2017-02-26: Did You Try Working the Shaft

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===========================<* The Lightless Shaft *>============================

The mountains surrounding the small, desolate town of Mirapulse are filled to the brim with mine shafts. While many are still active, with human workers from the town toiling endlessly, there are many that have been abandoned after decades of excavation. This isn't to say that there isn't anything still in these mine shafts, of course, just that the Veruni have nothing left they want from them -- and without the risk of courting the wrath of the Veruni in trespassing, many Drifters have taken to delving into these abandoned mines in look of the mysterious and legendary creatures' proverbial leftovers.

The Lightless Shaft is one such abandoned mine, buried so deep that not even the barest shards of light from the outside world can shine through. Old equipment and infrastructure still linger here, perilously keeping these winding tunnels and man-made caverns intact as dirty and debris occasional rains down in silt and pebbles from the ceilings above. Winding cart tracks once carried material from one end of the mine to another but now simply rust; a massive augur juts through the middle of this mineshaft, still rotating slowly but surely with the groaning churn of rock and mineral... and occasionally, here and there, pieces of technology long-forgotten can be found: golems, mechanical constructs from a bygone era, half-hanging from walls and ceilings like fossils from a forgotten age.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFpvWupIyr0

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has created a party!
DG: Talise Gianfair has joined your party!
DG: Zed has joined your party!
DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has joined your party!
DG: Hiro has joined your party!
DG: Talise Gianfair has left your party.
DG: Talise Gianfair has joined your party!
DG: You can't load that many tools! Unload one with +tools/unload first.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has joined your party!
DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering The Lightless Shaft.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.

====================<* CHALLENGE - The Dastardly Descent *>=====================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Long abandoned, there are no guards here to defend this mine. No security     
 measures. No; there's just a rope. A long, old rope. Descending into a,       
 well, lightless shaft. What a descriptive dungeon name! Regardless, you       
 better be careful you don't fall and hurt your coccyx on the way down into    
 the abyss. Don't worry, there's probably not any strange man-eating mutants   
 down there. ... Probably.                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Yesterday, Ida received a polite request from Cecilia Goddamn Adlehyde to accompany her on a trip into the Ruins of Memory. It was tremendously fruitful, but it's also left her a little battered for the trip she was scheduled to perform today--an initial survey of Mirapulse and its surroundings. After collecting samples from assorted flora and rock formations, she has come to the old, abandoned mineshafts.

Immediately she is presented with something that sends chills down her spine, and makes her bad shoulder ache. It's a pit.

YESTERDAY:

There is a pit, leading into the Ruins. There is no way down. Claude C. Kenny, ace explorer, just kind of picks up Cecilia and jumps in. Ida stares in horror.

"Well," Ida says, as she reaches out to test it. "I suppose we should all be grateful there's a way down!" She smiles. It's a little forced. Carefully, Ida starts lowering herself down the rope, hand over hand. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise had spent much of her day lounging around Adelhyde, sipping cactus juice - the non-alcoholic kind - and waiting for the Festival.

It was boring as hell. The chance to tag along with Ida was too, too sweet. Especially since she didn't get to go along with Ida last time, or even know where Ida had gone.

Besides, keeping Sephy company is a job in and of itself.

Standing at the brink of the pit, Talise doesn't seem as bothered by it as Ida is, giving the rope a nudge with the toe of one steel-clad boot. "It's an old rope," she muses. "But if we all make it down one at a time, it'll probably be fine. Just try not to take it too fast or you'll burn your palms off."

With a look back over her shoulder to the group that's tagged along with Ida and herself, she smiles reassuringly for a moment. Then she squares her shoulders and leans forward slightly to watch Ida go down.

She waits her turn. Only then does she swing her legs over the edge, taking ahold of the rope between her thighs and hands and beginning to lower herself down with care. The rope sways as she takes ahold of it; she bumps against the rock face with a clank of her breastplate.

(Maybe I should've taken a nice safe job inscribing holy tomes or something,) part of her muses.

Another part of her mind laughs internally and keeps climbing. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

YESTERDAY:

"THEY WERE INVISIBLE!" How could that possibly be? How could there be something in this world... Something that his DEMON EYES could not see? "This is inconceivable. Intolerable! Kalve, I'm going... On a mission." Zed clenches his fist. "Do not look for me, old friend! I must go train my eyes in the only way I know how. I must learn... To see in the darkness. THE DEEPEST DARK!"

"ZED--"

"AWAAAAAY!"

(Kalve was nowhere nearby.)

(But Hiro and his friends might have gone along to make sure Zed didn't just kind of... Die.)

NOW:

What is Zed doing in the Lightless Shaft? TRAINING, OBVIOUSLY! But the only way he's going to get down there is by tumbling down into a huge, empty, dark pit. "Hm!" Zed hrms, standing before the lip of the enormous pit. "It looks like... Gravity is my enemy once more. Very well!" Zed walks away.

Beat.

A moss-haired man in jet black clothes leaps boldly off a cliff. But wait. WAIT. THERE, BEHIND HIM! Trailing down into the depths... A scarf??

It's... Caught on a rock.

Well, at least it makes for good climbing rope. 

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

A survey expedition where few have dared to tread? Near Veruni-controlled territory? That spells ADVENTURE, which means experienced and completely professional archaeologist Henry Marshall is on board - as the mysterious and heroic Drifter 'Marshal' Henry Smythe, of course.

His last expedition involved a lot of falling and darkness, so Henry's come prepared with a rucksack full of mundane tools. He eyes the used rope skeptically. You would assume someone placed it there knowing it reached to the bottom, but there's really no guarantee. He instead pulls out a truly ridiculous length of fresh rope, tying a reliable cowboy knot around a sturdy boulder and then tossing the other end into the pit. He eyes the unfathomable darkness with steely eyes... no he's not worried! It's determination.

Clad in tough leather, Henry slides his way down quickly but carefully. It's almost better that he can't see the bottom. It's a lot like that time he and some university fellows went drunken naked night rapelling, except with fewer rope burns.

At the bottom one way or another, Henry gets out an oil lantern by touch and lights it with a match, then cuts the remaining length of rope (still plenty left) and stows it. 

DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


Yesterday

"You just didn't have the resonance to see them! Hiro! Hiro don't let him do this!" "Hey that sounds kind of fun Zed. You really are the hero that walks in the dark so we won't have to- Hey Zed wait up!" A small cat may put a palm to her face.

Welcome to the Lightless Shaft.

Hiro holds the lantern out, squints as he peers into abyssal black beyond where the light stops, then whistles- causing it to echo into eternity. He cups his ear, and- "Yeah that certainly lives up to its name."

