2017-03-04: The Old Man and the Door
- Log: The Old Man and the Door
- Cast: Bart Fatima, Cecilia Adlehyde, Claude C. Kenny, Ida Everstead-Rey, Lestaci Delloro, Lynnai Albrek, Talise Gianfair
- Where: Sacred Grounds of Linga
- Date: 2017-03-04
- Summary: A band of intrepid adventurers seeks an old expert on the Metal Demon Wars in the hopes of learning more about their discoveries in the Ruins of Memory.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
A VARIABLE AMOUNT OF TIME AGO, IN SOME RUINS
Hidden within one of the deepest levels of the Ruins of Memory is a room that can be lit by lanterns. Doing so reveals no particular treasure, save for a taste of history. On each wall, there is a mural. The south, east, and west walls all have images of mankind fighting the Metal Demons; familiar, though more detailed than most. The north wall, however, has a different battle scene - three knights, in profile, kneel down before a fourth. That one has fallen and lay dead. There are names scrawled below each knight, but most have been worn away... except for the one of the fallen knight. If you read closely, you can make out the letters "E-(scratch)-K-I-(scratch)-U."
A VARIABLE AMOUNT OF TIME AGO, BUT LESS AGO THAN THE OTHER AGO, IN ADLEHYDE
"You know, you should really speak to Professor Levron from Linga if you're interested in this. He's an expert on the Metal Demon Wars, and word has it the king of Lacour has paid him to write a book on everything he knows..."
NOW, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE ACADEMY CITY OF LINGA
"Man, did you hear about Professor Levron and Professor Busker arguing at lunch about lichen? I thought they were going to choke each other out!"
"What, those old guys? Nah. They do this like once a month. It's no big deal."
"I don't think so - I saw Professor Levron stomping off toward the Sacred Grounds, saying something about showing that <obscene gerund> <euphemism for the mentally disabled> what was what."
"Seriously? Dude's like 50. He's going to get killed."
"He's a Symbologist, right? He should be fine."
"..."
"....probably?"
PROBABLY NOT
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
After the ruins trip, Lynnai Albrek was elated. She had a lot of new notes to sort through (she started a new book, even, because her last one didn't have enough pages once she did the less shorthand-y version thereof) and a lot of things to reference and ask about. It's one of her favourite things in the world and you're not taking that away from her.
Lynnai spent some time in Adlehyde trying to track down additional information. While she didn't find everything she needed to know, she got a lot closer than she'd expected, and more to the point: she knew where to look for more.
While she knows a few scholars, this isn't a man she's met before, and he's not in Adlehyde. And so when she realized she'd have to travel to Linga, she asked the same people who had originally found the ruins with her to come along. (Presumably Cecilia and Bart can find their own way; Lyn doesn't even realize they're looking.)
But once she gets to Linga, well... things change.
Now Lynnai is at the Sacred Grounds - well, the entrance - with her compatriots. She was willing to work with others, at least. "I hope he hasn't gotten hurt," Lynnai says, double-checking her pack. Well, more like quintuple-checking, she's kind of paranoid about that. "Else getting him out safely could be... difficult."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise understands the history a lot less thoroughly than Lynnai does, but it fascinates her nevertheless. She wishes she could sing a song about it. It's a story about the Blue Star - a world that until now she has only dreamed of, or sung of in lores of heroes that will never be her.
Besides - she's going to stick with Lynnai and Lestaci, and now Ida.
"It's always a cave," Talise says with a dip of her lashes, hooking her gauntleted thumbs into her belt and rolling her shoulders. She's been picking out wardrobe stuff in Adelhyde and settled on a weird mix for adventuring: Her usual steel-on-black breastplate, but with a pair of black chaps to go with them, along with her gloves, boots and sword. She did not, however, bring a cowboy hat. It'd just get in the way.
With a sigh, she reaches back, drawing the Rastaban Sword and taking the hilt in both hands, though not going into a defensive stance /just/ yet. That can wait. "Here's hoping the old man doesn't trip on a rock and get himself killed down there," she says with a grimace as she steps forward, taking up station beside Lynnai. "That'd definitely ruin our day."
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci Delloro still has a faint aroma of lingering Bartweiser - it got into her boots in her unfortunate tavern brawl last night. She is trying to cover it up with perfume. It doesn't really work. Nor does smoking, but at least that looks cool.
Since this is an expedition to find a man or his corpse instead of a hypothetical giant stack of gold coins and gems, she has actually brought a pack of gear, although not a huge one. Multiple coils of rope feature prominently.
"Dead men tell no tales," Lestaci says, ominously. Then she flicks ash into a patch of gravel nearby. "But they're easier to carry."
"Just so I'm sure, though, this is the one who'll tell us about Ekid and Rimy, right? If he's not dead," Lestaci asks Lynnai.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia didn't entirely know how to feel about the find in the Ruins of Memory; it was a hint, but so...small. She'd paid Claude and Ida for their time and ruminated on what pursuing it further could bring. The men at the Exhibition said a man in Linga might know more, and anything she could learn of the Metal Demons was information she could try to use. She couldn't leave this on the table. The voices of the Guardians were formless but insistent. Fortunately, she talked Bart into accompanying her. Hopefully, it would be...something. Anything.
WHAT IT IS:
Cecilia looks at Bart with a flat-eyed look as she overhears a certain conversation. "Sorry. I think I saw a Memory Service woman over by the tavern, if you need to tell Sigurd you'll be late."
SO NOW:
A blonde woman who doesn't especially look dressed for adventuring, with a white dress over a green ankle-length skirt, approaches swiftly, but slows at the sight of travelers. She recognizes one or two from around Adlehyde, and tips her head slowly; her magic staff tipping a little to counter her balance. "Ah. Maybe we're in luck!"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida is no stranger to old men getting into academic arguments with each other. Why, another professor in the department (who is back in Guild Galad, and thankfully, not her mentor) maintains a vitriolic feud with a professor at a university in Sylvaland somewhere, which has resulted in new and exciting developments in the field of Metal Demon physiology! That, and a toxic atmosphere in parts of the department. Mostly the toxic atmosphere. At least Ida's never had to rescue him before.
"I brought more Heal Berries just in case," Ida says to Lynnai. See, she thought ahead again! She's even brought pitons and a hammer, having added them to her pack after /last time/. "And this cave /is/ famous for its vegetation, or so I heard. Perhaps there will be something new and noteworthy!" It's been more than two weeks since Ida first met Talise and Lynnai, and she's still getting excited about plants.
Ida looks back over her shoulder to check for stragglers, and spots --well, not Sephy, as she was expecting, but someone who is nevertheless welcome. "Cecilia!" Ida says, with a cheerful wave. "Would you care to join us?" Because seriously, why else would she be here? "We were just about to..."
Ida trails off. Her gaze darts over to the roguish-looking man Cecilia is with. "Who is this gentleman?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Old men running off into ruins on crazy, unwise adventures? Man, Cecilia really had planned ahead well, because BART IS EXPERIENCED WITH THIS PROBLEM. Mason was a great guy, but he was occasionally given to rash ideas, and Bart and his first mate had to fish him out on occasion.
But he had dropped by to visit his old friend, and had been wrangled into coming along to assist her for various reasons. After a couple days in town to ensure that supplies will be shipped back to the Yggdrasil, he had joined up with the blonde haired young princess and headed out to Linga.
