2017-03-09: Soldiers of Sult
- Log: Soldiers of Sult
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Catenna, Riesenlied, Abigail Ivers
- Where: Sult Ruins
- Date: March 9, 2017
- Summary: Four different Drifters converge on the Sult Ruins separately. They leave with a secret.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Ida Everstead-Rey. DG: Catenna has joined your party! DG: Riesenlied has joined your party! DG: Abigail Ivers has joined your party! DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering Sult Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Guards at the Gate *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It seems that whatever mysterious military force is investigating these ruins has deployed guards to keep any stray Drifters from entering the ruins. They are wearing unremarkable clothing with no identifying marks, in no way betraying their identity. While fighting them is an option, it will take far too much time and slow the exploration of the ruins considerably. It would be better to find a way to trick them or lure them from the entrance, thus allowing the party swift entry without raising the alarm. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida is not supposed to be here. She's supposed to be back in Adlehyde, attending to professional business--not doing an independent survey of a mysterious ruin, guarded by shadowy individuals of uncertain moral fiber. Professor Oxford wanted to come survey Sult, but found his efforts to obtain a permit blockaded at every turn, and while he might be reluctant to find out what is really going on, Ida is not.
She hasn't always been this way. She doesn't know when she started being this way, aside from 'recently'. She isn't sure if her new friends have anything to do with it.
Groups of people mill around outside the ruin, looking to the untrained eye like Drifters idling, waiting to trek into the depths. But there's something about them--something in the way they move around, and position themselves--that indicates to Ida that they're not what they seem to be. These people are keeping watch, and patrolling, and she's seen just enough Drifter activity to be sure this is not a regular occurrence. That's why she brought along a little something she whipped up earlier. It's a little pouch filled with sawdust around a core of flash powder. Ida lights a corner of the bag on fire, and tosses it as far as she can manage with her bad shoulder; it starts spewing out far more smoke than it should.
Hopefully it should get attention.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Guards at the Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
For those looking around outside of Adlehyde, the nomadic tent outside the city limits was gone this morning. Someone had struck it and moved on.
Completely coincidentally, Catenna's alone here, kneeling behind a large rock and scouting the place out. She's wrapped herself up in her traveling cloak, her hood raised as she peers out to check out the way those guards move. Her lips come together.
For a moment she curls her fingers around the grip of her shotgun. She relaxes them soon enough. It wouldn't do to cause a ruckus. Not here, when there's the potential for another patrol party to come down on her if she sound of buckshot carries - which it's sure to.
Slowly, she slides her free hand into the drape of her cloak and grips something else. Closing her eyes, she curls her fingers around whatever it is is under there. Her lips move for a moment. It's not so much a spell as it is a silent prayer of a sort, and when her eyes do open again, they're more focused, even as she peeks around the rock.
"So jao," she murmurs.
That's about when she notices someone throwing flash power - she sucks in her breath, but her spell's already gone off. It's a very subtle one - a heavy sensation tugging at the eyelids and the senses of the guards.
She simply tries to put 'em to sleep with magic.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Guards at the Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There is something... within this ruin... what is this feeling?
Riesenlied frowned at herself as she stood over the tallest cliff overlooking the Sult Ruins, letting the air flow about her cloaked form gently. She couldn't quite explain the hunch she'd got, but she had lived long enough that hunches were not simply things that should be ignored without at least humoring them a little.
"Y'think there might be something in here, Riesey?" Odjn bobbled up and down, a little dragon of no more than foot in length, cute and rotund with a long swishy tail and big horns. She doesn't exactly look threatening.
"It may be resonance," she answered. "Resonance of the Dragon Fossils deep within the Earth, or something else... I cannot tell from here."
She hears -- and smells -- smoke and flash, and the presence of magic in the area. Was someone attempting entry into the ruins? This may be their opportunity. She glanced to Odjn, and then nodded as she slipped the cloak off; the dark piecemeal armour she wears is revealed, along with the white sleeveless shirt and short black skirt... and more strikingly, the large pair of black angelic wings, coming to a translucent amber gradience at the tips of her pinions.
She dove off the cliff, and glided along, Odjn providing a distraction as she spewed gouts of flame that caught nearby stacks of hay aflame. Her target is the entrance itself.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Guards at the Gate. Riesenlied The woman before you stands at above-average height, draped mostly in a thick and opaque cloak of mediocre quality, fraying at some of its edges. Her long blonde hair is gently tossed in the wind of the wasteland, remarkably fine and untangled for how torturous the weather can be. A flash of armour can be seen under the cloak, black and filigreed, along with a sheath that must contain a sword of some kind. Her expression exudes a calm and collected aura, and her posture suggests confidence. The cloak, perhaps, seems to be hiding a bit more bulk than a regular human woman's would.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigial Ivers had what you would call a 'misunderstanding' with the Sheriff of Adlehyde. Nosiree, she did not start that bar fight, but it didn't stop the gambler's bounty from doubling in size. Abigail felt like it was suddenly past time that she left town for a bit.
And so, the wanted gambler took to her horse and rode off into the sunset until her funds started getting a little on the low side. It was time to roll the dice again and what better way than 'finding' some treasure within the ruins. She was scoping out the guarded entrance when an opportunity presented itself. Someone ignited dynamite and started a fire near to the entrance which was sure to distract some of the guards. This left her to try to sneak her way around those that reminded whom all started to look a little on the sleepy side.