"Hiro don't stand so close to the edge. You know I can't catch you if you fall!" That's because Ruby is the size of an average housecat, even looks like one, if she were dipped into pink paint. A cute yellow bow adorns her head.

"You worry too much Ruby. Here can you hold this?" He hands her the lantern's grip, which she holds in her mouth. He then follows Talise's instructions, "One at a time? Alright." Talise might find the bars tattooed on his face to be suspiciously familiar, "Now- watch me-" Holding onto the rope with his hands, he mounts it, swinging his legs around it to grip.

And then he lets go with his hands, allowing himself to swing upside down, as he holds on with just a hand. He grins at Ruby, waving a hand at her from that position where now his whole world looks inverted, "Hey Ruby, when'd you learn to fly upside down?" "Hiro be serious!" Ruby mouths with the glowing lantern hanging from her mouth, "I don't want you breaking your neck being too reckless!"

"Well- then you'd better keep pace." He begins to slide down rapidly, using his legs for control.

And then Zed just straight jumps- but Hiro thinks using his scarf was planned all along, "Whoa! Using your scarf to climb? That's so cool! Hey Zed- RACE YOU!" And that's when he really let's himself start sliding at a breakneck pace- "Hirooooooo!" Ruby dives down after him.

He's actually fairly good at this upside down thing, or at least confident that he is. Ruby descends with him- and is actually helpful enough to go up and down the shaft, going up and down to guide each person in turn. 


<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Mirapulse. All Auntie Frei said, in regards to the place, is simply 'there's nothing there'. Rather definite for a woman used to going 'why not look for yourself'.

Still, it was a job on the way to a delivery she needed to make. Delivery's already done, and now she can get enjoy some company with something other than a gassy, lovable horse. Win-win, really. "Bah, I'm not even sure what I got is enough to hold just me." Gwen stares down the abyss, noting the supplies she's lacking for later. Bah, if only Gulliver hadn't chewed on that extra bit of rope she had...

Eying Ida, Gwen frowns, tipping back her hat so that it rests behind her neck and shoulders. "Well, let's see how this goes." Wait, did that green-haired guy just jump into the pit? She squints, then whistles. "Yeah, well, I got a medical kit if we have any accidents."

SHE CAN'T MEND SKELETONS, WHY IS SHE EVEN OFFERING wait is that a flying cat 

DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Dastardly Descent.
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Thankfully, the rope is long enough to reach the bottom. It's perilously slick in places, but Marshal's second rope provides everyone with some valuable insurance. Zed's scarf affords stylish backup in the event anyone needs it.

The bottom is cold, and damp, and dark. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.

===================<* CHALLENGE - Light for the Lightless *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 When Veruni abandon something, they really abandon it. Power and electricity  
 haven't been circulating through this mine shaft for ages, and machinery      
 that would take an inefficient amount of humans working themselves to death   
 to haul out have just been left behind. What this means is that there's       
 still a power generator lingering around to help light the way through the    
 lightless shaft. Hurray! Unfortunately, it's also left behind on an           
 inexplicably tall, jagged platform soaked in darkness and eroding rock. Boo!  
 Well. Best get to getting to it, so you can have the light you need to get    
 out of this place and into the next hellish scenario!                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

There are faces around Tal doesn't recognize. Unfortunately she does recognize Zed. She bites down hard to her bottom lip.

On the other hand, there's someone with... with a flying cat. Talise pauses in her descent to watch Hiro dangle down the rope in his own time.

"...Who's your friend," she asks him with a blink.

Adeptly, she slides down the rope; she'd slid her gauntlets off, and having to speed up on Hiro's account leaves the rope scorching across her palms as she reaches the bottom, but she hits the ground with a steely thunk of boots, stepping aside to make room for him. When he does land, she flashes a toothy little smile. It could not be more obvious where she's from, what with the little cheekstripes, the elfin ears and the little fangs. "...Tal. Nice to meet you two."

Turning, she slides her gauntlets back on and reaches for the sheath slung over her shoulder. Her sword glitters as she slips it free, light catching in the big green stone mounted from the pommel. "C'mon," she urges the group, jerking her head towards the cavern ahead. Her boots thump heavily against the cave floor as she dips through one turn, then another --

Only to walk into a great big open cavern dominated by a great big jagged platform crumbling away in the dark. Atop the thing, there's a visible switch. A few lights dangle from the cavern walls, but they're dark.

Talise blinks a couple of times. Then she blinks again. She has no idea what this actually is.

"So hold on," she murmurs to herself. "There's... a bunch of globe things on the walls. And something up on that rock. And--"

Pausing, the tall half-Beastwoman just scratches the top of her head with a gauntleted finger, utterly baffled.

Finally she just shrugs and heads for the rock column. "Maybe that's treasure up there," she mutters as she begins to look for a handhold. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

Henry makes it down fine most of the way, but the patient route was probably best - with two ropes, an amazing scarf, and a lack of any organization, jostling occurs and Henry bangs the shaft wall painfully.

"Hey, y'all be careful now," Henry drawls once ready to go, rubbing his bruises-to-be. He takes a while to get used to the air and get a better look at the party in the lamplight. Of course, the pink flying talking cat occupies most of his attention.

Leaving the harder climb for the young and the reckless, Henry examines the ground level, on the lookout for broken or damaged power cables, spare parts or fuel they might need, anything that might start a fire or explosion - well, an unplanned one.

"Yeah, the gen..." Henry starts to reply to Talise but finds himself completely baffled as he processes the almost-sentences. Maybe she just isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, if you know what he means. 

DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

YESTERDAY:

"If I lack the resonance, then I must tune myself!" Zed answers the great and noble and utterly infallible red dragon, Ruby. "And the best place to do that... IS IN THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH!" How does that logic make even a little bit of sense!? "It's the best place to hear my echo! Where else might I retune myself if not there!? Come, Hiro, Ruby! I'VE HEARD OF JUST THE PLACE!

NOW:

"Nyahahahahaha!" Zed laughs. He laughs! He laughs because he feels the air rush past his ears, he feels gravity struggle to take hold of his soaring spirit, only to fall flat on its own face! "GLADLY, HIRO! But I must warn you... I FALL LIKE A ROCK! NAHAHAHA-HRKK--"

Zed encounters a problem.

The logical problem associated with falling into a hole while your scarf is stuck in a rock.

His fall is arrested. His scarf pulls taut! If he were a lesser man... His neck would have snapped like a twig. But he is no lesser man. He is ZED! THE ULTIMATE MACHO MAN! The rock gives way before his neck or his scarf do, sending earth tumbling down into the hole in the ground, but not before Zed himself makes landfall.

