2017-03-20: Breaking Bad Things, People, and Places
- Log: Breaking Bad Things, People, and Places
- Cast: Bart Fatima, Lily Keil, Virginia Maxwell, Talise Gianfair, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: A Secret Gebler Base
- Date: March 20th, 2017
- Summary: Bart and his team break, enter, smash, destroy, and rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Something was afoot in the Kingdom of Adelhyde.
Bart had received a tip a few days ago that Gelber was conducting a rather large scale manhunt for someone who was linked to the strange events that had occurred in Lahan recently. Who had given him that information was TOP SECRET and Bart would NEVER REVEAL THAT THE KING OF ADELHYDE WAS PASSING HIM INFO so anyone who asks will just have to be satisfied with 'mysterious sources'.
But he had put out feelers for some help, looking for a small group who were willing to infiltrate an illegal Gebler Base that had been established here in Adelhyde and rescue a valuable prisoner from within.
And also blow it six ways to Sunday if they found a way to pull that off as well, because Bart totally wouldn't mind really putting his thumb in Gebler's eye at this point.
And so the group is set up outside of the base, with Bart looking through a pair of binoculars towards the front door. "So, given how this usually goes I figure we're gonna try and sneak in, probably mess it up at some point, and then just go wild and wreck everything until we find the guy we're looking for. He's supposedly some big shot pilot that Gebler thinks wrecked a lot of their stuff, so the job is to get him out and steal anything we can carry that's not nailed down, and blow up anything we can't steal. Sound reasonable?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
While Lily is highly interested in payment for this job, she primarily took it for other reasons. She came alone, and did ask about the sources of the info... But was satisfied enough.
Gebler operating in Adelhyde is bad for her, to say the least.
But outside the base, Lily has her arms crossed, wearing a black dress with a gold vest and double-checking her ARM in its holster at her side. She listens to the plan, arms crossed at this point. She looks... intense. Her black hair is back.
"Anyone who hasn't fought Gebler, be careful," Lily says with some authority. "Their sorcery is nothing to take lightly." A pause. "But that all sounds reasonable to me." She pats her satchel, "You'll find I'm familiar with... blowing things up."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
THE LAST FIVE THINGS Virginia Maxwell HAS DONE:
* Get told by best friend Maya Schrodinger that she shouldn't do anything dangerous.
* Proceed to do something dangerous by exploring a ruin with Miss Elly and Miss Rider and Miss Gwen.
* Become adequately deluded that the tome of social commentary she found is a flesh-eating necronomicon.
* Attempt to find a way to undo the nonexistent curse on said tome.
* Suddenly become in desperate need of a lot of money on snake oil!?
Virginia tilts her head and cups her hand, saying, "U-um, I'll do my best, of course! I have fire!" She sucks in a breath and glances down to her side. "I know what I'm doing, Diary, really. It'll be okay. And we need that money, right?"
Virginia, terrorism is probably a little early for you yet.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise is not her normal happy self today. In fact she wants to beat someone up more than she has since she arrived on Filgaia.
Her armour never had much of a shine to it; she looks about as rough as she acts, her breastplate in need of a good polish but protecting her nevertheless. For lack of a gun, she holds her sword in both hands, sunk into a crouch to one side of Bart and peering out towards the door without the benefit of binoculars.
'Pilot'
The half-Beastwoman's eyelids lower ever so slightly because she has no idea what that is. Letting out a breath through her teeth, she sets her shoulders and scowls ahead, focusing herself entirely on the job, no matter how hideously mercenary it feels. She makes a mental note to find Amelia Rose and bash her skull in for depriving her of her lute and forcing her to this kind of thing to keep gella flowing in, when she could've been playing in the tavern as usual.
"I've dealt with wizards before," she says somewhat tersely, her shoulders tightening up.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Perimeter Breach! *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Before you can get into the caverns of Soldier's Rest, wherein your target is concealed, you must first infiltrate the perimeter. While the patrols aren't thick, there are several watchtowers and a roaming dog. Move with quickness and deftness, or be prepared to cover up your sins. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Soldier's Rest, seen from outside and at a distance, doesn't look like an elite military facility being operated by a shadowy group of advanced Gear soldiers. There doesn't even seem to be a Gear around!
But that's both good and bad. There are several perimeter patrols that Bart can easily spot and some fencing, but the fencing isn't coated in barbed wire. Approaching under the cover of night should make this - well, not easy, but not impossible, but...
Bart sees the problem.
That problem has a handsome black and tan coat and a wet black nose. He looks happy to be here. That problem...
Is a dog. The dog is being led around by a man in plain fatigues. Staying downwind of that dog may be of vital importance.
Past the perimeter - and that perilous canine - dwells the caverns. There are dim lights within.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia peers towards the man in fatigues and the dog, perking up a little. "Omigosh, so cute..."
A pause, as she mumbles, "I know, I know, I'm not here to pet the dog, geez."
She looks towards the others gathered, looking a bit tense. These people all look like they know what they're doing... does she really belong here? W-well, money says so! That's the Drifter way, right, Diary?
Diary remains silent, at Virginia's side.
Virginia scrunches her face, though, shaking her head as she drew a green ornate crest. "I know how we'll handle this--" she holds it up, and the winds of change begin to occur. Where the dog's scent would easily catch them, it's now blowing in the opposite direction, allowing them to sneak in just a little bit easier.
Then she scurries forward, attempting her best to be VERY SNEAKY in a desert scenario in a BRIGHT VIOLET dress.
Virginia: Ace Infiltrator!!
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Galecrest toward her party's challenge, Perimeter Breach!.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
It's a good thing there are no Gears around. Talise wouldn't actually know how to deal with that. She's used to coping with problems that are closer to human beings in size and scale.
Frowning, Talise watches the perimeter patrols, her sword kept out of view for now to prevent any stray glints from catching it. Gebler may be a totally alien force to her, but dealing with men with dogs - actually she's dealt with wolves more often, but still - isn't beyond her. The woman watches for a moment, glancing after the guard, following the man and the pooch, then glancing to the other side to ensure the canine villain isn't going to be followed too closely by another dog, or even another guard.
She waits. Virginia does something awfully useful.
Tal flashes the woman a grateful smile. "Nice move," she murmurs, before wrapping herself and her weapon up in the large black duster she bought in town. She's beginning to look more and more Filgaian, somehow even managing to match it to her chestplate.
Easing forward, she keeps the coat pulled tightly against the plate to muffle any sound, slinking with utmost silence towards that cave. It helps that she's sort of half-cat.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perimeter Breach!.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart just gives Lily a thumbs up. "I highly approve of a high familiarity with blowing Gebler's shit up," he declares. Because damned if he doesn't like explosions and explosions that wreck things he doesn't like.
Virginia he was a little less certain of, but he was willing to take a chance on someone who said they were willing to do anything for some money. And really, Bart had a soft spot for people who were willing to help others on the threadbare excuse that there was money to be made and a someone to be rescued.
Talise was definitely along for the muscle, and she was a known quantity. Having someone you worked with before was always good for a team member. "Well, think of them as like... military wizards. Dark military wizards. With no sense of humor."