Which lead to them finding out that OLD MEN HAD RUN OFF INTO DANGEROUS PLACES. Sigurd can wait. This sounds like it might be interesting.
Bart follows along behind Cecilia, and when he sees the other group he puts on a good, intimidating expression. Which isn't too hard given that he's a tanned, tall man with a strip of cloth serving as an eye patch over his left eye.
"Name's Bart," he states, looking at Ida. The blonde haired rogue crosses his arms and looks around for a moment, tapping one finger on his bicep as he considers the entrance to the Sacred Ground. "We're here to look for an old man who disappeared from the city. Old coot has some info we need, and I'm kinda inclined to just turn him over and shake him until it comes out now that he's leading us on this long of a goose chase."
Bart gestures with his chin to Cecilia. "So I brought my better half along to make sure I don't shake him too hard. You folks planning on making a trip in yourselves? We could probably team up, should make the going easier." And then he grins rather rakishly. Group of pretty ladies about to go spelunking - seems like it could be fun even without the actual rescue they needed to accomplish.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"It would probably ruin his too," Lyn responds to Talise, with her occasionally understated and sometimes dark humour. Staci's question is pretty easy too. She agrees, "Yes, or at least I hope so. He has a better chance of knowing than anyone else I have a lead on."
And there's Cecilia. Lynnai remembers /her/ - from the caravan, but also from times further past, although not personally. She's not entirely sure how to address her at a time like this. Yes, she's the Princess, but do you call her that when she's travelling, presumably incognito? Or do you just own it because if you don't she can have you arrested?
Well, probably not in Linga, Lynnai reassures herself. "Cecilia," she repeats, after Ida uses the name first. She leaves it at that as her gaze passes to Bart. Then Cecilia. Then Bart. "Congratulations," she says, before clarifying, "I had no idea the Princess of Adlehyde was engaged." Better half indeed - and that ensures that if Bart didn't know who Cecilia was, he does now and he might consider his words better next time.
Who are we kidding? This won't stop Bart at all.
She considers for a moment, then: "Yes. We're looking for him, too. We may as well work together - more hands to get him out couldn't go amiss."
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart rolls his eye and takes a couple steps away from Cecilia, to ensure that he's out of easy staff whacking range. "Not what I meant," he comments to Lynnai. "Ceci's been my voice of reason for quite a long time."
Teasing an old friend is one thing, but let's not get any rumors going.
Margie might kill him if she heard, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Someone with a staff catches Tal's eyes. She raises her eyebrows and presses her lips together. "Oh. Hey, it's her," she murmurs, jerking her elbow as if to tip Lynnai and Staci off to Cecilia's being there. The blonde rogue she doesn't recognize, but she /does/ know a sea-dog when she sees one; she just grins toothily and brings a hand up to her forehead, two fingers extended. "Name's Tal," she answers. "And that's a fun coincidence - we're lookin' for a missing old man too-"
'better half'
Talise blinks a couple of times. Then she squints at Cecilia. Then at Bart.
She downright beams. "I didn't know there was a wedding coming either! Should be-" Bart clears it up. Her expression falls somewhat, but she puts a smile back on soon enough. " --Oh! Well. That's just as good!"
She gives her shoulders another bracing roll before jerking her head towards the cave mouth beyond, though her smile doesn't fade. "Yeah, so long as we're looking for the same thing, it'd make no sense to do it separate. C'mon with us, you two."
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia keeps her calm smile on. "Gosh! Don't say things like that, his actual fiance owns an ARM." Pause. Tilt head. "And an army." Of clerics, but that doesn't work for the joke as well.
Still, she smiles and tips herself in a small bow. "Thank you for your generosity. We'll do our best!"
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci hears someone in the distance declare they're in luck. Her hand drifts towards her side casually, 'resting on her hip' which happens to put her within finger grasp of the grip of her mostly-concealed weapon as she pivots around to face the approaching -
Cecilia! Ida ida-entifies her briskly. Her attention then turns towards the one eyed man, arching one copper eyebrow as she hears his words. Lestaci takes the cigarette out of her mouth as she says, "Your better half, huh. You can call me Lestaci, but let's get one thing straight."
"Two things," Lestaci concludes, even as other people cheer for weddings. "One: We've got discovery rights; two: your cut's out of the net. Fair?"
And then she takes a step forward - to offer Bart a hand??
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's inner upper-middle-class socialite is already creating hypotheses about why Cecilia is in the company of this piratical man. A secret relationship? A debt? Lynnai goes ahead and tests the relationship one out loud, but apparently that's not the case, which only makes things more scandalous. Are they truly just adventuring companions?
That, in and of itself, may be the most scandalous of all. But don't worry, Cecilia. Your secret is safe.
"Oh my," she murmurs, blushing a little as her companions approach Bart for handshakes. "So forward."
DG: Lestaci Delloro has joined your party!
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Seeing as he's actually along as hired muscle, Bart takes the offer - and Lestaci's hand. "Sounds good, provided we can find the old coot," he replies. He's not going to say no to a little extra treasure. Never hurts to have a bit more gella on hand.
He does give Cecilia a bit of a look, and then shakes his head with a grin. "One of these days, Ci," he comments. And his face goes a little more serious. "One of these days."
He'd wink at her, except HE DOESN'T HAVE HIS WINKING EYE ANYMORE. Stupid engine explosions.
DG: A party led by Lynnai Albrek 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> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai Albrek was pretty sure there was not actually a wedding involved. They didn't seem like that kind of pair. But, with arranged weddings, she supposes you can't always tell...
"Hmm," she says instead, unhelpfully. "Well, I don't know how much treasure we'll find - besides knowledge - but we'll split it up once we do."
And with that, they're off! The ascent to Linga starts out decently enough but very shortly becomes steep and treacherous as it winds its way up a mountain. Rocks, shifting pebbles underfoot, treacherous patches of grass that are loosely affixed to the stony soil and willing to give way as soon as someone puts weight on them...
"How did an old man climb this with no problems?" Lynnai asks, as she climbs. She doesn't mind scrambling when necessary, but it's a little much to expect an old guy to do it just because he's had an argument! Her coat flutters behind her as she climbs, leaving a trail of beneficial winds behind her; they don't last too long, but the glittering motes in the air assist in catching sliders or, if nothing else, making it easier to jump or reach a little further.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci's handshake lasts about one heartbeat longer than it ought to. She's watchin' you, Bart!!
And she has two eyes. As the group moves forth, Lestaci examines the sheer face they are approaching and fishes out a four-ounce metal dart from a side pocket, tying it to one of her coils of rope as she shrugs it off. "Pain in the ass," she declares, before dropping that dart into the barrel of -
A gun!? Who would bring a gun here? Those are dangerous. Someone could get hurt. Either way Lestaci aims upwards, eyeballing it as she says, "We didn't find him at the bottom, so he must've figured something out" to Lynnai. Then
FWOOP!
The rope dart sails merrily upwards at what is hopefully a nice, durable yet penetrateable patch of rock. Lestaci tests it with a couple of yanks before she starts ascending.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Hmph, this seems like a nice long walk. Not the most exciting entrance to the Sacred Ground, although at least there didn't SEEM to be any traps. But he grins as he starts climbing, and states, "Never put anything past a cranky old man - they get into all sorts of trouble."
