing not far from Sorey's grapple, and then presses a small button. She's sent careening across. Silver, her dog, just leaps the bloody thing after one heck of a running jump.
"You all seem capable. As she said, don't fall. I don't like writing eulogies on short notice." If Lemina /really/ needs it, she'll toss the end of her whip back on over. Careful, some of those edges are very sharp, Miss Intrepid Scholar!
DG: Amelia Rose has used her Tool Cane-Whip toward her party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Meanwhile, back in Linga
"...uh, sir, I don't quite understand."
"Look, the dog puked on me when I was carrying the bilnd girl, okay?" Claude says, sounding weary. "I really don't want to get into it. Can you just clean the jacket?"
"I...what is this even made of?"
"Something that doesn't repel dog barf, /apparently/."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Earlier~
"Hyland? Isn't that from our world?" "Maybe it isn't /that/ Hyland. Filgaia could have a Hyland too right?" Together they silently agree it's in their best interests to cautiously accept this invitation but- "Althena's Guard?" They say quietly as they look at each other, with growing dread.
Now~
"So is anyone going to bring it up, or is it going to have to be me?"
"Come on it's not a big deal. They're just stories."
"Oh really? Coming from someone who actually breathes fire, those stories were too hot and steamy even for /me/."
It's true, and Hiro knows it. He knows it so much his cheeks are already burning. That they left Lucia back at the camp- pouring over Romance Novels from a bygone era of the Blue Star. He had to admit, that was something he never thought he'd find exploring ancient ruins ever. But now they needed a map of Filgaia to try to find- a place that might have the way home. So already he was back.
"Take this as an example I read over her shoulder. His finger weathered and rough, from years working on a ranch as it danced in and out of her nos-" "I really don't think this is the time!"
Why isn't it the time? Because they're ascending a mountain slope- over a path partially buried in a landslide. A pink cat hovering nearby on flapping wings.
"I'm just worried about her corrupting you-!" There's a notable hitch, "-Alex!"
That cover identity definitely isn't suspicious to anyone from Lunar.
"Capable, right." Hiro rubs the nape of his neck laughing, "Well we've done this a time or two before. Right uh- Miss Nash?" He presents a grinning thumbs up to the party as they start their efforts clearing it. "Hey good work! Looks you all came prepared."
Using the better footing being cleared by Lemina, he uses Sorey's rope to shimmy himself across. The flying pink 'cat' moves across the gap, staring at- someone that may not be apparent to much of the party, nodding into thin air and dipping her chin in a nod at what she takes as wisdom, crossing her little paws over her chest, "Yeah seriously." Apparently she has a habit of agreeing with thin air. "Seriously what?" I wasn't talking to you Alex!"
Hiro just looks confused.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Hey - look Sorey. Alisha." Mikleo states as he jumps easily across the gap, exploiting the fact that Seraphs apparently have no real body weight. "I'm not sure - is that a baby red dragon or did someone just dip a flying cat in pink paint to make it look like one?"
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean is still in her dancer's outfit, white heels and all, but shows an unquestionable certainty as they walk that's buried under an easy pleasantness. ...But frankly, some of it is also covered over; she rcognizes Hyland, she recognizes the talk of going home...
Jean was on board, too.
NOW
"Don't let it get you down," Jean supplies to Alisha. "Sometimes people laugh, but you've gotta keep your head up." A beat, as she looks to Hiro and Lemina, "Ha ha, right. We've done this before, we'll help you out."
But Jean finds herself watching some of the others carefully. She climbs however, and does so quickly, faster than it might look like she can as she throws her fan ahead of her here and there, in her path and not, to check stone for stability and find handholds.
"Call me Helen!" Jean supplies helpfully, and saves the rope for a less nimble climber.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Throwing Fans toward her party's challenge, Annoying Ascent. DG: The party led by Alisha Diphda has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 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> Hiro has posed.
"I'm hardly a bab-" But then he says it, "Just who do you think you're calling a cat buster!?"
Ruby buzzes in indignation and Mikleo unless he's quick gets a gout of flame right in his face, likely singing his hair.
"Get it right! I'm a majestic red dragon!"
"What's gotten into you Beryl!?"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Back in town, Alisha lit up when Amelia approached -- despite the laughter. "A priestess! I thought--I thought we were the only ones!" the princess said, before she gave a little bow of her head. "Thank you. We are in your debt!"
The others, too, were greeted with that characteristic warmth of the princess's. And earnestness.
But now, they have a chasm to cross.
Alisha uses the lines laid out by others to help herself -- but then she slips, skidding down, and scrapes her knee. She hisses, before she pulls herself up. Alisha's eyes turn, leaf green and briefly pained, to look as a rock flies out of her way.
"O-oh, thank you, Miss Nash!" Alisha says, as she watches the Thieves' Staff simply move some rocks like that. Her expression is bright as she looks at her. "So you said that you are from Linga? Do you like it there? We have... a few academies, where I'm from, but none of the ones I've been to are so large... at least, not since I was much younger."
She taps a finger against her chin.
She tries to ignore the scrape. Then, she looks sideways at Jean. "Ah, well... thank you, Miss Helen. Now--"
Mikleo talks. She makes a face -- before her eyes dart towards the flying cat. She stares, making quite the face. "Um! I--I believe... um..."
She has no idea how to explain this. Or, really, what is happening.