Belly first.

Bellyflop!?

"Ooooogh," Zed groans, forcing himself up. "Hiro... Ruby... Do not fall like I do. My belly... Is not harder than rock. I must train harder." But it looks like he's more stubborn than to be stopped by a little be of pain! Zed forces himself up onto his feet, only to come face to face with an... Even greater challenge.

"... Perhaps I won the falling challenge, but--!" Zed points boldly at the generator above! "Hiro! Ruby! I bet... That I can beat you guys up there, too! Wahahahahaha!" W-what happened to training his eyes!? Well obviously Zed will just... Have to keep his shut! 

DG: Zed has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"Thank you, Marshal," Ida says, once everyone is on the ground. "Now, if we can just get our bearings..." Talise sees a room up ahead. Ida follows, glancing back over her shoulder to take inventory of the rest of the group. She trusts Talise, recognizes Zed's skill in combat, and figures that Marshal and Gwen can handle themselves. The kid with the flying cat, though...

(Ida did check, repeatedly and discreetly, to ensure the flying cat was real, and not the symptom of an oncoming mental collapse. Ruby might've noticed.)

Talise points something out. Ida squints into the gloom, making out the shape of something she actually recognizes. She brightens. "It's some sort of electromechanical generation device, I think," she says. "See those coils? Those channel the electricity into the globes. We had something similar back home." Back home? Back home is Guild Galad, of course. "She grew up in a place that didn't have these," Ida explains to Marshal. Which, to be honest, is almost all of Filgaia.

At any rate, Ida starts making her way up the wall, clinging to the broken rockface. Fortunately, it has plenty of handholds Unfortunately, it is pretty slick. Will she make it? 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Well, her rope turned out to be gnaws in a few places, courtesy of a Damn Horse. Strangely, despite the woman looking average in terms of weight, the rope seems to struggle with her weight, especially near the end. Slamming into the ground on her feet just barely, Gwen winces. "HOO-kay, anyone hurt? Okay, good."

Overhearing Talise's pondering, Gwen blinks. That's right. Talise was one of the people Gwen saw talking to that strange young man a few days ago. They were talking about Dragonmasters, Magic Emperors, all sorts of things, albeit vaguely, that Gwen, nor Auntie Frea, knew anything about. There's a lot of strange people popping up, all from a place called 'Lunar'. A place no one's heard of. A new continent? It's possible.

"It's a power generator, looks like," Gwen states helpfully, if vaguely directing it ask if she's simply pointing it out to the group at large for Talise's sake. Ida explains in further detail, thankfully. "If we get it working, we can get some light going down here. If I can get to it, I might be able to tinker with it a bit." Digging into a pouch, she taps a bundle. "I can't promise anything, though. Hey-" She looks to Ida. "You got any skill with stuff like that? We can probably figure something out."

Making her way over, Gwen grunts, favoring her right hand to grab each firm crevice her hands can feel for. "Nnh! ... God, this is tough..." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"Miss Gwen, I assure you that if it's anything like the ones back home, I can restart it!" Ida smiles as cheerfully as she can while clinging to a rock face. 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


At the bottom, thanks to Ruby lighting the way with a lantern he doesn't ram his fool head right into the floor. "Sorry- sorry. Sometimes it's so fun that I just can't help myself." He says to Henry- before helping Zed up, "You alright buddy?" "What a doofus." "A rock stomach huh? If you had that, you could eat anything. But hey! You won!"

Hiro didn't answer Tal's question until they're on the ground again, "Well this is Ruby she's-" "A magnificent Red Dragon!" With that, Ruby flies a few circles around Ida as if to show her- that yes, she's real. Yes she's incredible. Be jealous Ida.

Hiro looks a little sheepish. Maybe he doesn't quite believe her, "But she's my adventuring assistant." Indignantly she swirls on him, "I am not! Hiro I'm your girlfriend!" "Come on Ruby, be serious." "Hmmph!"

Given the cheekstripes and her obvious heritage, Hiro suspects, but he doesn't quite know. Do the Beastmen on this world have tattoos? "Anyhow like Ruby says- I'm Hiro. Nice to meet you Tal." He offers his hand for a brief shake, but if she doesn't take it he doesn't seem offended, "Looks like we're meeting each other in the thick of it!"

He follows her lead quite easily- but then in the cavern, through the gloom- he looks Ida's way, "Electro- what now? What good will that do?" But Gwen explains, "Oh! Well if it'll turn on the lights-" Zed however takes off, and Hiro grins standing stock still, "Hey Ruby, you think you can get up there first and win this one for us?" Ruby still looks displeased, "I don't know Hiro! That doesn't sound like the job for a mere- /adventuring assistant/!"

Wait isn't that exactly what the job of an adventuring assistant should be?

"Awww come on Ruby, do it for us?" "You gotta say it first."

Hiro looks embarrassed as the words slide out of his mouth, "Do it for... Team... Red Dragon." And with that Ruby darts forward, gliding over the jagged rocks and obstacles with the agility only a flying creature can manage- to reach the generator. "Now- let's see- I guess I should start hitting buttons?" Which is what she starts doing... at complete random. "Hey which part should I tinker with!?" Ruby calls down at Gwen. 


DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Light for the Lightless.
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida does not make it.

There's an ominous cracking noise as she puts her foot on a rock she thought was stable--and then the whole mess crumbles out from beneath her, leaving her dangling. "Damnation!" she hisses, her eyes going wide. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Hiro makes his introductions. Tal flashes he and Hiro a broad smile - and her eyes light up at the mention of a red dragon. "No way, a Red Dragon! I've always wanted to meet one." Her eyes remain alight as she gives Hiro's hand a brisk, firm shake. "Let's talk more when we're through, okay?"

Then it's back to the plot. "Electrowhatsit now?" Talise asks Ida with a blink that suggests she doesn't even get what electricity is. Then Gwen tries to explain a little further,

"...Okay, so if we tinker with the generaider, it fills the globes with elec...triss...er...cy," she says haltingly, still sound a little unclear on it. "...Okay. Okay, I'll take your word for it."

She nevertheless continues to scale the wall. The rock's uneven beneath her grip; she grimaces and de-gauntlets again for fear of ripping out chunks of the wall, going up barehanded.

It takes her shockingly little effort - but by the time she gets there, a little red dragon has already done much of the tinkering, with help from Gwen. Gwen's guidance, if offered, gives Ruby some hints as to the right buttons to push. Her cute little pink pawsies hit the right switches and tug on a lever. The lever, though needs some effort to get moving.