He pauses for a moment, and then unwinds a coil of leather from his waist. It reveals itself as a long whip, and Bart sends it upwards with a snap. It wraps around a rock, and he holds out a hand to help others up - first Cecilia, then the others if they seem to need the assistance.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Oh, a whip, huh," Lestaci remarks. "You know what I heard they make those out of?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Renegade Aveh Soldiers," Bart replies with a grunt.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
To Talise, it's no mystery why Cecilia is rolling with a pirate: Rich people hire mercenaries all the time. The real curious part is that they /do/ have a long-term relationship.
Stepping forward, she bites her bottom lip and peers up the slope, planting a hand at her hip for a moment. "Must be a pretty spry old man to make it up there," she murmurs, with a nod as Lynnai hits on much the same point. Then the symbologist turns on her coat and just lunges.
For a moment, Talise sighs with envy.
Lestaci helps out. The rope dart flies, and Talise moves along behind the other woman, smiling broadly. "'Staci, you're the best," she gushes as she sheathes her sword for now, allowing her to slide off her gauntlets and grip the rope with both hands --
She pauses.
Eyes narrowed, Talise squints at the rope accusingly.
She starts up, going hand over hand, picking her footfalls carefully as she ascends the hill.
"Cat's tails?" she puts in.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Thank you, Lestaci," Ida says. She takes the rope, holding it carefully, and being sure to mind her balance. Her boots slip a little as she heaves herself upwards, but she's being especially careful, and taking things slow and easy. "I don't see much of a trail, or footprints --perhaps he got up some other way." Like Lynnai's coat! Which is coming in very handy again.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia hikes along with as brave a face as she can possibly arrange. Which means she is VERY rapidly the last person in the line-up. "My," she huffs a little. "That's...a cliff, isn't it," she says, rather than try to spin it. Crest Sorcery never felt Flight was a necessary spell to learn, so --
Ah, but Bart is so generous and helpful. "Thank you," she offers him, and takes his offered hand.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
And then --
Ida's look turns all but unreadable as Bart looks down at her, and she weighs her options. This weighing-of-options goes on for a half a second before Ida accepts Bart's hand. "Thank you," she says. She's turned positively coquettish.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Fortunately, climbing isn't too bad when you have so many people willing to work together.
Lynnai uses her coat a couple times to give herself a push up and generally stays out of people's ways. The ascent is completed without /too/ much trouble overall, though there's a couple slips (one is Lynnai, who manages to land on loose gravel and slide back down several body-lengths before she catches herself) and eventually they do reach the top of the entryway climb.
DG: Bart Fatima 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> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart helps first Cecilia, and then Ida, further up the path. He shakes his head and smiles after a moment. It seems like the party is making good progress up the path into the cave, although there's always something that comes up when you're poking around in these places. Always... something.
And as they travel through the caves, they come across a massive stone door, with no obvious way to get through barring keyhole in the center of the thing. Bart just looks at the door for a moment, and then looks around. Alcoves and other small cubbies. Rough hewn floor.
No key.
"Why do they never just LEAVE THE KEY UNDER THE MAT LIKE REASONABLE PEOPLE!" Bart shouts at the door for a moment, and then gives it a good punch. He sighs, and shakes his head. "Well, I'm out of ideas. Anyone else got something?"
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Well, after they slaughter a bull," Lestaci begins, but then she tch's as she sees Ida address Bart.
After this she falls silent. Reaching the top, she checks the security of the rope dart and ends up pushing it deeper into the crevace and turning it so it'll have a hook, since they may have more weight going down it.
This means that Bart has the initiative, which he uses to boldly and bravely seize the door. Lestaci snorts as she saunters into the cavern space, drawing out her gun again. "Yeah hold on," she says, continuing to saunter forwards and sinking down to crouch on her heels.
AND THEN SHE PULLS OUT HER GUN which has a nixie tube on it, that's weird. It glows orange as she holds it, circling around the lock space. "What kind of idiot would leave the key under the mat? It'd rust," she tells Bart as she tries to gimmick the lock thusly, crab-walking aside for scientists and nerds to get in if they dare. "You wrap it in oil cloth and you bury it."
DG: Lestaci Delloro has used her Tool ARM Discharge toward her party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
In mid-climb, Talise looks over her shoulder, watching how Cecilia handles the rope line. She bites down to her bottom lip, momentarily revealing the points of her fangs. She opens her mouth to say something but silences herself before she says it, figuring it's better not to highlight certain things.
She's to the top soon enough - and at the sight of a door, she opens her mouth slightly, then closes it, eyes narrowing as she slides her hands into her gauntlets. "Okay, let me at it," she grumbles as she lays her hands on the door, running them along the edges as though in search of a seam --
She pauses. Feels again. Then takes off a gauntlet and feels again.
Her eyelids lower as she realizes what this is.
Blushing, she begins rooting around for something long and narrow. "Maybe we can pry the damn thing," she mutters. "Maybe there's a prybar. Or something we can use to pick that lock."
Then she pauses. She widens her eyes a little. " --Actually, that might /actually/ work!" Fussing into her pouch, she comes up with a needle, then heads for the door, biting her tongue and attempting to worm it into the lock. "Damn it, I wish I'd been better at this when Dad was explaining it," she grumbles bitterly, soon giving way to Lestaci to let her have a crack at it.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart just looks at Lestaci and holds up his hands, palm up. His face (complete with clearly ignorant grin) says it all. Well besides the comment that follows. "Look, when I need to get through a door, I prefer dynamite. Or my Gear's foot."
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Oh, you own a Gear, huh, Mr. Gotrocks," Lestaci says. "Does it have all its limbs?"
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Always something, like a door.
Lynnai looks - okay, glares - at the door for several long moments. She has been stumped by doors before, and like Bart, she's getting kind of tired of it. She's just less likely to yell about it and punch it, because she has delicate hands and does not want to break her knuckles. Even if she has gloves on, they're not /that/ padded.
Instead she pulls out, from one of her coat's inside pockets, a book. It's the same worn book that some of her friends have seen before, the book of notes both she and her mentor have taken over years of ruin-crawling. Lynnai lets Lestaci work at it for a few moments while she reads, paging between three distinct sections marked with little scraps of colour on the edge of the page.
"I think," she says after a while, "I think I've seen a record of this type of door before. You might have better luck if you work it from the left, not the top - these locks tend to be sideways compared to the way we build locks. And reach in a little further..." Lyn is just a fountain of advice, even if it's not all hers in the first place.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"When I need to get through a door I prefer to rip it off its hinges and throw it," Talise puts in.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart snorts. "Gear's not too useful without all its limbs. So it usually does. Unless I've had a *really* good fight recently."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's foot slips on the last stretch up. This results in a long moment where she's staring up at Bart, clinging to one end of his whip while he reels her in. It is exactly like a scene from one of her adventure novels, except utterly terrifying.
Once she's got both feet on the ground again, Ida takes a moment to compose herself, and catch her breath. "Thank you," she says to Bart. She seems considerably less enchanted than she was a moment ago, probably thanks to the brush with death. And then --a door.
Ida's seen Staci use that ARM enough to get the gist of how it works, and moves in to help her. She pulls a beaten old leather-bound journal out of a pouch, and thumbs through to the section on locks. "Tumblers might be here," she says, patting a section of the door. "The locking mechanism might be in the floor somewhere, while --" Gear? Lestaci asks the question for her. She turns to look at Bart again.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"If the fight was good, why would you be missing any limbs?" is Lestaci's counter-feint.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"How would you even /lock/ a door from the floor," Talise says, pausing and looking over her shoulder at Ida in mild bafflement.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Metal bars that extrude from the floor, perhaps, like so." Ida holds the book so that Talise can see the mechanism in question. "The locking mechanism lowers them once it's unlocked."