"...I believe the entrance is ahead!" she squeaks with a yelp, before she starts up the last few steps to the entrance. Alisha gasps, a little, as they see the entrance -- and then she starts in.
DG: Sorey has drawn a new Challenge. =========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - No Net *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It looks like you're on the right track,but the only way forward is across a very long, very thick, very slick-looking rock outcropping. Worse yet, generations of bats have deposited generations of guano everywhere, spoiling your footing even further. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Woah!" the silver haired Seraph takes an (unseen) step back. "Definitely a flying cat. Gramps said that the Goddess' dragons were wise and dignified creatures. I'm not sure this one has even heard of the term before."
The party continues onwards and upwards, although the (seemingly one sided) conversation between Ruby and Mikleo is going to be going on for a while. A certain Earth Seraphim has been rubbing off on Mikleo since she joined, apparently.
But Sorey takes the lead, the party continuing until they come to the highest area on the ridge just beyond the entrance. The path cuts around to the right here, hugging the wall and leaving only a few feet to make their way forward. The ground is also disgusting. "I suppose we're lucky that this place is outside - with this many bats around, we'd probably be knee deep in the slime if there wasn't wind and rain to blow it around." Sorey holds up a hand as he looks at the path for a moment, and then nods. "We should be able to make it, but watch your footing." He pulls out his hook and anchors it to the wall, tugging it twice to make sure it's secure.
"If you ladies want to wait for Alex and I to go first, we can try and get some of the muck cleared away before you have to pass," Sorey offers politely. No sense in everyone dealing with this much goo on the ground.
DG: Sorey has used his Tool Grappling Hook toward his party's challenge, No Net.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina gives Hiro a look like he's an alien. Ruby gets it, too. Lemina has no idea what Ruby is on about -- but maybe this is normal for Ruby? It's unknowable.
So instead, she comments on the part of this she /can/ comment on, which is the part about Althena's Guard. "Just... act natural. No one is going to think you're weird if you just act like you're some random adventurer," she whispers to Hiro. /Jean/ she assumes will have no trouble deflecting suspicion.
As they head deeper into the cave (with help from Amelia -- Lemina absolutely needs the assistance crossing), Lemina -- sorry, 'Sasha Nash' -- looks ahead toward the bats, and the... record of the bats' passing... and cringes. "Llllet's see how much of this I can move off," Lemina remarks, with a shiver. "Mega-gross."
She then sets about shoving the guano away with her staff's magic, just as she did before; about midway through the process, though, it shorts out. ... Well, better than nothing -- but she's going to have to fix that tonight, before she can use the staff again. Yikes.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Thieves' Staff toward her party's challenge, No Net.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
They're all so very confident. And Not-Jean and Not-Hiro seem more than pleasant. The cat, though, has her frowning.
"...Is your companion always this way?" She asks Hiro briefly, her frown very audible. There's much Priestly Indignation here.
"Princess, Helen, Miss Scholar, Alex. It's a pleasure. Keep the faith, and Althena shall guide her children home." She's much, much warmer to these three. Seems the Cleric has already come to like these people.
"If we all survive, I'll buy you all dinner. No drinking."
The elf's nose wiggles. Ugh. /Bats/! "After you, please." Lemina gets a nod. Oh yes. Gross indeed. Silver doesn't care, and he dog-patters across. Amelia waits until 'Alex' and Sorey and Not-Lemina try their best, then it's her turn. Every few steps, she slashes the ground with her cane. She'll have to clean it later, but better than on /her/. And less for anyone behind her to deal with.
DG: Amelia Rose has used her Tool Cane-Whip toward her party's challenge, No Net.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"I have wisdom and dignity in spades! If you think I'm going to let you just be rude to me like that you have another thing coming-" And then begins a conversation where Ruby just appears to be yelling at air. Hiro's second hand embarrassment is palpable.
But he doesn't really get it either.
He walks alongside the others- every so often looking at him and giving him this sheepish grin.
But then once the path cuts to the right- he steps in something, "Eugh-" Raising one wrapped leg, he steps back. Nodding in response to Sorey's wisdom. "Don't worry everyone. Believe it or not, I've encountered this sort of thing before. Beryl and me have our own method of dealing with this. Hey Beryl!" Ruby continues arguing. He coughs once into his fist, "Beryl!" "Huh? What is it Alex" "Remember that time on the mountainside- with all those bats." "Oh right! So you want me to?"
"Everyone. Stand back for just a second- way back actually."
Ruby flaps forward suddenly, and buzzes the path, spewing a gout of flames, pulling up almost instantly. The path responds predictably, exploding into a raging blaze while Hiro shields his eyes against the glare.
Surreptitiously he begins a chant and mutters at the end of it- "Ferocious winds." A heavy squall descends upon that part of the mountain, the localized twister blowing it out a candle. They're actually fairly lucky it doesn't just fan the blames- and that it doesn't knock them off.
He then pinches his nose because it smells awful- like rotten eggs and burning rubber mixed together- but he's grinning, "Buhrnt gwahno isn as slippehree."
"And now you know what kind of a special lady you're actually travelling with." Ruby says to Mikleo from on high, more immune to the fumes. Honestly she's setting herself up for whatever he says next.
And at least it then becomes easier for everyone that follows.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, No Net.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Of course they have to be careful with a priestess around, and someone so happy to see one. That's just an unfortunate reality. But as Lemina suspects, Jean can avoid suspicion quite effectively... And has avoided volunteering too much about herself.