Tal helps. "Here," she says to the red dragon, smiling and gripping the lever.

She bunches her shoulders, pushes downward, grunts heavily - and works the shaft.

The old mechanics of the generator grumble, creaking alarmingly for a moment - but soon the groan of mechanics dulls down to the low, stubborn clink-clink of gears churning together, slowly but working. With an electric hiss, the lights dangling from the chamber walls begin to wink on, one by one.

Talise blinks, wincing as the light hits her eyes. "...Oh. Oh, they hold /light,/" she says, lamely.

That's about when she hears someone cry out. "Ida," she calls, eyes wide. "You okay?" 

DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.

==============<* CHALLENGE - The Plural of Empusa is Empusae *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 And that's exactly what you find yourself dealing with now. Fancy that! It's  
 a veritable empusae emporium here, with empusae both big and small and so     
 many wondrous varieties of colors and drill-shaped faces with which to        
 skewer you. You could tell them you know the plural of empusa is not empusas  
 to try to curry their favor, but they probably don't even know what an        
 empusa is (spoiler: it's them) so you're probably just better off killing     
 them all.                                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

Henry finds a safer way up on the roundabout path and quickly scampers up. Score one for caution?

Heroic rescue time! Henry's there at the right moment to lower a...whip!?, wrapping the business end around his wrist, then kneeling and lowering the grip to Ida.

"I gotcha," he says with a grin. An adventurer lady with an education and vocabulary! Henry finds himself rather impressed. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.


Ohhhh!? "Amazing, Ruby!" Zed gushes, vigorously shaking her cute little pink pawsies like they were the hands of some kind of celebrity! He notes that they are also very soft. Amazingly soft. H-he could get addicted to squeeshing these paws-- no, Zed! Do not succumb to the cute cat-ness! Ruby is a dragon, not a cat! PAY ATTENTION!

THE ORBS!They certainly do hold light! Zed's mission is in peril! It's in danger! What is a mysterious metal hero to do to train his eyes when the darkness has been so ruthlessly banished by the light of technology and progress!? "Hmn. Is someone falling from a cliffside or something? Well! This is a dangerous place, after all! Now..."

Zed... Reaches around.

He grabs hold of his scarf, and judiciously wraps it around his eyes.

Yes. That's the solution. When life gives you light, you give life A SCARF OVER THE EYES. "But let's keep going, shall we friends!? There is so much left to do! So much to do!" With that, Zed leaps off the platform and charges... Into a wall. He staggers back, steps twice to the side, and then goes boldly into a nearby tunnel.

...And head-first into a menacing murder of drill-faced, mantis-limbed insect monsters!? Zed... Zed can't see them. This could be bad! This could be really bad! But he's... He's fighting back!? Or maybe he's just swinging his sword boldly into the manufactured darkness. Training!? 

DG: Zed has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

For a moment, Talise stares at Zed as he begins ANTICKING.

Then she buries her face in one palm. "Althena preserve me," she sighs.

She checks to ensure someone's got Ida - they do. She smiles with visible relief. "Hang in there, Ida," she calls down before hopping down off the ledge and continuing on through the now-lighted corridors.

Only to find a gaggle of Empusas waiting for her and the others.

"Ida, hang on back there," Tal calls back to her as she swings her sword out of its sheath again. She keeps the blade in one hand, though, dropping back into a defensive stance - and the weapon's in her off hand, no less. That's because her right hand's dropping to her belt to fish out a dagger. It's well-balanced and has something written on the hilt. "Clear out, I'm gonna clean 'em up!" she shouts, her voice coarsening.

As the Empusas (Empusae?) scuttle forward, Tal sprints forward a step or two, then boosts herself into a high jump. She grunts as she hurls the dagger through the air. It rips through the intervening distance and buries itself in the floor.

And when it does, there's a sudden flash as the magic spell woven into the hilt goes off. Arcs of lightning dance from the knife as if it were unleashing a magic bomb, bright bolts reaching out to try to fry as many Empusas as they can reach - if nothing else it'll scatter them!

Then Tal's on them. Bunching her shoulders, she grips the Rastaban Sword in both hands. "Huuuuah!" she shouts as she swings heavily, attempting to carve through one Empusa, then pivoting -

- taking a second to guard the next one and ensure the first one's dead -

She slashes out again, hard and opportunistic. Even in the thick of it, she's ensuring that she's not leaving herself open, and not attacking unnecessarily. It's not a style of swordsmanship common to Filgaia, though the connoisseur might recogize some elements of Lunarian styles, but it's not quite those either. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Bomb Knife toward her party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

And there's Marshal with the save. Ida grabs the whip, enduring a moment of pain as Marshal and the others haul her up. "Thank you," she says, taking a moment to collect herself--that wasn't nearly as bad as... the entirety of last night's excursion, but Ida has had her fill of falling from high places. Luckily, the generator is well and truly taken care of, so all Ida has to deal with is Ruby doing laps around her head and flitting off. "I thought you said your dragons were much larger," she says to Talise, under her breath, when she thinks Ruby is out of earshot.

(Ruby is probably not out of earshot.)

A moment later: "Does anyone else hear--skittering?" Apparently not Zed, because Zed just barreled off down the passageway. Ida's lips pull into a tight little line at the sight of the insectile hordes, and she takes a step to the side to ensure Zed, Talise, and other melee-focused party members don't get caught by what's about to happen next. What happens next?

Ida's hand whips around, darts under her jacket, and draws something from a well-concealed holster at the small of her back. It's a rifle--or at least, it used to be--and its barrel has a very distinct green-gold patina. It's Dragon Fossil, or something like it. Ida braces the oversized pistol, and fires, sending a burst of shrapnel at the monsters. "I'm all right, Talise!" Ida insists, as the auto-loader readies the next round. She shoots again, this time at an ampusa that is getting uncomfortably close to Zed. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

What should have been a solid rock cracks under the weight of Gwen's nervous grip, causing her to suddenly begin sliding down. "_Damn!_" Throwing her gloved right hand back, she thrusts her hand into the rock just at the right moment, the metal fingers and palm providing a handy, if woefully blunt spear. If the rock had been any harder, things would have looked a lot worse. However, she's not the only one having trouble. "Hold on, I think I can make it back- someone get her!"

Thankfully, Marshal's already on it with his trusty whip.