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"If you don't get beaten up a bit, then clearly you just rolled the other guy and there was no challenge," Bart replies with a rather cocky expression. He turns around and kicks the door again. Take that! "I don't mind if they just want to give up, but that gets borin' pretty quick-like."
He continues to make the point that Cecilia has some *really* interesting friends.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"On poles," Lynnai explains, absently. "That's part of why it goes sideways - instead of extending toward the side of the door, like most Adlehyde locks, it pushes a bar into the floor or ceiling."
She's listening to the Gears discussion, of course. Who can afford one of those?
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Wow, Bart gets super mad. Cecilia laughs a little, standing a little ways back as everyone clusters around it. She leans a little over-top, peering at the sigils on the door...and sees a particular one.
"I have an idea," she says, quietly, and steps out to a certain distance. One that...feels right. The ground silently tells her where to be.
She pulls the pendant off her neck, threading her long hair through it, the glimmering pyroxene shining with an internal light as she holds it up, and it starts to glow with a slowly increasing light, pulsing in time with a faraway heartbeat. "Guardians," she breathes. "Please, if this is our path...open the way!"
The light seems to narrow and focus - zeroing in on the door and bathing it in a warm, spiritual light.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise just blinks at Ida as if she's grown two heads.
"Blue Star locks are weird," she states, scratching her cheek.
Then Cecilia does something shiny to the lock. Talise stares at /her/ now.
== == == == == == == == == == == ===<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *> == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ===<* CHALLENGE - Fallen Filligree *> == == == == == == == == == == === |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---< Challenge Information: > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- These strange, swirling creatures look like they may once have been guardian spirits, nearly-formless creatures of pure air. Unfortunately, the air in this part of the cave is pretty rank, and the creatures bring their full flavour to bear as they fight. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ===
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart pauses as well, and turns around to look at Cecilia with a much more interested expression. The investigation and prying at the door probably has some effect, certainly - but there are clearly quick a few mechanisms to this particular door.
None of which matters a moment later as Cecilia appeals to the Guardians to just OPEN THE DAMN DOOR ALREADY, as Bart would put it. Perhaps it is miraculous intervention. Or perhaps it is at just that moment that all the unlocking attempts succeed at the exact same time.
Because there is a rumble as the mechanism holding the door closed clears itself, and it swings silently opening, beckoning the party to proceed.
Bart just shakes a fist as he walks past. Showed you, stupid door!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise just scratches at her cheek again.
"...So how'd the old man get through the door if it's still locked?" she asks.
She huffs and grabs ahold of a rock, moving it to jam it between the door and the doorframe.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"I don't want to get into any fight that's challenging," Lestaci says. "I like my body the way it is."
Then, "What the hell?!" Oh, Cecilia asked GOD to fix it. That's fine. Straightening up, Lestaci tells Talise, "You use levers. It's kinda hard to explain without a picture, ask me later. We used to use 'em for the hoppers back home."
As the door opens and Bart marches ahead, Lestaci gets back up with a creak of her leather boots and walks forwards, digging out a cigarette as she does. While she lights it, she answers Talise again: "Probably took the old timer's discount." In other words, she don't know. She lights a match with one polished fingernail.
The room is already full of hazy things. Smoke? Lestaci squints.
"... You see that?" she asks Bart even as she reaches for her ARM.
Also: Laying in a corner, neglected by who knows what, are two sparkling red gems. No, they aren't eyes, and it's unclear where they came from. Someone may want to get those or Lestaci's gonna complain later!
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"He may have found a path that we'd missed," Bart comments - he isn't going to put it past the guy to use his wiggly old man body to get through some hidden crack somewhere along the path. ...this should bring into question just what Mason has done in the past.
But there is an unpleasant odor in the next area, and a number of strange creatures flying about. The pirate unlimbers his whip, snapping it out towards one of the creatures as he narrows his eyes. "Ugh, really did we have to come across the foulest smelling evil spirits in the place?"
Fortunately the pirate has a way to deal with this. He digs around in his jacket, before pulling out what looks like a stopped bottle of... cologne?
Bart grins, and pops the top off. A flick of his wrist and he tosses the liquid into the air, letting the faint mist of some sandalwood smelling ungent scatter across the party.
And then the Ether he's spent quite a while charging the cologne with takes effect, giving everyone an energizing burst. "Yeah, that's the stuff!" Bart shouts as he lays into the fart elements. "LET'S DO THIS!"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I /will/ ask you later," Talise assures Lestaci with a little grimace. "Until then, just let me handle the challenging fighting."
(Since I'm apparently an idiot,) she laments inwardly as she leaves another brainiac challenge to people who aren't from the Dark Ages.
Lowering her head and blushing and feeling more than a few centuries behind the times, Tal slinks into the dungeon not far behind Lestaci - and strides her way through the doorframe and into the rank, foggy corridor. "Ugh. How'd he get past /this?/" he asks. "It smells like someone tried to bury a butt!"
And right on cue, here come the swirling masses of things that are too incorporeal for her to stab. She takes a long step away, shielding her nose and mouth in the crook of her arm. "Okay," she calls. "I'm gonna need everyone to stand clear." As she makes the request, she's sliding a knife out of her belt.
She waits for a few seconds. Then she hurls the knife at a spot on the ceiling.
The knife blade digs in - and a series of runes on the hilt hum. There's a sudden flash, then a blinding arc of electricity as lightning bolts begin to pour from the knife. They lance out towards the swirling spirits.
They may even cause things to ignite.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"Well, imagine a door that slides," Lynnai says. "Instead of being pushed in or out. You couldn't use a bar on the side for that - it would move right off it."
She pauses for a moment. "Unless it had a hook, anyhow."
They do get the door open (and, much to Lynnai's dissatisfaction, it doesn't slide). "It could have closed behind him," Lynnai points out, because she has to be right about /something/. "And locked automatically, that is. If it's just as hard to open from the inside, that could be an additional security measure..."
Lyn says all of this while walking, which means it's not too much longer before they run into the ... effervescent elementals. "I was afraid there'd be something in here. Watch yourself!" She's already beginning a Symbological incantation, hand tracing a path through the air, the circle of runes appearing as she does - something, bending down to rest her fingers on the ground.
These things are, as best Lyn can tell, made of foul air. As a result she deals with them directly; her air Symbology explodes from the ground upward, showering small stones - but this is more of a side effect of the sudden geyser of upwards-shooting air, tearing and ripping the phantasmal creatures! (Stepping into the pillar yourself is ill-advised, but mostly because it feels like sticking your head in a wind tunnel.)
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The tumblers turn. The lock unlocks, and with a yawning metallic groan, the door slides open! Immediately, a terrible, rank scent washes into the room, and Ida instinctively reaches for the little potpourri sachet she carries in an inner jacket pocket for such occasions. "My word," she murmurs, "what is that --" Unearthly wind howls up from the chamber below. Monsters! Ida's hand changes direction ever-so-slightly, moving not for the sachet, but for the revolver under her left shoulder. Thankfully, Bart supplies some sort of less-terrible odor a few seconds later, and Ida finds herself perking up. Invigorating!