"The Goddess has given us a lot of joy," Jean nevetheless says to Amelia Rose as they pass onward. "And we'll see about dinner!"
But she watches Alisha ahead, and then sees Sorey hold p his hand, anchor is hook... "Hrm..." A pause. "If you're offering, that would be great!" 'Helen' answers Sorey with a big rambunctious smile. She is wearing white. "I'll keep an eye on everyone from back here."
But when it's her turn, she has some balancing to do, and uses her fans to give herself a better shot. She can't really comment to Hiro and Lemina from back where she is, but she keeps an eye on both... and a lifted eyebrow on Ruby. At leat things don't seem so strange.
...The smell though from Ruby's efforts is not exactly what Jean wanted in her life, but she'll live. Ruby's really trying.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Throwing Fans toward her party's challenge, No Net.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN LINGA
A slightly chilly Claude is sitting on a rock just outside town, waiting for his (thankfully dog-barf-free) jacket to finish drying. As he waits, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a harmonica - the only man-portable musical instrument they had in the city. Honestly, who walks into a general store to buy a piano? Have these people never heard of a guitar? Or a trumpet?
Ugh. What even /is/ this planet.
The blonde-haired swordsman gives it a few experimental puffs, trying out notes, then begins playing with more confidence. "Not bad," he mutters, then looks up at the sky. Nope, still no spaceships. "Maybe something classical," he muses, then plays a few short notes.
(HUMM-humm humm. HUMM-humm humm. humhumhumHUMM humm-humm.)
"You take a mortal man," Claude sings, not badly at all.
(HUMM-humm humm. HUMM-humm humm. humhumhumHUMM humm-humm.)
"And put him in control."
(HUMM-humm humm. HUMM-humm humm. humhumhumHUMM humm-humm.)
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
If Alisha was a different woman -- say, one about two inches shorter, with red hair, paired knives, and a killer business sense -- she would ask how Althena would get them through bat crap. Instead, she just wrinkles her nose /even further/, makes such a face, and then she remains deathly silent while Sorey sets to making a line -- and then Amelia and 'Sasha Nash' use their cane and staff, respectively.
"Th-thank you," the princess knight says with a shuddering sigh. No matter how much they clear with careful motions, the /smell/ isn't going anywhere. But, then 'Alex' tells her to stand back. "We should--"
The cat sets the guano on fire and Alisha lets out a panicked yelp. She leaps back, hands thrown out to the side, as if to protect the people behind her -- and then she quickly starts out, stepping as carefully as she can. "Ah... well, if we get past, then we shall surely find something less... ...um..."
There are words a princess should never say.
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Net. DG: The party led by Alisha Diphda has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 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> Sorey has posed.
Mikleo watches in a rather dispassionate manner as Ruby unleashes the flames of... well a red dragon? Tiny evil demon cat? Who can say? But he just shrugs after a moment and looks at the rising smoke from all the guano that has been set on fire.
"If this is what qualifies for lady hood these days... who am I to talk?" the Seraph replies, his manner diffident. "But really cat. You might want to look at the Princess here if you want a real role model for being a lady."
The blast of flame does quite a bit to help clear away the goop and other unpleasantness that is covering the way forward, and for once maybe Ruby is indeed being helpful? But the smoke makes for its own sort of challenge for the party to move forward, and the smell doesn't exactly help either. But progress is swift enough, and the path opens up only a short distance beyond that rather terrible ledge to allow the party to proceed more easily.
Sorey looks back for a moment and grins. "Well, this is what exploring ruins is all about," he states confidently. "Sure there's rough parts going in, but the challenge just makes finding something all the more exciting."
"As long as the rest of this place isn't filled with quite as many bat droppings," his white haired Seraph adds after a moment.
"Yeah, I agree. If this place is just some huge bat roost that would take a bit of the glamour out of it."
DG: Lemina Ausa has drawn a new Challenge. =========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Jellies *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The wall fungus has spread to the floor of this part of the Sacred Grounds...and it's exceptionally slick, to boot. Making your way through this part of the halls will require some careful coordination. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
As our brave and noble heroes head past the freshly-burned bat guano, they encounter another challenge... which, truthfully, is not so distinct from the last challenge.
This time it's fungus. Rather than merely coating the walls, it now lines the floor and the ceiling to boot; this next area is downright gross.
Lemina, still holding her nose from the... /unique/ solution to the last problem, lets out a whimper. "THIS IS MEGA-AWFUL," she declares, her voice echoing through the cavern. whining the whole way. There's a pause, before she adds, "I'm /not/ burning it."
She elects to go last, waiting for everyone else to do their thing before even attempting it, because, um, gross. After a moment, she adds, to Alisha, "Also, you're a jinx."
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
Well, that was something. Burnt bat-gunk was similarly not what Amelia wanted today. But at least there's been less instances of undead and lots of falling. Things are looking up.
The priestess' cheeks itch. This is a bad sign.
"I'll take a bad smell over zombies any day." She offers to the group. Jean in particular gets a smile and a nod. No words, just a few prayer motions. This /definitely/ isn't a member of the Destroyer's party, nope! Too pious!
Silver and Amelia both take their time here. At one point, the dog stumbles, getting all wrapped up in his lead. The pair spend a moment getting untangled. So far, no real slips. No fancy cane shenanigans, just very slow, very deliberate movement.