Everything was going to plan until she comes upon one guard just standing right where she was trying to sneak past. And so Abbie goes for one of the oldest tricks in the book. She reaches into her black vest and slides out a single playing card that she captures between two fingers. Giving it a little rub for good luck, she throws it deftly through the air to where it lands face up on the ground a few paces away from the guard. It was none other than the Queen of Clubs. "Is...this your card?" whispers Abbie under her breath as she hopes the guard is curious enough to investigate the thrown card so she sneak past.
DG: Abigail Ivers has used her Tool Queen of Clubs toward her party's challenge, Guards at the Gate. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Fire!" one of the guards cries, as he sees the smoke--both from Ida's smokebomb, and Odjn's just straight-up setting a forest fire. If the response to that didn't give the guards away, then nothing will; some of them start fanning out to search, but they're moving in the direction of the fire, and there's no one there now. One of the guards comes dangeorusly close to sighting Ida--the young woman freezes in place, motionless--but the odd thrown playng card catches his eye, letting her sneak away.
And then the rear guard conveniently starts nodding off just as everyone approaches the ruin. Huh.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Blocked Passageway *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- There seems to have been an accident on the way to this chamber - rubble blocks the area, and there are signs of some of it having been shifted and moved as well. The discerning eye can see the telltale signs of explosives having been used to try and blast through a wall here, but the instability of the structure caused the entire roof in a small section of the tunnel to cave in, rather than simply open a new passageway. A path must be cleared to squeeze forward, although attempting to clear too much in the wrong section of the passage could be a tiring and back breaking waste of time. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna doesn't have a miniskirt incorporated into her outfit, but her skirt's slit up the sides. It's a different look.
Blinking twice, the cloaked woman starts at the sight of Riese shucking her cloak and showing off her wings. Her jaw tightens and her eyes narrow down to wary slits, hand curling around her shotgun a little more tightly.
Finally she just sighs and eases to her feet, pushing back her hood and shaking her hair loose. She looks from Riese to...
...the other two, who seem to be on their own, and one has a card deck...?! The woman bites down to the inside of her cheek, folding her arms loosely under her breasts. "...I see we are all trying for the same thing," she murmurs, giving Riese in particular a nod. "In any case... there are a lot of them."
She waits for a moment, but seems like she's going to go on one way or the other; ducking into the cave, she begins to press ahead.
Only to walk into a wall full of rubble, choking out the corridor and blocking further progress.
For a moment Catenna looks at it. Then, shrugging, she turns around and heads for the exit again. "That was brief."
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Passageway.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Someday, Catenna will have to trade tips about how to confidently show off legs with Riese.
But today is not that day, and Riese looks just a little surprised to see the others approach so quickly, and one of them she recognises too. Well, this was bound to happen sooner or later. With the large chitinous horns on her head, and the large wings that spread from her back, it's rather impossible to pretend she was human anyway. She was a Beastman, through and through, and that has been her cover from day one.
It's convenient, for the discrimination was not too discerning.
There was the woman in the flannel and the mask, carrying her ARMs... and the woman in the white blouse and dark suit pants, also ARMed. Drifters, more than likely, given their location, and quite resourceful too.
"Good afternoon," she greeted graciously, having a rather confident, yet relaxed poise that seems at odds with her presence in a dangerous dungeon. Very elegant and in her element. "My name is Riesenlied, and it appears that we all have the same common goal in mind. From how my partner turned back so quickly, it seems this ruin won't be so accomodating. What say you to an alliance? My skills would certainly come in useful."
She glanced towards the wall, before glancing to Odjn, who simply grumbles and says, "Slavedriver," as she moved and started pushing at the rock.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Passageway.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida looks extremely cowgirl-like. She might've bought an entire outfit for this exact purpose. She dirtied it up in the process of getting here, but other than that, it's suspiciously new--even if she does a decent job of keeping an eye out as she enters unfamiliar territory. She hears footsteps behind her, and very deliberately does not draw either of the gunsmoke revolvers at her sides as she sizes up the new arrivals.
"Howdy," Ida says. That accent is fake /as hell/. "Don't s'pose you folks have any dynamite? I left my Blastemol(c) in my other pack." Oh no, Ida thinks, not this, not so soon.
She is not too proud to give it a try, though, working a few handfuls of fallen earth loose to try and see if it makes things easier. "The hell is that?" she says, looking up at Odjn as the little dragon flits into view. Riesen has not gotten stared at mostly because it would be far more impolite, and that shit's /engraved/ on Ida's social mannerisms.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Passageway.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abbie suppresses a giggle when the guard in her way pulls a regular 'What was that noise?' and walks just far enough for her and Ida to sneak by him. But she did catch the other woman's efforts to sneak on by which leads to her approaching the obvious no-good scoundrel wearing a bandana over her face. "Well, I can tell you're not with them which makes you....." She trails off when she realizes that there were two -others- nearby. "...well I'll be damned." She says in response to seeing Riesenlied and Odjn. The gambler then takes a moment to look between her new compadres before shrugging her shoulders, weirder alliances have been made before.
