2017-03-05: Let's All Make A Memory

• Log: Let's All Make A Memory
• Cast: Nightburn Acklund, Layla, Ainetta Rockwell, Tesni Inoue, Ethius Hesiod
• Where: Ruins of Memory
• Date: March 5th, 2017
• Summary: A disparate group of Drifters under the legendary Nightburn Acklund - along with an insistent vagrant - journey together into the depths of the Ruins of Memory. (NOTE: Due to our early issues in trying to get the scene done in one go and the haphazard attempts at saving all of it, the prompt cards are missing. Sorry!)

===========================================<* Ruins of Memory *>============================================

The Ruins of Memory are located in the Ranchlands, as a towering structure nestled in the foothills. The temple's outer layer has been thoroughly pilfered, with large and emptied rooms that have little but inscriptions on the walls. The Ruins allegedly date back to the Metal Demon War. The lower levels of the Ruins of Memory, however, have not been breached. There, one can find fiendish puzzles and drop traps that make this a dangerous place to explore. Nonetheless, it is said that ancient treasures and ancient history lay within.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C55flOnlXMg

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

The early afternoon sun hangs over the sky as the group approaches crumbling exterior of the ancient facility known as the Ruins of Memory. A well known location and frequent hotspot of Drifter activity, the upper levels of the dungeon are practically barren of anything save dust and footprints. Whatever forms of hostile life may have once made their homes here have long since been given the boot making the journey from the surface to the far end of the upper levels quite boring and free of hardship, leaving the various members of the small party to chatter or slack off as they please until the first real barrier to entry into depths presents itself in the form of a large gaping hole leading down into darkness.

A figure clad from head to toe in a black cowl and cape leads the way for most of the journey, confidently forging through the various twists and turns that take them to their destination. Having introduced herself as a scholar by the name of Layla, she is the one responsible for gathering todays's motely crew in order to forray into the as of yet mostly virgin territory of the deeper reaches of the Ruins. What awaits them is yet to be seen, or atleast that's the story she's fed them.

In truth, the sorceress has already been down into this particular darkness once before with little to show for it. A frustrating outcome to be sure but even in failure can lessons be learned. Today, she's brought along a fresh crew to see if they fare any better, as well as a little extra unexpected assistance.

Pausing at the gaping hole, Layla peers down into it from beneath the shadows of her hood, remembering her first attempt to descend into that void with little fondness. But let it not be said that she doesn't learn from her mistakes! She mostly remembers how deep the hole goes and can better expect to land more safely. Ofcourse, she's not about to share that information, as this will be a decent test to see how her current unsuspecting lackies will fare and it'll be amusing to watch them fall on their faces if they fail.

"Do becareful," she offers, her rather deep voice reverberating through the empty space. She fishes a small bag out of her cloak and withdraws a pill from within, popping it daintly into her mouth. "It's quite the first step." And without further adieu, she steps forward and hops into the darkness.

DG: Layla has used her Tool Mysterious Medicine toward her party's challenge, Entering the Depths.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

One member of the black-clad sorceress' party is, literally, someone they just picked up no more than three minutes ago. The circumstances are so abrupt, yet brief, as to hardly warrant any sort of catch-up flashback about their presence or stake here.

...Nonetheless...

An especially strange white-haired man with face obscured by a yellow bandanna and easily identifiable with a poncho that gradually goes from maroon to an ashen gray seems to have beaten the rest of them here... no, it must be a coincidence. What could have drawn him here, initially, by his lonesome? The conversation on that front may not have been productive. To say he introduced himself properly would be a bold-faced lie. Yet, soon enough...

"So, there is more within," he mused then, far too eloquently for what his appearance suggests about an expected manner of speech. He didn't seem too discontent with his lack of findings of the well-explored top levels, whatever piqued this stranger's curiosity to loiter about a space previously well-traveled, "would it be an inconvenience if I came along with?"

Here we are in the present, with another warm body.

With the sorceress taking her first step in, the white-haired stranger hesitates. Fear? No, his eyes don't waver from the hole. He might just be waiting for sign of a safe landing, as he looks to the rest that have followed the mysterious sorceress Layla in a cursory examination of their persons. (Maybe he should look in the mirror if he wants to really have a look at someone suspicious...)

After a few moments as if to be confident that one does not run the risk of landing atop any one person who may have beaten him to the jump... he crouches, gently grips the edge with one hand, and looks down to gauge the drop's distance as he moves the rest of his body over the edge with that one gripping hand for safety.

...

He must have made up his mind like the snap of one's fingers, for his grip slips almost immediately after. Surely, some mysterious stranger who just happened to be there would not be so clumsy as to have their hand slip and suffer a terrible fall so soon.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Entering the Depths.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue hearing this is a ruins of what was thought to be an history archive or museam? This had had her attention for some time hopefully they would be able to find something int his long ruined place. The name waw quite fitting to her when she thoughtabout it more. She's been eager to go in deeper than most if anyone has before. There might be things she could find of use to her own lust for the history of the world. She didn't look too out of place in the crew though she had her weapon the Dead Man's ARM at the ready as she moved on a head knowing there woudl be wildlife ahead and waiting fo them but tht's not what she gets she move to she move to put the rifle back on to her pack and starts to be a heck lot more cautious as she moves to press onwards.

"Watch your step."

DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Entering the Depths.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

Ainetta is a very good whistler. A little natural talent combined with years of practicing the mimicry of various animal calls have led to the young woman being quite adept at controlling the sounds her lips can make! A skill that she seems quite insistent on demonstrating as the party makes its way through the relatively dangerless upper levels of the ruins.

It's probably not the sort of behaviour one might expect from the fur-clad, white-haired young woman who signed onto this expedition as a 'monster expert.' The primitive walking armory she's made of herself suggests that her expertise lies primarily in the disposal of monsters. Given her state of attire and the interest with which she regards the party's surroundings, one would almost think that the ruins are a technological marvel for her.

Ethius gets a brazenly friendly "Hello!" from the young huntress, whose hand doesn't even move to any of the many weapons she's wearing at the stranger's arrival.

The hole in the ground, though, is the subject of much more trepidation. As Ethius drops down, Ainetta crouches cautiously beside the darkness. There's a moment of hesitation as she sniffs at the air, then tilts an ear to the black void.

"Well, it doesn't -seem- like an antlion nest," she offers to an already-gone Tesni, scratching her head for a moment. Realising that she's practically alone, Ainetta stands up, dusts herself off, and hops down into the dark.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Entering the Depths.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Motley is an apt descriptor for this crew. In start contrast to the Baskaress sporting the finery of her hunts, another Drifter is adorned with an rarer item than what many aspiring adventurers will prove able to unearth from these ruins: a business tie. Were it not for the swaying tassles of his black coat and zippered chaps, one might mistake him for a misplaced merchant. Introducing himself to the party as a "Mister Acklund", his lips drew into a merry smile at the scholar's invitation, not batting an eye for a moment at the odd selection of compatriots she had for hismelf. "A scholar and a hardy Baskar. You've got the bases covered and I've got the time to spare, so why not?" Since then he's been content to follow her lead, seeing no undue reason to attract further attention to himself. Life is simpler when people aren't scrambling for an autograph.

If his flappability was in question, his lack of such was proven when the addition of a curiously tattooed gentleman to their ranks was met with a simple two finger salute. And moreso later, when he simply walked off the edge of the chasm with nary but a single glance below.

Those already below would be treated to a display of him nimbly leaping, one might even say skipping, from stone to stone as he makes his way downward, almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world. No one seems to need his assistance, and there's no point tarrying any longer than needed. Hopefully this nonchalance won't be met with loose footing!

DG: Nightburn Acklund has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Entering the Depths.

DG: The party led by Layla has failed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

The short drop into the darkness, falling freely through empty space for a handful of heartbeats, offers a brief moment of exhiliration as Layla's natural instincts give her a quick surge of adrenaline, but the cold hard stone of the lower floor stops her descent in short order. As expected, her former experience with this particular hurdle was enough to correctly judge the proper distance and plan accordingly. She alights upon the ground with little effort, suffering only a mild twinge of pain in her legs that is dulled by the medicine.

The sound of much less graceful landings behind her brings a devilish smirk to her lips. That too, had gone about as she had expected.

Fortunately, the small room into which they fell is mostly empty save for some scattered piles of rubble, likely from the collasped roof that gave way to the large hole. Unfortunately, their rather loud arrival is likely to have drawn some company, if prior experience is to be relied upon.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue has light feet and is able to make things through so far with her own agilituy but her party does not do as well she can't expect everyont to do so well and this is a full on new crew after. She's able to avoid getting into too much trouble. "Hey is everyone all right?" Tess seems to have made a fine landing and she goes to see is anyone else might need her help getting back up. "

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

• WHUMP*

Apparently the drop was a bit further than the white-maned Baskar anticipated. Fortunately for whoever or whatever might happen to break her fall, Ainetta is not especially heavy, probably somewhere around a hundred and twenty five pounds. Unfortunately, she's also carrying dozens of pounds in equipment.

"Don't worry, I... think I have a torch, somewhere..."

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Unfortunately, one of those 'rocks' that Nightburn had chosen for his descent was a rather impressively sized lichen colony. Nightburn's descent abruptly gives way to freefall, but this is nothing he hasn't dealt with before; he extends his arms outward and leans back into the wall, gritting his teeth as he takes the brunt of the descent down the wall with his back. Approaching ground level he tucks into a forward roll, managing a tumble that takes the worst out of the sudden landing. Paying little heed to his recently acquired layer of debris, glances around to assess the state of the adventuring band. "Yeah, I'm fine. The fellah over here looks like he took the brunt of it though."

Abruptly, the Drifter's eyes narrow. "Hey, did anyone else hear that?" He glances around the area, reaching into his coat as he does so. "It's not from the corridor, so it's almost like it's coming from..."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

At the bottom of the pile, flat on their face, is that stranger who never really gave anyone a name. It could be his greater role in Filgaia's story was simply to break everyone's fall, and little else. (It would appear he's still breathing, but how much good could he offer to everyone after taking such a spill?!)

His well-being would not soon prove not to be of the most immediate concern.

The loud arrivals of Layla and her companions is, in the universal language of infiltration, a way to say to others... 'we're here!'

It seems appropriate that such a hello is met with one in turn. The ground shudders momentarily under a deafening 'bang!' No, let's go over this again.

A deafening 'BANG!!' There. That's more like it.

The group stands to suffer being pelted by blasted rocks and choking smoke before much of any of them could get their bearings after the dangerous, unfamiliar fall into the lower levels of the ruins. Ringing ears give way to shrill voices that might just make them ring anew, met by shadows of short but stocky stature. Bearded figures, pointed ears, their manner of dress color-coordinated in an unsightly green.

"What this?! We run gob smack into other robbers!" Exclaims one.

"Gob of trouble," says another.

"Gob don't wobble! Gob make them hobble!" Intellectually, they seem to be reaching into the very outer limits of their intellectual grasp of wordplay to so clearly enunciate their intents.

"Gobs gobble them up!" One of them in the back - a leader? - raises a short bow. Most the rest, with few exceptions, brandish knives of variable qualities of rust and decay, as they start to rush through the rubble-strewn ground. Not much room to maneuver, and so soon after such a dangerous fall...!!

...

Behind the group, there's a quiet voice chanting. Is it a third part-- no, it's the strange white-haired man, whom seems to have come to from being the soft(er) landing of everyone else behind himself, having helped himself up into a pained crouch. The tattooed symbols upon his arms might draw immediate notice if they hadn't sooner... he's a Symbologist - as at least one among them has already taken note of - who now grips one of two large satchels he's attached to his belt.