DG: Amelia Rose has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Wow, that looks... a little exciting?" Sorey comments after a moment, and shakes his head. OK its more than a little exciting, but he isn't going to complain too much. This is all part of the fun of exploring some new and unknown place. But he does pause for a moment, taking off his white mantle and rolling it into a small enough package that he can slide it into his backpack. "Wouldn't want your nice gift to get ruined if I fell down in this patch of yuck," he states, grinning at Alisha. Lemia looks less than amused at this challenge, and Sorey tests the slick ground for a moment.
"I'm going to slide across," he declares. "That way if you lose your footing, just keep going forward as fast as you can and I'll make sure to catch you!" It's a nice offer to Lemia, although Sorey's planning to catch anyone he can, provided he can make it across.
Mikleo just walks across and leans against the far wall, and grins. "You need to make it across without falling on your face oh high and mighty Shepherd. They you can talk tough."
"Yeah yeah," Sorey states as he takes a step back... and then hits the slimey fungus at speed and *zooms*, his arms held out for balance!
DG: Sorey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
They reach the... fungus, and Jean looks to Alisha. "Hope springs eternal, right?" Her spirits don't seem terribly dampened, despite the sheer gross level of the last few minutes. ...And then she's trying not to laugh at Lemina/Sasha. It is only moderately successful.
"It's nice to see new places," Jean agrees laterally with Sorey, and then glances Amelia's way at the talk of zombies... and then at the prayer. She smiles back, but not for very long. Instead she is then looking at the floor ahead.
"If anyone isn't confident in their balance, stick with me," Jean says, and then pulls her fan again, this time slamming it to the ground and back again in places to clear rougher spots for better traction as she heads along. They stay for anyone who wants to follow.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Throwing Fans toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
STILL BACK IN LINGA
(HUMM-HUMM-humm HUMM)
"Juuuuuust like the Piiiiied Piper."
(HUMM-HUMM-humm HUMM)
"Led rats throooooough the streets"
(HUMM-HUMM-humm HUMM)
"We dance like marionettes"
(HUMM-HUMM-humm HUMM)
"Swaaaaaaying to the symphonyyyyyy...."
Claude sighs and puts down the harmonica. "Yeah, that really doesn't go all that well with this."
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha takes two steps. She has only scraped her knee. This will be fine. She can avoid it; most of it is knocked and burnt away. And then, her heel hits some of the bat droppings, and--
She missteps and skids, landing on her hindquarters, and there is a wet squishing under her. She makes a face and shudders. This time, the whine is barely kept in her throat.
She stands up and rounds the corner -- and she sees it, then. She sees the terrible, terrible sight of all of the fungi on the wall. She whimpers, finally. And then she looks at Lemina, and looks down.
"I shouldn't have said anything," she sighs. Then, Alisha looks back up, and nods. "We cannot be deterred by fungi!"
She says it so earnestly.
She starts forward, picking her way through the fungus carefully. Her bladed spear sweeps out, here and there -- and she tries her best to clear some of them with it. Her face screws up, though, and she bites her lip. She can't see Mikleo, but she can hear him.
So she starts giggling at /nothing/ half-way through trying to make her way through the fungus.
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Oh? Well excuse me- if you're going to act like you're an expert on ladyhood then maybe I'll just defer to you-" Ruby glowers at him looking pointedly to his mid-riff laden with belts, "-Corset."
Apparently Mikleo gets a nickname which has nothing to do with his name, since he hasn't given it. "Heh heh." Again he looks chagrined, "Sorry about her Princess. I don't know what's got her so riled up."
They come to a hallway though that's coated in fungus and- "Do it again?" "Let's not Ruby, you know we could destroy some meaningful find doing it carelessly." Wait they were doing it carefully before?
"Hey thanks Helen. I'll stick with you and Sash-" But then Sorey literally jumps forward, sliding on slick fungus and he laughs, "That actually looks really fun- change of plans-"
Hiro takes a few steps back, then runs forward, sliding after in pursuit, arms held to the side as he whoops in excitement.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Jumping Jellies. <Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
A single, slender white eyebrow is raised. "Is that really the best you can come up with...?" Beat. What would Edna do?
Flying pink cat. Something with hair stuck to it.
Right.
"Bubblegum?"
<Pose Tracker> Lucia has posed.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT CAMP
Lucia uses her fingernail to carefully turn another ancient page in the tome on her lap, and squints thoughtfully at what she reads there. One might assume that is because the glyphs are a good thousand years old, but this is not so -- it is the contents that are baffling.
She sounds out a riddlesome line.
"...equivalent...exchange...?"
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Ha! Now who's scraping the bottom of the barrel-" Ruby gives Mikelo a glower of what she assumes to be of triumph as she darts down the hall shouting, "-Silverfish!"
Ruby typically likes fish and would not insult one as such. But given that a Silverfish is technically not a fish but a bug- she'll make an exception this once.
DG: You fail the challenge, and take 11 Exhaustion! You have 21 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Alisha Diphda has failed this challenge! The party gained 2 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> Sorey has posed.
Oh, this isn't working out. This is... "...woah, woah! WOAAAAAH!"
And Sorey sort of zooms off into the darkness for a little bit.
And there is a loud *CLONK*.
Mikleo just turns around and stares for a moment. "Nice landing oh mighty savior."