The entry to the base wasn't as guarded as some places Bart had dealt with, but the challenge is the presence of the canine patrol. He looks around for a moment, and decides that jumping the fence isn't too big of a problem, especially with his whip as an assist for climbing over it. But as for the dog...
"Just try and keep away from the dog," he declares, creeping up to the fence and wrapping the end of his whip on the top of one of the stands with a practiced flip of his wrist. "Everyone else up first, I'll bring up the rear. And good work Virginia, that'll help. Lemme see if I can make sure he doesn't raise the alarm when he tracks over here..."
And with that, Bart digs around in his jacket and pulls out a bottle of cologne. He focuses on it for a moment, reaching down for the wellspring of Ether energy that flows through his body. As soon as he's charged the cologne with energy, he pops open the cap and spreads it over their back trail.
Poor dog won't be smelling anything for a while when he gets a wiff of it, but better than them needing to take the canine and handler out.
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
DG: You use your Tool Bart's Whip against your party's Challenge, Perimeter Breach!! DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Perimeter Breach!.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Good luck," Lily says to Talise, who she recognizes. A beat, as she looks to Bart a moment and reflects that his description of Gebler's 'wizards' makes them sound awfully like her. SHe's not thrilled with that, exactly.
But they move in... Upon seeing a dog and a single soldier, Lily narrows her eyes... and kneels down to check for her combat knife, the hilt of which glints softly at her boot. She has an obvious solution to the problem but would prefer not to try to exercise it.
Virginia starts changing the air and Lily lifts an eyebrow. "...Clever," she says to Virginia, with some approval. With Bart's whip there though Lily makes the climb... And starts sneaking. At least she's in black. Her hands stay curled at her sides, just in case.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perimeter Breach!.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Machine Parts *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This room is cram-packed with strange pieces of long ironmongery, like bad imitations of Gear parts. It isn't clear what they are here for - construction equipment? Parts for the prison? Torture devices? Either way you must force your way while not making too much noise. Shhh... =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The winds obey the dark commands of Virginia Maxwell, supplemented by the sultry, musky scents that Bart Fatima releases through the power of Ether. Bart: It works every time, sixty percent of the time. And this is one of those sixty percents.
With this, the cave entrance is achieved, and the group hugs a wall on the way inwards. If any guards have spotted them they have been damn quiet about it, and in fact, this section of Soldier's Rest is remarkably quiet. That said, there's a wide open space -- best to take this side cavern, at least potentially, and --
Find a whole bunch of iron struts, wrapped together with twine and bailing wire and carefully positioned. The way back is... problematic, especially since you can hear some very distant conversation getting a bit less distant.
Can there be a way through?
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Nice move."
"... Clever."
"Good work, Virginia."
Each of the compliments kind of pour in and Virginia's face substantially melts, and you could virtually see the tail wagging behind her as she expresses a 'pet me, pet me' expression.
"... no, Diary, I--I'm not that kinda girl-- ugh," she mumbles to herself, as she slips in and beckons for the others as they enter through to the cavernous complex. She peers towards the Gear parts and struts, tilting her head at how they're all blocking the way. She'd never seen such things before, but...
"Um, I can try-- melting them," she suggests softly, before taking a red card out and focusing. A wire-thin beam of red-hot fire hisses out and starts cutting into them, channeled from the centre of the crest.
Magic is awesome, Virginia is finding out. Why didn't dad teach her more magic?
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Tindercrest toward her party's challenge, Machine Parts.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Only once she's slid into the Rest does Talise undo her duster. It billows behind her dramatically. She could get used to this, she decides. As to her sword, she doesn't go for it yet; instead she just steps forward, gauntleted hand hovering near the hilt.
The mess of iron struts and bailing wire inside leaves her setting her jaw slightly, but it doesn't stop her from approaching, her hands coming up. "I'll try to be quiet about this but I don't know if it's going to be practical," she says, her voice low.
Then, scowling, she reaches out to grab ahold of one of the iron bars. A subtle vibration races through her gauntlets. Her arms clench visibly; her shoulders swell a little and rise, then fall as she exhales.
And then she lets out a low, animal growl - and proceeds to rip one of the struts out of the wall.
Bodily, Talise wrenches the strut and its mess of wires out of the way, then turns to the next strut, simply tearing apart the assemblage of metal bars and wires with her gauntleted hands. The weight of the struts doesn't stop her. It's like each one weighs about as much to her as a stick of cotton candy.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Machine Parts.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart looks at the random masses of metal for a moment, and then... looks at them again. And then declares: "Clearly these are here for the sole purpose of trying to confuse us. And therefore we should disregard their attempts to do so by advancing forward in the most DIRECT WAY POSSIBLE." This is how things worked with Bart. He knew that there was a good reason to try and remain stealthy, but he also knew that chances were that stealth was just not going to work for all that long. He'd done the stealth thing before, and it was nice when it worked but there was also a time for raw, unquestioning audacity, Gears, and cruise missiles.
He was curious which of those times this would be.
But the one eyed pirate puts his foot against one of the beams and pushes, grunting as he states, "At least... it's not a god. Damn. Door. Or rubble. I hate rubble. Give me nice steel beams any day of the week."
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Machine Parts.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily notice Virginia mumbling to herself, but doesn't say anything about it. What do you say to your teammate mumbling to herself? At least she seems happy. For her part, Lily makes no changes to her appearance but for a shift of her hair back again, glancing to each of the others.
"All we can do is try to be quiet. I know my best route through these things would be... loud. Very loud."
She steps forward anyway and sets out her hands as everyone works. Black-and-purple circles appear before her gloved hands with a soft hum as darkness engulfs the nearest tips of these metal things. It's a quiet smashing.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Machine Parts.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Password Lock *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A sturdy steel grate blocks your path here. Fortunately, there is no guard, and it seems that one achieves access by pressing a code on a pad of nine keys with obscure images on them. A note pinned above the keypad contains a cryptic couplet in free verse which may help you figure out the code before you perish of old age. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Brute force moves things aside. Talise's relatively majestic power gives her control and discretion proportionate to that of a spider - er - a real worker. There is some clanking and clonking, but it is not critical, especially when Bart gets in the game.
Lily is able to snip the tips off some things, but a few large chunks are in the party's way, low enough down to make crawling impractical and jagged enough to make crawling OVER questionable. It's like they're meant to be pieced together? It's not clear. Fortunately, Virginia is able to melt a pathway.
Though there were some sparks... is something smouldering?
Something goes CLANK behind the group. Then THUMP. Then a clattering, rolling, tumbling chorus, and then someone in the distance going, 'what??'
Uh oh.
Forward motion is the best way through. The guards aren't crawling up your collective behind yet even if they may be sensing something is going on in this neck of the woods. The keypad presents its own problems, but at least the fact that there is a light in here suggests that you're not following a blind alley.
Close your eyes,
Little girl 'chu
Inside of you lies a rainbow
Yellow, blue
Red, blue, purple too,
Blue purple and green, then the yellow
The keypad is unhelpfully monochrome, but there is a mouse, a sun, a picture of sea waves, grapes, a tree...