Sorcery courses through the air, its twinges of sight and sound prefacing a forceful toss of the bag of... something or another towards the mob. Clouds of dust and powder scatter violently, the haze providing a screen of cover in which for everyone to get their bearings and do what needs to be done as it moves to try and throw the enemy Goblin party into disarray.

"As we were," so says the mysterious white-haired man with words slightly pained, gripping a wooden quarterstaff as he prepares to move through with the rest in wake of his second great contribution to the effort.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Goblin Raiders.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

They are now in a hole more of less and they aqre not alone in the hole, she gets the idea of they are not along Gob?Gob?She has no idea what these things are but she looks at all of them wearing sickly green clothing and they are still clerly ostile and she readies her ARM as she doe so she'snot goingto be long before she gets ready to open fire with the lever action rifle.

"I'd run if I were you!"

She fires, pull the lever and fires once more at the Gobs.

DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Goblin Raiders.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

While the others fumble about for their bearings, Layla merely waits off to one side. The darkness, while thick, is not complete thanks to the light filtering down from the hole above and the general emptiness of the room makes it easy enough to navigate over to one of the walls where she stands in silence, leaving the bulk of whatever work might need to be done to the others. It would be easy enough to simply take charge, but as a 'humble scholar', such skills are best left to the others. Besides, it means someone else gets to suffer the wrath of whatever misfortune comes their way.

As expected, the noisy nature of their arrival draws down trouble, though not quite in the manner she had expected. The massive explosion rocks the room, kicking up a mighty cloud of dust and dislodging several pieces of the already shattered masonry from above, adding a fresh hazard to the mix. Muttering a curse under her breath, Layla lifts an arm to shield her eyes against the grit, only to have yet more obscuring smoke thrown up by whatever manner of magic their mysterious last-second addition has cooked up. Judging by the tattoos, it's not hard to guess that Symbology must be at work, one of the more esoteric forms of energy control invented by the primitives.

She sniffs in disdain at the base display of casual trickery. It would be an easy matter to annihilate these creatures with a flick of her wrist but, as before, she displays restraint for the sake of keeping up appearances.

"Goblins? How boring. But, I suppose I can help a little..."

Reaching into her cloak, the sorceress draws out a small bottle of pink fluid and downs half of its contents, pausing a few moments to let the energy of the concotion sink into her body. Infused with fresh ether, she turns and gestures with one hand, pale skin sliding out from underneath the heavy folds of her cloak. Bolts of glowing purple-black darkness erupt from each of her fingers, whistling through the empty air like arrows. Each of them streaks out into a different target, seeking out the hearts of the ugly little creatures with deadly precision.

DG: Layla has used her Tool Rosesol toward her party's challenge, Goblin Raiders.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The fumbling in the dark pauses, and at some point Ainetta mercifully removes herself from atop Ethius' person, a renewed sense of urgency arising with the arrival of...

"Goblins?!"

Ainetta, like any monster hunter worth their salt, is aware of the creatures. Immediately she takes on a more serious persona, eyes narrowing as she reaches down to her side and begins to helpfully spout her wisdom on the subject of goblins. "Don't panic! Watch out for flanks and don't get surrounded! Goblins hate fire!"

Ainetta doesn't happen to have any fire on hand, but she does have a lot of weapons!

"Don't worry, I have just the thing we need to drive them off!"

She pulls something from her belt in the dark, then... raises it to her lips?

*BWAAAAAAAMPH*

A deep, resonating sound emanates from the Baskar warhorn, sowing further confusion amongst the ranks of the goblins as the walls start to ring with the obnoxious sound. The noise is cut abruptly short as a small goblin-make arrow whistles by Ainetta's ear, causing her to nearly choke on a breath. The horn lowers as Ainetta glares in the direction from whence the offending projectile flew.

"Hey! Grrr..."

In place of the horn, Ainetta raises the prodigious longbow previously slung on her back, nocks an arrow that might nearly be mistaken for a feathered shortspear, and looses it into the throng.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has used her Tool Hunter's Horn toward her party's challenge, Goblin Raiders.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Right on cue, the ground shudders and Nightburn's coat finds itself acquiring another layer of debris. That certainly escalated quickly! Backing away and holding a free hand to his temple, he tries to quickly acquire a visual on each of the interlopers tumbling into the room. The realization is met with a derisive arch of brows. "Oh no, a mob of gobs.", he dryly singsongs. "Whatever shall we do?" The sarcasm is just dripping.

Answering his own question, Nightburn drops to one knee and finishes producing the weapon he had begun to reach for earlier. It's an eyecatchingly streamlined ARM that looks a little different than the usual sort. A rifle, for sure. Others might recognize it as a little more specialized than that. "You heard her, people! Visibility is crap, so stick to the walls and keep the firing zone clear!" His order declared, the loud chatter of his assault rifle reverberates throughout the chamber, briefly drowned out by the Baskar's battle horn. A hail of white energy projectiles are laid down between the party and the gobs, suppressing their advance and buying the others a chance to bring down the thunder. Arrows clatter to either side as he advances, one leaving a red streak as the tip whizzes past his face. "I could really use a smoke right about now..."

DG: Nightburn Acklund has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Goblin Raiders.

DG: The party led by Layla has passed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

The gobs of goblins are met with gobs upon gobs of resistance. Their lingering legacy will be the gobs of puns that do not deserve further celebration nor mention.

The unnamed man who all but invited himself among the party makes up the rear of the quintet, a quarterstaff held defensively as though preparing to help ward off and push back any attackers that make it through the screen of smoke, the arrows of darkness, the feathered arrow, the flashes of rifle-spat energy, and the whizzing sounds of rifle-spat lead. Superiority is established almost trivially.

If anything, the residual smoke in the air lasts longer than the opposition. Any return fire on the goblins' part is trivially suffered at worst.

"I would assume this is satisfactory," the enigma of a traveler among them presumes aloud, now seeming together enough after that embarrassing injury. Then again, of course he would breathe easily now, he has something protecting his mouth from inhaling much of any of the clearing dust among them.

He currently stands a ways behind both Tesni and Nightburn, a nearly imperceptible turn of his head towards the other two following after. What has his attention, then...?

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

As expected of such a trivial annoyance, the goblins have hit the floor almost before their terrible word puns have finished echoing through the open halls. Pierced with projectiles, energy, and magic, the rag-tag band of demi-humans serve as little more than a speed bump and even that is being generous.

As with her previous group, Layla spends more effort watching how the various members of the small band react under the sudden threat than actually doing much to help out. She turns her shadowy gaze upon each of them in turn as they draw out their weapons, ARMs and primitive armaments alike.

Only the older man and the barbarian girl stand out in particular, two opposites on the spectrum of technological achievement. Nightburn's advanced rifle would be of great interest, if she hadn't seen hundreds of similar make over the course of her life. Likely a gift from the Veruni for his service, though it's definately one of the nicer models. The fur-clad primitive and her bow earn the other half of the scholar's pointed looks, though they are more out of incredulity than admiration. She'd heard of a few rare tribes of humans that were even more backwards than the bulk of the savages on this planet but to actually see someone wield a bow in combat... well, it's not something she expected to actually witness.

Still, she tries not to stare, if only to avoid scrutiny herself. As before, she remains silent in the shadows, content to allow someone else to take charge while she herself casually inspects her nails. Judging by their demeanor in the 'fight', there are atleast a couple of people likely to lead the way. Their path should be fairly obvious, anyways.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The return fire from Ainetta's bow proves much more fruitful than her foe's initial shot, multiple shrill cries coming as the arrow passes through the horde. Another small goblin arrow manages to catch Ainetta in the leg, causing her to grunt before slipping another pair of arrows from her quiver and drawing both at once, turning her bow sidelong as she does. Two more goblins are pinned to the walls.

In a brief moment, she seems to become aware of the magic being wielded by her fellow dungeon-delvers. She turns an eye toward the Symbologists. "Oh, good. I didn't realise you were -"

She's interrupted as a particularly courageous goblin vaults over her bow, causing her to drop it in surprise. As the goblin brings its knife down at her, Ainetta pivots, shifting her head out of the blade's course and driving a leather gauntlet into its stomach in the same motion. The goblin lets out a shriek as it's slammed into the floor before it's silenced by a swiftly-drawn bone-handled knife.

"Swiftly, before they can -"

Ainetta pauses mid-sentence, crouched over the goblin. "- bring... others?"

As it turns out, the goblin party has already been slain or routed. "Oh."

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue is doing all right in the fight but the Goblins appear to be a bit too much for her to handle she's not doing so well as she does end up getting winged noticably in the brawl and she's not looking so hot but she is however isn't stopped from rightin but he's now muttering for a moment as she moves to tie up the wound and she's going clean up the wound before she moves on she'll get her hide to a doc once they get back to town.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

At last, the gobs fall into silence. Quite literally. Given a moment of reprieve, Nightburn begins dusting his coat off with one hand while keeping the rifle raised with the other. "Everyone here alright? Still in one piece?" His blue eyes briefly find themself meeting those of their cloaked leader, offering a playful roll; in response to her scrutiny or something else, it's hard to say. He turns his attention instead to the query of their tattooed yet undeclared companion, offering him the thumbs-up of approval. "Dead on. Let's get moving, but be ready for anything. That was enough noise to awaken the dead." Pause. "Or the undead for that matter." Since their fearless leader is more keen on observing than taking the lead, he takes that as an invitation to do so.

The next room is slightly...unsettling. A long corridor, plain and unadorned with the exception of a relief running the full length of one of the walls. Carved into this surface is the depictions of many faces that watch the rag tag team of Drifters, some expressions curious, others accusing. Set into their eyes are stones, varied in color despite lacking the faceted sheen of anything particularly valuable. Many instead offer a toothy grin given their state of their blindness, lacking stones for eyes entirely.

For now those faces simply look on, doing nothing at this moment despite their inanimate interest.

Until that dreaded sound echoed from below...

o~ *clicky-click* o~

It's hard to tell who stepped on the switch in the business of the next moment, but the effect is immediate. The eyes within the relief come to life with an eerie light, and the entire line of them begin to slide horizontally alongside our stalwart adventurers. Whenever their vision crosses the path of an intruder, an arrow flits out from a slit in the wall representing its mouth! Fortunately enough of the blind faces are available to duck and weave, but speed is of the essence!

As one of the people taking up a position near the front, and *certainly* not the one who accidentally stepped on the switch, the course of action is immediate; after the first arrow nearly embeds itself in his hand, he begins ducking and weaving as he advances through the corridor while trying not to attract further unwanted 'attention' to himself. "Avoid the eyes, and copy my movements if you can!"

DG: Nightburn Acklund has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arrow Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue is all patched up now thanktully what else could go wrong for the group, right? It's not like they'd have a horrible series of traps to deal with. Wait that's the sort of place they are in. She looks to Nightburn. "Right, who knows whats left of the old security systems here."

Truer words were never spoken as she sees the hall the rekief catches Tess attention she's going to sketch that on their way out for certain but then click? Oh hell she moves to leap back.

"TRAP!"

DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Arrow Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

The oddball addition seems to accept the acknowledgement of the planet's most famous Golem Hunter far too stoically. To receive praise from such a world-famous Drifter...! So many young, up and coming Drifters would fawn with jealousy over the experience, to say they were the one to help him through a tight spot. A mostly smooth encounter with the goblins could stand to be exaggerated ever more over rounds of beer with a captive audience, but this man seems too lost in thought to truly comprehend the great honor being bestowed!

The best that is returned is a mere nod, seconds after the famous Golem Hunter would have broken eye contact with him anyway while he leads the lot of them into the next hallway, the faces...

The next incident, the next challenge. His head turns up, and one arrow whizzes right by his head. A free hand goes atop his white-haired scalp, crouching down as he takes in the advice of the world-famous Drifter.