Ida stands well back and opens fire, careful to demonstrate good backdrop awareness.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia threads the Teardrop back on, and smiles quietly. "A fine question," she offers Talise, wandering onward. "Perhaps he knew of another way in? Or indeed, it could've closed behind him...the Teardrop opens many doors, but they aren't all locked just to it, after all."
She follows along, rubbernecking a little because she's not a lifelong drifter and hasn't learned hard lessons about keeping your damn eyes out for things that are actually important.
But then her nose wrinkles, and her head whips around more searchingly. "What is that horrid --!" she croaks out, and actually yields a few steps in reply. "Ugh!" she groans.
...Bart's solution is surprisingly helpful. "....I hadn't really expected that to be as effective as it was," she muses. "Oh!" That would be Talise setting a bunch of them on fire. "That's a good idea," she says, and swings her staff in front of her. A shining pentagram of light forms, and Cecilia whirls her stick until it's pointing straight up, blasts of fire racing out of the pentagram and streaming toward the "effervescent elementals", where they explode on their own, and then possibly explode in a different, more juvenile way.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Well, you know me, Ci," Bart comments as he continues to whip these fart elementals. "I've always got a trick or two up my sleeve. ...not always the best trick, but there's usually something!"
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Refreshing cologne douses Lestaci. Her eyes turn towards Bart again. And then comes a fusillade of bombs, of wind, of fire - and a refreshing fragrance.
The elementals might have been a problem for most people. This assembled group, for better or worse, are not most people. There are several loud transient BANGS and colorful lights, but the up side is that the horrid stink is destroyed and the tunnel didn't collapse.
"... Well," Lestaci says, stepping forward gingerly. "That went... pretty well." She lingers slightly, to collect those fallen gems.
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge. == == == == == == == == == == == ===<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *> == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==<* CHALLENGE - OWLBEARS OWLBEARS *> == == == == == == == == == == === |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---< Challenge Information: > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Part owl, part bear, and part hate, an owlbear is a giant monster with the body of a bear and the head of a very angry owl. Also they use swords. An owlbear - the Linga Academy-approved word for a gathering of owlbears - of owlbears owl out in fury and barrel their way toward you, swords waving. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ===
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"If he's resourceful enough to get this far on his own, he must be one hell of an old man," Talise answers Cecilia from behind the crook of her elbow, as farts take fire behind her.
The combined firepower of the group does its job. The corridor is left fresh-smelling. "Let's hurry," Talise urges, beckoning with one hand and hustling down the corridor. She ducks through a narrower part of the cave-
Only to take a few steps too far into a large, open cave. There are moonbeams streaming through a narrow opening in the roof.
Several large owl heads all rotate to face the intruding group. Several large owl heads on top of the bodies of massive goddamned bears. Some of the heads turn a full 180 degrees, Exorcist-style.
"Uh," Tal says with a blink. "Hello... hello there."
That's all she gets before the owlbears begin to barrel towards our heroines-and-a-Bart, beaks open and huge bear paws swinging massively to try and tackle a few of you into a big pile of /doom!/
"That is /not what bears look like,/" Talise shouts indignantly as she rolls to one side, reaching for her belt -
She diverts and goes for her main weapon. The Rastaban Sword flashes in the moonlight as Talise draws it, stepping back into a guard stance a moment, then moving forward with a hard swing, then another, aiming to skilfully cleave through one owlbear, then another. "Clear 'em out," she shouts.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Holy cripes, this is not what you'd expect in the middle of someplace called the SACRED GROUND. What in the world is SACRED about GOD DAMN OWLBEARS!?!
Bart takes a step back in the face of the oncoming combinations of bird, beast, and PURE HATRED. "Right, this is certainly a thing!" The pirate looks at what is left of his cologne bottle, and shrugs. To hell with it. "Hope there's enough left to get us through this mess!" he comments, and tosses the bottle into the air. It sends what is left of the Ether infused fragrance around the room, giving everyone that extra hit of energy they need to hopefully get through this brawl.
And then Bart doesn't pull out his whip, but a small handful of coins. "Like hell I'm stepping into that mess without givin' em a bit of hell first!" he comments, rolling one coin between his thumb and finger. He concentrates, channeling Ether through his arm into the coin... and then flicks it straight at the first oncoming owlbear.
It grows to about two feet across without losing a jot of momentum, and smashes into the first beast.
Bart grins and readies another coin.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Don't go pushing your scent profile on everyone, Bart!" Lestaci snaps at him on reflex even as she puts the gems in her pocket and this time, for realsies, is able to make effective use of her ARM: Her target is, in this case, the eyes.
Which are helpfully pretty big.
"I hope they didn't eat the old man!" Lestaci says when she has to pop in another magazine of scrap metal fragments.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Doesn't look like any of them have indigestion!" Bart shouts back as he runs out of coins and falls back on the whip.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Unless those were their farts we just detonated," Talise calls over the sound of swordsplay.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida takes a moment to reload, breathing easier now that the horrible stench is dissipating. She clicks the revolver's cylinder back into place, gets back into formation, and --
Oh, bears.
One of them lets out a horrific shriek, the blade of its sword gleaming. Bears do not shriek like that, nor do they have swords, nor should their heads twist like that; Ida backpedals in surprise before remembering she's seen one of these before. Except then, it was a single skeleton in the Grand Museum, devoid of flesh and fur and feathers and homicidal rage. Talise fearlessly charges the monsters, and Ida does her best to back her up by pulling out the big gun. The big gun, in this case, is something that resembles a rifle hacked down to the size of a large pistol, and gleams like devil-metal. Ida fires, sending a half-molten slug at one of the owlbears. Another follows, and another, and another.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai Albrek has to agree with Bart, even mentally: owlbears should be sacred to exactly nobody.
"You and me both," she calls back to Lestaci, before adding in the interest in being kind of anal about it: "That's because these aren't bears! They're owlbears! They're not the same at all - regular bears don't use swords!" Pause. "Also the feathers and beak and ugh!"
That 'ugh' was because Lynnai just got barreled into. While she manages to flip in the air (somehow) and right herself, that doesn't mean it's a comfortable experience at all. She begins to cast once again, Symbologically channeling power, making a subtly different rune pattern as it trails behind her fingers, forming the rest of the circle on its own.
Subtly difference, because what Lynnai creates this time isn't a geyser of air but a whirling pillar, a tornado right in the middle of the pack. She keeps it away from Talise and the others close in, gesturing as if dragging it to the side - and it follows, somehow - but attempting to simultaneously bowl over owlbears and slash into them with razor winds.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia's opinion is pretty similar to several others expressed. "He must be a veteran researcher, I agree," she says to Talise. "But perhaps you simply learn the secrets of places like this after a while." She'd like to get to that point. That'd be nice. She expresses this while walking on, of course, head occasionally craning to try and see what she can of the walls. Any mysteries? Mysteries? Hello, mysteries? Secrets of the arcane? No? OK.
OWLBEARS, THO, WE DO HAVE THOSE. "Well, you've got another chance to show us your tricks, Bart!" she declares.
Also: "Where do you /learn/ these spells, Bart?" she adds, while spinning her staff again. Well in the back, she feels comfortable simply bombarding the bears from the back. A gust of wind kicks up from Cecilia's pentagram this time, whipping downrange to scathe at the horrible things with biting blades of wind.