Managing to make it back, Gwen rubs at her right hand and readjusts her glove, only to look up and see- "... Well, aren't they all a sight for sore eyes..." What does that even mean?! Also, why is that green-haired guy charging into them with a scarf wrapped around his head?! "H-hey! Hold on there!" Chasing after the foolhardy Human Young Man Who Is Not a Metal Demon, Gwen throws her right arm back and lands a punch on one of the strange drill.... beetle... things, then moves away, favoring a distance between her body and that a wayward sword swipe. "Get that scarf off your head before you slice someone's head off!" Wait, is that thunder she just heard? 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"I thought they were too," Talise mutters back to Ida, not long before she starts throwing lightning knives into hideous mantodean hordes. 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


Talise endears herself to Ruby right away by agreeing she's a Red Dragon, and not mentioning a three letter word that begins with c and ends with at, "Well now you have!" Ruby puts her paws together as she flies around, looking utterly gleeful, "It's a real pleasure to meet someone who appreciates my grandeur, Tal!" Hiro has a little bit of second hand embarrassment, but gives Tal's hand that affable firm shake, "Definitely."

Hiro notices Ida start to fall- and starts moving from his position, but- he gives Henry a thumbs up from afar, "Nice save!"

Pink pawsies get the process started, and Ruby puts her shoulders against the lever that Tal touches, working upwards and, "Hey thanks!"

Zed catches up and shakes the pink pawsies really hard- so hard she flaps up and down in space as if Zed were flailing her around until she finally manages to slip out of his grip- "Hey watch it! Hands off the merchandise or I'll chew your fingers off!" The machinery whirrs to life after an alarming creak and the lights come on, "That's amazing!" Ruby flies upwards, tapping a paw against it like a cat batting at a toy. "They're kind of like lanterns, only better! Hiro we should take one with us!" "But doesn't it need the- thing it's attached to?" "Oh right."

She sounds so disappointed. Hiro takes the time to catch up to the rest by huffing it, and climbing in the now lit cavern

Zed however wraps the scarf around his eyes- and Ruby mutters. "He's actually doing it." "Well maybe it'll work. Maybe it'll help him see the Seraphim." Zed dashes ahead though and Hiro calls, "Hey Zed, one- one!" And jogs ahead after him, Ruby flying just behind, glaring at Ida and lifting her chin, "Hmmph! I'm just not fully grown! Okay?!"

But then the Empusas come out, and Zed starts blindly swinging, "To your left- ah no your other left!" Hiro grabs a boomerang from his holster, and sends it spinning down the cavern to try to knock the Empusas going for him right into it's drill head. Unsheathing his sword, he leaps to catch the boomerang, before he wades in to try to back him up, being mindful of the fact that Zed is swinging blind.

"Ah- I don't think there's any stopping him!" Hiro says to Gwen as he slashes down hard, "He's very-" "Dumb!" Ruby says as she descends and breathes a gout of flames on one, "-tenacious!" Hiro corrects. 


DG: Hiro has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

Henry thankfully has his back turned and doesn't see how the party gets started. There's no telling what reaction he might have had. Perhaps he'd start pounding things and emit a foamy lather from his mouth.

"Hey y'all, it's..." well, Henry was going to warn them about noise, but it's a bit late for that. He quickly protects his ears with a pair of wax earplugs on a string, then clears leather with a couple warmup revolver twirls. He takes up a position in the rear near Ida, joining her in picking off flankers and anything out of reach of Sword Crew.

He doesn't try very hard, spending about half the time stealing peeks at Ida's exotic firearm. 

DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, The Plural of Empusa is Empusae.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"Oh wow! She even talks!" Gwen exclaims as she looks behind her. "That's got to be the most adorable thing I ever s-" The point of Zed's sword swings by a little too close for comfort. "... eek!!" 

DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.

=======================<* CHALLENGE - Drill Baby Drill *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Oh hey, look, it's a bunch of mining equipment, like giant drills and         
 pick-axes for you to simulate the grueling, back-breakingly unforgiving       
 process of mining in Mirapulse! Lucky you! It helpfully sparkles, so you      
 know it will be a useful item - perhaps even -key- - to your adventure. Have  
 fun! Watch out for the black lung!                                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Left.. My other left!?" Zed gawps at Hiro's assistance! "But I only have one left! Unless... Unless you mean-- Yes, of course!" Zed beams, he twists, and then... SPINS!! Zed whirls like a humanoid top! A man-sized buzzsaw! A pair of empusas fall before his mighty blade! "I UNDERSTAND, HIRO! MY 'OTHER LEFT!' The left... WITHIN MY HEART!"

S-sure.

One sneaks up behind him, which is altogether quite impressive considering that 'behind' Zed is a very abstract place with him spinning around like that, but it manages regardless. But just before it strikes, a bullet lands right between its eyes! Two more flankers peel away, hunting after Hiro and Ruby, but two others are dismantled by a Marshal's deadeye aim. Hiro's sword dispatches one of his assailants, but another clambers right on through to try and drink his delicious marrow with its DRILLFACE. Likewise, does another come for Gwen's tasty, succulent human meats, apparently not dissuaded by the fact that she just punched one of its friends through the air.

And then a knife explodes.

Tal tears through the remaining bugs, a walking engine of insectoid doom. Following an explosive knife with explosive sword technique, how... INCENDIARY! "Hahahaha!" Zed laughs as the empusae fall. "ONWARDS, FRIENDS!" 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Unfortunately, the distractions presented by the empusa(e), Zed's awesome blade, and the beauty that is itty bitty pink pawsies on a talking flying cat (why are people talking about dragons when there's a flying cat here), Gwen manages to, well, fail. At combatting the first thing on that list, that is. "Augh!" One of the little drill beetles manages to *leap* on the the poor young woman's head, causing her to run, with the appropriate amount of screaming, past Zed, and into a rock. At least the Empusa cushioned the blow.

Life comes at you fast.

Rubbing her forehead and then, in anger, punching the empusa into a nearby pit, Gwen dusts herself off and gathers the remains of her pride. "Right! So!" Striding forth with her gathered pride, she loses it all when she promptly trips.

"... Ow... T-this really isn't my day..." Gwen turns onto her butt and sees the handle of a pickaxe, sticking out of the ground. "Ah, good! Hey! Guys! Over here!" She waves the gang over, seemingly to show her lack of grace, only to stand up and, with a tug, heft the pickaxe up. "All sorts of goodies over here. Oh, there's a drillhead over here! Some other stuff too! Let me see if I can get some of these tools out and cleaned up... Keep your eyes open, the rock here may be soft enough that we can drill through. A little sweat'll do us good." As if they hadn't... sweated... enough 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Tool Set toward her party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

A proper Guild Galad gentleman doesn't do menial labour if at all possible. Henry might be a mysterious drifter cowboy right now, but there must be a better way! While the others do their thing, Henry works solo and investigates a powerful-looking but dilapidated digging machine. Henry pulls a flat rectangular object from a waterproof bag in his duster, which shines a faint blue light as he investigates the dusty, rusty, crusty machine. With the help of an 'app' called Opticstore and its mighty ENHANCE button, the amazing device helps Henry decipher how to operate it.