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
And now they're moving quickly towards the whole 'and now its time for audacity' part of the infiltration. Because the Geblerians are going to be on to them pretty soon if they start poking around and investigating things. And as the group moves forward, they come to something diabolical and insidious! An insurmountable barrier!
Bart stares at the keypad for a long moment. This. Makes. No. Sense.
He stares at it again for a long moment. Stare. Staaaaaaare. Stare.
"OK I don't get it." Bart crosses his arms for a moment, and then closes his eye. Looks down at his feet. Shakes.
"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Bart roars. Probably best to stop him.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Password Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Oh, I like you," Talise growls with a fierce grin for Bart.
Then she rips a mess of wire off of an iron spar, tearing it apart hard enough that the ends of it snap and score against her breastplate. She doesn't so much as flinch, though she's getting tired. "At least it's not a rope!" she huffs as she works. She's able to clear a path easily enough.
Then something goes clank behind her. With a scowl, Talise moves a couple of iron bars back into place behind her. She can probably just knock that out when she escapes.
If she escapes.
With a steely hiss, she whips her sword from its sheath and darts onward with a ripple of duster (SO COOL). "They're on to us," she mutters to Bart with a nod as she preses onward, only to run into --
She groans. "Great, a door. You jinxed it, Bart. You jinxed it good," she grumbles, giving the doorframe a kick with the toe of one plated boot.
Then she steps back and grabs Bart by the arm, aiming to grip him and hold him back. "Hold on!" she hisses. "Let the girls try it first.
"THEN we wreck it."
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Password Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia gulps as the loud CLANK comes cutting through the silence of the darkness, and she almost yells, 'it was nothing!' before realising that, hey, that'd actually be really dumb.
These are Gebler soldiers, after all, not Genome soldiers.
She's hurrying along with the others, peering towards the keypad and the note and... staring. Her eye twitched for a moment, and then she holds her hands to her head.
"Bea, this is like one of your puzzles, isn't it...?" she continues to mumble, glancing towards something to the side that just simply doesn't exist. Virginia, are you really feeling all right? "Yellow, blue... the symbolism in my dreams continues to intensify..."
Bart yells, and she gasps and says, "N-no, wait, I think I got this!"
She hurriedly looks towards the keypad and-- begins punching symbols in. "Just like in the dream... just like in the dream..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily looks... annoyed, as the metal starts clattering down, and closes her hands again with a shake of her head. "True, at least it's not a rope." The whole thing goes nuts behind them and she rushes on ahead.
Once they reach the door, she lifts an eyebrow. "Poetry? I didn't know Gebler were such sensitive souls." She looks sharply at Bart as he moves to wreck it, and approvingly of Talise as she stops him. She instead steps up beside Virginia. "Hrm..."
She pulls a book out of her satchel and starts flipping through it. "I think I've seen something like this before... Virginia, try..."
Teamwork!
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Password Lock. DG: You fail the challenge, and take 1 Exhaustion! You have 18 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Bart Fatima has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Megantlion Nest *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- A great pit worn into the stone of the floor by an ancient creature looms abruptly before - or beneath - the party. Fortunately, while the smooth entrapping grooves retain their horrible slipperiness, the megantlion at its base is long dead. But it would be better to avoid falling in in the first place. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Bart is restrained from wreckin' it. That's probably a good plan, because Lily is able to refer to field manuals about how to reason out codes, Virginia punches things in...
And the door pops open. More to the point it can be closed BEHIND them. And Talise took that code phrase with them.
As the group moves into a darker hallway, the smell of rust and damp heightening, they can hear that distant voice behind them say: 'ah jeez'
But the going from there is easy. In fact it starts to become very easy - the passageway sloping down hill. Did someone carve it or smooth it?
In fact, it's so slippery that standing up would be getting tricky - until a crack in the roof admits enough moonlight to reveal the scale of the hole dug into the floor! Don't fall down to the bottom - you'll cut yourself on those shells and mandibles!
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia cupped her mouth in slight horror, staring down towards the creature. She'd never seen a monster that big before, and though she'd survived contact to the face with a couch and a horrible giant undead monster thus far, she's not sure her face is that tough.
"I'll summon the wind again," Virginia expressed to the others, holding the Galecrest up in focus. The group would find their footsteps lighter and more agile; if they fell, they'd fall at a dampened rate, their souls less bound by gravity.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Galecrest toward her party's challenge, Ancient Megantlion Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
OK, so someone who is obviously smarter than Bart can figure this out. Which is a good thing. It's not that he minded someone doing the clever bypass of the lock, it's just that he tended towards more... direct solutions to these sorts of problems.
Or he just really likes smashing stuff. That is also a strong possibility.
The gaping pit is a problem, and Bart looks over it for a moment. "Why is it that they always find the most ridiculous pits in their evil lairs? I swear it's like they go looking for the one cave with a huge damn hole in it!" He grumps and grumbles, pulling out his whip and attaching a hook to the end. He sends it upwards, grabbing onto the ceiling and giving the group a way to swing across.
He does pause before he makes his own approach to whip assisted hole leap. "Wait, what if the door was there to keep people from falling into the pit? IS THIS JUST SOME CLEVER GEBLER TRAP?"
DG: You use your Tool Bart's Whip against your party's Challenge, Ancient Megantlion Nest! DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Ancient Megantlion Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise keeps her hold on Bart until he either wriggles out of her grasp or is preempted by Lily solving the problem for them.
She does, however, pause and frown, taking a moment to pull out a scrap of paper and jot down the poem. Her handwriting is shockingly neat and crisp for someone who seems like she ought to be along as the dumb muscle. "Little girl 'chu, inside of you lies a rainbow," she murmurs, mouthing the rest of the poem to herself, then tucking it away. It might be useful in the future.
Once again she slides her sword into her hands, holding it in a ready stance as she steps into the next room - only to gasp as her feet simply lose traction. "Althena's sake," she mutters acidly, kicking her heel back to try and crack the surface of the passageway with a plated heel, hopefully enough to create a rut to wedge her heel into.
Planting herself, Talise, bends one knee experimentally. It takes some balance, but she's able to slam her opposite heel against that sloped floor a couple of times, again kicking a dent; a worn chunk of stone buckles, and she plants her heel on it, before Virginia's spell takes effect.
With utmost care, she begins to move, stepping lightly where she can, one hand bracing against the slope now and then. She stops now and then to try and carve out heel niches for herself.
"It feels like someone's greased up the damn deck," she mutters.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Megantlion Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily doesn't even crack a smile at the predicament of their foes behind them. She just keeps scanning the hallways as they go for hidden doors and more-hidden soldiers. Then they reach this... downhill slope. Lily immediately has a bit of trouble, putting her hand out to the wall to try and sustain herself. She glances up into the moonlight, and then back down at the way down. She does not look at the notebook in which she wrote down the code. ...ANd she thinks of it more as code than poem.
"Gh," she complains to Bart, and finally reaches out very suddenly for the rope he sets down. "I hate these things."
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Megantlion Nest.