He lacks any sort of large protective surface (such as a shield) to work with, his margin of error for escaping injury narrow. In the urgent need to move from point A to point B, with many points bearing down to intersect with his point of existence, he seems especially calm for his vulnerability. Wordlessly, he takes after the Golem Hunter's advice and steps best he's able, though he doesn't appear as fleet of foot.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arrow Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

And then, as they are want to do in the presence of adventurers, things get interesting. The tell-tale clicking sound of a pressure switch being activated is all of the warning that Layla needs to understand what is about to happen. While she cannot predict precisely what sort of ancient mischief is about to be unleashed upon them, it seems pretty obvious to her where the source of that trouble is going to come from.

The sorceress purses her lips in annoyance for a moment. Running is not one of her favorite activities in the world. As much as her health has improved over the last decade, the disease that crippled her at birth is an ever present obstacle to overcome and intense exertion the likes of which is about to be required of her is a quick way to see her bed-ridden for a few days. As much as she hates to use up her resources so quickly, it seems she has little choice. The small bag reappears in her hand and another of the white pills within vanishes into her mouth, all in the span of a second or two after the trap is triggered, her mind operating at a speed far beyond what her unwitting human lackies could hope to match.

Unfortunately, if she wants to keep looking like little more than an adventerous bookworm, her actual reaction to the problem has to be much slower. Layla hesistates as the first few arrows spew forth from the gaping mouths of their creepy voyeurs, only barely seeming to flinch aside as one of them whistles past her head.

"Nrgh! How thrilling... more danger..."

After a few seconds have passed, the cloaked scholar lowers her head and darts forward after their daring new leader. She does her best to predict where the danger will come from, bobbing and weaving while trying to make it look like clumsy stumbling about without accidentally getting an arrow for her troubles, which is a lot harder in practice than in theory.

DG: Layla has used her Tool Mysterious Medicine toward her party's challenge, Arrow Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

As the party ventures onward, Ainetta wears a curious expression. "Security systems? What do you mean by that?" she wonders of Tesni as she adjusts her re-slung bow back into a comfortable position. Fortunately, the answer to Ainetta's question is provided in rather abrupt fashion, even as she's busy inspecting one of the blind reliefs.

TRAP!

"Huh?! OW!"

Ainetta takes another arrow from the opposite wall in a fortunately non-vital location, causing her to jump. Thinking quickly, she comes to what is, for her, the obvious conclusion. "Everyone! Somebody's in the walls shooting at us! We're outnumbered, run!"

Ainetta starts charging down the hall, trying to weave her way through the storm of arrows and holding her shoulder and its turtle-shell pauldron up to lead her. If anyone ahead of her isn't able to maintain the same velocity, she'll helpfully endeavour to try and bring them with her! And probably not with the intent of using them as a human shield.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Arrow Trap.

DG: The party led by Layla has failed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

While the Drifter at the lead of the bunch seems to have no issues with contorting himself in whatever elaborate dance is requried in order to navigate the stares, those following him are decidedly...less fortunate. Hopefully they were in need of some acupuncture. Too soon? Failing to conceal the wince, Nightburn turns his attention back to what lies before them, a small open chamber between this and the next. After carefully examining the floor to ensure that another pressure plate is *not* in place, he raises a hand to stop the group. "Let's take a quick break for a moment. Some of you are looking a little winded, and fatigue isn't going to make the next nuisance the ruin throws at us any easier to deal with."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

At the other end of the dangerous hallway... the strange man who still has yet to give his name, or even explain what he was doing here at all, is now a proud bearer of three arrow wounds.

None of them appear to be lodged anywhere deadly, but... punctured in his right shoulder, right hip, upper back towards the left... for the stoicism shown in the indignity of being a human cushion and casually accepting the acknowledgement of the one and only Nightburn Acklund, a loud exhale and grit teeth suggests that he comprehends and suffers debilitating pain like an ordinary human being ought to. It might behoove of him to call a little more attention to his injuries, though, wouldn't it?

It might be the grace of Nightburn himself that someone else might give notice, taking that moment's rest with a kneel.

"I appreciate your consideration," he deigns to say.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

In the helter-skelter chaos of several people attempting to duck and weave down a narrow hallway, Layla finds the path she has chosen to avoid being struck cut off abruptly more than once. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, she makes adjustments as best she can, but her bumbling dash to the far end of the deadly trap is twice met with narrow failure.

The first near-hit registers near the mid point as a sudden sharp stinging sensation as one of the ancient arrows cuts across the back of her leg. The heavy fabric of her cloak does much to blunt the potential wound but the rusty old edge still manages to carve a nasty cut across the sensitive flesh of her thigh. Immediately the warm trickle of blood begins to travel down her leg but with yet more of the projectiles whistling all around, she has no choice but to grit her teeth and press on, hissing curses under her breath.

The second strike is far worse. A sudden blossom of white pain explodes in Layla's chest and she stumbles to her knees. Glancing down to the source of the sensation, she can only stare in dull disbelief at the sight of a withered shaft protruding from her chest. A shaking hand is lifted to grasp the offending object and with a snarl, she rips it free, earning another white hot flash of agony for her trouble. Pushing back to her feet, she stumbles ahead once more, somehow managing to avoid getting turned into even more of a pincushion.

Once at the far side and within the haven of safety provided by the small section of the hall not filled with the creepy faces, Layla slumps against the wall, grimacing openly beneath her hood. She touches a finger to her lips as a sharp coppery tang drips into her mouth, finding fresh blood leaking from her nose. Naturally, using that medicine in such quick succession is coming back to bite her. This job sucks, sometimes.

A more thorough inspection of her injuries provides atleast some small comfort. The arrow that struck her chest had apparently hit more cloak that flesh and the gaping hole she expected to find there turns out to be little more than a painful gouge. Still potentially troublesome if not dealt with but hardly life-threatening. The cut on her leg isn't even enough to warrant more than a cursory glance at this point.

"Don't mind me... I probably won't die..."

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

So Tensi has been having a bad time of it she gets caught by an arrow, thankfully it hits nothing vital and didn't score a direc thit but she's cut up more and how has naother wound to worry about as they press onwards she doesn't seem very happy at all. She mutters something about traps and sadists from the past but doesn't say much more as she moves laong keeping an eye on the rest oof the party.

"With how picked clean they say this place is? I don't want to know what it was like before anyone went through here."

She notes as she checks Night, Thrtius and Layla over for a moment.

"This is just one of those days but good we didn't lose anyone..."

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

Ainetta arrives at the other end of the corridor panting heavily, doubling over to rest her gloved hands against her knees as she breathes in deep. She gives a nod up to Nightburn as he suggests that they all take a rest. "This is a good plan," she acknowledges, before turning her eyes toward Ethius. Her face turns into a frown wrought with concern for the stranger as she sees the state that he's in. "Hey, are you okay? Looks like you took a few," she says. If there were a camera involved, it would pan down at about this moment to show the multitude of arrows Ainetta's 'charge heedlessly ahead' strategy have earned her. Luckily, none seem to have struck her head and neck, though one drops out of her hair as she brushes a hand through it. The majority are lodged in the various pelts she's wearing, though a few have found purchase in living rather than dead flesh. These she prioritizes first as she begins plucking the arrows one by one and letting them drop to the floor as the party stops to rest for a moment. There are still a few impaled in her clothing when something ahead gets her attention.

"Huh... what's that?"

The white-haired young huntress creeps forward carefully toward the looming shape up ahead. It seems to grow the closer she approaches, stretching in the shadows to tower over her, cold and silent, a harbinger of doom to come.

Suddenly, it descends from above with the speed of a falling meteor, eliciting a cry of surprise from Ainetta as she jumps back just before... it stops falling.

"Oh. It's just a door! It's stuck. Nothing to worry about. Here, I'll pull it up while you all go under it."

Ainetta pulls a crude stone hatchet - really, what one would almost call a combination battle-axe slash hammer - and puts it down under the door, propping a boot against the wall beside it to try and set to work on prying the stone door upward from its half-ajar position.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has used her Tool Trusty Hatchet toward her party's challenge, Half-Closed Door.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

The good new as they move on and she follows up Ainetta she looks the white haird woman over for a moment before she takes notice of what the Huntress has noticed nd she sees the door and she leas back for a moment. She looks to Ainettaq who pulls out an actual stone hatchet that gets a look from Tess not anything mean just shock.

"Hold on I think I got something for this."

What does she pull from her pack after putting her rifle to hang from it? Why a freaking crowbar, a simple looking one but she's going to end up using it to help try and prry the door open.

"Come on, all together now."

DG: Tesni Inoue has used its Tool Crowbar toward its party's challenge, Half-Closed Door.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Looking over the team, Nightburn refrains from a sigh that might effect the morale. Folks have definitely been in better shape. Reaching into his coat, two rolls of gauze are produced between clenched fingers. "I'm no doctor, but let's see what we can do to tide the flow." Hedging his bets on the most stoic of the group being amenable to some friendly assistance, he sees to bandaging the wounds as best he's able. It's not going to make the pain any easier to bear, but the impromptu work will help staunch further blood loss at least. In the midst of this, he uses a knife to cut off a length that can be offered to Ainetta, who seems to be in a good enough state to treat herself.

The other roll of gauze is slid along the floor over to Layla, half out of having enough of a read to suspect that she'd refuse direct aid, the other half out of her being the supposed leader of the expedition and it being her implied responsibility to help the others. If she doesn't, well...there certainly won't be anything to stop the others from helping themselves to it!

Turning toward the next impediment at the observations of Baskaress, the veteran Drifter barely has any time to take in the state of the door before she's already throwing her considerable back into showing it who's the boss. "Woah, hold on a moment! Before you put too much effort into that, here..." Producing a smaller paring knife from his coat of many things, his other hand produces...an apple? It's slightly more plump than usual though, and others who have been adventuring long enough might even recognize it. "Here, I keep these around for special occasions." Slicing the Apple of Powah into equal distributions for the team, he offers slices to everyone before putting the knife away and taking up his ARM once more. "I'll hold the perimeter while you folks work on this. Not my specialty..."

DG: Nightburn Acklund has used his Tool Power Apple toward his party's challenge, Half-Closed Door.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Concerns and help offered and received from the legendary Drifter and the young monster hunter, the probably-thirty-year-old man doesn't flinch too much as he is given the treatment sorely needed. He appears to have been inches away from trying to rip out the arrows himself, which would have made things a whole lot worse. He's already got one hand in the one in the opposite shoulder when the offered help comes in.

"My deepest gratitude," which is where something simple like 'thanks' could have worked, thanks!!!

Given another few moments to rest as the others turn to whatever methods they may to try and get that door fixed, it would seem that the stranger would keep a low(er) profile as they worked. Rubbing at one of his now gauze-covered wounds, he rises from his crouch.

"If it won't raise," the currently nameless fifth wheel of this rag-tag team says as he approaches the door. He hides the rest of his face under his left hand as though thinking of an alternative, as opposed to doing something like do heavy lifting. Injured he might be, he doesn't seem physically weak...

"Should it prove immovable," he speaks again as he removes the hand from his face, "permit me to melt it if you will give me clearance." Melt it? Melt stone? That's its own dangers!! Should those attempting to physically push the door open give up, the Symbologist goes through the familiar rituals after chewing on his share of the performance-enhancing rations. Chanting, a focused gaze, lights and sounds emit from him...

If events pan out as such that he is the last hope, the very stone door will be subjected to intense rising heat, threatening to turn it bright reds and yellows and - if all goes to plan - leave a puddle of molten rock that will take at least a few minutes to cool, but at least should open the way.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Half-Closed Door.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

The gauze and the apple both get sidelong glances. She accepts the first and turns her nose up at the latter. Not that a little extra muscle would hurt right about now but with her constitution there's no telling how such a thing might interact with the medicine she took. Best to err on the side of caution. The scholar spends a few moments binding her own wounds, her expression hidden beneath the shadow of her hood.