With a low rumble, the machine rises from limp disuse. Henry guides the mighty drill forward, slowly at first, to a likely spot. It takes a while in the dark, but he finds where to go, then pushes forward. With a mighty roar, the driller finds purchase as it thrusts into the rock - just the tip at first, but then it emits a mighty roar as it penetrates deep into the rock. Henry pants with exertion as he... something about a shiny key?

Dicks. 

DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has used its Tool Electrophotomemoriae toward its party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise backs off a little during the course of the fighting, positioning herself to try and cover Hiro and Ruby somewhat. She grunts heavily as she bunches her muscles and plows through an Empusa with a pivot and a hard backswing of her sword, both hands on the hilt.

"...You two alright?" she asks them with a look over her shoulder and a crooked smile. It probably helps her that she's taller and more built than Hiro is.

The sight of Gwen going into the wall leaves her wincing slightly, turning a little to try and cover her too - but by the time she can, Gwen's dealt with her Empusa of choice. The tall woman sighs, deflating ever so slightly as the combat passes. "Okay," she says. "Okay, moving on."

She does indeed move on - into a room full of tools. Drills and mining equipment and a few picks and--

For a minute, Tal stares at all of this. She blinks a couple of times as she goes over and picks up a drill. Then she sets it down again.

Utterly baffled, she finally settles for sheathing her sword and picking up... well, a pick. She stares at that too.

. o O ( ? ? ? )

"Soft... rock...?" she echoes, a bit baffled. "Some rock's soft?"

Finally she just shrugs, winds up, and starts hitting the nearest rock face with her pick as hard as she can. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

A plume of infernal smoke wafts up from the barrel of Devil's Due. Ida slides out the empty magazine, tucks it into her pocket, and slips the second magazine into place. They're not terribly large, mostly because of the high caliber involved, and it's so hard to find ARMs Meisters that stock rifle ammo that size. Every shot counts.

And then Gwen starts screaming. Ida does not have the hand-eye coordination necessary to shoot the empusa off without risking putting a hole in Gwen's head, so she's quite relieves when the monster is removed through other means. "Are you all right?" she says, hurrying over to offer Gwen a hand. Once it's clear the danger is over, though... well, it would be a shame to leave perfectly good equipment unused, and this /was/ a mine, so presumably the miners were here looking for something.

"This is a steam drill!" she says to Talise, resting a hand on the hulk of the dusty machine. "I don't recognize the exact model, but if the principle is similar to the ones they use at the Dragon Boneyard--" ida ruby is /right there/ "it should be hooked up here--"

Ida moves in beside Marshal, stealing a glance at the strange little ARM he's using to analyze the device. "I recognize this," she says, holding out a hand. She points to some odd script on the side, and holds up a weather-beaten journal with more of the script on a page inside. "This is Veruni writing, unquestionably." Excited? Just a smidge. It turns out the journal's vocabulary contains translations of important words, like 'danger' and 'keep hands away', so Ida's instructions might just save people a little more than exertion. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flora's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"It's a... steam drill?" Talise asks Ida with a blink. "How... how does a drill even steam? I thought a drill drilled." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"It doesn't," Ida says. "The generator uses its electricity to heat water, and the water turns to steam. The steam moves the drill!"

She is, of course, shouting over /hot drilling action/. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"What?" Zed asks. He wanders through the field of tools both mechanical and manual like someone lost in all the world. Judging by the cloth still wrapped around his face, he's almost definitely exactly that. But it wouldn't be training in the absolute pitch blackness of the deep earth if he was allowed to cheat with MERE LIGHT, now would it!? "What are you all talking about? Of course there are rocks! We're underground! What did you expect to find down here, metal!? Hahahahaha!" Not yet.

Not...

Yet.

But Talise has a very important question. Zed clears his throat through his scarf to answer. "Well. To answer that, I must first explain. You see, a drill is a MAN'S FANTASY!" Zed says, as if this is the clearest thing in all the world. "Of course any man who sees a drill in full operation would begin to feel rather... Steamy. And what... What is this I hear? That glorious, whirring, mechanical sound. It inspires me!"

"Inspires me to... To...!"

TO ATTACK THE ROCK WITH HIS SWORD!?

"YEEAAAAART!" 

DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

"Steam power! It's the--" wait, it's not the future, really. "It's the present!" Well, that just sounds weird. Rock fragments start stinging Henry's face, so he dials down the power a bit.

"Hoo-ey! Y'all helped git'er workin', so y'all gotta try this!" he calls back, looking for a tag-in. Zed's display of drilling passion has the Victorian gentleman feeilng fairly uncomfortable. How very un-emotionally distant! 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


"Uh- right! I mean right as in you're right, not your right!" "No dummy! He means you weren't swinging left!"

Is it any wonder they get so confused, "No I think he's onto something Ruby, he needs to follow his instincts- it's like following your heart." But then as they're flanked, Ruby flies away shrieking and sending flames every which way- and Hiro is pounced upon, pinned to the floor. He moves his head left to avoid a drillface descending, then right, in this frantic scrambling dodge to avoid getting the marrow sucked out of his skull!

But Tal's explosive knife catches it in the blast wave, sending it flying off him. "That was close. Hey thanks Tal!"

He picks himself and dusts himself off- while Ruby finally catches back up from her hasty retreat. "Fine. No thanks to the 'Ultimate Macho Man' over there."

But Hiro's definitely limping some, from where an empusa foot jammed into his knee. He winces when Gwen falls over, "You okay? Hey, I for one think you're doing great. You're having a good day exploring ruins like these when you only fall on your butt- three times or less." "Given your track record Hiro, you'd better make that four." He chuckles sheepishly, a hand rubbing the nape of his neck.

But Gwen leads them onward and over, given his now bum knee, he thinks for a while, before pulling out a notebook from a backpack partially hidden under his orange cape, "Grandpa always said that in these situations, work smarter, not harder." He turns to a page on tips for hidden passages, "Let's see- sometimes walls sound differently when tapped and that gives away weak spots." He then puts it away.

When Ida says the magic words, Ruby is suddenly fluttering right there, in her face. She stares at her long and hard, and says- "What's this about a Dragon- Boneyard?" A beat pause, "That's not the name of some Filgaian machine shop... or a restaurant right?"