The finely dressed woman in the black cowboy hat, black vest, rolled up long sleeves blouse and striped suit pants gestures openly to the group. "If by trying for the same thing equates to getting filthy rich on the quick? Then yes ma'am, I am." She strides on over to see what lies ahead and finds exactly what Cat does, a big problem. "Now, this isn't exactly my -expertise-, but maybe our....cowpoke friend....here is on to something. If not, I'm just going to start pulling things out at random before those guards return and decide that we don't exactly belong here." She then goes and does exactly what she says she's going to do. Abbie pulls precisely one piece of debris out amid the entire pile, big help that she is.
DG: Abigail Ivers has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Passageway. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has failed this challenge! The party gained 4 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Oh, Riese. Catenna could give lots of tips about confidently showing skin.
Stopping at the cave mouth, she turns back to face the rock pile, watching the others go at it. (Idiots,) her mind fills in. (They're going to exhaust themselves for no reason.)
Ida does get a look from her. She crinkles her nose ever so slightly, seeming more bothered by the accent than the metal dragon for some reason. "It is a familiar. They are not all so un-common," she explains. Her accent is /not/ fake but it's definitely pronounced and hard to place.
Finally, she sighs and slides her hands into the rockpile, making some effort to try and pull a rock loose from the heap. It budges only a little. She keeps pulling on it, nearly jerking her shoulders out of their sockets to try and move the damned rubble.
The rock doesn't budge so much as one millimetre. It remains lodged where it is. In fact, most of the rocks are just stuck there, and pulling at them just causes a few more to crumble down and land around the group of women. Finally Abigail's able to find just the right piece - clearing out a tiny crawlspace in which the rocks perch precariously over a narrow ledge.
Catenna looks at her, then up at Ida, then Riesenlied. Her cheeks colour slightly.
"...My name is Catenna, by the by," she says, voice soft.
Then, cringing a bit, she drops to her knees and crawls through the gap. It's tiring and she scrapes herself up some in the narrow quarters, but wriggles through anyway.
DG: Abigail Ivers has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Floating Floor *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There is a rather unusual feature to this next room. The first is the floor, which appears to be filled with some horrible, syrupy goo that probably would not be healthy to step in. The second are the two pillars that rise from the muck, each a third of the way across the room from the door. And then there's the floating panel that is slowly making its way about the room. Its path seems somewhat random, and there is a button atop each of the pillars. Is there a trick, or is reaching the other side simply a matter of patience? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese placed a hand to her cheek to say, "Oh dear, I suppose it was inevitable at one point," and just simply leans down to crawl through, Odjn going first and grumbling about something something the help. Her wings tuck kind of tightly so as to not be indecent, though when she comes through on the other hand, she taps at her chin and hums in thought.
She rose to the air, alight on an invisible breeze that took her to the first of the pillars, stepping on the button gently to see what it did; if beneficial, she'd try it with the second too.
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Angel Wings toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Floating Floor.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail blinks in surprise when she pulls a piece of wood out of the way that reveals a crawlspace. "Look at that, Lady Luck is on out side yet." She then gets down on her hands and knees after Catenna, muttering some horrible curse underneath when she realizes that this is going to mess up her dusty but otherwise pristine suit pants and vest. But sacrifices would have to be made in the search of loot! The brunette eventually manages to get through to the other side where quite the jumping puzzle greets the intrepid party.
Abbie takes her hat off and uses it to dust herself out before walking up to the edge of the goo-pit. She squats down and looks at it with a frown before looking up at the two pillars and the moving platform. "Seems we got to clear ourselves a ju....." She trails off and just -stares- when Riese flies to the pillars to start pressing buttons. "H-hey! Just what in all of a drifter's fever dreams are you?" She asks aloud before pondering her own way across the goo pit. "World's coming to an end when you have flying dragon-people are levitating through thin air." Abbie grumbles as she starts rocking herself back and forth. "Here goes nothing!" The totally unpowered gambler then attempts to jump onto the floating platform before going to assist Riese with button-mashing. She wasn't about to let her have -all- the fun.
DG: Abigail Ivers has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Floating Floor.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
As she creeps through the passage, Catenna mutters something to herself in a language that can't really be placed unless you know it. She hates feats of strength!
As she comes out of the crawlspace, she frowns as she takes stock of the situation inside the room itself. Her eyes follow the floating platform as it bobs through the room, taking stock of where it's going, then tracking its path - before she realizes it's somewhat randomized, and beyond that, Riese is /flying./ The dark-haired woman touches a hand to her cheek, tilting her head to the side, then looking back towards Ida.
"...I hate platforms like this," she states matter-of-factly.
Without another word, she pushes her cloak aside and shoulders out of it, folding it and stuffing it into her pack. Her gun is slung over a shoulder for a moment, replaced by a long length of rope and a grappling hook. Twirling the hook out at her side, she reels back and underhands it upwards - and it digs into a rocky protrusion somewhere in the cave roof. The woman gives a pair of firm tugs to ensure the claws are dug in.
With that, she takes a running start, grabs ahold of the rope, and swings towards the other button. She does not shout, or make much of a noise at all, simply making a landing to give the button a push.
The rope is swung back towards Ida.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Floating Floor.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Call me Rose," Ida says. The accent is now completely different--more polished and formal, and recognizable as a regional accent of some sort from Guild Galad or Meria Boule. Catenna's /look/ tells her everything she needs to know; she isn't fooling anyone, and it's probably better to be a mysterious stranger in a flimsy disguise than someone too daft to realize they're not fooling anyone.