=============================<* CHALLENGE - >!< *>============================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Turning a corner, you find yourself face to face with a duly uniformed soldier carrying a gunsmoke rifle. You have caught him flat footed, his jaw literally hanging open. Take care of this problem before he raises an alarm! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Any country doctor might be able to speculate on how this mega-antlion catches its prey, although Bart, as he gets out his whip and ghost-rides it partway across the gaping chasmlette, might see that the creature's been dead for a while. Maybe it's just a natural kind of thing.
Stranger things have happened.
Between strength, wind and tactical positioning the group is able to make headway across. Honestly, the stone is quite impressive in just HOW polished it is. On the far side is a stack of wooden planks that presumably were used as a temporary bridge at some point... so that's how they get you.
Er, the metal stuff.
Anyway: Bart forges ahead, as is a man's path. He sees no problems ahead going down this hallway, although Talise may notice the relatively low-key door on the left side of the cavern before Bart does, for obvious reasons.
The door swings abruptly, and out comes--
Well, he's not wearing anybody's uniform in particular. He's carrying a gunsmoke rifle slung over his shoulder, but when the door nearly slams Bart right in the face, he says, "Uh!?" Emerging full from what, based on the carved hole in the door and the distinct fragrance of the area, is a lavatory, he looks forward.
Then he unshoulders his rifle. "You're--"
Can you manage this problem before he can shout, shoot, or skedaddle??
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Just keep a good grip and we'll be fine. Whip hasn't let me down yet!" Bart declares confidently. After all, what else can you say about this sort of situation? 'Be terrible if we fell into some horrible pit trap' or something similar?
The group clears the pit with only a few minor slips and slides, moving on into the base as they seek out their destination.
And then as they walk along some guy steps out of the bathroom, and looks surprised. Probably complete with a ! mark above his head as well.
And Bart just turns around and pulls something out of his jacket, and smashes the guard in the face with it! The bottle of cologne breaks all over the guard's face, and Bart moves to kick him back into the lavoratory with a shout of: "YOU DIDN'T WASH YOUR HANDS!"
Sniff.
"AND LIGHT A MATCH OR SOMETHING GOD DAMNNIT!"
DG: You use your Tool White Cologne against your party's Challenge, >!<! DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, >!<.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Bother," Talise growls as she goes sliding for a ways. She stumbles embarrassingly. It detracts from how goddamned cool she is.
Blushing, the tall woman falls in behind Bart, trudging along with her sword held at the ready. "Brutal," she mutters to herself. The momentary slipping puts her a few paces behind Bart. Sword sweeping into her off hand, she glances sidelong at the door, not seeming bothered by it, then glancing forward -
- click*
Someone steps out through the door, a plume of something utterly rank following. Talise doesn't even bother to say hello. She just pivots and pulls a knife out of her belt. Her sword's too out of position. In the blink of an eye she takes a step forward and attempts to bash the guard in the face with the pommel of her knife -
At which point an arc of lightning will arc from the knife and attempt to blast Doodie-Chu back into the water closet, to sizzle.
"Wipe your ass," she snaps. "Piglet."
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Bomb Knife toward her party's challenge, >!<.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia Maxwell HAS JUST UPDATED HER JOURNAL:
* Watched a man come out of a washroom get exploded by an electric knife.
Her face is kinda pale. It's not clear whether it's because of Mr. Sasaki's burrito dinner, or because of the violence.
Maybe both.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, >!<.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily makes it across thanks to the help of others, entirely; this just isn't her area. "Right," the black-haired woman says to Bart as they move over... and then they're in the hall.
She's in the back with Virginia, watching the group as she goes. She isn't really planning any awful action or anything. Which is why when the door suddenly opens...
With all the grace she didn't have moments ago, Lily throws out her hand with a circle of blue. A sharp, angular lance of ice crashes on the heels of that knife, straight for the man's throat.
She doesn't say a word.
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Searchlight *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This open stretch of cavern is overseen by a single guard tower with a powerful searchlight. The light plays over the ground in a complex but predictable way... Can you cross without being put on the spot? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The guard is smashed in the face with a bottle of cologne. The door is still open behind him - between Bart's shove, the bomb, and Virginia gazing upon things with a horrified expression, he topples backwards. Lily is denied the sweet sustenance of murder, thanks to the door's tottery positioning -- but she does end up lancing it shut.
It rattles vigorously - no, wait, he's... Well, whatever's going on with that guy, the ice spike has locked that door. The wood looks sturdy. He isn't making much noise. Mission... successful?
Well, there may be the issue that he will be missed, because coming up ahead is a wide-spaced area with a guard tower in the middle, constructed recently. This may seem like an odd place to put a guard tower, but this may be 'defense in depth', or perhaps there's a secondary entrance nearby that this tower also monitors.
You might fairly hope that that guy was in charge of the searchlight. This is not the case. The searchlight is being dragged in a loosely clockwise motion around the entire space, and if you squint you can dimly see at least one soldier up there in the tower. Maybe two? It's not clear.
Either way, there is a loose worn trail in the rubble and dust that makes up the floor of this cavern, curving to the right and deeper inside. That suggests where people have been taken, and where people might be going. Unfortunately, there's NOTHING to hide behind in the cavern.
Can you make it through?
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia was really glad to be away from the washroom -- the scent had... well, it was still rank, stale cavernous air, but at least it wasn't someone's refuse who really needed to add more fibre to his diet. And, well, less violence.
It's kind of really sinking into her, the way Lily threw that knife, the way Talise just rushed forward -- these people were serious. Maya said she was serious too... could she really be as serious as them when it came to it? This was the difference Maya was talking about... could she take a life, when it came to it?
She focuses on the galecrest for a moment once more...
And then gestures upwards.
A rather sharp burst of wind threatens to just fling the searchlight upwards to point towards the cavern wall, possibly leaving the group to cross safely in darkness?!
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Galecrest toward her party's challenge, Searchlight.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart gives the group a 'good job' thumbs up. Someone else might have been concerned about Lily's more direct and lethal solution to the problem, but truth be told Bart was more concerned about everyone else surviving the trip than some goon who was working for a regicide and a traitor.
But the next area is certainly a little more challenging. The search light means that moving through will be tricky, but Bart has a solution. Like almost every one of his solutions, it involves whips, colognes, and hitting things. But they can also use the whip as a makeshift rope to boost over one of the trails and avoid a good portion of the light's search pattern.
Combined with Virgina's sudden and unexpected gust of wind, this will hopefully get them close to the exit from the area without being spotted. And if someone get suspicious...
"...man I can't believe there's not more guards around here," Bart grumbles. "Feels like they're disrespecting me or something. Or maybe they all got eaten by that antlion while they were chasing it?"
The image of a whole bunch of Gebler guards falling into the hole and getting chomped on WAS an amusing one...
DG: You use your Tool Bart's Whip against your party's Challenge, Searchlight! DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Searchlight.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise sets her jaw as she tucks her knife away. The lightning blast isn't going to be enough to kill the guy; just to knock him out for a little while. She lets out a snort, glancing back at Lily and Virginia. "You two alright?" she asks. She's seen brutal things before; Lunar's not all sweetness and light when you grow up the way she did.