"Whoa!" He watches Henry attach a device to the drill, and grins, "Wow- that's convenient. It really just does that on its own?" But- the way Zed puts it makes him think of all the Metal Demon era romance novels Lucia has said to him this week, "I don't think it's steamy in the way you're thinking it is! There's nothing any guy would find romantic about- about-!" Now he's thinking about it, "-drilling."

Right now he's blushing hard enough to give Ruby's fur a run for it's money.

"Hiro get your head out of the gutter! I knew she'd corrupt you with that trash she's read-" But it's now /very/ loud in here with the drill drilling, and Zed swinging, and pick axes flying. Still, he taps the rock with the edge of the pick gently, changing it every so often until he's /sure/ it sounds differently- which is quite a task. But once he's sure, he starts swinging, adding his own efforts- hopefully in a way that helps reveal that glittering thing. 


DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Drill Baby Drill.
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 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: Marshal Henry Smythe has drawn a new Challenge.

============================================================<* CHALLENGE - Crazy Cart Carnage *>=============================================================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------------------------------------
 Isn't it strange how mine shaft trolley tracks get more and more convoluted   
 and frustrating the deeper you get? And yet, that's very clearly just a       
 common mining practice, as this final, rusty track line proves with terrible  
 ease. So maybe you'd be better served trying to figure out the proper path    
 to line up the tracks to launch the card into those final barriers to your    
 ultimate destination while hoping you don't get even one of the countless     
 junction shifts wrong to start all over again instead of disparaging a        
 classically infuriating mining tradition. It's a cultural thing, you          
 wouldn't understand.                                                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Tire===========================================

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

WIth effort, and perhaps a montage of shots of steamy drilling action and hot-blooded sweaty men and women getting dirty plundering through the depths of the hard rock, probably to a 80's tune about working for the weekend, the spirited party drill to amazing heights of success, with some broken tools along the way. One cannot take all one's toys with them, unfortunately- the steam-powered drill must be left behind, as it's given its farewell performance to this new generation of enslaved humanity.

Go forth, and DRILL. 

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

Rocks are mined and sworded and drilled, and the party acquires enough valuable ore to make the trip worthwhile. The drilling machine opens the way into a new room right before choking and dying. The party can see a sturdy door off in the distance, lit by one flickering electric light, its twin having died. It's far too sturdy to be broken or blown up, because of reasons. Between the door and the party... a thoroughly confusing mess of minecarts, mine tracks, junctions and switches. Anyone without a third-person overhead view is going to have a lot of trouble here.

"What in tarnation?" Henry asks of nobody in particular, and shakes his head. He'd heard the rumours, but he dismissed them as legends blown out of proportion.

Switch puzzles. Henry can't quite suppress a shudder.

"Y'all, I think we're gonna need a plan here," Henry declares, making his way into the room and pulling a box of Blastemol!® Homestead from his duster. He sets this atop the closest minecart, then points waaaay down at the door. "We gotta set up the right path." Because of reasons.

Henry makes his way to what looks like a supervisor's desk and again pulls the device from his duster, soft blue backlight announcing its waking from slumber. Henry goes over various scattered documents, particularly what looks like a floor plan, and hmms and humms while mashing the ENHANCE button on the device's screen. Handy, that. 

DG: Marshal Henry Smythe has used its Tool Electrophotomemoriae toward its party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.

<Pose Tracker> Marshal Henry Smythe has posed.

What is Blastemol!® Homestead? Casual inspection of the box indicates that it contains four sticks of dynamite with a high yield and long fuse. The package includes instructions and a lengthy waiver that is automatically agreed to upon opening the package or using the dynamite or being present for its use. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise mostly proceeds in chipping away at a gigantic hunk of hard rock. She swings at it hard enough that her pick snaps off at the shaft, leaving the business end sticking out of the rock comically. The shaft flies up and hits her in the face. She staggers back a few steps, then swears loudly and kicks the shaft away. It clinks off the wall harmlessly.

"This was easier when there were a bunch of scampering things," she grumbles.

Fortunately, the others in the party have cleared a path. Breathing heavily, Talise makes her way through the opening - and stares in utter bafflement at the crisscrossing minecart tracks, at the bank of carts in front of her, at the way the tracks vanish inexplicably into the distance.

She blinks a couple of times. "...Uh, so these are... what, paths of some kind?" she asks, frowning. "Do you just walk up them? And what're those switches?" She makes her way over towards the cart bank, resting her hand on one of the carts, then looking back to where Marshal's standing. "Wait, we have to /set/ a right path?" she asks, squinting. "You can't just walk-"

Something on the track goes 'clunk.' The cart Tal's holding slowly begins to roll.

She slowly turns her head to look at it.

A second later, it rolls enough that, with a yelp, she loses her footing and tumbles headlong into it - just in time to get moving. The cart goes racing off into the distance. Tal's legs kick wildly from within it.

"NO STOP MOVING BOX," Tal yells at the cart in vain. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida very nearly mistakes the switch puzzle for a normal segment of mine at first. It isn't until Henry points out the convoluted network of junctions, and the inexplicable track ending opposite the door. "Apparently the Veruni had a strange sense of humor," she says to Henry. She peers at the box he sets down, realizing she recognizes the label. "Blastemol(c)," she says, "This is what we used back at the Boneyard." Ida turns to calmly acknowledge Ruby. "Which is the site of a mass graveyard of Metal Dragons, as well as lesser Metal Demons. It's a valuable--"

The cart starts rolling. Oh no, Ida thinks. She looks through the window at Smythe, waves wildly, and momentarily considers chasing after the cart, but:

There's more of that writing on the walls. Ida has her mother's notebook in hand--the action's almost reflexive, now. "Zed!" Ida cries, "Strike the left switch! No, your other left! Hiro, hit the one on the right!" 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flora's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed has proven something today. He has proven two things. The first: That, just as it does in a totally different game, steel beats rock. The second: That Zed is, definitively, NOT dumber than a rock. ZED HAS DISCOVERED SOMETHING ABOUT HIMSELF. And thus, he grows ever so slightly-- just a little, tiny bit-- as a person and as a warrior.

"What? Of course it's as steamy as I think it is!" Zed's laugh is somehow audible even over the clamor of drilling machines. "Do you not feel it, Hiro? That feeling deep in your heart. The throb of fire in your veins! Do you see now? Do you feel... THE DRILL WITHIN YOUR SOUL!?"

"I AM--" Zed roars, smashing stone with his sword, "BECOME DRIIIIILL!!"