"Rose" makes it through the tiny crawlspace in one piece, but it takes far more time and effort than it has any right to. She emerges a much dirtier, grumpier, more bruised version of herself.
"Most likely a lesser drake of some variety," Ida says, having not recognized the tiny lil' Metal Dragon as one of the entities she studies. And then, in complete seriousness: "Ma'am?" That would be directed at Riesenlied, natch, "You wouldn't happen to be from... elsewhere, would you?" She doesn't want to flat-out mention the L-word, or the M-word, lest people become certain she is crazy. Talise /did/ say that the moon had dragons...
Catenna's grappling hook saves the day. Ida grabs it, swings, and leaps for it, doing her best to ensure it swings back for anyone that needs it.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Floating Floor. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 11 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* CHALLENGE - Rodents of Unusual Size *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Old ruins have a number of creatures living in them, but nothing is quite as ubiquitous as the mutated giant rats that appear throughout Filgaia. When driven into a frenzy by extreme hunger, these beasts will leap from the shadows and attack whomever is in their path! Many a party of novice adventurers have been sent fleeing in terror from the horrible squeaking of rodents that happen to be the size of large dogs. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese had a little noise of alarm as some the people who aren't so blessed to defy gravity face challenges of their own kind, sweeping down very carefully so as to be able to hover and offer her own rope back up towards relatively solid ground and past the trials of the thrice-bedamned goop floor. No way she's getting covered in that, ew.
"I am what some call a Beastman," Riese sighed softly, as if she didn't like explaining it. "And yes, this is my familiar, Odjn. I am from off the continent, as far as Elru. I tend to hide my wings as it tends to invite looks and trouble in town..." A pause, as her smile grows. "But, the dungeon knows no discrimination, as I tend to find out."
She pulled the last lady who needed it up, glancing towards the group to ensure that they were in sound condition.
And in the next room, there were...
Rats! Rats! Rats the size of large dogs!
Odjn leaps and exclaims, "These rats will feast on our eyes~~!" in unusually overwhelmed terror, sweeping back and trying to hide behind Catenna.
Riese groaned and shook her head, saying, "Ah, from slime and goop to rodents. This is truly no dungeon for a proper lady, is it?" Her tone seemed a bit light, though, as if to lightly chide the dungeon for its improper joke at a tea party. She looked behind at the group, and then smiled at Odjn again. "My familiar, it is time for you to earn your keep."
"Do I have to?"
"I won't let you busk in the next town unless you do."
"Oh man! That's not fair, it's gonna be 'All by Myself' on Saint Centour open mic night!"
"Then you'd best work hard, hmm?"
Odjn's eyes gleamed red as she reappeared from behind Catenna, suddenly spewing big gouts of flame to fry some rodents. "OPEN MIC NIGHT!!"
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Tiny Odjn toward her party's challenge, Rodents of Unusual Size.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida doesn't quite make the last jump.
She dangles from the edge, one foot dangerously close to the seething mass, before Riese helps her up. "Thank you," she says, to the mysterious winged woman whom Ida has already filed in the 'from Lunar' box. Elru? /Maybe/. Being from Elru is definitely much more sane-sounding than being from the moon, isn't it? "You know, I have a travelling companion who's a Beastman, and she's been nothing but good company--"
Horrible squeaking noises. Ida startles, her hands flying down to her revolvers. "Tch! No manners whatsoever." As the furry squeaking horde bears down on the group, Ida takes aim and fires for effect. "Pardon me," she adds, once both guns are empty, for even with her aim there's many more rats than bullets. "I'm reloading!"
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rodents of Unusual Size.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Rose," Catenna echoes before she grabs the rope. Her tone suggests mild disbelief but she doesn't go so far as to call Ida on it. One person in the party has already told her a stream of lies, after all.
She touches down soon enough, only to look back with a frown to ensure 'Rose' makes it onto the rope alright. Eventually, though, the party moves on -
And Catenna ends up with Odjn hiding behind her. She starts a little, a little surprised someone would /want/ to hide behind her. She's usually the hider.
Bringing her shotgun forward, she shifts it to her left hand - mostly because her right has fished into her collar, coming out with a small stone tablet. A few symbols, worn and weathered, are carved into it.
Low and sonorous, she chants a few words to herself in some language that's unheard of in these parts; her voice begins to take on an echo. Then, with a slow sweep of her arm, she gestures towards the rat pack that comes crawling towards her. "Oalan," she says, her voice underlaid with a subtle reverb.
The rats are no longer moving towards her nearly as quickly. In fact, they're moving /upwards./ All at once, gravity seems to reverse itself on them. A mass of rodentia hurtles towards the cave roof, slamming into it with ratty squeaks before gravity resumes and pulls them down again like ping-pong balls.
Biting her bottom lip, Catenna hoists her shotgun, breaking the weapon to load a couple of shells into each barrel. When she snaps it closed again, she levels it in both hands and lets fly.