"...oooooowwwww..."
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
The good news: it's hard to fail to move through a static corridor. Technically.
The bad news: It's hard to /succeed/ at moving through a static corridor when it's full of fungus, too. There are a lot of valiant efforts to clear it, but they're really just too much; Lemina slips on it, and Hiro joins her on the floor soon after -- and Sorey soon after /him/, given his trajectory. It's a pretty miserable rate of forward movement, all told. For the most part, Jean ends up having to ferry practically everyone through, very, very slowly, as the only person who seems to be able to move in it with any kind of speed.
This also means there's no time to explore the rest of the cave if they want to make anything approaching good time. Just a bad gig all around, it looks like.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Just a few seconds later- Hiro does the following. His feet slip out from under him, he falls on his butt- "YOWCH!" and keeps sliding.
Right into Sorey. Slamming into him from behind as the two start a human pile.
For a moment, he sees stars too.
"You thought it was F for Fun! Turns out it was F for Failure. This just proves how much you need my help Alex!"
"Eheh- sorry." He says pathetically to the sprawled out Shepherd.
DG: Amelia Rose has drawn a new Challenge. ========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================= ================<* CHALLENGE - Minor Miners Minor in Mining *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Down this corridor, you find a pair of centuries-old skeletons - miners, from the looks of them, their tools lying where they last fell. A barely-legible map suggests they were trying to dig their way around a particularly fiendish section of the Sacred Grounds...is it worth trying to finish the job? The tools are right there... =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
Walk walk walk WOBBLE SLIP! Silver once more stumbles, gets caught up between her legs, and then Amelia is a sliding holy woman. Right towards Sorey. The poor Shepherd gets another person slamming into him! Her poor clothes are now covered in disgusting fungus. Aching, and feeling horrible, the elf lets out a sign of annoyance.
"Althena keep your foolish children, and may your wrath burn away despicable fungal heathens."
Mutter mutter mutter. "Is everyone alright?" There's a quick heal spell for the party.
The corridor bends around, and the horrible fungus finally ends. There's an empty treasure chest or two, a minor monster that poses little challenge for this large a group. Then, as she's making her way through, her cane just so happens to find the skeleton miners. The pair's clothing are long since turned to scraps, bones picked clean, and those picks? Well, there's at least one for each of the party. Seems they brought extras. But they look very faded and rusty given the slightly moist conditions in the Grounds. Their project tunnels right through a wall, and one can practically see the cracks that indicate there's a passage on the other end. Silver barks, and heads down the tunnel.
"Silver's found something. Shall we, everyone?"
One pick taken, she's off to try her luck. A few experimental cane-taps, she two hands the pick, and then starts mining. CRUMP. CRUMP! Rock flecks fall easily.
DG: Amelia Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"O-oh, that... that is quite all right," Alisha says. "She is remarkable, though!" A beat, then her brow furrows. "But is her name Ruby or Beryl?"
She doesn't sound suspicious yet.
She takes a deep breath -- and she keeps focusing -- and she can't get through. In the end, she needs to have Jean's help to get through, as she offered. She lets out a sigh -- not having fallen, but her pride is wounded, this time. "Th-thank you, Helen."
She nods to Amelia, though -- and after a moment's pause, she thinks to speak too. "Y-Yes," she says. "I think so."
And it's after they have weaved their way through monster, treasure, and worse that they end up facing skeletons. A shiver runs up her spine -- but there is no more panic than that. She looks down at Silver, when he barks, and then she nods. She walks forward. "Allow me to help!"
She may not look it, necessarily, but Alisha is pretty strong. Hours of daily practice with a spear, wearing half-plate armor into battle, and hobbies like horseback riding have left her well-prepared. But, moreover, her gauntlets are made of that strange crystalline steel from the past. Nearly unbreakable and well-suited. And, besides, she tripped in bat crap.
"HYAAAAH!"
So Alisha /really/ wants to punch something. She slams her gauntleted fist into the cracked wall hard!
DG: Alisha Diphda has used her Tool Crystal Gauntlet toward her party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey accepts apologies and people landing on top of him in good grace. Because really, he had been reckless, and this sort of thing happened. But he finally manages to rise to his feet, and gives Hiro a grin and a nod. "Well, at least it was kind of fun getting through there?" he manages. Still, ow. That wasn't his most graceful landing ever.
And thus the brown haired young man is a little more subdued when they continue - the bodies sprawled out on the ground show that there are still dangers here, and they need to respect them. Sorey pauses for a moment, kneeling before the corpses and offering a brief prayer that they move on and find whatever reward is waiting for them.
The words are surprisingly generic, for someone who consorts with spirits.
But Sorey moves to get a pickaxe to help breaking through... and jumps for a moment as Alisha just unleashes some of her pent up frustration on the wall. "...go Alisha!" Sorey comments, and grins.
"See - this is how a proper lady smashes through everything that annoys her. Rather than just being sassy." Mikleo chuckles, eyeing the wall and Alisha's assault on it. He could be talking to Ruby. ...but there's also a chance that the comment could be lobbed at the absent Edna.
DG: Sorey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
With careful, practiced steps, Jean makes it across... and then ends up going back and forth among whoever accepts her help, covered in fungus or not. Somehow she ends up the one who isn't slimy in all this mess, and while she isn't exactly dancing around the obstacle, she still moves through.