Despite coming out possibly the least worse off, other than Nightburn, Layla is quite content to wallow in the misery of her injuries while the others set about the task of prying the old door open. Such menial labor isn't something she'd lower herself to deal with in the first place, not that she'd be of any help at all even if she did.

Once the pair of primitives have wrestled the door open enough to be passable, she pushes to her feet and wanders over to stand nearby, arms crossed. While she isn't about to offer her aid in holding the stone slab open, she's also not about to be the first person into an unknown area. Blundering blindly into danger is a task for minions.

"A forray into the dark unknown. Looks like a task for a daring adventurer," she muses out loud in a dry fashion. "Now where might we find one of those?"

DG: Layla has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Half-Closed Door.

DG: The party led by Layla has passed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The offer of the apple slice garners Ainetta's attention - luckily, before the pair of women trying to prop the jammed door open have managed to get it into a precarious position. So, when Ainetta relinquishes her effort for a moment to take the piece of fruit, it probably doesn't cause the door to slam down on Tess's foot or anything like that. Probably.

"Thanks!" the Baskar says before stuffing the slice into her mouth to chew as she takes hold of the hatchet's handle again to resume trying to lever it open, now with apple-ified strength.

Fortunately, the party's efforts and assortment of tools are enough to make short work of the door. It would be most unfortunate for such an encounter to mean the end of an expedition, after all. While the crowbar and hatchet may be enough to unstick the door, Ainetta makes a suggestion: "We should melt it anyway, once we're on the other side! That way we have a clear way back. And, well... I've never had a chance to see Moor Gault at work before!"

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"Moor Gault...? You speak of-- oh. I see." The man's words halt suddenly, turning his back to the lot of them. Every so often, his head turns back to the rest sans Ainetta, before resting his hand over his face anew. That must be one of his tics, then.

An awkward silence follows.

"As you've suggested, miss, I'll see to it personally we can retrace our steps the same way." The idea passed and the subject deflected, the Symbologist takes some time to ensure that the door - once all pass - is melted into oblivion so that they avoid that unfortunate circumstance of potentially being locked in on their way out.

It takes an additional toll out of him, sweat upon his brow as the deed is done. Earlier, he seemed to try to hang towards the back by choice. Now, it seems more a necessity of his mounting fatigue relative to his allies.

He's far from running on fumes, but there is a limit to how far one can push sorcery against one's physical reserves.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

A bit of elbow grease followed up with some brute application of magic sees the door shuffled off the mortal coil and, more importantly, out of their way. Layla watches impassively while her minions go to work, striding casually into the next room once the way is clear and someone else makes sure that nothing particularly nasty is awaiting them on the far side. She doesn't bother to mention that destroying the door also renders it impossible to be used against something that might be chasing them on the way out. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite them in the rear, rather literally.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

The door is dealt with, after much backbreaking labor by parties who are not named Nightburn or Layla. Seriously, are those two trying to excuse themselves to step off and have a private moment? No, neither of them technically left anyone's sight, so that's probably not it. It's probably best to not inquire of the latter regardless, for doubtless her frail constitution is in any condition for the violent retching that the thought might induce.

Nightburn returns from patrol duty with his ARM slung over the shoulder, just in time to witness the crowning moment of success. "Fantastic! Great job, folks." Despite his minimal contribution to the work, his words ring with a heartening gusto. Heartening enough to worm its way into the heart of their stoic companion? ...Probably not, but one can try. "Moor Gault.", he muses to himself as he passes through the door. "Now where have I heard that name befo--" The sentence goes unfinished as he watches the Symbologist literally melt the door that might have sealed the passage behind him. "Ah. Yes, now I remember." The weariness that effort seems to bring to the man's bearing doesn't escape his notice, so in the interim he tries for some small talk. "Hey. Can't say I caught your name earlier. The name's Acklund, I'm a little new to these parts."

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Things go awesomely with the door with the entire party's efforts they are able to get the door open and push past it. Tess grins at this as they manage to get through here and she's not feeling that tired out either well she's a bit tired up. She looks to Ethius for a moment taising an euyebrow.

"Good thinking there so we can find our way back out of this maze."

She seem ot be ready to move on and is looking very chipper as she looks back to Nightburn and she grins for a moment.

"Moor Gault? Be darned if I know and lets get a move on oh? The names Inoue, Tesni Inoue."

The hallway goes onwards and it doesn't look like there are any traps but this place is in bad shape. There comes a point where there is a massive pile of rubble before he party and Tess just kinda stares.

"Should have bought a shovel..."

She looks to her crowbar and mutters as she stares up at the massive pile of rocks and crushed sections of wall. Thankfully the roof is intact but well they are going to have to clear it.

She'll take to using the crowbar to help pry stones near the top of the blockage free..

DG: Tesni Inoue has used its Tool Crowbar toward its party's challenge, Rubble Pile.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"My name is Ethius Hesiod." A name. At last. Most of the time, when meeting someone - or in this case, people who are relying upon each other for their very lives as they explore a dangerous ruin - there is at least the common decency to share names. This still comes after a few seconds of apparent deliberation, far too even and measured in tone for someone who is talking to the world famous Nightburn Acklund. Could he be so ignor--

"You are the famous Drifter, Nightburn Acklund." So, he does know, after all. Then, what the hey is his excuse for being all cool about it?! There is a simple nod of acknowledgement. "It is an honor, to allow me to partake in your expeditio--"

This is cut short as mention is brought up by the current lead of the party about the pile of rubble. There doesn't seem to be any clear, easy place to push the largest of it.

"If I may suggest," to melt it again? "Let us start with the smaller pieces. I believe we might find passage without having to expend time and resource upon the larger... my apologies for the interruption."

Injured as he might be from the arrow hallway, the newly-identified Ethius puts some muscle to work on moving some of the smaller pieces, as suggested. The mass of stone that would need to be melted is of far greater quantity to be impractical.

He takes a lighter touch to the collective effort, but appears to be able to keep up well enough physically.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rubble Pile.

The someone ponderous response received by Nightburn manages to solicit a blink. Something indeed feels slightly off about the measured responses of his tattooed traveling companion, made all the more apparent by the hesistance in repeating back the name. Maybe he's thinking about things a little too carefully, but he's dealt with far too many people who have trouble lying in his line of work. Or he could just be overthinking it. It's the calm delivery of the name 'Nightburn' that solicits the stronger response from him though, earning amused laughter. "Ha! So you've heard of me, eh?" It's a nice change of pace to have someone recognize who he is without immediately swooning. "I'm just along for the ride, if I'm being honest--" Wait, his new drinking buddy is no longer listening. Something up ahead?

More drudge work.

"Well, at least we know no one else has been this way? Or maybe there's something that someone doesn't want others finding up ahead." Like treasure. Or the beast that almost spelled certain doom for another adventuring party. How exciting!

"Well..." Nightburn glances left and right at his companions. Faced with more physical labor immediately after the challenge of the door, he doesn't get the impression that they're ready to take on this task already. "I guess I'll pitch in this time." A little bit. "Let us know if you hear anything coming, yeah?", he offers to the hooded scholar before kneeling and producing another performance enhancing drug--err, apple. Normally he wouldn't part with another so soon, but it looks like this crew needs it.

DG: Nightburn Acklund has used his Tool Power Apple toward his party's challenge, Rubble Pile.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The lack of recognition at the name of the Guardian of fire as Ainetta gives it gives the woman a slight pause that's soon replaced with awe as the stone door is melted into slag behind them. "That was amazing," she says in a tone laden with wonder as she tarries to observe the cooling stone until she realises that the party has moved on. "Wait for me!"

The young huntress breaks into a jog to catch up to the rest of the party. As the pile of rubble comes into view, she tilts her head slightly to the side. "Oh." Pulling the hatchet from her belt, she gives it a twirl, eyeing the tool thoughtfully for a moment before taking a firm grip on the haft. "Let me know if a bigger one needs moving and I'll see to it," she offers, taking one of the offered pieces of apple. Following Ethius' suggestion, she starts to use the hatchet to pick and pry at the smaller pieces of rubble to dislodge them, though her definition of 'small' may go a bit beyond the standard.

"I'm Ainetta Rockwell," she introduces herself in turn to Ethius as she attempts to work the rocks loose, wiggling the hatchet amongst them. "What villages do you all come from?"

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has used her Tool Trusty Hatchet toward her party's challenge, Rubble Pile.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

Oh look, more hard work. Guess who isn't doing anything to help again? It's so nice to have such willing grunts. Ofcourse, these primitives are far better suited to doing such work which is why they take to rooting around in the dirt so naturally, she supposes. Atleast they have one good use.

Layla eyes the pile of rubble with the same disdain she had for the door, remaining at the rear of the group even as the others pitch in to help clear the way. She takes the apple offered her way this time but simply tucks it into her cloak rather than partake of its odd properties. Improved strength is only useful if you actually plan on doing work. Once or twice she deigns to step forward and grab a chunk of the collapsed masonry when one that is roughly the size of a hand ball presents itself but otherwise she offers little in the way of assistance, instead turning her attentions to various patches of moss or lichen growing on the walls, seemingly far more interested in studying those than getting her hands dirty. She might even be doing what was asked of her, judging by the disinterested glances she casts down the hallway from time to time, but in all honesty it would take something with some serious skill to sneak up on them in this scenario considering the only direction it could possibly do so is a bottle-necked narrow passageway.

Having a name to put to the face for their odd magician adds another line to her mental notebook, one which she will commit to more longterm memory in her journal once there's some actual light by which to do so and something better to prop the book up than her forearm. She seems far less taken aback by his odd behavior than the others, perhaps lacking some cue to pick up on that locals might be more knowledgable about.

"Oh, somewhere quite far away," she says, her tone disinterested as she chucks one of the small blocks of stone aside. "I doubt you'd know of it."

DG: Layla has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rubble Pile.

DG: The party led by Layla has passed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

They say many hands make light work and that is very much the case here Ethius idea is a good one and Tess will work with him on that with her working along side him it should be fairly good work though Tess seems to be over working herself pretty hard where while Nightburn helps with the drudge work it need to be done and he's doing a good job helping with the labour and Tess replies.

"Will do sir."

Tess goes back to working as Ainetta gets out that hatchet again and Tess says "Right keep at it we sould be brekaing through soon."

She does notice Layla isn't pushing hard but she's had other talents which have helped so far.

LAyla helps a little bit but she seems distracted Tess notices this but finally they break thruogh enough they should be able to hunch over and get past the remaining rubble. It's a bit tight but the good news is? It's stable!

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

That mirthfulness should be infectious! That pulchritude should be overwhelming! Such moxie demands pause! Yet, the celebrated Drifter's laughter seems lost to the immediate task at hand for this Symbologist who appears to be taking so much in stride.

For his part, he doesn't seem to contribute much - not for lack of trying, after having that extra serving of Power Apple. An educated guess about finding a passage to crawl through rather than simply focus on the largest pieces comes up short on the pile of rocks he took charge of. His personal efforts largely superfluous outside of process of elimination, all the mysterious Symbologist has to show for it is some more burnt calories and a pile of rubble that proves comfortable to sit.

"My village?" A pause might be expected, given the momentary pauses that usually precede an answer to his query. "I don't know."