She is always grateful to the kind people who stand in front of problems so she doesn't have to.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The owlbears are big and surly, but for the most part, our party members manage fine. Talise wades into the thick of them, cutting down one owlbear, then another -
Until one of them lumbers up behind her and swings, and slams its sword into her side before she can deflect all of it. She lets out a choked sound as she staggers to the side, blood running from a rent in her armour. Teeth clenched, she braces herself and begins hacking at the owlbear, bringing it down.
Before long, the bears are down, leaving the room silent save for the moonlight.
Breathing hard, Tal presses her left hand against her side, sword held steady in her right as she tries not to think about how bad it hurts. She grimaces, squinting ahead. "...Everyone alright?" she asks tensely. "Let's keep moving."
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge. == == == == == == == == == == == ===<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *> == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ===<* CHALLENGE - Punishing Piston *> == == == == == == == == == == === |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---< Challenge Information: > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- With the owlbear of owlbears defeated, the treasure you have sought lies in the room beyond! Unfortunately, the door to it is already closing, thanks to some ancient mechanism triggered in the fighting. If your party can manage to hold the door open long enough, someone might be able to slip through and grab it, but it's been a long dungeon and you've had no time to rest since the fight... =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ===
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
The owlbear of owlbears is now an owlbear of owlbear corpses, although it's possible they use a different collective pronoun for owlbears once they're dead. Who knows?
Beyond the end of the chamber, however, is a hallway that ends in a massive door. Beyond it, the figure of an old man can be seen hobbling toward the group, waving his cane and shouting something lost in the echoes of the chamber. A stone door begins to slowly close, threatening to block the room beyond. Holding it open will take a feat of strength. Good thing you didn't just fight an owlbear of owlbears or anything.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Beyond the end of a chamber... the door is sliding closed.
And here's Talise Gianfair, bleeding out.
She widens her eyes in alarm.
Sheathing her sword, she dashes forward as fast as she can. She sprints like the wind. She's leaving a spattering trail of blood across the floor of the cavern. "Come on, come on!" she shouts as she bunches her shoulders, trying to focus on her gauntlets and not how much she hurts. The gloves begin to vibrate.
Clenching her teeth, she reaches for the door. Her gauntleted fingers dig into the lip of it. Blood pours down her side, over her hip and down her leg, the flow only increasing as her heart pumps faster. She hisses in pain, her shoulders and biceps clenching as her gloves tighten. Her fingers bite in hard enough to leave dents in the stone.
The door stops. It /stops./ For the moment.
"HURRY," Talise shouts, her voice rough and pained.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Partially because it will help, and partially because he knows it will annoy Lestaci a bit, Bart walks over and pulls out a small blue bottle from his jacket. "Here, take a wiff of this," he states, popping the top off of the blue cologne. "It's been charged with healing magic and should take the edge off of it."
Unfortunately, as they approach the end of the chamber, it seems that there is a MINOR PROBLEM UP AHEAD. A minor problem in the form of a huge closing door. And Bart just looks at it with his good eye for a moment and says something incredibly appropriate for his pirate lineage in response.
And then he takes off running for the door!
"INCREDIBLE FEAT OF STREEEEENNNNGGGTTTTTHHHHHH!" he roars at the top of his lungs. And then throws his everything into KEEPING THE DAMN DOOR FROM CLOSING.
"OH GOD ITS INCREDIBLE HEAVY!"
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"Oh thank you, kind people, thank you, thank you!" the old man's voice calls out. "I was examining the most fascinating bit of lichen in there and ---"
He stops, blinking owlishly (but thankfully not owlbearlishly) as he pats his pockets.
" ---sorry, can you hold that for a second!" he calls out, hobbling back the way he came. "I think I forgot my ---"
He stops again.
- pat*pat*pat*
"Never mind!" he says happily, continuing to hobble and waving a small box. "I had it with me, ha ha!"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"PLEASE HURRY," Talise practically sobs at the old man as her fingers start to dig shallow trenches in the edge of the door.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai Albrek's tornado might have been effective enough, but she was hurt more than she thought by the impact from the owlbear. She takes a breath afterward and winces at the pain that shoots through her ribs. She's going to need to get those looked at.
But for now, she suffers, because she must. When there's an old man running at you and a door threatening to close, you don't have time to complain about ribs that aren't even broken (maybe). "Come on!" she calls. "We can talk later, but if that door closes I don't know if it opens from this side." Plus, she has no interest in lichen. That's Ida's field.
Lyn tries to do two things. First, she tries to help Talise, though given the aforementioned ribs and the fact that she's not exactly a paragon of muscle, this doesn't actually help as much as she'd like it to. Giving that up as a bad cause, she casts a different Symbological effect, channeling power into the air around the old man. While the sudden defensive aura is probably of no use, the fact that she can simply yank him closer with applied hardened air is probably much more useful. She's a specialist; some of her Symbology gets impressive.
Even if it makes her ribs hurt again from the gesture, which is unfortunately actually required. ow ow ow
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart makes a pained grunt that probably translates to 'Hurry up old man'. Alternately it could mean 'I WILL DESTROY YOU.' It's hard to tell with pained grunts.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia gets clocked by an owlbear's claws at some point. Shit that hurts. She also has the proportional strength and speed of a 17-year-old nun, so the immediacy with which Talise and Bart race in to hold the door up really impresses her! "Ah! Uhm!" she flails, a momentary flutter of panic startling her. "Uhm! Oh!"
She thrusts her staff out, Crest Magic pentagram glimmering in the air. "HYPER!" she declares, and blasts of red light rush up from under the group, boosting their strength! MAYBE THAT WILL BE HELPFUL
... oh wait shit
She starts running. Hopefully the burst of strength is enough to help her get under the door in a timely fashion, the only really useful thing she can actually do right now.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Are you all right?" Ida replies. She doesn't have much time for conversation, though --that grinding noise draws her attention to the door, and to the man behind it. Her lips pull tight. Talise and Bart tear off towards it, and Ida is right behind, running as fast as she can. Adrenaline boils off everything else except the need to /stop that door/.
Ida is an academic with a bad shoulder. Her forte is concentration and reflexes, and that's when she's forced into combat, period. Now, though, none of that matters; she's right behind Talise, gripping the edge of the door, straining with all her might. Her shoulder immediately starts screaming at her. She clenches her teeth until her jaw starts to creak.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
A few scrapes and a bruising swat and it's over. Lestaci holsters her weapon with a grimace. But then... /blue/ cologne??
Lestaci's nose twitches. "Charged with healing magic, huh," she tells Bart, but it does actually smell pretty good. What smells less good is a door that -- Oh, shit --
Lestaci has nothing she can throw into this battle. If it's hurting Talise and this new so-called Bart, she is just going to scream and get ripped apart. What she does do is break into a run forwards, twisting herself down in order to slide in between the two of them, to get /through/, calling ahead as she does, "HOLD UP YOU OLD FART!"
DG: Lestaci Delloro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"No, no, you need to go the other way!" the old man says as he hobbles toward the door, shooing Lestaci back toward the chamber. "I'll be right there! Just don't let go of the extremely heavy doo ---"
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
- KTHUNK*
.......................
Maybe that wasn't the guy you were looking for.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise promptly winds up and starts driving her superpowered rage fist into the door as hard as she goddamned can. She rears back and slams her gauntlet into it once, then again, despite the fact that she's bleeding out fairly heavily at this point.