What she fires off isn't a regular buckshot blast. It's a shotgun blast full of tiny metal balls. The shrapnel shards ping through the cave, aiming to slice and dice the gravity-battered rats apart.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Shrapnel Shell toward her party's challenge, Rodents of Unusual Size.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail ends up catching the edge of the floating platform as it zig-zags around the room which leaves her precariously close to falling into the goo pit. But just as it looks like her grip starts to slip, Ida sends Catenna's grappling hook back across which results in the hatted gambler leaping towards it. She is just about grab ahold of the rope when she is caught by Riese and taken to the other side. Abbie coughs into a closed fist now that she's safely on the other side of the challenge which was soundly defeated by Ries' ability to fly above the danger entirely. "Much obliged," she says to the Beast(wo)man, Cat, and Ida before placing her hands down on her hips. "Never met one before." Abbie holds out a hand. "Miss Abigail Ivers, at your service." A pause. "And thanks for saving me from the goop."
She then heads over to Ida and pulls something metallic from her vest with a flourish. "Here 'Rose', looks like you could use this." It is none other than a flask full of strong whiskey. But as soon as she offers it, a bunch of dog-sized rats come skittering forward. "Rats. Why did it have to be rats?" She waits for Rose to take a swig before handing it off to whomever else wants a taste. Abigail then cracks her neck before squaring off with the rats just as Catenna starts to lay into them. "Time to go to work!" The flask disappears into her belt and she grabs a hold of first pair of knives from behind her back. She rolls the first one up her knuckles before tossing it hard at the nearest rats before spinning in place and throwing out the one in her other hand at the next closest.
DG: Abigail Ivers has used her Tool Flask of Whiskey toward her party's challenge, Rodents of Unusual Size. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 7 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese couldn't help but try to hide a wince as she watched her companions unload all of their clips' worth of ARM ammunition; Odjn's flame caused the rats to run ever which way, which caused them to become easy targets for 'Rose's' handguns and Abigail's knife skills -- and finished off with Catenna's impressive reverse-gravity shotgun trick.
Some part of Riese is truly horrified at how easily and proficiently humans adapt to what very well were the bodily parts and pieces of her fallen brethren, deceased so long ago. It is not an exaggeration to say that the human ability to adapt is rather terrifying.
But then again, she knew a thing or two about adaptation -- that was how the Tainted demons adapted, with human weaponry.
"I must say, I'm very impressed at the sheer strength of these... ARMs," she comments, "And the way you combine them with other skills. I know nothing but how to use a simple sword, by comparison. Such weapons were not known to us." She declined Rose's flask, perhaps able to smell that it was alcohol, but truly curious about whether humans used them as mid-battle fuel or whether this was a personal preference.
Which is a half-truth in its own way. The Tainted were largely incapable of manifesting ARMs on their own, without help or great personal risk.
"Shall we see what's next?" she turns towards the next chamber, now that the way is clear...
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Swarm of Bats *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A nest of large carnivorous bats has made its home within the ceiling of this chamber of the Sult Ruins, and they rouse with a chittering frenzy as the party disturbs their slumber. The creatures might simply be attacking to protect their young, or for a darker and more bloodthirsty purpose, but the swarm descends like a black cloud to engulf the party in a matter of moments! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese let out a thoughtful hum at the darkness ahead, witnessing the Bats and looking towards Odjn with another nod. "When are you going to do some work, Riese?"
She brushed a lock of her flowing ashen-blonde hair back, and then said, "Do not worry, I am not about to sit still and do nothing." As Odjn let out a little screech to draw the attention of some of the bats, using a sub-sonic sound to echo her location to them, Riese confidently stood tall and swept her hand imperiously. Her voice was raised and full of confidence as she commanded:
"Begone, and trouble us no longer."
Is... is that going to work? Then again, crazier things have happened...
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Tiny Odjn toward her party's challenge, Swarm of Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Thank you," 'Rose' says, and she drinks deeply of the offered flask without stopping to think about what's in it. As a result, she spends much of the rat assault with her face scrunched up and her eyes stinging. Aiming is extremely difficult.
But soon enough, the rats are in ruins, and the survivors are fleeing into the dark. Ida coughs into her sleeve, now that she has the chance. "Indeed," she says to Riesenlied. "Oh, but they're the foundation of modern culture! ARMs as a whole, not merely weapons. Do they not use them much, where you're from--?"
Ida gently eases the door open, and the breeze wafts in. That smell, she thinks--I know it. Guano?
She looks up, and sees the ceiling covered in mutant, carnivorous bats. Ida suppresses a cry of surprise, and immediately reaches around to her backpack. The gun she pulls out is a rifle, sawed-down and kitbashed into pistol form, with the vaguely sinister patina of aged, fossilized Demon bone. She takes aim at the center mass, and fires, sending a round right at them.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, Swarm of Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The massive rodents go down. Catenna inhales slowly, then lets out out, lips pressed firmly together.
She gives Riese a look, her shoulders coming up slightly, then settling again. "...They are helpful," she says, her voice still fairly low and measured. "Magic is not always fast. Shooting someone is quicker."
Stepping aside, Catenna gives way for 'Rose,' squaring her jaw and starting forward with a billow of her skirts. That is, until something chitters, and she looks up slowly.
She exhales through her teeth. More damned bats.
She doesn't have time to load up another shell, and bats are a lot harder to hit than rats are. Instead, she steps back behind 'Rose,' her hand clutching her tablet again. Her left hand plays over it as she focuses on something other other, calling out in a low invocation:
"Nanneme."