Just like that. No thought, no consideration. He doesn't know about where he came from? This response is stated comfortably and matter-of-factly. He doesn't sound too disturbed by saying such a thing aloud. Unless prodded, he doesn't seem to have any further context to add to that particular discussion as the team would soon be urged onward.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

"Just some little shanty town from overseas.", Nightburn quips to the huntress as they make small talk. He doesn't so much help with the immediate problem boulders as act as a conveyer for the others, lobbing rocks behind as they're passed to him. The scholar definitely got the better part of this deal. He doesn't chuck the larger ones so much as roll them out of the way. Why waste energy? This seems to be a philosophy shared by Comrade Hesiod, or at least by the brain meats thereof. The curiously placed answer gives him place to pause once more, but instead of pressing he simply...files the fact off to the side for the time being. Unless someone else presses, anyway. For now he simply removes a smoke from his cigar case, idly lighting it up as they walk. He was just confirming that there was no combustable gas in the tunnel.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

As it turns out, the homemade hatchet is pretty handy at clearing out debris as well as doors, at least with the hand of a hearty hunter (hopped up on some harvest of horticultural hocus-pocus) hefting its haft. Pretty impressive, for a rock tied to a stick! As they come to the conclusion of dealing with the rock pile and Ainetta finishes hearing out the answers to her question, it strikes her that none have really given a straight answer. Of course, Ethius' response is the most unusual of the lot.

"You're probably right," she says to Layla as she gets down to make her way through the hole they've managed to produce. "I haven't visited so many villages, myself." To Ethius, though, she presses further. "How do you not know what village you are from?" Her eyes narrow thoughtfully, then suddenly light with inspiration. "Did you know before you came to this place?"

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

With the industrious effort of her little worker bees, Layla soon finds the passageway free enough of rubble that the party is able to move ahead without much effort. Such useful little things. Maybe she'll take one as a pet someday. Alas, she has other plans for these specimens.

The scholar peels herself away from a particularly odd patch of mold upon noticing the completion of their labor and peers down into the newly opened passageway. There isn't a great deal to see, unfortunately, mostly because a good section of the hallway past the rubble is has fallen away into an empty darkness below. Likely whatever geological shift or disaster saw the collapse of the roof was responsible for the current state of affairs ahead of them. Regardless, it poses something of an issue, as she certainly isn't equipped to handle such things without a great deal of preparation, which she naturally did not bother with. Minions, hard work, you know the drill. The last time she was here her chosen gaggle of lackies came up with a...most unusual solution to the problem. She can't wait to see what sort of foolishness comes about from this gathering of great minds.

"Ah... a familiar sight... wonderful..."

Layla sighs faintly, simply brimming with enthusiasm as she strides forward to the edge of one of the pits, lifting a pale hand to gesture towards a large rusty switch on the far side. Apparently, whatever mechanism it was attached to automatically reset itself; or this is a completely different room that happens to look almost just like the last one, complete with crumbling floor, locked door, and switch on the far side.

Nah, that'd just be silly.

"That lever is what we need to... proceed." An odd place to pause. "Why don't you...", she adds a moment later, smirking faintly, "Oh, I don't know, throw yourselves at it or something..."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"As it would so happen... I simply do not know." It can't be that simple, can it? Who can 'simply' not know where they come from? There's no accent in the mysterious man's voice that might give any sort of approximate origin point. The Symbology tattoos aren't quite done up in the same style as others that might traverse this continent.

"I assure you, such a question has little bearing on why I've come," or more accurately, 'loitered around the top-most floors.' For whatever amount of assurance can be given, to a man that betrays little body language - or for a man whose face is mostly hidden under that bandanna.

...Moving on, towards matters of pits and switches.

"Precarious." Perhaps he wants to share his thesaurus with the rest of the team? Edging closer, along what floors there are, he moves with caution and care up until he comes to the edge of the inconvenient pit before the switch.

"Allow me to ascertain it can be... reached."

An attempt is made on his part to see if he might be able to tap the switch with his quarterstaff, but it's not a sure bet that he'll be able to reach. He appears willing to chance his balance, but as previously observed, he lacks the acrobatic mastery of some of his fellow delvers.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Distant Switch.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue says "I'm from a seed town myself, Augusta." She notes it could explain why she was a bit odd the Seed Town natives were odd people, odd fighting style, some odd ARMs, and even strange relgions as well were things they were known for. Often Ethos and other faiths didn't like the latter part much but no one's managed to break them of that. Oh look another hallway liek the last she's going to be careful as she presses onwards...

DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Distant Switch.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The pits at the side of the path give the Baskar pause as the party proceeds forward. Reaching around to her back, she pulls the prodigious bone-blade suspended there from its harness, the weapon making a clatter that echoes down the hall as its weight hits the floor. Gripping the weapon's haft with both hands, Ainetta looks warily from pit to pit.

"Be careful. Anything could be hiding in those pits. Hopefully it isn't bats. This would be a bad place for bats." A beat. "It's probably bats."

Why she's brandishing a giant sword in anticipation of a bat attack is a good question. She turns to and fro, warding against ambush as she moves up almost back to back with the staff-toting symbologist, before addressing the original leader of the expedition.

"Do you think that throwing one of us would work? I guess that I could help with that plan. Either side of it, really."

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Distant Switch.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

As their impromptu traveling companion begins to open up with details...or rather, an absence of them that echoes the gaping chasms to either side of the walkway...Nightburn begins to grasp enough of the larger circumstances. A slave on the run who doesn't even know what to call home, perhaps a case of amnesia, or perhaps even a past darker yet. "You've got that right.", is his reply to Ethius as he cracks another grin. "No bearing at all. The only thing that matters is what's right in front of us." Why delve into the secrets of another, when he has more than his own fair share of them?

Concluding at last that the room really doesn't offer much of *anything* to work with, the conclusion that he finally has the Drifter tilting his head toward their cryptic leader. "Throw ourselves at it? Well, don't mind if I do then." Without leaving much opportunity for further questioning, he abruptly darts between Ethius and Ainetta. "Alleyyyyy~oop!"

Clapping a hand onto the nearest shoulder of his adjacent comapnions, Nightburn uses uninvited arm leverage to launch himself up into the air. Vaulting forward, he manages several running steps along the wall before his surprising momentum starts to leave him. Blindly throwing a backhanded fist in the direction of the lever, he kicks off the wall in a backflip before he reaches the point of no return.

If he's lucky, that will have done the job and he'll find himself clinging at the edge of the sheer drop in front of his two fellow Drifters. If less fortunate, he'll have achieved one objective or neither. At least he's proven himself to be good at taking a fall before?

DG: Nightburn Acklund has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Distant Switch.

DG: The party led by Layla has passed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

By some strange happenstance, Layla's attempts to remain uninvolved in the group activities seem to have only about a fifty-fifty success rate thus far. One could attribute this to a stroke of particular bad luck, were they less observant. The truth, however, seems to be that their earnest-seeming new leader takes particular pleasure in making her trip as irritating as possible.

This is made evident yet again as the scholar's shoulder is suddenly gripped by a powerful hand. Nightburn's fingers dig into her cloak as he hauls himself forward in an utterly foolish flying leap across the pit and the unexpected sudden weight causes the startled mage to let out a squeak of surprise, showing the first sign of real emotion the entire time. Layla stumbles sideways and flops onto her rear end with a wince and she lifts her head to glare at the culprit only to find him only moments away from slamming the switch down. Her eyes go wide as she realizes what is about to happen but there is little that can be done in the scant few moments they have left.

"Oh... well, damn..."

Her curse is puncuated as Nightburn's hand smashes the lever into the down position which immediately fills the room with ominous groaning noises that most certainly do not sound like a door being unlocked. A few moments later the groan turns into a sharp cracking noise as the floor splits in two right down the middle and drops out from underneath the lot of them into a gaping dark void.

Layla mere grits her teeth as she tumbles through open air, having taken this ride one time before. The last time she'd gotten lucky and been near the wall when the trap was sprung, catching hold of some of the jagged masonry jutting out from one side of the room below. Nightburn's antics, however, leave her with no such luck. She drops like a stone straight down onto the hard floor, landing with a dull thud and another dark curse.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

With no bats forthcoming from the pits lining the hall - nary a chirp to be heard, for the moment - Ainetta slowly returns the sword to its place at her back and gives a slight, self-reassuring nod. She starts to turn back toward the rest of the party, lacing her fingers and stretching them out in front of herself as she flexes her joints.

"Alright, so, who's going to -"

Already Nightburn is flying past the Baskar, leaping toward the abyss, causing Ainetta's eyes to go wide beneath her headband. She pivots toward the flying Golem Hunter, lunging forward with an outstretched arm to try and offer a catch should Nightburn stick the rebound.

"Wait, be careful!!"

Unfortunately (now there's a word that seems to be cropping up a lot!), this leaves her lurching at the edge of the ledge when the lever is lowered and then the bottom sort of falls out (literally).

"What in the GuardiaaaAAAHHHHH-"

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue is able to not end up having hert day ruined as she keeps moving with the rest of the party.she makes it past and things seem to be going well but then the floor is pulled out from under them.

"Seriously this is happppppppppeeeeeeeninnnnnnnnnning."

It's like something out of a play, or novel really but it is happening right here. She goes falling away into the darkness and why yes she's flaping her arms...

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Nightburn is acquired by an Ainetta mid-fall. It's a noble gesture. An appreciated one! Unfortunately, as is often the case the rescuer soon becomes the person in need of rescue. "Thank--?!" The effect would be rather comedic from a third person perpective; the Drifter is hauled up and over the edge of the platform by the Basker as gravity tugs her downward. Unfortunately her grip proves to be a little *too* secure, and Nightburn is barely over the edge before he's being yanked down into the new pit that once occupied the floor. Hopefully the drip down is gentler on this side of the wall than where he just came from?

This time, it's Nightburn's turn to act as someone's pad. Despite all odds, the huntress somehow manages not to end up on the business end of an errant knife, ARM, fruit, or whatever else is concealed behind the Drifter's coat of any tricks. Instead she just knocks the wind right out of him. "Ooof!" ... "Nnngh. Nothing broken, I think. Careful with the greatsword as you shift, I've already shaven once today."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius, for his part, appears to fail to reach... and imbalances himself enough that he slips over the edge of the pit that guards the switch. There is no 'whoop' or other panicked vocalization from the mysterious man, but instead the slap of a glove managing to keep grip.

"I am all right," he says, as if to reassure the rest... around the same time the famed Golem Hunter has himself a crazier idea, leading to complete chaos as the delvers are deceived by the device's designs.

Fingers curl and dig deeper into the stone that Ethius hangs off of. Wait, that's stone, not... clay... he can't possibly be that physically stron--

Smoke rises from around where his hand grips, forming the stone around his hand to a more agreeable shape for gripping. His eyes shut tight, a muffled gasp between barely audible syllables. Even wearing gloves, that's... that's going to be a burn wound, to be brief.

The wall of the pit behind him has, fortunately, seen some erosion and decay. Enough to get in a solid foothold, but only a fool would consider his present situation to be secure. Even with gloves on, the knuckles of his left hand - the one now holding the quaterstaff - must be so white underneath that it could somehow brighten the fabric housing it.

"Gently... but quickly," the even-toned verbosity stretched to breaking point. It's not hard to see why - he's hoping to have caught at least one or more of those who fell on one end. His breathing sounds more labored with every passing moment, his endurance being tested to the fullest, terrible pain in one hand, a great amount of weight in the other. Either of his arms could give out at any moment...!

This is a temproary reprieve. They would all soon, by necessity, need to follow the way down - gently or otherwise, perhaps after confirmation that the unfortunate scholar(?) who fell first still among the living.

...

...The journey continues, thus...

...

Their path goes down a long hall, after a short, uneventful walk. The door is visible from the opposite end of the hall, but there is a certain majesty and scale to it that cannot be appreciated until the party comes before its chamber - the space flared out widely, as though it were to be host to something far greater than who or what could have possibly filtered through the only way in.

There are also a host of scorch marks around the room, blackening the exquisite masonry that speaks of legends and myths celebrated by cultures past that have long since lost context or ease of identification.

The white-haired Ethius has just finished wrapping gauze around his right hand and a good portion of his forearm as he idly finds himself moving towards the front of the team. It is stained a bright yellow throughout - a curious choice of Heal Berry application as a salve.