"GODDESS DAMN IT," she shouts at the door as she punches it a couple more times. "ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME."
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci, unfortunately, is nudged back through the doorway before it slams shut. She has no immediate snappy comeback.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida keeps this up for a few seconds, before her shoulder gives out. She collapses to the ground, her vision a blurry haze of pain, just out of range of the door. She lies there, curled up, for a moment. "Heal berry," she manages to get out, through gritted teeth, when she can speak again.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Tal doesn't ask for a heal. She just keeps driving her fist in the door as if she could somehow still make enough of a hole in the thing to blow it off its hinges. She's breathing pretty hard at this point.
- SLAM*
- SLAM*
- SLAM*
- pant pant*
She pauses for a moment to cringe and squeeze her eyes close as a particularly bad spasm jerks through her side. She's still bleeding, and quite hard.
She winds up and punches the door again. "Come on," she growls thinly at it. "Come on, Althena, give me the power to get to that guy -- come on!!"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart keeps it up for as long as possible. But mere muscle can't do much against this heavy of a mass, and ultimately he pulls out at the last moment, collapsing to the ground a short distance away. He rolls to a stop, and groans after a moment.
And then he just sort of splays out on the ground, sweat dripping off of his head, his blonde braided ponytail laying out on the hard ground.
"Everyone OK?" he croaks, sounding like he did some unfortunate things to his voice from all the shouting.
"...besides the old fart, at least?"
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai Albrek's ribs go from 'painful' to 'agonizing' somewhere along the way. She loses her mental grip on the Symbological effect, no longer pushing at the door as she collapses. She does not get up for a few moments.
Then Lynnai pushes herself up with a groan - and immediately drops back down when she bends her torso the wrong way. ow. Instead, slowly, she digs in her own pack, trying to get something for herself out of it. "Been better," she grunts.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia attempts a heroic baseball slide, trips on her skirt, and swings forward in an implausibly neat arc to slam directly into the ground face-first.
"owwww," she whines, pitiably.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"No," Ida croaks. She manages to reach around with her less-mangled arm, unbuckling a buckle holding a tin to her backpack. "Heal berries," she says. The tin falls to the floor. "Eat some." That's not a suggestion.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Right, time to play medic. Bart pushes himself to his feet, pulling out the blue bottle and walking over towards Lynnai. He sets it down next to her, and pulls the cap off. "Rest for a moment and breath in," he states, sounding rather ragged himself. "It should help after a little bit. Not great for bones but... maybe the berries will help?"
He shrugs, and walks over to where Cecilia has installed her face in the ground. He knees down, and offers the princess a hand up. "Come on Ci," he states. "It doesn't look good, but we'll manage." So says the one eyed man who has clearly seen at least a couple setbacks in his day.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci doesn't get up but she does reach over to operate the tin for people who sprained their 'entire bodies.'
"Well, at least we don't have any sucking chest wounds," Lestaci says.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise drives her fist into the door one more time before she finally wilts against it. Her cheek ends up pressed to the doorframe as she slowly slides down the doorframe. She ends up sitting in a heap, her hand moving dully to her sucking side wound.
"I'm sorry," she says dully, looking off to one side with a bitter curl of her lips.
She reaches for a Heal Berry with the hand that is /not/ covered in her own blood right now.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"You tried," Ida says. "Stiff upper lip, my grandfather always says." Ida only takes a berry for herself once all the injured people have done so. "Perhaps he found another way out."
Pause. "Dear Granas, I hope he found another way out."
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
RABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLE
A gaggle (appropriate for nearly any group) of people - mostly in the robes of students, but accompanied by a few more serious-looking adventurer types - make their way quickly down the corridor the party originally entered, stopping in surprise to find that...everything is dead already? Yay?
A lanky man in a lab coat, green sweater, and red tie steps forward out of the mess. "Uh.... well, this is unexpected," he says, rubbing a hand through his short brown hair. "Wasn't expecting to find anyone else down here. You folks all right?" The tall man looks around and focuses on Talise, noting her injury. "All right, knock that off and sit down," he says authoritatively, stepping forward and pulling a few bottles and bandages out of his coat pockets.
"I'm a doctor - Bowman Jeane," he says by way of introduction. "What're all of you doing here, anyway?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Oh good, a perfectly ordinary country doctor and his gaggle of students. Down here in the middle of the Sacred Grounds. Bart looks at them for a long moment, and then whispers something to Cecilia. He can see a few options here, but... this seems like it is a little TOO convenient.
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Bleeding," Lestaci tells the man in the labcoat, with evident suspicion.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I should've been able to do more," Talise mutters bitterly after swallowing her mouthful of berry. "If I were --" She cuts herself off and clicks her teeth together, clenching a fist in quiet frustration.
(If I were half the person Dragonmaster Chloe was, I would've been able to save him,) her mind fills in.
By the time the horde of students and medics arrive, Tal's already sitting down. She sets her jaw, but sighs and closes her eyes, acceding to the medic's treatment of her. She's good enough, at least, to unbuckle her breastplate, revealing the ugly wound in her side - though the Heal Berry has done a good job of closing up some of it. It's no longer fatal so much as it is unsightly and painful.
"Thank you," she manages, voice low, but still somewhat sullen.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia whines, though to her credit somewhat less than one might expect of a princess, before she reaches up for Bart's hand. "We don't have /time/ for...." she mutters, plucking up her staff with frustration. She takes a sharp breath and lets it slowly rather than finish that sentence. "Healing," she says. The sparkling light of her magic pentagram lights up the air in front of her as she starts firing as many Heal spells as she can on her remaining strength, her eyes growing more focused as she does.
Every failure is a victory for the enemy that's coming. Bart doubted her, Claude and Ida seemed to doubt her. It'd be nice if she could doubt.
But at her side, the Medium quakes and the Teardrop resonates. This is ill tidings.
Ah, but someone shows up, so she lets the physician get to work and slumps against a wall. "We were here looking for Professor Levron," she says. "I was hoping to speak to him regarding his research on the Metal Demons." Her lips flatten. "And possibly a few other things." It's OK if she only bludgeons him with her staff in her imagination, right
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Given the whispered conversaiton between the two, it's clear that Celine used some phrase that Bart did not know how to take, because he gets a bit huffy and walks away to give the sealed stone door a good kick or two.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
After much effort, Ida manages to haul herself up to a sitting position. Cecilia's magic helps this process considerably, and by the time the nice medical professional and his gaggle of students register on Ida's radar, she's a bit better-equipped to mentally deal with them. "He's in there," Ida says, gesturing at the door. "I'm sorry. We tried to stop it." Her right arm is no longer a knot of agony, but it is still pretty much useless. It's obvious as she struggles to her feet.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"I lost my grip," Lynnai admits, because while she can telekinetically move stuff by hardening the air around it and then moving /that/, she's not very good with something as heavy as a person yet. "So I can't tell. He's probably stuck on the far side for now, though."
Lynnai accepts treatment from Bart; it's enough to let her mess with her bag enough to pull out one of her leftover Heal Berries. Her ribs still hurt, but it's more ignorable for the moment. "We've all been better," she says to Bowman, though he isn't familiar to her. "I'm Lynnai Albrek, Symbologist. We were looking for someone, but I think we might have passed them on the mountain somewhere at this rate. A Levron?"