Again Virginia puts the Galecreat to work. Talise casts her a smile, then starts forward, holding off for a brief moment to take stock of the searchlight's pattern. The tall woman waits for it to pass, letting it illuminate the trail of the cavern as it moves along.
Only once the searchlight pans onward does she break into a dead sprint, counting on Virginia's Galecrest antics to push that spotlight out of her path and clear the way for her to dash past it before she can be spotted. She's being awfully careful not to outpace the spotlight.
"I hope they're not setting a great big trap at the end," she mutters to Bart bitterly.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Searchlight.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Eh this is kind of boring. Way less shots fired and explosions from my usual digs," Bart replies to Talise.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I could use someone to punch in the face," Talise confesses with a crooked smile and a bit of a blush.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily watches the door for a moment after they finish things, waiting for shouts and noise... and then finds herself reasonably satisfied with the outcome. There's a light shrug to Talise a moment later. "Yes," she answers simply, closing her fingers and moving on.
She is not thrilled with the searchlights ahead of them though. She has nothing to help the group like some of the others for this. "Are you really complaining that we haven't run into more soldiers?" she asks in a dry tone. But then the gears are in motion, so to speak.
"I can shoot at you if you makes you feel better," Lily offers, and sprints right after Talise, trying to get ahead.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Searchlight.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Not quite as fun when it's friendly fire," Bart admits after a moment. And then he looks back at Lily with a grin. "I won't complain if we're in an' out with no real trouble, but that sort of thing doesn't happen too often, I've found."
==================<* CHALLENGE - Awww, Big Friendly Puppies! *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Those aren't big puppies, those are half-trained wolves from the Dazil forests! They aren't friendly at all! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Bart scoots around what he estimates to be the searchlight's pattern, and whether he's right, wise, or just lucky, his angling is right - especially when Virginia's winds make the searchlight tilt upwards. There's another "what?!" from the searchlight crew, and the light snaps towards the west-- but that's not where the party is, so this heightened alert is at least temporarily advantageous.
At this point it starts looking more and more like an actual prison. The walls have been carved into, and there are more lights coming from inside of the depths of Soldier's Rest. There's voices speaking but they aren't speaking TO them, but rather coming from deeper; there is some smoke clinging to the roof of the cavern where lamps and fires are burning.
But this route is pretty narrow and poorly lit. There are some more cracks in the cavern roof - enough that there are glimpses of the stars. Enough that you can see the ground in front of you.
Something whines and whimpers. Aww... is it another doggy? Like at the area where you came in?
Then one growls.
Dim light flickers off eyes.
Half a dozen pairs of eyes.
They leap!!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
MEANWHILE, IN FEI'S CELL
Wolves, Fei thinks with a shudder. More wolves... Not more wolves...
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I'll pass," Talise huffs back at Lily, her eyelids lowering a shade. "Let's just do what we came to do and get out of here."
And then the group gets just what Bart wants - something to fight. Talise pauses for a half-second.
She sighs. "Irony is the worst thing. The worst."
She's tired from all that running, but she also doesn't have time to get ahold of her knife right now. Taking a step forward, she pivots on a heel and sweeps out with a broad stroke of the Rastaban Sword, gripping the hilt two-handed just like she's supposed to, aiming to slam it through the head of one wolf and swing back to cut the legs out from another. Her strokes are somewhat laboured but she's not dropping her stance or lowering her guard if she can help it.
She breathes a bit heavily, dropping back after a moment to regroup before preparing to attack again. It's a move taken straight out of the swordsplay style of Althena's Guard, though her foot positioning is all wrong.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Awww, Big Friendly Puppies!.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Who cares about being right when you make your own luck? Or... something like that. Really Bart has had enough bad luck that he'll probably be having good luck for a good portion of the rest of his life, if there was any justice for such things. But they manage to traverse the search light easily enough, which brings them to the final obsta-
No, no wait - it's dogs. Really big, mean, dogs.
"Aaah hell a pack of giant sand wolves?" the pirate shouts as he pulls out his whip. "I din' think it was time for Thursday obedience lessons already!"
He pulls his whip taunt, and then gives it an experimental crack as he gets ready for the rush. "Alright, come on puppies! No treats if you don't at least roll over!"
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Awww, Big Friendly Puppies!.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia comes face to face with a doggy coming straight at her!
She readies her ARMs! She's staring down the iron sights! Her bullets are primed! She...
She can't do it!!
She throws her arms around the dog and just cuddles the everliving heck out of it. "Aww, c'mon, you're a big friendly puppy, aren't you? Ginny won't shoot you, nuh uh!"
This girl, really.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Awww, Big Friendly Puppies!.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise pauses for a second and stares at Virginia.
"...Are you sure your name isn't Sephilia," she asks.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily looks over at Bart when he says it's not as much fun... and trouble. It's brief. It's easy to miss, it might not even have happened, but there's an amused cant to her eyes as they go through.
"Just offering," Lily says to Talise, and it might have actually been a joke.
There are wolves. Lily grits her teeth and pulls her pistol, throwing her other hand up to throw a fireball before she starts shooting.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Awww, Big Friendly Puppies!.
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Mess Hall *>=========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You have found the back end of a commissary where the guards are fed and watered. The only way forwards will require you to pass through the kitchens and a small supply depot without being suspected, with naught but garbage, trash and refuse to aid you. On the up side, the chances for pilferage are high! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Ginny perks up mid-cuddling to go, "Eh? Who's Sephilia?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart's reaction is summarized as follows:
"Wait those aren't sand wolves, those are GIANT MAN EATING FOREST WOLVES. RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
A wolf leaps towards Talise - it goes poorly for the wolf.
Bart gets his whip on, and the mixture of brutal CRACKs and the impacts on wolven flesh keep his immediate area clear. One of the wolves - who, being half-trained, is not fully willing to deal with all this b.s. all the live long day - turns and runs.
Virginia befriends one enough that it will follow her around until there's another loud noise. Lily... handles the balance. In the dark, Virginia's heart may be spared.
But that wolf that fled... it knocked open a barricade door that leads through the back of what smells like the mess hall. Of course, there's some shouting IN the hall proper due to a wolf running in through the kitchen, but right NOW you're fine.
It's fine.
There is a small strong chest sitting on top of a stack of crates of potatoes. Some hopping would let you get hold of it, but your real challenge will be wending your way through the storage area quickly. The crates are haphazardly stacked and may need... repositioning.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Perhaps the wolves were not quite as bad as all that, although the situation could have gone badly if not for people's excellent wolf handling abilities. But the way forward seems to have lead them into a rather unusual location. Bart wasn't expecting to back of the mess hall. With all the food. Delicious, wonderful food.
It takes about three seconds before someone in the party looks at Bart, who is currently stuffing his face with dates out of a stack. He looks a bit like a chipmunk for a moment... and sloooowwwwly puts a date back in the sack.
"Mmmrrff mrr mrr mfrr mfffrr mfrr.*"
- 'I didn't have lunch before we came and I'm kind of hungry OK?'