Again, the air shifts imperceptibly - but this time the bats don't get dragged to the ceiling. Instead it seems like they're being pulled down to the floor - as if every beat of their wings is twice as hard now, and it takes twice as much effort to move batty bodies that suddenly weigh double what they did a second ago.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swarm of Bats. Riesenlied has left.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abbie recovers her knives from the now deceased rat corpses before cleaning her blades on their fur and sheathing the blades. She now heads back over to Rose and reclaims her flask with a grin. "Good stuff, right?" asks the gambler with an elbow aimed for Ida-Rose's ribs. "ARMs are all fair and good, but there's nothing wrong some just having some good steel on your hip." The vest wearing woman explains before patting the array of sheathed knives behind her back that seem to be the opposite sides of a sheathed revolver.
Rats are replaced by bats and Abigail narrows her gaze on them. She takes a quick hit off her flask before smirking towards Cat. "With a trusty revolver at your side, who needs hokey magic tricks?" Abbie poses before drawing her revolver out and fanning the hammer as she places five shots hopefully into five bats. But who knows, maybe the whiskey is going to throw her aim off a bit. It really could go either way when it comes to whiskey and revolvers.
DG: Abigail Ivers has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swarm of Bats. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 37 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Catenna's magic helps deprive the bats of their dread power to turn into a cloud of flapping, screeching unpleasantness. Then bullets happen, and there isn't much the gravity-stricken bats can do to evade them; Riesenlied's voice scatters the handful that didn't end up on the floor.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Carved Stone Head *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The deepest chamber of the Sult Ruins contains a mysterious structure - a large stone head that has been painted in much the same way as the entrance to the ruins up above. Its eyes are open and hollow, and its mouth a closed mesh of sharp teeth. Around the room are scattered a number of odd ritual objects - carved stone orbs, wedges, and squares. Gazing between the teeth, one can see the form of a lever of some sort - but the mechanism to cause the head to open its teeth and allow access is an obscure and strange one that the party must unravel. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
'Hokey magic tricks'
Cetenna gives Abigail a sidelong look as she continues to cast her spells. "If you would prefer, I can stop doing my hokey magic tricks," she says, her tone level.
A little corner of her mind, meanwhile, has a different opinion:
. o O ( Ignas people are idiots. )
The distraction is enough that a few bats are able to latch onto her arm and gnaw at her. With a low, pained hiss, she swings her arm to one side and slams it into the rock wall. It succeeds in crushing the bats and sending them slumping to the ground.
It also succeeds in hurting her arm. She winces, clenching her teeth in pain but pushing forward anyway. Clutching her tablet, she ducks and just runs under the worst of the swarm.
She rushes into the next room, a deep chamber dominated by a vast stone head with teeth parted just the narrowest bit. The head's huge, several metres high, but the spaces between the teeth are narrow - and the lower jaw seems to rest on a hinge, itself protruding from a great pedestal half-heaped with old rubble and thick with dust.
The sight of ritual objects immediately sets Catenna to work. "It is an idol," she says quietly as she stoops to pick up one of the orbs. Her finger traces across it as she begins to try and interpret it - looking for carvings cut into it.
Soon, she blinks - and she moves to the pedestal, setting one of the orbs down there. "...Perhaps it wants an offering," she says with a soft smile.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
If Riese was internally horrified before, she's certainly doubly so now that Ida's pulled out the precious goods -- though she politely looks away for a moment as the Devil's Due goes blazing. "I see..." she recomposed herself after a moment, before smiling faintly. "Yes, I am afraid we are largely dependent on traditional means and weapons," before inspecting just how well Catenna was able to control gravity, both up and down. It's a very curious power, and a very good asset.
She'd best be aware of it, as someone who takes to the skies often.
"Hey, don't be lookin' at me! I'm no dame to be offered to some stone god!" Odjn whines, as Riese looked towards the different objects. "Relax. It is clearly meant to evoke an ancient ritual, but using contraptions to substitute. There may be pressure plates or some internal mechanism that must be conducted in a certain order..."
She spent some more time inspecting the orbs and wedges, before making a few suggestions as something clicked in her mind. Perhaps literally.
"If we place this here... and..." She pointed. "Try that wedge there, while I place this orb down."
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Rose" takes a moment to appreciate the quality of the stone carving. To think people spent so many hours on this ritual object...! But sadly, this is not a mission where she can take notes--she's here to find out more about the people who appear to be stonewalling her mentor's expedition. Faced with what is definitely a puzzle, she consults the trusty journal her mother passed on to her before she left, and to her surprise--
"Mother was here," Ida whispers, almost reverently. She takes a step forward, and imagines she's walking in Flora's footsteps. "Yes, that piece. We've almost got it--!" She smiles widely, and moves in with the notes to assist the others.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flora's Notebook toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail would have flubbed her shots if it wasn't for the magic that she just badmouthed in a breath before. And so the normally talkative gambler grows silent briefly as she scrunches up her face. There was something about Catenna's tone that rubbed her all wrong as she appears to have struck a nerve. "Woah, woah. There's a time and place for hokey magic tricks, sure." She places a hand on her vest and turns it around to display a hand of cards with all their faces concealed. "Here, I guarantee that I will stupefy you with this next trick...pick a card, anyone of them." The gambler intones with a sheepish grin. Only Abbie knows that every one of the cards in her hand are the Queen of Clubs. It is while she is looking at these cards that she pauses to look around the chamber.