"A locked gate," he astutely notes as he approaches it, "unlike the preceding, it would appear this is guarded by a key. Has one been located...?"

They have not. Not that he waits for the confirmation of a lack of key as he comes before it. The injured hand taps lightly a few times, head bowed.

"In consideration of how the previous mechanism had surprised us, perhaps... the nature of this lock is suspect." Moving the quarterstaff to the injured hand, he draws his left hand up. The chanting, the subtle sorcerous lights and sounds...

He thrusts his left hand into the lock, a jolt of electricity - the third invoked element observed from the Symbologist - into the lock. He appears to distrust the idea of there ever being a proper physical key.

How will the others weigh in on this door dilemma?

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sealed Doorway.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

Layla, as it turns out, is apparently rather sturdy for a scholar, though perhaps the adventuresome nature of her desire to study old ruins has made her a tougher breed than many of her peers. Ofcourse, there is a limit to how much raw grit will protect you from the laws of the universe and gravity is by far one of the least forgiving. The woman is found laying sprawled out on her side once everyone has recovered and composed themselves, apparently quite content to take a few moments of rest after such an unpleasant experience. She is quick to rise upon being approached, however, attempting to salvage atleast a few shreds of her dignity.

Her mood, while always dark and cynical, noticably improves as the party regroups and moves forward through what is familiar territory for her. It won't be long before they reach the end of this wretched hole in the ground and, with a little luck, this time she might actually get to see what is behind that monsterous door. It isn't even so much that she cares about what they might find on the other side - some ancient writings or a relic of wars gone by. Such things are the treasure that the wandering souls known as Drifters dream about. She, on the other hand, has a far more esoteric goal.

It does not take long for final leg of their journey to carry the party to the site of the massive door. Layla eyes the stubborn thing for several long moments as the party takes stock of the situation themselves, saying nothing about her prior experiences here. The black scorch marks that marr the elaborate walls are quite old, save for a few fresher ones on the door itself from the prior attempt to breach it, which observant eyes may make note of.

"These burns would seem to suggest that attempting to breach the door by direct force is unlikely to be effective. Perhaps tackling the problem from another angle will have better results." She smirks darkly. "Though I doubt we're the first to try. Who knows, maybe those who came before loosened it up for us."

DG: Layla has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sealed Doorway.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The lack of an exchange of weaponry-based wounds exchanged between Ainetta and Nightburn is a matter of mutual luck, considering the number of knives and other armaments hanging from the Baskar's clothing. The woman's face reddens as the realisation that the predicament is, at least in part, of her own making.

"I apologize," she says as she clambers up to her feet hastily, straightening her attire and making sure that all of her arsenal and trinkets are accounted for before the group continues onward.

...

"So, you don't think that just melting it will work this time?" Ainetta wonders aloud as she examines the door, arms folded across her chest with one hand holding her chin pensively. After a few moments, she shrugs her shoulders slightly and reaches down to the trusty hatchet hanging from her belt. The tool hasn't failed her yet! Of course, she hasn't tried to use it to chop her way through a solid door yet, either.

"Let's see about it, then."

Rather than simply taking the hatchet to the door or its lock like a madwoman, Ainetta starts feeling her way along the wall around the door, rapping the blunt side of the hatchet against the architecture and listening to the report. It may be a long shot, but the idea of looking for a weakness in the masonry doesn't elude the Baskar, primitive as she may appear.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has used her Tool Trusty Hatchet toward her party's challenge, Sealed Doorway.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue has endured the fall she's now looking at the door her eyes narrow a bit and she make s abit of an annoyed face.

"I'm starting to think who ever made this place had a twisted sense of humour."

Note to self make sure if she ever gets home she leaves some of these sorts of things behind for future archologist or looters to deal with. She goes to get her crowbqar once more and moves to get in on the efford to break past the door she seems to be following Ainetta's idea with the hatchet. She moves to also work any cracks she might find about the door and also striking should she or Aineta find a weakspot.

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

After climbing to his feet once more, the older Drifter gives the bottom of his coat several solid claps to shake loose the debris. "No need to concern yourself, m'lady. All part of the job." The two appear to be of similar minds, patting himself down and doing an inventory by feel of the assorted devices contained within the garment. Tallies complete, he sets about studying the chamber alongside his traveling companions.

The fact that another door stands before them seems to be lower on the priority list than the burns checkering the room. Reaching up to one, he taps the surface, scrapes some of the residue off with his fingers...allows some of the particles to roll between his thumb and forefinger, then finally lifts the hand to his face and takes a careful whiff. Nodding to himself, whatever conclusion he arrives at isn't vocalized. Instead, he finally makes his way to the door to weigh in on the observations of the others. "Yeah, explosives are probably out from the looks of it." He briefly looks to Ainetta, offering a suggestion: "Try to look for concealed hinges. Sometimes the frame housing is weaker than the door itself, and that's where we'll want to try forcing it."

The fact that Ethius doesn't attempt to simply weld his way through is noted, but more surprising is the unique 'skeleton key' that he ends up resorting to in the end. "Well. I...guess that's one way to deal with it?" His brows are raised slightly in admiration, as it takes quite a bit of creativity to show him something he's never seen before. It wouldn't have been his first choice, but since the deed is already done... "Let me have a crack at it when you need to take a break, then I'll let you get back to it." Once allowed the opportunity, he elects for his own curious choice of key; he detaches a thin white bar from the underbarrel of his ARM, grips it with both hands at his side...and then rams it into the keyhole with the strength granted from the earlier apples. As the motion starts, a white beam abruptly flashes to life from the bladeless hilt, becoming a photon saber that Nightburn inserts into the (hopefully) wider opening left by the Symbologist. Wiggling it as best he's able, he finally removes the weapon and deactivates it before reattaching it to his barrel. "As you were."

DG: Nightburn Acklund has used his Tool Power Apple toward his party's challenge, Sealed Doorway.

DG: The party led by Layla has failed this challenge!

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

"An astute observation, Ms. Rockwell," Ethius concedes to the Baskar huntress' question about why he just doesn't melt the door again, "but as I've yet to see how this door opens, there would be the risk of permanently sealing the passage off if there were more to the surrounding architecture of this very door."

For his part, he doesn't seem to get much effect from trying to shock it. "This... does appear to be a simple lock-and-key door." He steps off to the side to allow the rest to take their chances at it.

With Ainetta's diligence in investigating the surrounding doorframe, Tesni's testing of any imperfections of the door's construction itself, and Layla's ideas of trying to think outside the box as to just how to get past the locked door... it seems to respond the most to the makeshift lockpicking inflicted upon it by the legendary Drifter before them.

Some time passes, and a whole lot of trial of error elapses over using Ainetta's careful tapping to tell if anything about the lock inside has changed. Eventually, the door is overcome - if largely by the rules the lock itself set. The lock is, in time, satisfied, and clicks open to the sound of ancient stone grinding against itself, ancient mechanisms having gone untested for countless years until today.

Stale air wafts through the opening. Ethius, resting a hand against the wall as he stands up straight, wordlessly peers within.

He'll need a moment's rest. Someone else will be given the honor to scout ahead and get a read of what will be asked of the team next.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue has little luck with the door it's a draining effort on the party's part trying to figure out this door. Maybe she should have brought some dynamite with her? Then again that wouldn't end well in all likelyhood would it? She took a deep breath pulled out a canteen and took a dirk of water from it and then put it awya bfore moving on.

"Mmmm stale air makes me nervous..." Who knows what could be in it contaimnates? Old spores for something that could infect them? Oh well it was too late to thing about that it was time for the party to move out.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

It isn't entirely clear precisely which part of their efforts have the most effect on the attempt to pry open the ancient door. Ethius' magical solution is odd, to say the least, particularly because the knowledge of powered doors should be quite uncommon amongst the primitives of this world. That he would think to use electricity as a tool against a sealed passage is most curious. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility, however, so for now it remains merely that - a curiosity.

As remarkably consistent as ever, Layla offers little beyond a few words of advice or criticism here and there, more at home supervising than actually participating in the efforts to defeat the ancient locking mechanisms. The journey thus far into the depths has been rather taxing on her weak constitution, offset only slightly by the use of her emergency medical supplies.

This becomes particularly apparent when, sometime during the work, the scholar finds herself suddenly beset by a searing pain in her chest. She reacts with the grace of someone who has lived an entire lifetime with such hardship, grimacing but remaining silent as she turns to wander some distance back down the tunnel. It is only when she is out of earshot that she allows the pressure building up inside her lungs to explode in a violent fit of coughing. Hot sticky fluid spatters across the hand that she raises to cover her mouth, stiffling the noise so that is might not carry back down the hall. Once the pain has begun to receed, she holds her blood-stained hand out and peers at it.

"It's worse than usual today..." An odd smile slowly spreads across her face. "Heh heh, good... this pain... has given me some inspiration."

After taking the time to clean herself up, Layla wanders back to the group and takes her place near the back once more, watching in silence until the wonderful sound of progress fills the air. She watches the door swing open with a faint smirk of satifaction. Perhaps her troubles today will actually bear fruit.

"Hmph. Congratulations. You've overcome a door. Shall we proceed?"

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

Ainetta's plan was, of course, to try and find the best spot around the door to smash through. The notion of using her methodology to find a way to properly disable the locking mechanism proves to be a novel concept for the tribal huntress, but she's easily convinced to change her tactics according to instruction. Once the door has been successfully breached, Ainetta gives the hatchet a thoughtful once-over.

"Going to need to fix this before it'll be any use again," she declares of the tool, which has grown blunt and ill holds together with the wear and tear of dungeoneering. She covers her face with an arm as the musty air emerges from the opening.

"I don't think that I've smelled anything so un-alive before," she muses, before pausing briefly and adding, "Other than dead things, I suppose."

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Nightburn Ackland doesn't exactly have an academy degree in laser lockpicking, but with some third party assistance he's apparently good enough to fake it. He almost gets the impression that the door let them through reluctantly, as if throwing in the towel just to get a band of Drifters to stop violating it in every unseemly way that they can think of. 'What vendetta do you people have against poor, unassuming doors?!'

The older Drifter shakes his head. He's been down here too long if his imagination is getting that active.

The new chamber is oval in shape, bare of detail with the exception of a ring of columns. Eternally burning torches are set into the surface of each, matched by another ring of torches high above...the walls themselves apparently supporting a balcony that encircles the room. At the far end of the chamber lies a slab that is conspicuously shaped to hug the contours of that section of wall.

A smaller light flickers into existence before Nightburn, but on further scrutiny it's just his lighter. "Hmm...an elevator, or a transporter. Maybe both if we're unlucky. Some hidden mechanism to it..." In his other hand he holds the fresh cigar that he lit moments prior, bringing it to his face and taking a deep draft as he considers the situation. "A switch hidden in the pillars? Or maybe the torches themselves are a puzzle, and act as the switch." Eyes drift close as he visualizes the room in his mind. "Maybe something to do with the torches upstairs? ...I wonder if there's an inscription hidden somewhere in here..." The man is brainstorming through any number of possibilities that the others might latch onto. An odd thought strikes him as he turns toward the corner of the room behind them, looking up. "...I think that wall is the other side of the pit room from earlier. The door we didn't take should be up there. We may have found our way back out, if nothing else."

DG: Nightburn Acklund has used his Tool Cigar Box toward his party's challenge, Ancient Elevator.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

Beyond the daunting doorway, Layla finds precisely the sort of thing that she was hoping to see. The architecture of the large chamber makes it immediately clear that it was not constructed by the artifice of any of the currently active primitives on this wretched planet. None that have been encountered by her people, in any case. No, these columns and contraptions date far beyond the short history of modern Filgaians, likely to the era of the war with the so-called Metal Demons atleast.