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mess Hall.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Nevermind," Talise advises Ginny before she slices that wolf in half. She's breathing hard at this point, and she probably got bitten a few times. At least, she's bleeding from a few puncture marks along her thigh. They're shallow but they hurt like the blazes. With frustration, she presses on - into the back of the kitchen.
The wolf causes havoc. Talise glances around, then up at the chest. Frowning towards the group, she considers this for a moment.
Then she grins, holding up a finger as if she knows exactly how to deal with this.
Heading for the crate pile, she grabs ahold of one of the crates, then turns it to dump the potatoes out in a corner. With that done, she turns it over. And she gets on her knees.
Placing the box over herself, Talise begins to sidle along the back wall of the room. "Box," she grunts in a low squawk. "Box. Crate. Wood. Potate. Uh. Tubers."
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mess Hall.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia looks super-distracted, even as the wolf barges its way into the mess hall, petting the one she's managed to befriendo, who's licking her on the cheek and causing her to giggle. "Don't be mean, they're really nice, I promise! I'm gonna call this one ... hmm, hmm, Ashey!"
Pet pet pet. She proceeds along with the group, plus one companion and... glances around for a moment, before pointing forward. "Okay, Ashey! There's a lot of food in there for you!"
In goes a giant wolf to barge through on a food bonanza!
She peers at Talise, and then excitedly seizes another box and throws one over herself. "Ooh, this is starting to get really fun!"
At least she's relaxed now...
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mess Hall.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily took more bites and clawmarks than she'd have liked as a result of those wolves, but soon enough she has her ARM holstered again and is moving forward. A wolf charging through the mess area. A wolf is... Walking with them. Bart is--
Lily is that party member who looks at Bart as he's stuffing his face, though she looks up to the others, too. She looks to the others throwing on bos and lifts her eyebrows. "...Careful, Virginia." The one calling it fun gets a careful, because even Lily can't quite bring herself to harsh her too badly. "Hrm.... Ah, I've got it--"
She pulls out her manual and this time a writing implement, using it for paper to sketch the ideal...
"I've got these. Let's get some supplies on our way through!"
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Mess Hall. DG: You fail the challenge, and take 16 Exhaustion! You have 59 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Bart Fatima has failed this challenge! The party gained 19 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.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Encounter in the Base *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you near the prisoner cells, something has gone wrong. The caverns are thickening with soldiers and men in strangely dapper suits, raising a hue and cry and converging on your location. You can fight one or two, but not all of these dudes. You need a plan - ditch them, confuse them, and move into the prisoner holding area quick! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Bart goes on some hot dates. They're decent.
Talise seizes control of a box, empties it out, and pulls it over herself to move in a low and discreet way. Virginia introduces a wolf to a barrel of dried pork, which it knocks over and then commences eating. Lily uses the opportunity to get her on site procurement on, and between the wolf and Talise, the chest falls over...
Clank! Money spills out.
- 850 gella added to campaign funds.
Must have been something that was getting embezzled.
Meanwhile, BORK BORK AWOO occurs in the mess hall... and it seems that the luck of the Fatima dynasty has run out, because the mess hall doors are kicked open and several soldiers spill in. They stumble - it may occur to Bart or Lily, now or later, that these do not appear to be elite troops.
But they do have rifles; one of them raises his, sights, and fires. THAT shot doesn't hit anything, but it does smash a box (not Talise's) hard enough to disintegrate, more potatoes spilling out. The exit out into the rest of the facility looms --
And from all the guys running around, something has kicked the ant's nest. But what?!
'we found someone who'd just melted through the spare parts for the -- There they are!' reports someone in the distance, before more guns fire and bullets WHIZ and SPANG off things in the general area of the group. At least it's nice and wide open, and -- there! A little further down -- cell doors, plainly visible. That must be where the prisoners are held!
Getting over there is a problem. Fortunately, there are hay bales, water troughs, crates, disused reinforced stage coaches, and an extremely calm horse to use as obstacles, cover, or - if necessary - weapons.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
If you wanted brains, you should've asked for Ida and Lynnai! Talise is the muscle. "Crate. Square. Cube. Wood," she grunts as she shuffles across the room.
She does, at least, pause to collect the gella. "Nice," she murmurs.
She also collects a huge sack of potatoes. As she shuffles along, she reaches the edge of the room - just as the alarm begins to sound. SOMEONE is running around. In fact, there's a lot of someone's running around.
Talise hunkers down under her box for a few seconds. She considers what to do.
Then she pushes the box over, unknots her gigantic sack, and raises her voice to a loud holler.
"POTATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES"
Upending her sack, she hurls it into the air. A rain of potatoes spills out of the giant bag. They fall everywhere, scattering around the room, providing obstacles and distractions as Talise kicks the box into the air between herself and the soldiers and runs like hell.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Encounter in the Base.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The increasing number of people who were pouring out of the mess hall meant that this was probably not going to be one of those 'we sneak out with no one the wiser' missions. Which is fine because Bart is willing to IMPROVISE. He starts grabbing hay bales and throwing them at the entrance to the area, because clearly that is a good idea. The hay might slow down the people that are following them nominally, but very quickly the genius of Bart's plan starts becoming evident.
"Lily, we need to light all the hay on fire! That will make them think twice about messing with us!" Bart pauses for a moment, and then looks at all the hay he's thrown, and then at the door, and then:
"Right and it might slow them down some too!"
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Encounter in the Base.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia just pets Ashey lovingly when the wolf returns to her side, having had its fill of pork and terrorising guards to scamper--
And then the alerts are thrown up and the bullets whizz by her head and clang every which way, prompting Virginia to shriek and throw her arms over her head. "W-wah! They found us, they found us!"
Virginia gets a pork-tasting lick on her cheek to cheer her up again.
"Huh? Ashey, you want to..." A pause, and then she nods as she pumps her fists. "Alright! With the both of them, we can do this!" and climbs ontop of Ashey, clinging to the wolf's collar to hold on. She listens to Bart's plan, and exclaims, "I've got this, Bart!" She whips out the Tindercrest.
Virginia has just upgraded into a flame-throwing mounted unit.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Encounter in the Base.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart just cackles. "Yes, more fire! FEAR OUR LITERAL FIRE POWER!"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
At least things go reasonably well until the gunfire.
Bullets crash past her and Lily dives for cover amidst other boxes immediately, and one clips right past her ear on the way down. "Hello, Gebler," she greets, and she notices they're not elites... But they don't have to be with that many of them and them pinned down.
She puts her back to the barricades and listens to Bart call for fire as she pulls back out her manual. "Architecture, architecture..."
She calls louder, "Sounds like Virginia has it handled!" Lily peeks over her shoulder and looks at the... spectacle. "All right, we go..." Flip flip flip, "Through here! The prison should be more defensible!"