She whistles appreciatively before hanging back to look over the various artifacts while the others get to work. The gambler lets the others do their thing while she remains near the back, her hand on one of her cards in particular that has a small hole in it. It's a good luck charm and something that she hopes will help her being clairvoyance as she backs into a nearby wall to ensure she's out of the way of whatever death trap/surprise might be waiting for them, unaware that she was backing into one of the squares that might be the one they end up needing.
DG: Abigail Ivers has used her Tool Queen of Clubs toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head. DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has successfully explored Sult Ruins!
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Forward Camp *>======================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Deep within the ruins the party discovers the currently empty base camp that is being used by the unknown soldiers who are poking around in the ruins. What they want to do with the camp remains up to them, and rummaging about reveals a variety of supplies and a small bag of Gella that can be pocketed as compensation for the trouble of going through the ruins. Most interesting however is a satchel with a set of encrypted orders - one of the local kingdoms would be interested in getting their hands on such a thing to attempt to uncover the identity of these invaders. You should send in a +request regarding this discovery! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Yes," Catenna says with a small, genuine smile for Rose, though she seems to be interpreting 'mother' differently judging from the almost beatific glitter in her eyes.
Then she realizes Rose is reading from a manual. She blinks, then purses her lips, blushing softly, but it doesn't stop her from continuing to place objects around the pedestal.
She steps back and lets the others finish the rest of it. One by one, the offerings are put into place - and with a slow grind of old stone mechanisms, the idol's lower jaw begins to open, gemstones in its eyes glinting with approval.
The switch is stylized to look like its tongue. Carefully, Catenna reaches in, touching her hands to it and pressing down.
To one side of the room, a stone slab gives way. It opens up into a camp - empty for now, the soldiers mostly out on patrol and poking around. The dusky-skinned woman prowls forward, shotgun held in her hands, ready to fire. Peering around the corners of the opening with care, she soon looks back and beckons to the others. "Whoever was here is gone now."
The first thing she does is head for the wooden chest sitting near one of the cots. She pries it open deftly and checks what's inside.
The second thing she does is look up again. "...I wonder why there would be soldier men here...?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Your mother was here...?" Riese mused for a moment, looking at the journal. To be following the steps of a parent... she supposes that every metal demon knew that, and yet, it was nothing like the filial bond that Riese has observed humans having. What was it like, to actually have a parent?
"Hmm..."
She glanced around the camp, in some rumination of her own. The fossils are not here... then, was the resonance I sensed... she glanced back to Ida for a moment, then smiling as she said, "It seems a camp, possibly of the same affiliation as those men we saw outside."
She did follow Catenna's suit and inspect the contents of the cot, pointing to some of the letters. "That letterhead looks rather official... I wonder if it is military correspondence? The script is not known to me, but with some effort, the cipher should be reversible."
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail hangs her head low as she folds her cards back into her vest, magic trick cancelled. "Tough crowd," she murmurs before tucking her thumbs into the sides of her gunbelt as she adds her offering that she darn near stumbled over to the others. The gambler hangs back and lets the others go through first while remaining near the back of the group once more. She keeps an eye out for trouble while skulking forward with the others towards the camp. The well-dressed yet now battered individual remains near the small bag of Gella, peering into to count out its contents. "Nothing special, but enough to cover expenses and laundry." She says with a glance over towards what the others were looking at. "There are those that would pay a pretty gella for something like that, much more than what's in this bag." She says while holding said bag aloft.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"My mother was a Drifter," Ida explains, to Riese. "And she was here, in this ruin, before I was born." The door slides open. Ida frowns. She was expecting something that wasn't... well, /this/. "Be careful," she murmurs, "and don't take anything you don't absolutely need. Whomever these people are, it would be imprudent to let them know we got this far." "Rose's" tactical sense is much better than her sense of disguise, at least! She also keeps her rummaging to a minimum, finding what she presumes is an officer's satchel, gently unbuckling it, and coming up with more of those encrypted documents. "Mm. Too much to copy by hand, and I don't think we want to risk being here when they come back." Ida makes a beckoning gesture, calling the others into a huddle. Shit, as they say, just got real, but Ida is approaching it much like how one might discuss an important business matter over tea.
"Ladies," she begins. "What we have here is unquestionably a military expedition. I know we don't know the first thing about each other, but this doesn't sit right with me. While ordinarily I would recommend we split the take, dividing the documents means we may lose context. What we need is a cryptographer." Inwardly, Ida is equal parts terrified and absolutely thrilled; this is /intrigue/ and /adventure/, and she's hoping she isn't going to have to kill someone over it. "I say we convene again and search for one."
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"That... would seem to be important," Catenna says with a slight furrow of her brows as she leans towards Riese, peering at the official-looking heap of letters. "I do not know whose letter marks those are... I don't know... much about military things."
Reaching into the chest, Catenna does take a few objects from it - but she pauses as Rose advises her not to. A frown creases her face, but she lets out a short huff through her nose as she puts the pack of rations back. She can find food in the wilderness anyway, and she'd rather not have soldiers after her. Dealing with them back home was bad enough.