Soon, between everyone's effort... They break through. And find themselves... Overlooking a horrible mine-cart puzzle!? "W-what!? What is this!? What is everyone talking about!?" Oh right, Zed can't actually see. He's still all wrapped up in his scarf. "I sense... Tension in the air. Frustration! Like... Like a puzzle that's missing all of the corner pieces. Like something you try over and over again, only to flip a table right off a cliff!"

"I think... Here!" Zed leaps! He lands... Right in Ida's cart. "YES! LEFT! MY--" Oh no. OH NO. Zed is... SPINNING! HE'S SPINNING AGAIN! "MY OTHER LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFT!"

He might be hitting... All the switches. Simultaneously. 

DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise manages to get herself right-side up. She grits her teeth, crouching on all fours at the bottom of the cart, then attempts to leap off the thing.

She's about halfway into the air when she realizes she'll probably fall a very long way before she lands.

She grabs ahold of the edge of the cart.

"FILGAIA, YOU'RE THE WORST PLACE," she yells at the world in general as the cart races along with her dangling off the back of it like a rag doll. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"YES!" Zed yells to Ida, "IT IS! THE WOOOOORST!" Has he... Found a kindred spirit!? 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Taking a hand from Ida to get up, as well as encouragement from Hiro, Gwen seems to grin- not that she seems too utterly defeated by having a deadly drill beetle on her face. But the encouragement seems to make Gwen even faster to keep moving. "Right, that's the spirit. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" ... The story of her life, perhaps. Of all their lives, she can probably imagine.

Talk of steam, drilling, and men makes Gwen's freckled cheeks turn bright red. "Guys... a-are..." So. Weird.

But of course, there's being spirited, having a drill in your heart, and then there's carts. "What the heck...." Gwen seems to deflate at the looming puzzle of switches and tracks. "Okay, yes. Plan," she agrees. "We need a... plan." Looking at the dynamite, she briefly shudders. "H'okay, let's just-"

Annnd they're off, wth Gwen just standing by Henry. Grabbing a tool from her pouch, Gwen hurriedly eyes the switches in front of the cart, and, gripping it in her right hand, waits. Just a little more and- "This left!!" She flings the tool through the air, attempting to strike a switch before the cart gets to it. 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Tool Set toward her party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


Zed talks about the Drill within his soul and- "NO! I don't feel anything throbbing- or a drill within my- there's no fire in my- ANYWHERE!" The boy just becomes too flustered to think. "If he keeps this up I'm going to put the throb of fire in /his/ veins!"

Thankfully he's distracted. Ruby chats it up with Ida, "Metal Dragons? You don't mean like the Destiny right? Because that's not a real Dragon... I've seen it up close!"

Hiro picks out a sparkly rock, letting go of his pick and holds it up, "Hey I wonder if there's any gold in this-" "Well let me test it with my usual melterrific method-" Hiro panics, "Hey wait until I let go of it, and tosses it up in the air, just as Ruby breathes fire. The rock passes through it, and- a smell like rotten eggs goes through the air- the rock looking entirely unscathed, "Nope, fool's gold!"

Hiro puts a hand to his nose and waves it. Fortunately- they're able to keep going.

"I- I have no idea what this is-" "You think Grandpa has encountered something like this?" Hiro pulls out his notebook, "Uh- doubtf-" He opens it straight to the section on switch puzzles in Lunarian ruins. "Oh." He looks over Marshal's shoulder at the diagram, "Oh! So he says devices like this are the ancients way of messing with people, especially if sliding blocks are involved-" "Hiro this doesn't look like something the ancients built- I really don't think it applies." But then Tali dives headlong into the 'moving box' and- "-no time to explain, Ruby hold this up!" He all but stuffs the top of the notebook into her mouth, "Mmf!"

Hiro dashes forward as fast as he can to leap inside, while Ruby flies furiously to keep up, his head turns to look at the book, "Right when in doubt-" Ida directs him one way, and he jams himself over to the right to reach for it. "It's not my other right right?" Trusting that it isn't, he hits it!

And then he keeps running forward, glancing back at the flapping tip list in a flying baby dragon's mouth. At the rate the cart is going- this is going to be close! "-when in doubt just shove the block off it's path!"

Ruby's eyes all but bug out as she pushes both paws out as if in a motion for them all to stop, stop, as Hiro rushes to the front of the cart, leaning over the edge, as if he has the idea of just shoving it the right way at the destination, even if it's going the wrong way, and derailing it right at the door of the destination! "Everyone, front of the cart just in case!"

That could be quite an impact if they need to resort to that- hopefully they won't, as it's a very desperate option to derail it and send it careening the correct way.

... but it is an option. 


DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Crazy Cart Carnage.
DG: Marshal Henry Smythe is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Talise Gianfair is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Zed is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Hiro is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. Your party can no longer continue and is forced to retreat!
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has been fully Exhausted by The Lightless Shaft!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Everyone's calculations are right on. The mine carts bounce through the array of train lines at high speed, pinging from switch to switch. Everything's going nice and smoothly. It looks like something's looming ahead!

Until it becomes evident that, back at the plot, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, someone reversed the labels on one of those switches.

Every single mine cart is diverted to the left right at the end of the minecart maze. The carts swoop down a long plunge. Talise's legs dangle behind her.

Then the cart hits the bottom of the plunge. It converts that momentum into an even longer climb. So much momentum is built up that the carts simply shoot up the long climb. They race upwards and upwards. A spark of light can be seen at the end of the tunnel. It grows closer and closer by the second. Talise widens her eyes. The cavern walls give way --

And a hidden chunk of rock slides away, revealing that the tracks come out on a rocky hillside.

Many many metres up from the ground.

"Well, shit," Talise says, and then her cart's wheels leave the track.

Gracefully, up to six mine carts arc out of the hillside, and off the tracks. Several intrepid adventurers soar gracefully through the late evening sky. Silhouetted against the moon like soaring birds, they arc in slow motion.


Down on the ground below, a little tent has been set up.

"Grandmother, can I have some more stew?" a little Baskar girl in cute pigtails asks.

"Of course, child," says the kindly grandmother as she dips a ladle into the huge pot of pork stew. She spoons some out for the happy little girl. And then the two hear something.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

With a thunderous crash, Talise's mine cart plows through the tent.

Then there's a tremendous splat as Talise lands headfirst in the stew pot. Five more adventurers follow. Pork stew and pieces of minecart, kindling and steel fly everywhere.

Talise lies there for a minute.

She swallows a mouthful of stew.

"...Delicious," she manages before flopping over.

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