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Encounter in the Base.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Wikki-wiki-Wild *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The prisoner holding area consists of several dozen cells carved out of friable rock in a large natural "kiva," accessible with ladders and walkways. That's wonderful. Less wonderful is the skeletal spider-machine with rust-tipped claws, a smoke-belching steam engine, and a boar-headed Beastman warden piloting it and bellowing abuse at you. Hopefully, he has keys on him-- or some of those cells might become yours! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Between mounted firepower, hurled potatoes, and Bart smashing hay bales into the ground to deter pursuit, the group is able to move further inwards. Generally speaking, prisons are more thinking about keeping things inside in, than keeping the outside out.
Generally speaking.
Pursuit is deterred and the panoptical stretch of this cell block is reached. It's round, yes... a natural cavern. Ladders and walkways link between the cells, many of which have not yet been fitted out with their ironmongery or other door solutions. There are not many prisoners in this location. It's probably good that Bart acted as quickly as he did.
One of those cells in particular is occupied, near another cell, empty save for a couple of those convenient boxes again.
There's also a spider on the wall. No, that's not quite true. As the group enters the cell block zone, the spider is revealed to be, at first, a metal statue, and then a real and genuine thing, shuddering to life as a coal powered engine on its 'body' starts to belch smoke. Two of the 'spider's' front legs skitter through stone, throwing up dust - aha, that's what it's for -
And then it rears backwards, turning around with its rock-carving arms held up warily. Oh: it's also for that.
On its back there's a seat and levers. And a man. A man in what is recognizably an Aveh officer's uniform. Bart can even spot the piping for a military policeman, the kind of guy who runs the stockades. Of course, he sticks out more because of his swinish head...
WARDEN JIM WESTHOGG snorts and shouts forwards, "Intruders...? You've got a lot of guts busting into my perfect detention facility! Hope you ain't got anybody who's gonna miss you! HURHUHRURRRH!" He snorts again, as the steam motor starts to roar...!
This guy may not be easily bypassed. But the key ring on his belt gleams, with a cameo carving of the face of Minister Shakhan...
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A few shots still glance close to Talise. One pings off her armour and dents it. It hurts. Oh god does it hurt. She's in bad shape and she's tired; this isn't going well.
And then there's a gigantic metal spider - and a man in a uniform, who also happens to be a pig. Half-Beastman though she is, Talise does a double-take. Lunar Beastmen at least look reasonably like people - and they don't ride huge steam spiders. As if the technology wasn't bizarre enough.
"I actually have a few people who are going to miss me," she huffs with a shake of her head, trying to wiggle out of her silliness. Shifting her sword to her left hand for a moment, she fishes her right into her belt and comes out with the second of her two knives. The runes along the hilt glow subtly. Tossing it in her hands a couple of times, Talise takes stock of the way the huge swineman prepares himself.
Then she reels back, winds up, and wails her knife at the the belly of the spider-pig as hard as she goddamned can. She's throwing it that hard because she'll need that much force to bury the blade in solid metal.
If she succeeds, the thunder spell buried in the knife will go off and a cascade of lightning bolts will pour out - all of them attempting to blast the orb-weaver warden!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Meanwhile...
Fei Fong Wong looks up from his jail cell. They haven't even had time to change his clothes into GEAR: PRISON UNIFORM but they have taken away his equipment and tools and put it away in a nearby treasure chest like twenty feet away from his cell. "Is that what got the wolves worked up?" He approaches the bars of his cells. "I wonder who they're here for..."
He peeks through the bars but makes no attempt to escape himself for the moment.
"Oh no." He says, with horror. "Westhogg's pissed."
"Hey! Get out of here before you get hurt!" There, he thinks. they'll run away and nobody will DIE HORRIBLY.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia's wolf drifts around the corner as she fills another hallway with fire, the two working in tandem to at the very least not leave them into a boxed-in corner with nowhere to go. She's panting at this point, very clearly exhausted and once more finding herself out of depth.
But then again, what better way to cut one's teeth than to do that?
"I--I have many people who'd miss me!" A pause, and then she hangs her head. "Beato, this really isn't the time!" she lectures downwards.
Who the hell is Beato?
She whips her head up again and says, "We're-- uh, we're here for--"
She totally forgets what the mission was. But then he hears someone hollering, and she whips Ashey up into a frenzy. They charge.
Fei would see a thrice-damned giant wolf charging straight for his cell, with a young lady in purple riding on top.
Oh no.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Wikki-wiki-Wild.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei screams and throws himself backwards to the rear of his cell.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily takes what she can get in terms of defensible positions. She's reasonably confident that she can take a lot more soldiers on if they aren't so exposed as all this, that they all can, because as it is she's bleeding and sore.
But here they are, at this cell block, and Lily looks around at them. This prison isn't, on reflection, where she would actually want to be for very long... Until...
Her eyes widen as she spots the spider rearing back. But the man, the man is more familiar to her. She doesn't need what specific rank he is.
She just spots his Aveh uniform.
"Funny, when I was in Kislev I usually made you Aveh soldiers the ones missed."
At her open taunt Lily darts to the side, gearing herself up to attack as she hears...
"Not an option!" Lily calls to Fei, and looks to Virginia charging onward and Talise going in and decides... not fire.
Waving her hands with her feet spread apart, Lily focuses, and explosions of shadow start crashing across the spider's front.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
It seems like they've broken through - but that break through means that they encountered some guy in a giant robot spider, complete with attached robot warden pilot!
OK so its not a robot warden but more a funny caricature of one! Bart just looks up for a moment as he fishes his last bottle of cologne out of his jacket, and thumbs the cap off. He tosses it into the air, and shatters the bottle with a single stroke of his whip. The ether infused fragrance provides a shot of energy to everyone in the area, getting them ready for the final battle.
It probably makes Virgina's dog really, really hyper as well.
But Bart grins as he pulls out a coin from his belt, and flips it into the air. "Warden eh? Who appointed you warden, that bald ass Shakhan? Tell him that the Yggdrasil Pirates aren't gonna let him have his way with Aveh for much longer! And I sure as hell am not gonna be lettin' you have your way here another second!"
Bart flips the coin up, then catches it and flicks it towards Warden Whateverhisnameis.
The fact that is suddenly is about twenty times the size and a hundred times the weight might make it an unpleasant surprise for the spider robot and it's pilot.
DG: You use your Tool White Cologne against your party's Challenge, Wikki-wiki-Wild! DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, Wikki-wiki-Wild.
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Cell Keys *>=========================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The warden was keeping a set of keys on his belt. Most of them correspond to the prison doors, of course, but there are more keys than cells, and the ones left over might make your escape a whole lot easier. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Westhogg snorts. "See! Even a hardened murderer like Wong knows better'n to mess with me! You'll eat tonight, Wong! Fong Wong," he mumbles, apparently unsure. Then Talise throws that knife dead on.
It doesn't go off INSTANTLY. Westhogg does snort in fury when Lily mentions -- "Kislev!? You -- How could you have -- We've got a traitor!! I'll lock 'em all down!" And then the electroshock goes off and the steel-steam spider's legs throw up and he lets out a piggish howl.
"And the Yggdrasil Pirates--?! You thieving sons of dogs are betraying your own country in order to consort with the likes of this village-slaying --" At which point Bart hurls a coin at him.