What with the extra work and it being cruel, she doesn't laugh at the now-greener members of the expedition. Instead she smiles at Alisha. "You're welcome... Alisha? Can I call you Alisha? We can all get farther if we help each other!"
But here they are finding something else, and Jean frowns in concentration before she looks at Alisha walking forwrd, punching away. She doesn't have anything to use to punch through rock, but....
The dancer picks up one of the picks and hefts it over her shoulder with no trouble, moving towards their starting point and swinging two-handed, one at a time. In heels. Mostly she aims for weak points as she can find them, but her flowy attire billows with each swing.
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Now covered in fungus and generally regretting almost every one of her life decisions, Lemina looks to the assembled party once it's /re/assembled across the fungus. "Oh, sure, I'm fine," Lemina says. "Nothing mega-wounded. Just my clothes, my hair... my dignity..." She lets out a long-suffering sigh, and follows along with the barks, because... well, right now, she has no /better/ ideas.
As they find the ancient skeletons and picks to match, Lemina thinks for a few moments. "Hmmmm... I don't think I've got the arm strength to use that kind of pick," she admits, as she watches Amelia start in on the wall.
Then, with no warning, a giant spear of ice strikes out for a weak point in the wall. "Fortunately, I brought my own! An -- ice pick! Daaaa ha ha ha ha!" Lemina poses dramatically without bothering to look at the results of her labor. There are new people, so she has to look cool. Right?
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"It really was, wasn't it?" Hiro grins back at him, rubbing the nape of his neck until he realizes it's covered in muck and shakes it off to the side. "Bruises are just a sign that we had a really good time." Really Hiro?
Picking himself up though, he moves to the section of the wall with the others, "Looks like they never finished here..." and starts picking up a pickaxe. Watching as Silver barks and runs off. He grins at Amelia, "Looks like they're really enthusiastic."
He doesn't quite expect Alisha to just smash into the wall with a gauntleted fist, so when she's looking at it intently he doesn't quite get it. Until- "Whoa! Now that's a punch! I'd probably just break my hand."
"Oh so you're saying proper behavior is for me to follow suit and smash you? That suits me just fine!" But at least she isn't acting on it other than to snipe at him.
Hiro grins at 'Helen' as if to say- Did you see that? But Jean picks up a pick instead, so he doesn't comment. He knows she wants her privacy respected, not to reveal- certain things all the time.
He starts picking away at the wall with his own, until, "Wait Sasha wait let me get-"
And it smashes into the wall as he barely dodges out of the way- "-clear."
But he takes it in good humor, grinning. "Well- Sasha's magic- does it again!"
And then he keeps picking away at the wall.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 4 Exhaustion! You have 25 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Alisha Diphda has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 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> Amelia Rose has posed.
The group works together well, it seems. Amelia wisely steps /away/ from the wall as Alisha gets to work. CRUNCH. The force of those gauntlets hitting the wall has it /trembling/. Enough so that there's a minor shake, Amelia lets out a patented 'eek' that sounds like a teenage elf rather than one in her fifties. She falls on her butt, but luckily there's no actual cave-in.
"Careful. At least you all didn't use Blastemol (TM)." Shudder.
Then Lemina's up! The grand Ice Pick is unveiled, and that /feeling/ of sorcery has Amelia perking up. She can't help but clap a little as the 'Scholar' shows off! "...You're very talented, Miss. You put my skills to shame."
CRACK. That's the sound of ice shattering on the wall. It opens up a crack or two, but doesn't do much. Apparently ice is not a good method of breaking open walls.
Similarly, Hiro also doesn't have much luck. He gets a few good hits in, rock breaking down, and then...SNAP. The pick breaks just below the head. The wood's rotten on this one. Turning it over one can see teeth marks in it too.
Sorey too starts hammering away, and more of the wall tumbles down! There's a crack big enough that Silver slips through, the dog sniffing, and then barking happily! One can see a tail wag through the now mostly down wall. A smaller member can probably wiggle through.
"My turn." She pulls back, Amelia hammers down, and...there's metal snapping, and the woman instinctively throws herself back. She lands on her butt, cursing lowly. The dropped pick is snapped too, but at the pick end. There's a shard of metal in her shoulder, which she works on digging out. There's muttered profanity, before she gets to bandaging and healing.
Jean steps up, and with one final, powerful whack, the entire wall crashes down. Section? By passed.
"Well done, everyone." Then Amelia, looking tired, starts through the new opening.
DG: Hiro has drawn a new Challenge. ========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Keyless Keyhole *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Up ahead is a large door, its frame and surface hardened stone. The door itself doesn't seem to budge no matter how hard you push, but there is a keyhole - too bad you haven't seen a key anywhere in this place. Maybe there's some way... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Swinging that pick around is tiring, even in the short term. It's different from swinging a sword, especially since it's impacting something so /hard/. But despite the aching muscles and his huffing and puffing, the others manage to shatter that section of the wall. "That's a relief." "I got pooped just watching you."
However the collapsed section of the wall leads down a long hallway to- a giant stone door. It's rough and weathered from age, though at one point it might have been smoother- "Huh- I'm not sure how we're going to get past that. It looks too solid to blast our way through." "Alex look!" Swiping a paw several times over a dusty little indentation, she reveals that it's keyhole. "Tada!"
"Hey good work Beryl- uh- anyone find a key and not speak up about it? Yes? No?"