'Cryptographer,' Rose says, and Catenna immediately blinks, looking down at the chest.
"...I am not sure what that is," she says, her voice slow and a little unsure. "But I... suppose I can help you try to find one. At least, if this is as... important as you think it is."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese nodded at Ida as she said, "As I thought, then. A cryptographer..." she tapped at her chin for a moment as Odjn sulked a bit. "Military documents? Booo-ring. Where's the jewels, the chalices, the moola? Oh, dinero! We've done been fleeced here!"
She smiled at Odjn to say, "Not every treasure is monetary, Odjn. And we did unearth some Gella for our troubles. But as you say..." she folded her arms. "What we have here is very distinct evidence of a military that rather obviously is beyond their country's official boundaries. No wonder they're unmarked. To which country do they belong, I wonder -- Aveh? And under whose orders?"
It's all just speculation at this point. But it's information the demons would appreciate too.
"I may be able to contact someone, myself," she offered. "Would you like to hold onto those for now, or?"
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail begins to toss the small sack of gella up and down in the air which causes it to make a very pleasing sound of coins hitting each other. She turns towards Rose and smiles sweetly. "Cryptographers like to get paid just like someone else I know," mentions the gambler with a tap against her vest before gesturing towards the gella in hand. "Looks like we have a down-payment for one right here in my hands." The card-shark then holds up four fingers. "We get these translated, find out what dark secrets they tell, and then sell it to the highest bidder while becoming big, damn heroes in the process. Oh, and splitting our profits four-ways naturally." She lowers her hat over her eyes a bit after nodding to Rose. "Sounds like a plan if I ever heard one."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"A cryptographer," Ida repeats, realizing that perhaps Catenna has neither encountered one nor read the kind of adventure novels where one would come up as a plot point. "These may be encoded. A cryptographer is a person trained in making and breaking codes and ciphers." She pulls a sheaf of paper out of her pack, and carefully replaces the stolen documents with blank paper. She even dirties them up a bit to add extra subterfuge! "I'm staying in Adlehyde, here--" "Rose" takes another piece of paper, tears it into strips, and writes some contact information down. "Here."
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
A part of Catenna is a little disappointed there wasn't an ancient treasure buried in here. This seems important, but it also seems slightly beyond her understanding, in some ways.
For a moment she peers at Abigail, watching the card shark fuss with her deck. "...I suppose that is a good approach. But we should make sure the documents stay safe."
Then she clears her throat, setting a hand at her hip and looking towards Riese. "I would prefer to entrust them to someone who did not lie to me about her name and her wings," she says simply, "or to someone who is not trying to make us think she is actually a brigand." Here she looks to Ida. "Though I am sure you are both wonderful people."
She brings her hand up to her collar. "I have not lied to anyone here, and I am used to keeping care of things that must not be lost. I should care for them."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese is a little curious -- the camp doesn't look necessarily abandoned, for certain, and the unknown soldiers clearly knew how to work the contraption. Was there something even deeper in this ruin, or had they already left with whatever was in this room they're now using? What was hidden behind the ancient device that they had to struggle to open? There was something deeper than just military intrigue here... and the cipher may hold that secret.
Fun times that they live in.
She looks playfully hurt at Catenna, though saying, "I suppose that is fair. Being a Beastman does not necessarily engender trust. So that works for me," Riese answered. She was actually quite busy with other matters anyway, and if they're eager to solve the riddle for her, all the better. "I am also staying in Adlehyde. Do drop a note in the Memory Cube once you discover the results."
Odjn strutted her tiny arms and said, "Then, now's...!"
She sighed. "Yes, now we head to Saint Centour," with a soft smile. "Though you shouldn't regale them with the tales we found here."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida looks at the strange foreigner, sizing her up. After a moment of consideration, she hands over the documents. "I trust you are a woman of your word," she says to Catenna.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Ida," she adds, after a moment. "My mentor was scheduled to dig here, but found himself stonewalled, and I would early like to know /why/."
<Pose Tracker> Abigail Ivers has posed.
Abigail clears her throat. "Well if that's all settled, then I'll safeguard the cryptographer's down payment since I also was forthright with my own identity." And since her reputation did not proceed her, she was wise to use her actual name. The small pouch of Gella gets added to her actual belt as opposed to her gunbelt before she crosses her arms against herself. "Well Miss Ida 'Rose', maybe those documents will shed some light and maybe they won't. But we still don't want to be -here- when they find out they are missing." Abbie gestures back towards the way they came. "Might I suggest we make a hasty retreat?"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"It is not your being a Beastman that was the problem there," Catenna assures Riese with a faint smile. There's something apologetic about it. "And I do not share the ugly feelings of others of my kind towards your people."
Ida hands over the documents. Taking them in hand, Catenna gives them a neat little sort, ensuring they remain in a careful stack.
"I like this honesty much better," she says as Ida explains herself further. "And I do not know much about people from this area," she admits, "but I trust it is universal to expect that one's word is one's bond. So it is among my people, also."
A frown follows as she slides the document pile into the pouch she's carrying with her, ensuring they're not bent or torn as they slide neatly into a pocket.
At Abigail's suggestion, she nods briskly. "Yes. That would be wise."