The scholar pushes past the others as it becomes clear that the room serves as some sort of elevator shaft, immediately moving to examine the device. She pauses peer over her shoulder at Nightburn, quirking an eyebrow beneath her hood at his reference to such advanced technologies. But then, perhaps it is not so strange for someone of his experiences to know of them. Drifters are more likely to encounter such anachronisms than most due to their penchant for diving into the ruins of the past.

"I believe you are correct," she says, scanning the small room for further clues as to the nature of the contraption. For whatever reason, such devices often have rather esoteric methods of operation, such as activating elementally aligned triggers or standing on specific sections of the floor; but if she's lucky, there might be a more conventional keypad tucked away somewhere.

"If you find something, don't touch it. If you should happen to bring the roof down on my head by meddling about with things you don't understand, I shall be quite cross."

DG: Layla has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Elevator.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

So htye they were they had pushed deeper, there they were now in the dpehs in a new chamber and Tess start to look around as the light comes into exsitance. She is silent ofr a moment as she start to look it over she'll star to look but then she reaches into her pack for a moment pulling a small thin thing about the size of a book but it's far too thin to be a book. It's only about as thick as the covers of a book would be without the page she presses on the side and one pannel lights up for a moment. If one is quick images would appear, text does as well as Tess goes over it she's looking over something it looks like information. She's like she's comparing thing shew also runs another command as she looks about maybe the lock for this is wireless and she'll try to see if there's a network here, she doubts it but on topof that she's now trying to go over the room as she inputs data into it and sees the most proable places for control system to be on top of tht.

"Humm let's see what we got here we could be dearling with some seriously advanced ARM system here with this unit and I hope it's not a teleporter."

She really hopes it's not that she just feels uneasy about such technology and always have. She will however once she's done turn the strange flat ARM off and put it back into her pack.

DG: Tesni Inoue has used its Tool Datapad toward its party's challenge, Ancient Elevator.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

The strange sorceror whose creativity and imagination appears to potentially exceed his means is one of the last ones to make it within the oval room.

"These are sound theories, Mr. Acklund," the last-minute addition to the team seems to be in agreement as he stands off towards the western end to not get in the way of the thoughts and ideas of the rest of them. He is both saved from second-hand smoke - and robbed of the ability to appreciate the unique scents and character of Nightburn's choice of smokes - thanks to the bandanna around his face. "At present, I do not believe I see any inscriptions."

"I shall endeavor utmost caution," whatever reassurance he can give to the young scholar may be mitigated by his track record so far with navigating the various traps and roadblocks the lot of them have had to cover so far. Though he has slowed in movement, he doesn't seem to be lingering too much upon his mistakes. Eyes on the prize. Up to this point, they've all done well enough to cover for one another.

The mysterious man goes silent as Tesni pulls out an interesting device. His right hand is contemplatively raised around his mouth, index finger and thumb extended, before lowering them away. He takes a few steps so that he's standing a short ways from over her right shoulder as she makes her observations.

Does he have something to say to her? He doesn't get around to saying it, but he does stand near her, unflinchingly, for a set amount of time that would in most social contexts be considered uncomfortable.

"Just a moment. I believe I can investigate one such possibility about its operation."

Something that looks like a monocle is produced, held in the injured right hand. With the left, there's a bit of that chanting and other sorcerous body language that follows the invocation of further Symbology. A little spark of sorcery-induced electricity flows from one hand into the monocle-like glass, and it begins to emit an iridescent glow as he holds it before one of his eyes.

He approaches the platform, running a finger across the wall just shy of touching it. What does he see?

"I can see there is a connection with this structure, and another device." Amazing! Something that can see into energy lines? "It grows faint, but it leads me to believe the key forward will be... approximately... over there," he gestures to one of the torches, "but it is an educated guess, at best." The luster of the lens lessens, and is once again stashed into obscurity - but this corroborates Tesni's theory.

Will this have provided a push in the right direction...? Sure, they might know the 'where,' now, but... how about the 'what,' and 'why,' and 'how'?

That is the test.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Ancient Elevator.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

Ainetta is virtually dumbfounded, peering around the chamber and up at the ceiling in seeming awe. She starts to wander amongst the pillars, one hand reaching up into her white hair to scratch at her scalp pensively. "These torches... they're still burning! Someone must have been here not long ago! Perhaps the archers who were hiding in the walls, up above..."

Her brow furrows as she approaches the slab at the far end of the chamber along the wall. Her hand moves down to rub her chin thoughtfully as she studies the piece of stone. Elevators? Transporters? The concepts are almost meaningless to her. She stands in front of the slab for a moment before whirling around with an exclamation:

"Oh! I believe that I know what we must do in order to proceed!"

Ainetta pulls one of the knives from the harness across her torso, holding it in a reverse grip and testing its sharpness lightly. "I believe that this is an altar to the Guardians. To continue, we will need to sacrifice a shaman upon it. As the two of you are both shamans," she gestures toward Ethius and Layla as she speaks, "I will allow the two of you to decide who will be the one to contribute to the ritual."

Her tone suggests that the Baskar is entirely lacking in irony as she speaks.

DG: Ainetta Rockwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Elevator.

DG: The party led by Layla has successfully explored Ruins of Memory!

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

As the others further contemplate the nature of the antechamber, Nightburn contents himself with pacing in a circle around the columns. "...The scholar is right to advise caution. I see more than one switch concealed behind the torches. The last time I saw one of this make, at least one of the switches was a dud. If we flip the wrong one, the rest become inactive...but I could be wrong. Just because two ARMs look alike doesn't mean you can tool them the same way." And therein lies the rub, with no further physical hints seeming to avail themselves. Fortunately, it would seem that their crew came prepared with more elegant ways to crack the nut.

As it turns out, there *is* a wireless network here. While there is no direct access to the locking mechanism, a shared storage cell can be accessed. It contains an ancient Filgaia script, one with which Layla would identify uncanny similarities to the Veruni's own script pre-planetfall. Some shared root, maybe? Unfortunately it seems that Nightburn is familiar with the language as well, denying her the opportunity for creative reinterpretation. "Security memo. We have secured the archives against infiltration with one of the puzzles that many of their kind routinely lack the patience for. Please consult the Master Archivist if you require access. The message ends there..." The fascination Ethius finds for the the odd tablet displaying this message isn't scrutinized too closely by Nightburn, as he's all too accustomized to people being surprised by artifacts such as this. Distracted as he is with translation, it doesn't occur to him that something else might be going on there. Once Ethius demonstrates that curious marvel of Symbology though, he has the man's full attention again. A smirk finds its way to Nightburn's chin as he strokes his chin. "Innnnnteresting. I can't count the number of times where I'd wish we'd have one of those."

The course of action seems obvious at this point, right? Throw the switch with the energy line connecting to it, move on and call it a day. Until Nightburn frowns. "Hold it. I think this is a trap. This dates back to the Metal Demon War, right? And you said you could identify an energy line?" This is bad. They're so close to success, but maybe...so close to blowing it, too. "Call it a hunch, but I think this is set up to thwart Demons. Assuming that they would have also had access to technology comparable to this, or innate abilities to read energy signatures, they probably would have made the same discoveries that we just did. Which means..."

At this point, Ainetta attempts to correct their misunderstanding of the scenario before them. His mouth hangs open, thought unfinished as she earnestly suggests ritual sacrifice of their magely practictioners. Even if noting how easy it would be to position snipers around them was a rather impressive piece of deductive work. "So! We have three possible theories here. One, the switch is a dummy. Two, I'm a dummy and we should pull it anyway. Three, we need to sacrifice a shaman." He nods decisively. "Alright then, here's what we'll do. We'll throw all switches but the one with the energy line, and if that fails we'll sacrifice the scholar before her blood pressure rises to a level that might displease the Guardians with such an offering." The last is delivered with a completely straight face, the famous Drifter applying the best poker face he's learned over the years to pantomime the earnest seriousness of the huntress. "Right then? Right. Here we go." Counting on the act to dumbfound Layla with its idiocy long enough for him to take action, he proceeds to quickly ruin the gauntlet of all switches but for the problematic one.

o~ *ding-dong* o~

Instead of rising, slab lowers, stone after stone descending before they finally reconfigure into a staircase descending into the archives. It would seem that luck was on their side, this time.

"So. I guess that means we're not sacrificing the scholar, then?" Deadpan delivery.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

Finding nothing so covenient as an operational keypad, Layla instead turns her efforts towards once more spying upon the various tools and gadgets which her companions draw forth to aid their attempts to overcome the puzzle that lies before them. She finds herself once more surprised by the level of technology possessed by these primitives, though clearly the origins of their little toys are of far superior design than their ilk could hope to create. Treasures of old claimed in previous ventures, no doubt. Some of them would even make fine trophies.

However, once the data cache is discovered, the scholar turns her attentions back towards the task at hand. Her eyes widen a little upon seeing the script, noting the immediate similarities between it and her own language much as Nightburn himself, but it would seem any plans she had to lord such knowledge over the others were not to be. The middle-aged man is given a dour glare beneath her hood but she quickly replaces it with another of her disinterested smirks and allows him to explain it to the others. She'll have words with him later that he will find far less appealing to repeat.

The last of their rag-tag crew to chime in is, ofcourse, the savage. Layla's brows rise at the ridiculous nature of the suggestion but is quick to dismiss it, unworried by the obvious threat implied. Let her try, it would actually be a relief to have an excuse to vent her true power on something.

Naturally, Nightburn having declared himself her personal antagonist for this lovely outing, decides to run with that thread of 'logic' merely to be irritating. The sorceress rolls her eyes but gives him and the Baskar girl a smile which does little to conceal a sentiment that is neither friendly nor amused.

"Well... if the girl is so eager to see blood spilled," Layla says, her dark voice dropping to a soft almost suggestive tone. "I'm sure I can manage something..."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

True to his reputation as a legend, the party around Nightburn Acklund are all audience to a great deduction brought forth through years of experience, savvy, and sheer pulchritude. The praise for his own abilities taken in stride, Ethius adds little further input beyond his own observations. Someone who seems to understand when it is time for a professional to speak, without interruption!

At the time their final trial is resolved, it would seem that the other 'shaman' present among them has quietly relocated himself in a way that Tesni would be blocking immediate line of sight between himself and Ainetta (aside from any differences in size between them, naturally), appearing to brush off the brutish idea with nary anything but a side glance back towards the scholar whose acceptance(?) of the thought might be just as worrying than the original suggestion.

"Yes... that would be unnecessary at this juncture." His tone of voice goes lower. Might that have been the closest to a true nervous sweat witnessed so far?

"Let us see what awaits." The quarterstaff on his person is re-drawn anew as though a precaution - the lot of them are about to make a discovery. It would seem he's erring on the side of caution.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

It seems there is a wireless network here and Tess grins like a shark for amoment.

"Ah ya! I knew it!"

She access teh storage cell to pop it she'll leave the rest to Lyala on that as she takes a moment for get a look at what they find but finally they get ot popped and she moves along Tess seems excited but controlled she also starts whistling a bit as she goes.

"Good, because such things are savagry in the end. Ritual sacfrices only leaves a trail of misery and bodies in its wake."

Her normal chiper tone is gone for a moment it's kinda of icy actually but soon as it comes the sun returns as they head on deeper.

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

The knife remains in Ainetta's hand, held low at her side the entire time that Nightburn is making deductions aloud, the handle rolling idly beneath her fingers while her other hand rests on the crook of her elbow. Her head starts to loll slowly to one side as the look in her eyes becomes more and more lost. Her gaze drifts between the two 'shamans' and back to Nightburn. Finally, the Golem Hunter hits on a point that she feels she can clarify! The Baskar holds up a finger.

"Don't worry! The Guardians won't care whether the blood is pressed or not - I think. I suppose that I should defer to the shamans themselves on the point."