He swears he can hear Lunarian crickets creaking.
"W-Well maybe the keyhole is- distraction, or the key is hidden-"
"Alex it's not like there's a doormat here."
Reaching behind his tattered orange cloak, he takes out a notebook, flipping to a certain page which shows a variety of stone doors on Lunar with diagramed pictures of hidden traps and secret catches. Inspecting it, he runs his hand over the wall, "Come on, there's gotta be a trick to it. I'm sure if everyone pitches in we'll figure it out!"
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Really Sorey is having a hard time not laughing at the ongoing byplay between his best friend and the strange pink flying cat. But as long as they were having a good time, which was what was important, right?
The breakthrough into the next area was quick enough, and it didn't appear that they were going to run into something too horrible. In fact, this seems like the sort of puzzle that is right up Sorey's alley!
"Hmm, wasn't there something...?" He pauses, and then pulls out a leather bound book from his belt. This thing has been incredibly annotated, and there's ribbons marking places and notes scribbled all over it. It's a book Sorey has read quite a few times - the Celestial Record, a famous book regarding the exploration of Lunar.
"Maybe there's a pressure plate somewhere?" he mutters.
"That's a bit too easy for someone to just lean on." Mikleo joins in the examination, leaning next to Sorey and looking around. "I bet that there's a lever somewhere. Hey - Sparkbug!" the Seraphim calls to Ruby. "See if any of the protrusions on the ceiling are loose - that might be part of the key!"
DG: Sorey has used his Tool Sorey's Celestial Record toward his party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Oh, yes, please!" Alisha answers 'Helen' happily. "I don't mind in the slightest. We aren't in Hyland. It would be silly to insist that everyone call me by my title."
Then she wipes some gross green fungus off. Her tabard will need a good wash after all of this.
Then she slams her fist into the wall, after that walking, and her eyes screw up. She lets out a long, pleased sigh -- that was cathartic. Which is rendered even more cathartic when the wall, finally, collapses through their collective efforts. She lets out a sigh, contented this time. "Yes," she agrees. "I wonder what awaits...?"
A door awaits. A door with a keyhole, but without a key. She reaches down to her side when she sees it. "Perhaps the Celestial Record has a..." Her hand grabs thin air. Alisha's eyes widen a little. "...w-where is my Celestial Record?"
Meanwhile -- Back in Linga...
"Boss," Dario says, "That don't do anything."
Janus Cascade frowns sharply down at the strange leather bound book, and then pokes it with a finger. "It's filled with a bunch of pictures, Dario. I don't think this is worth any gella." He sighs, then tosses it over his shoulder. It lands with a smack on the table.
Romero laughs from behind his boss. "A picture book, eh? Sounds like your kind of--"
Janus backhands Romero, and all is right with the world.
In the Sacred Grounds of Linga
Alisha sighs, her shoulders slumping. Then, she looks sideways at Sorey, and nods her head. She starts to run her fingers over the walls -- trying to feel for any pressure plates or some other trick. "I remember, in the Mount Mabingo Ruins, there was a pressure plate..."
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Even though Lemina does nothing but look cool, the party succeeds anyway. Truly a coup for Sasha Nash, Veteran Adventurer!
As they head through the newfound passageway and into the next room -- and are in turn challenged anew by a keyhole -- Lemina whips out her reading glasses and puts them on her face with a smirk. "Don't worry! I'll have this big door defeated in no time!"
For her next trick, she... scoots up next to Hiro and starts looking at the notebook instead. "... Uggghhh, pressure plates and doors /again/," Lemina laments, letting out a groan at Sorey's suggestion. "I just wanna blast the door open... But we can't..."
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she starts looking for any documentation of this giant door -- and failing that, starts trying to pick the lock. You can't just present a money-grubbing weirdo with a keyhole and no key!
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Reading Glasses toward her party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Alisha it is," 'Helen' answers the Princess with a smile. "I think it's more important waht you want to be called than what your title is. Most of us get by just fine without them, after all." But she has to admit to being impressed at how well the other woman... punches.
But moments later, "We did it!" 'Helen' says, closing her fist and beaming before she tosses the pick right out of the way again, where it clatters again to the ground amidst the destroyed remnants of the others. But they move through to...
"Another door...?" She looks around like someone else for a key, walking up beside Hiro and frowning down at it. "Right, a trick..."
She glances at Alisha, "Pressure plates? All right, I'll look for anything that seems out of place." Wry, "But this isn't really my area..."
Jean tries anyway.
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole. <Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Sorey makes a good point. Amelia starts to use those sensitive fingers of hers to feel up the door, and the surrounding area. She's got pretty darn good touch, so maybe it will help. Otherwise, she's fairly quiet, brows scrunched in concentration.
"Humility is a blessing. You'll do well, being that humble despite your birth." She adds, mutter-toned. Tap touch poke prod push push.
Silver, meanwhile, wags his tail. Bark! Bark bark bark bark bark! He runs up, jumps on two back paws, and paw-paw-paws the door! Drop. Sniff snuffle doggie nose at the door. Bark!
He's trying to add his weight, the doggie having smelled /something/ out! Who knows if it's just food or the dog is actually on to something.