She does all this while being entirely businesslike about treating herself. She even manages to stand up afterwards, looking at Talise and the others with worry visible on her face.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Bowman snorts at Lestaci's crack. "I can smell it from here," he says as he gets to work, pouring something from a greenish bottle (astringent disinfectant, if Talise cranes her neck to read the label) onto a think gauze bandage and presses it against the wound, firm enough to sting something fierce. "You," he says, nodding at a student who rushes forward. "Press this against the wound. If you see it soak through red, put this one on it. And you," he says to Talise, dropping something into her hands. "Eat these."
Blueberries?
The lanky doctor moves on toward Lestaci, taking another roll of cloth out from his apparently voluminous pockets. "Professor Levron? Yeah, Jareth's a handful," he groans. "He's down here every other week. It's starting to be a pain in my ass," Bowman grumbles as he repeats the disinfecting process, then starts to treat Lestaci as well. "I mean, research into lichen is fine and all, but if you lick the fungus on the walls in here, you're going to..."
Bowman stops moving, looking at Cecilia. "Wait, Metal Demons?" he asks, then his eyes widen. "Oh. OH!" he says, laughing. "Sorry for laughing, but...I think you...uh, how do I put this?" he wonders. "Professor Jareth Levron - the guy you saw in there - is a mycologist. You want his brother, Aren Levron," Bowman explains. "/He's/ the Metal Demon researcher."
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
Lestaci, who has not been badly battered, fusses a little as she gets disinfected. This is gonna wreck the lip rouge she put on.
Then --
Lestaci sputters with widened eyes, still not yet getting to her feet, when this detail is revealed.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Between the heal spells and the doctor's aid, Talise is probably not going to bleed out anymore!
She lets out a low breath, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "I had a grip on it," she admits. "Even with my gauntlets, even with Bart and all of you helping, we couldn't hold it long enough."
She does crank her neck to peer at the bottle, but figures it's some other future thing she's never heard of and just nods to the doctor, letting the student press that thing against her. It stings enough that she winces. Catching herself, she sighs and --
-- peers at the blueberries.
...She eats them. Chews for a moment. Swallows.
And then Bowman drops the bombshell. Tal blinks. Then she blinks again. She looks up at the door, then down at her side and the long path of blood she left on the floor.
She tilts her head back and sighs long and hard. "Althena preserve me," she groans.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The door actually SHAKES a little as Bart kicks if after Bowman reveals that this wasn't the guy they were looking for.
"AND I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON THOSE MUSHROOMS YOU OLD FART!"
Clearly he is paying some attention.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"..."
"Of course," Lynnai sighs, and then wishes she hadn't. "Apparently he had an argument with someone and stormed off here, so we were coming to investigate. A - " She pauses, thinking back. "Professor Busker," she dredges out from her memory. "Is he a mycologist too, and have we not been barking /completely/ up the wrong tree? Or are both the brothers Levron here?"
She is not amused. But it's not Bowman's fault.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida is perfectly silent as Bowman talks. Finally: "/Damnation./" It's the first time Talise and Lynnai have heard her curse, and it's a religious epithet, no less.
Ida feels guilty about two seconds later. "Where can we find the /other/ Doctor Levron, Doctor Bowman?"
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia knows she hit Bart somewhere sensitive, and looks a little remorseful at his obviously emotional reaction. She'll get him a drink later, it's fine.
And then...Bowman reveals the terrible truth. Cecilia's lips purse and she closes her eyes with perfect, saintly dignity.
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
EXTERNAL DIALOGUE:
"Yes," she says, quiet. "We do wish to see him. Please."
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"Professor Busker," Bowman says with a sigh, "Is the name Jareth gave to a shrub outside his office. He keeps saying it's looking at him funny." The doctor stops covering Lestaci's wound for a moment, considering. "Although...I've gotta say, it /really/ is a weird-looking bush." He shakes his head. "I should probably up the dose on his prescriptions," he says.
Ida asks a question, and Bowman waits until he releases the gauze (which seals itself against her skin on its own thanks to a low-powered Symbol) before answering. "He's on sabbatical," the doctor answers, rubbing his hands on a white cloth to clean away the blood. "Aren wanted to go off to Arctica, but...well, you know," he says with a shrug. "So instead he went to Saint Centour. He might be there... or he might be heading to Adlehyde for that Exhibition they've got going on," Bowman notes thoughtfully, glancing at Cecilia...and reserving any further remarks. "He'd be all over that if he had any choice in the matter."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise actually starts slightly as she hears Ida curse. She gives the woman another look over.
As the doctor reveals that the man they're looking for could be anywhere, the half-Beastwoman lowers her eyelids. She lets her frown be her only comment.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Bowman earns a point for his discretion. But Cecilia can't really hide from it, this time. "We just came from Adlehyde, but it's possible we missed him on the road, I suppose...we wouldn't have known to look."
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"I came from Adlehyde, and was looking for him there," Lynnai says. "I don't think he's there... or at least not there /yet/." It's not time for the Festival, quite; he could still be travelling. He's old, she figures. It probably takes him some time; he'll need a wagon or a caravan to be going the right way, since he probably won't travel on his own -
Lynnai tends to overthink things.
"How do we get to Saint Centaur from here?" she asks, instead, because she knows how to get to Adlehyde but has never been there. "Ship, I know, but where's the best place to get a ride from?"
<Pose Tracker> Lestaci Delloro has posed.
"Thank you," Lestaci says to Bowman, grudgingly. There are a lot of weird looking bushes out there, she thinks.
"Yeah - do you know anything that might help us find him?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Now that she's had a moment to calm down and recover, Ida can more properly appreciate Bowman's work. She's watching him now, probably taking notes for her own purposes. "Thank you," she says. "If I may ask, Doctor Bowman, what's brought /you/ here?"
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeell," Bowman drawls, "I've never been out that way myself, but Port Timney's probably the closest port of call. And it's the closest one to Adlehyde, so... if he's coming back for the Exhibition, he'll probably take a ship there. Jareth and Aren are twins, so if you got a good look at one, you'll know how to find the other. As for what I'm doing here..." Bowman stands and dusts his pants off. "I'm here because Jareth's students told me what happened. And he /is/ my patient, so...yeah. Excuse me, will you?"
The lanky man walks over toward the door, doffing his lab coat and tossing it to a nearby student (revealing a pair of metal armguards wrapped around his forearms, strangely). Bowman stops in front of the stone and presses his left hand against it, concentrating. He taps a spot a little above his left ear with two fingers. He taps a spot down and to the right. He taps a third spot near the right edge of the door frame. He nods, takes a single step back, and then drives his right hand forward, blowing an arm-sized hole through the stone, sinking shoulder-deep into it.
Cecilia and Ida have seen something very much like this from up close before.
Bowman pulls his hand out, shaking debris off his sweater. He reaches his left arm through the hole and begins patting around the inside of the door frame. "THere we go," he says, grunting as he pulls something unseen; there is a rumbling noise, and the door begins sliding upward. "Jaaaaaaaaareeeeeeeth!" he calls out as he ducks under the rising barrier. "Time to take your mediciiiiiiiiiiine!"
"noooooo" comes the faint call back. "you'll never take me aliiiiiiiiiive"
"That can be arraaaaaaaaaaanged!" Bowman sing-songs as he vanishes into the hall, followed shortly thereafter by the rest of the Linga crew.