Ainetta lowers her hand again, following Nightburn with her eyes as he begins flipping switches. When the puzzle has finally been resolved and the stairs begin to appear, Ainetta stops rolling her knife in her hand, pauses for a momen, then says, "Oh."

She slips the knife back into its sheath casually, her expression dulling, perhaps masking the shame of being proven wrong - or perhaps simply indifferent to the potential consequences of her nearly-fatal misconclusion.

"It is not a ritual my own tribe practices. I had heard of stories of tribes in the past who required the sacrifice of the gifted to the Guardians. I assumed..."

She shakes her head, then smiles apologetically. "I don't believe that more blood will be necessary. We can continue, yes?"

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn has posed.

Nightburn glances to the side at the correction of the Baskaress, mouth pursed for a moment. That genuinely left him without words for a moment. "...Hmm. Yes, I suppose I may need to brush up on my Guardian texts once more."

For the time being, the well-dressed Drifter seems to be mostly oblivious to any pointed looks directed at him by their cloaked guide. To most of those gathered, the antics of Nightburn surely seem like playful ones. After all, someone with this much charisma and guile *surely* wouldn't be going out of his way to push the buttons of their fearless and well-intentioned travel guide. And he most certainly would not be going out of his way to be mean in the company of those who lack the social context to understand why his actions should be considered mean. The veteran Drifter is nothing but pleasant smiles, here only to help everyone and share in their shining moment of success. Case in point, he reassuringly claps a slightly nervous looking Ethius on the back as they descend the stairs. "Sorry, I wasn't being serious back there. We're pals now, I've got your back." Are they pals? Apparently he's made a formal declaration of such, so surely that must be case.

Passing through the door at the bottom of the stairs, the group finds that the air begins to take on slightly different qualities. It becomes cooler, dry, and the scene of parchment greets their nostrils even before it becomes evident that they've stepped into the archive mentioned in the earlier document. "This was a vault built to preserve knowledge during the Metal Demon Wars. It may seem strange that people with access to such advanced technology still kept knowledge in books, but they didn't want to risk all of their knowledge being lost in event of a societal collapse." Apparently the man fancies himself a historian in his spare time, or has at least encountered similar findings often enough to where the knowledge is off the cuff for him.

Entering the vault proper, the group discovers shelves upon shelves of antique books. Some have faired better than others, suggesting that some of the atmospheric shieldings must have weaked over time. Unfortunately works of fiction are just that, antiques. There may be much here that a scholar could eventually deduce about this lost society given enough time to read them all, but there are no secrets of lost technology to be discovered here today, or glittering gold. This vault contains exactly what the name of the ruin suggests in common lore: memories of a people long gone, even their less consequential ones.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius flinches at the friendly clap on the back, owing to the arrow wound from earlier. He doesn't jerk away from the legendary Drifter otherwise, maybe more so he doesn't lose his balance on the way down... but there is some sort of stand-offish, stiff element to his character even at a moment in which a cause to celebrate is imminent.

"The support is appreciated," he corroborates the friendship in his... own way, not looking back to make eye contact as he makes his way to the archives beneath...

As Nightburn steps forth to give his take on what they've all come to find, Ethius does not follow too far in, allowing everyone else to pass past him. He does not seem to see it fit to filter through the archives that have (sort of) survived the centuries - the millennium, plus change.

There seems to be an air of unease about this man, who has gone silent as the rest explore the fruits of their labor following Nightburn's appraisal of where they now stand among Filgaia's buried history. Could he be disappointed? Does he fail to appreciate the historical worth of what lies before them? For his manner of speech suggesting about as good an education as one could hope to achieve on Ignas, he doesn't seem as excited to delve into it as much as the rest.

He picks out something from under his poncho as his back remains turned to the rest. A stone? What little light there is glints off of it in a way suggesting a metallic nature, but there's no sorcery invoked where he stands.

Unless directly spoken to, the strange sorcerer may as well be invisible - even irrelevant - to the proceedings of figuring out what might be worth taking back with them.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue looks over to Ainetta for a moment nodding understanding now.

"I think I see, forgive my assumtions there on that Ainetta."

Then she sees what they have found and a squeal, yes squeal of glee come out of Tess, while it'snot history it's culture and tht means insights into how these people thought! IT could be more vauable than just standard information on events. She has her pad out and carefully will try to start scanning the contents of the books. She's almost physucally vibrating at this.

"Oh I haven't seen a fine this good, in forever it's not their history no but it's a part of a their soul for lack of a better term. If a Culture has no music? No Art? What's the point in recalling them."

She keeps working she's kinda just lost in her own world using the data pad and if no one bothers her she will do so till she's looked over every last book with tht odd thin ARM of her's.

<Pose Tracker> Layla has posed.

Disappointingly, neither the savage nor the traitor want to push their luck which forces Layla to eventually back down in the face of Nightburn's overt attempts to smooth things over. She clucks her tongue in annoyance and whirls away from both of them, descending into the ancient archive without further acknowledgement.

The sight that greets her is one that is quite impressive. Such physical libraries are understandably rare for her kind but she been to enough of the primitive cities to see their own collections of literature, banal and woefully lacking as they might be. These books are different, however. The information contained in their pages dates back hundreds of years to a period when technology was, oddly, far more advanced among the humans of the present. What secrets might their pages hold? The sheer size of the find would require weeks simply to catalogue it all, much less actually read.

The scholar stalks deeper into the room and wanders up and down the various aisles, occassionally pulling out one of the dusty old books to peer at its cover and examine the first few pages. However, her excitement quickly begins to dry up as time and again she finds nothing but works of ficition, of all things. Stories about daring heroes, terrible demons, fearsome dragons, and all manners of other such tripe without one single piece of legitimate history or science to be found.

Layla's teeth grind audibly as she flips through the first chapter of a particularly fanciful tale about a space-faring civiliation struggling against the destruction of their homeworld. Her apathy towards the Veruni's plight as a whole had grown much in the several years since her parents deaths but something about the idea of a story that made light of the suffering that such trials brought with them makes her blood boil. She turns and hurls the book against the nearest wall letting loose a frustrated growl, hissing under her breath.

"Worthless!"

Well, that's not entirely true, she thinks a moment later. There are likely plenty of collectors who would pay a pretty amount of coin for such a find, though she's hardly in need of that. Also, there is another angle to be considered. Perhaps there might be found books of legends and fables contained within these pages. Such things often had atleast a grain of truth to them, though whether or not such needles in the proverbial haystack would be worth the effort to sort for is another matter.

She exhales long and slow, trying to get her anger under control and assert logical reasoning once more, a task that has become annoyingly challenging of late. The real question here is whether or not such a find is worth going to extreme lengths to protect. The sheer size of the find would require multiple trips to cart out, even with aid, which means it would be nearly impossible to cover up. No, in this case, she'll just have to be very selective with what she allows to be taken by the others.

"Hardly what I expected to find behind such an imposing barrier," Layla muses outloud, as she moves to rejoin the others. "Likely the work of an overzealous language specialist, I struggle to see any proper historian prioritizing such works. Nevertheless, there may be value to be found here beyond the mere novelty of ancient literature. If you should come across any books of so-called 'historical legends'..." Her voice dips into a softer tone becoming almost sickly sweet. "Do let me know, mmm?"

<Pose Tracker> Ainetta Rockwell has posed.

Ainetta's gloved left hand hovers near the hilt of the bone greatsword that's slung across her back as the party descends the stairs, her eyes shifting in search of any potential assailants that may be lurking in wait for the group again. As they emerge into the sealed archive, her head cants a little to one side. After a minute or so, her hand lowers to her side, and she approaches one of the shelves, gingerly picking up one of the tomes to start leafing through it. Her brows lower seriously as she skims the book's contents before finally clapping it shut with one hand, her expression stern and a slight frown on her lips.

"No pictures," she states with an irritated air before sliding the book back into the shelf. She turns back to the rest of the party.

"And the words are too big. This is what happens when you put all of your stories in books instead of letting an elder remember them."

Her lips quirk as her mind rides that train of thought further down the line. "What do you suppose happened to their elders, then?"

<Pose Tracker> Nightburn Acklund has posed.

Nightburn himself has very complicated feelings on the subject of humanity and its legacy, ones which are not in his best interest to dilvulge to those that are gathered here. He settles for pacing the room while doing further survey of the book titles, occasionally leaning over to peer at the exposed cover of a more promising title. 'Look, but don't touch' is the operative phrase here. The biggest question on his mind is one which is his alone to bear: how is a mild case of loose canon Veruni going to react when faced with a treasure horde of meaningless human culture?

He's forced to go to great lengths to conceal his smirk at Layla's outburst. Unfortunately, she leaves it at just the outburst. It looks like he's going to have to take the lead on this one. An actor's job is never done...

Turning around, he crosses his arms and gives the hooded scholar a look of disapproval. "Worthless for us, but the right people will still pay for this. You can get some insights about the thoughts and values of a dead culture if you read enough of these, but I think the only one of us willing to take that much time is the little lady over h--" In nodding toward Tesni, he becomes more aware of her actions and abruptly startles. It isn't so much that she's eying one of the books, of which many here are guilty, but the fact that she shows every intent of taking it much further. He waves a hand to try and quickly catch her attention. "Hey. HEY! Hold those horses for just a moment. Many of these pages will need to be treated before they can be studied properly. The damage will be irrepairable and effect the resale value." He offers a grimace as he catches sight of "Or if you prefer, the cultural loss will be significant."

His gaze returns to Layla, though he nods to Ainetta in turn as this concerns her query as well. "At any rate, I don't think they paid much mind to what they squirreled away. They were probably trying to save everything that they could, in case there was no one left to tell their stories. No one wants to die out, let alone be forgotten." There's a significance to the way he phrases that sentence, but the takeaways are going to be very different depending on the person listening.

Once it seems like everyone has had a chance to take in the full extent of their find, he paces back toward the entrance and surveys all of those gathered. Including Ethius, who has been...strangely quiet. And quiet by the standards of this Symbologist is quiet indeed. "At any rate, a mistake most adventurers make is trying to remove books on their own. We can make some extra coin here if we call in some experts to do the transportation for us. It's probably best for some of us to head back, while the others stay behind to guard the find. Any objections? I'm pretty sure I can track down the right people on my own, but I don't want to trap anyone here if they're eager to get a move on."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius stands a quiet member of the audience to the archaeologist's enthusiasm, the mysterious scholar's initial disappointment, the huntress' confusion, and the veteran's considerations. Not once does he ever seem to speak in favor of any of their viewpoints, nor offer any meaningful resistance to their words or actions. His back turned to the lot of them, he remains curiously uninterested in what surrounds him. What layers of dust cake the part of the archives he inhabits, remains. He has not so much as tried to even take one of the books, let alone look at them.

Movement might be caught out of the corner of one's eye in passing, a flourish of that poncho as the quarterstaff-toting figure goes... away? Whatever he held in his hand before has now been hidden back on his person.

He's not staying around to negotiate any share, or anything of the sort? Would he really be satisfied with just the small handful of gella that might have been scavenged from the defeated goblins of earlier, good for maybe one stay at an inn and a few low-end meals? Is he really just going to leave without a word, like that? For his eagerness to come along with the rest of the party, a departure this abrupt would seem utterly suspicious.

Only the sound of footsteps going back up the way they came betrays the otherwise silent exit.

<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.

Tesni Inoue does halt after a moment with the warning she halts and she hakes her head foer a moment.

"I'm sorry I got ahead of myself on that. It's so rare to find something like that." She actually slaps her self across the face for what she did. She seemsto be listneing for a moment.

"Right, but once they ... are I would like access long enough for my ARM to ... log the contents. Such things shouldn't be left as the only copies they could end up lost. I am sorry I just got ahead of myself there."

She backs off not angry any anyone but herself.

"I have never found intact books like this before generally carvings, stone tablets and the like."