The canopy for the steam-spider's pilot seat partially collapses at that impact. There is a howl of pain and something tears loose, a ring of keys falling from the warden's side and landing with a sparkling, jingly clatter on the ground. Hurray!
The engine keeps chugging, though. This may be a temporary expedient... but in the long run, we're all dead, right? Now's your chance!
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
With the giant mecha spider down, Bart makes a break for the door (which Virginias's incredibly enthusiastic puppy has probably made more than a few dents in at this point). He looks back and shouts, "Lily, Talise! Secure is an exit! I'm going to go see about this incredible badass pilot we're going to spring and take with us!"
And with that, Bart uses his whip to grab the keys off of the ground, a flick of his wrist bringing them to hand. A quick twist of his wrist, and the door swings open!
Light from the outside floods Fei's cell, and Bart looks inside...!
Pauses.
"...ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER PRISONERS?" he shouts at the warden. "THIS ONE LOOKS A LITTLE SCRAWNY TO JUSTIFY THIS ENTIRE MESS."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong says, "H..hey, I'm not a hardened murderer..." He pauses. "Well I mean, ok, murderer sure maybe but hardened? I don't know about that--" Oh what's he doing arguing with Westhogg anyway. He pauses. Kislev. He frowns. Kislev.
It's those people from Kislev, he thinks, Weltall. Weltall is their mech. They designed that monster. He takes in a deep breath clenching his fists, trying to calm down.
He starts pacing around his cell rapidly. He can handle this. He can keep his cool. It's not really THEIR fault, he reminds himself. He'll try to reason with the pirates. That can work.
"Hey--" Bart shouting. "Hey hold on--" Bart shouting. "Look just--" Bart shouting AND insulting him AND revealing he's why he's there AND implicating him in a jailbreak.
"HOLD ON A SECOND!" Fei snaps and fires a blast of chi that bursts through the bars, melting through the majority of it and leaving a molten hole where the iron once was. The blast flies past Bart and into the wall, causing the cavern to shake.
"Oh no." He says. "Oh no, oh shit." He presses his hands to his head. "They're going to think I tried to escape now. I JUST turned myself in!!!"
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
WHAMMMM
Ashey the Wolf doesn't quite bring down Fei's entire cell -- that'd be a terrible thing -- but then Fei goes and smashes it down with a rather well-placed, shall we say, rage-induced 236+HP.
Virginia winces and throws her head down as the blast sails past her head and lands on the other side of the wall, and stares up. "Are you crazy?!" A pause, and then she throws her hand forward. "Come on! What're you even talking about?! Hop on and let's get out of here!"
Talise Gianfair (Talise) pages Bart Fatima and Fei Fong Wong: unless you wanna get his legs and i'll get his arms and we just carry him out of here team style
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Sliding her hands along the haft of her sword, Talise steps back and waits for the knife to go off. She waits. She waits. She waits and waits and waits.
It does. She moistens her lips for a moment before tossing her head with a huff. "Joke's on you," she calls. "This isn't my country."
With a heavy breath, she slogs forward, keeping half an eye on the steaming warden as she moves into place behind Bart.
That's about when Fei blows a hole through the wall. The cave shakes. Talise opens her mouth a little, then closes it, lowering her eyelids ever so slightly. She slides her sword into its sheath.
With that, she steps up to Fei with a polite smile. "That's OK. It's nice to meet you. Let's finish talking outside."
With that she moves forward shockingly fast, reaching for Fei's arms with gauntleted hands. She's shockingly strong - even for some of her size. Attempting to grab Fei by the biceps, she smiles over him at Bart, batting her lashes. "Can you grab his legs and we'll team-carry him out of here, Bart? You're a peach."
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart sort of blinks and looks a little non-plussed at the sudden blast of chi energy that burns through the bars and then blows a hole in the wall.
"Well, THAT'S BETTER!" he shouts. "I'm glad to see that this whole thing wasn't a complete waste!"
The pirate glances over at Talise joins him in the prisoner wrangling, and Bart grins at her suggestion. "Actually that sounds like a GREAT idea, but he doesn't seem to be cooperative or interested in living up to his reputation." And with that, Bart takes his whip in both hands, pulls it taunt, and advances on Fei with a rather unfriendly expression. "We better take steps to make sure he doesn't bolt on us...!"
About thirty seconds later Bart and Talise carry Fei out of the cell, with Bart's whip wrapped around the martial artist to keep him from escaping quite as easily. Or shooting them with another chi blast in the back of his head. "Ok Mr. Super Pilot, where is your Gear? Did they capture it as well or do we not need to worry about liberating it either?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I'm not from Aveh," Lily points out, and other than that Lily has no particular followup for the comment about a traitor; she quiets, stares upward, but keeps moving. What the man says interests her anyway, but it's not enough to get her talking for the moment. Instead, the spider collapses, and the keys jingle.
Bart already goes for the door, and barks instructions. "Right!" Lily calls back, and rushes to the doorway out, "If they didn't leave us a door... We'll just move into their hallway."
She pauses as she goes. Fei was shouting, and put a hole in... a lot of things. She glances over. "...Huh."
The others worry about him, and Lily focuses on their doorway out. "If you're done making friends, let's move! The back way's clear!"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Who needs friends when you've got pirates, mercenaries, and badass Gear pilots?" Bart shouts back to Lily with an audible grin. "He's not nailed down so I claim him as loot!"
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia just turns as Bart and Talise do the job of grabbing Fei, and then pads on out ontop of Ashey, riding at full speed. "H-how do you just claim someone as loot?! Geez..."
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Hold him while I get my loot claiming marker!" Bart replies to Virginia.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Says the girl riding a stolen wolf," Lily points out, and then almost laughs at Bart. "Is that what he is? A pilot?" A beat, "I mean it though. I really don't want to get trapped in an Aveh prison for the brief time before my inevitable execution."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"You are one handy man to have around, Bart Fatima," Talise says with a grin for the man as she womanhandles her half of Fei out of the cell. Lily gets a wink from her in the process. "Oh yeah. Us and this guy are best pals now. Just the best friends ever."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia pouts and says, "A-Ashey isn't stolen! Ashey wanted to come with me. Right??" Ashey looks up and lets out a little, adorable 'arf'.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I turned myself in!" Fei exclaims to Virginia. "...Er, sorry ma'am--for shouting." She seems like a nice terrifying wolf wrangler.
But then, well, piracy. Fei Fong Wong doesn't really put up a fight. He expended his limit break and feels just awful. He's tied up in short order. You can also put maybe an applesol in his mouth if you want to shut him up. No? Okay.
"What...!" Fei says, horrified. There's a lot to be horrified about so you can just assume that 'What!' goes for pretty much half of what's going on here.
"I...I don't have it. I left it with the Doc so...Why does everybody want that monster??"
Yes, that's it. They only want the gear, he can say the pirates blew up the bars and all will be good. "I hate it...Wait! My RPS Badge--At least take my RPS badge!" It's in that conveniently nearby treasure chest like in all jail cells that hold protaganists.
Don't make him grind that out a second time guys.