In between doing this, first Hiro, then Jean might have to evade a dog jumping up and trying to lick them in the face. Wag wag tail. Then tugging a sleeve towards some part of the door. DG: Amelia Rose has used her Tool Silver toward her party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Alisha Diphda has successfully explored Sacred Grounds of Linga! ========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Totally Normal Gella *>==================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Inside the chest was... Gella. Because cold, hard cash never goes out of style. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"What makes you think I need you to tell me that-" But Ruby is already doing it, "-twintails?" Up she goes, flitting around, pressing against some protrusions in the ceiling.
Hiro gets licked in the face and takes it in good cheer, "Stealing my first kiss huh?" "As if! Flea-bitten mongrels don't count!" "What is it boy? Are you trying to tell me something?"
Silver guides his hand over- to a section of the stone that's he rubs at, scattering dust- a diagram on the page causes him to move his hand sideways just enough sending inward a perfectly circular section. Meanwhile Silver leads Jean across the floor sniffing all the while until he finds a spot it enjoys a lot.
Jean's foot catches on a section of the floor that shifts beneath her. This causes a section of the wall to start glowing- just as Alisha's hand passes over it. Lemina's fiddling with the keyhole then triggers something-
There's a rumbling on the ceiling as a stone shifts, which Ruby pats a paw against.
Just as Sorey finds the last plate and-
A key drops out of the ceiling, ping off the top of Mikleo's head(To everyone else it just hits air)- before skittering on the ground. Hiro leans over and picks it up, "Found it!" "That seemed unnecessarily complicated." "Ancient Ruins are just sometimes like that Beryl."
Sticking it into the shifted keyhole, he gives it a turn. The whole stone door starts to rumble out of the way, the glowing indentations and pressure plates and hidden mechanisms all vanishing.
Revealing- a large chest heavily laden with silver pieces.
"Whoa!"
A triumphant fanfare plays.
"Is that supposed to be mysterious?" "Uh- guess the ancients are congratulating us."
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Mm," Alisha murmurs, "I couldn't agree more." She nods once to Jean, as she keeps with her efforts -- fingers running along the wall. But she jumps a little when she hears Silver barking. She isn't quite used to that. But she smiles, before she looks down at him, then at Jean. "It seems he found something?"
And that lets them find the key. The door swings open, and Alisha peers in -- hoping for knowledge, perhaps, or something to point them home. Gleaming silver gella greets her, instead. Her mouth opens.
Then closes.
"O-oh," she says. "That... that wasn't what I expected, from what I heard of here." She taps her finger against her chin. "We should make certain this goes to those who need it most!"
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Well, that... wasn't exactly the sort of ancient mystery Sorey had been hoping for. "But all things considered," he states, glancing at Alisha, "I think that getting some actual money isn't a bad thing. I was just expecting... well something other than an ancient treasure cache."
"Well it might be a little clich? - but it certainly improves our traveling funds." Mikleo isn't going to say no to money just laying around. Especially with their actual money not being worth a lot over here.
"This was certainly an interesting trip - thank you all for the help," Sorey states. He figures Alisha might have a more flowery speech in mind, but a boy from the mountains likes to get straight to the point. He looks at the other members of the party - it was an interesting group, but it had been fun as well. And that was the important thing.
Sorey /loved/ ruins.
And so he knees down and looks at the coins, as well as the box they came in. "I wonder if there was some ceremonial significance to this location. Maybe it was an offering to the gods of some sort? Giving up treasure in exchange for good fortune?" He cranes his head about, poking at some carvings. "I need to get a rubbing of this..."
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
The instant Lemina sees silver pieces, she's off like a shot. She doesn't even hear Alisha comment on the need to distribute it fairly or 'to people who need it;' right now, the person with the greatest need is Lemina, and she's practically hugging the chest.
"Okay! We'll divide this between us evenly," Lemina says brightly, "and each of us can dispose of his or her own share accordingly." A pause, before she adds, "I will claim the box itself, in addition to my share of the coin, as a cultural find to be sssssssdonated to the Academy. Also, anyone uninterested in their share can donate it to me, to further new and exciting magical research!"
'Sasha Nash' pushes her glasses up, and they glint menacingly. "Those are the fairest terms I can think of." Also the only ones, probably.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean smiles at Alisha's agreement, and then looks down at the dog trying to get her attention. "Hm?" She asks, and moves as she's requested. "I guess so!" The dog probably has good instincts... and is pretty cute regardless. Thanks to the dog's help Jean actually assists, though she has to comment, "I think he's cute, Beryl!"
But there's... the door out of the way, the glowing stuff vanishing, the chest...
"All right!" Her enthusiasm might be infectious... if there were much reason to not b enthusiastic already at getting through. "I--"
Lemina rushes up, and Jean just busts out laughing. "I'll take mine! And save some of yours, I--" Nope. Eyes shut, leaned against the wall, cracking up.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.
Well, it's no way home, but cash is good. Arms cross. There's issue of money.
"I agree with the Princess. Those with the most funds should take the least amount. I have the Guard, so..." An Althenian Priestess, /not/ being greedy!?
A swift nod. "Well done everyone. This was much more successful. And there weren't any zombies."
Silver, meanwhile, barks at the fanfare. And does a happy little paw pitter-patter on the ground, chases his tail once, then gets on his hind legs to dance! Victory doggie dance!
"Good Silver. You're getting extra treaty-weeties tonight boy." Lean down. Rub rub scritch scritch ears! And then, Lemina. She just kinda slowly facepalms. So very hard. Sigh.