2017-04-01: Cuccopocalypse at Starfall Saloon
- Log: Cuccopocalypse at Starfall Saloon
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Ethius Hesiod, Vin Barrett, Jacqueline Barber, Gwen Whitlock, Zed, Yarobeleedt
- Where: Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon
- Date: 4/1/2017
- Summary: It was going to be another peaceful afternoon at the Starfall Saloon. But that all changed when the cuccos attacked.
========================<* Adlehyde - Starfall Saloon *>======================== Located in the southwest quadrant of Adlehyde, the Starfall Saloon is situated next to the local Adventurer's Guild outpost and kitty-corner from an ARMs Meister; the mostly-happy not-at-all-coincidence has turned the Saloon into a popular gathering place for Drifters. The Saloon has been carefully constructed to recreate the feel of a frontier alehouse - it has stables and a livery out back, and the main floor is taken up almost entirely by the sort of dark, slightly dank wooden tables and chairs that appeals to its clientele. An old harpsichord even sits in the corner, although it does not seem to be heavily used. Or in tune, for that matter. The Saloon's proprietor and bartender is known as Honest Tom; this is a bit of an in-joke among the regulars, as the man rarely speaks more than a dozen words over the course of an evening. The Starfall Saloon is widely known among Drifters for offering warm beds, cold beer and decent grub for a fair price, and so it sees a great deal of out-of-town traffic. It is also known for the three rules hung over the bar: NO GUNS, NO FIGHTS, NO CREDIT. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MQRL7xws7w
================<* CHALLENGE - One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A screech tears through the air, first. You can't see the offender, but you can see what is coming. The skies are filled with fat-bodied, fluffy white feathered harbingers of doom. Cuccos come in a great swarm -- and as the panic begins, they come sweeping down from the heavens, dive bombing the truly unfortunate! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida figured it was only right and proper to stop back at the Starfall Saloon in the wake of the incident a few days ago, mostly to make a small contribution to the proprietor's reconstruction funds. Fortunately, she isn't the only one--the Starfall has seen a steady stream of Drifters show up to lend a hand, or to pitch in some gella to patch the place up. Business has started again, with Honest Tom back behind the bar, and wooden boards nailed over what looks to be a roughly keg-sized hole in the wall. The windows still have no glass. Two large, intimidating-looking Drifters do bouncer duty. "NO FIGHTS" has been underlined on the sign behind the bar.
Ida sits outside on a bench, having given the bartender a small pouch of gella. She also bought a whiskey, which she sips as she watches the sunrise. She has a glass of water sitting next to her, because she has found that Adlehyde's water supply is trustworthy enough to drink. She takes a sip after she's finished the whiskey, and sets the glass down.
The water in the glass ripples, as if stirred by an unseen breeze.
Ida hears something echo in the distance, and looks up.
The water ripples again. The sound grows louder. Ida's eyes narrow--and then she sees it.
A flock of something rises over the skyline, almost thick enough to drown out the sunlight; the fierce cry of
BUCK-BUCK-BUCK-BUCKAWWWWW
drowns out thought. Ida has no time to wonder what in the unholy bowels of Valmar's hell is going on--the avian monstrosities are already on the attack, divebombing passers-by with fearsome cries of alarm. Ida flees the Hitchcockian scene, flat-out diving through an empty window and fleeing deeper into the bar. Will she make it???
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
There is a mysterious stranger in the bar who bears a very stinky bag. Let's go over that later. His head turns to the commotion outside, and he stands to rise.
Through the crack in a window, a bird comes through and gets oto his head.
...
It would appear that the mysterious Ethius Hesiod, for those rare times he has shown much in the way of heightened emotion, has but only one true response to such overpowering, all-encompassing, relentless danger and dread that now surrounds the lot of them.
"If any of you are of the capacity to please spare me a moment of your time," says the mysterious man as he points a finger from his right hand towards his head, "am I being mauled by a chicken?"
Said 'chicken' is currently scratching at his scalp and battering his head with their wings.
"Yes! Yes, I am," he says, "thank you," he says to no one in particular as he ducks his head and goes to a low crouch for cover... somewhere, only being able to put a nominal attempt to push the thing off his head as he tries to get low enough so it can't stay there and/or jump back on his now bleeding scalp.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
For his part, Vin Barrett was minding his own business, having narrowly escaped the most harrowing fate the other day of having to explain just what a risque romance novella is, and the purpose of reading such things, to a precocious and naive fifteen year old. Mostly by running away and leaving an outraged tiny dragon in his wake. Good show, old bean. Good show.
Still he's been meandering about all day. He's been having a nagging feeling that something Terrible is happening, or going to happen, and it's kept him restless, trailing through and around some of the more irritating parts of Adelhyde's shadier areas of the city.
That done, he figures that he deserves a nice drink, properly watered down, as his home-made moonshine is a bit strong for just wetting his whistle. A nice, cheaply watered down beer, though! Just the thing!
...What? Water can be dangerous to drink if it's not boiled. Alcohol is much safer!
So, he's been relaxing on his own seat in the shade of the saloon, sipping his light beer, mostly enjoying a relaxing day of not working and contributing to terrible Baskar stereotypes...And that's when the Cuccoo Nation Attacks!
The tanned Badlander stares, blinking twice, sniffing his drink suspiciously. "...Alright, this is actually happening. Welp!"
Vin lunges and tries to find his own way into the bar for cover, hoping not to attract the TERRIBLE IRE of the furious flying feathered fiendish fowl, his drink abandoned!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It was looking to be a peaceful day. Jacqueline had stopped by the Starfall Saloon, primarily because anyone who could keep a business going after everything that happened to that place deserved her money, for a nice drink and to listen in on the local rumors.
Unfortunately, however, it seemed the 'local rumor' would be coming to listen in on her instead, and violently so.
The cry sounded out loud enough that anyone could hear, ringing in the end of man's age on Filgaia. A flurry of fury and feathers emerged over the horizon, the sun itself being incapable of withstanding their might.
Fortunately, the sturdy walls of Starfall Saloon would -
Oh, right. Yeah, that happened, hadn't it?
The saloon has been breached. It was time to abandon all hope.
"This is worse than the moles!" Jacqueline shouts in a panic, reaching into her bags and pulling out a pale-green potion. She downed it and took off, trying to find better shelter. She ran at a surprising speed, and -
Wait, was that Ethius just now with a chicken on his head? Huh. That wasn't a sight one saw everyday.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Yeah, just sign here." Gwen points to a part of the paper document to the pimple-faced young teen helping Honest Tom. "Yeah, it's for insurance reasons. Client wants to make sure his couriers aren't breaking his booze." She makes a face. "Or breaking *in* to his booze, I should say. One of the two." The teenage staffer just looks at her with a look of someone who has only begun drinking in earnest a week or two ago. "... Do people actually... do that?" the boy whispers, his eyes wide.
"People who don't like being paid do." Gwen grins at her witty reply, satisfied as she hefts up the wooden crate of glass bottles all safely packed inside, moving inside through the doors and towards the bar. "Now I just need to bring this in and- oh." She squints at the top of the box. There's a cucco here, staring at her in righteous fury. The mysterious Ethius, meanwhile, is also nearby, with a cucco doing.... that, on his head. "... I think there's a..." Now there's one on her head, loudly squawking the cucco equivalent of a battle cry.
"Aaahagahahggh-" Placing the crate on the bar as nimble claws and beaks peck mercilessly at her, Gwen dives behind the bar, only to see-
"Oh, uh, Mr. Barrett. H-hi..." Grey-blue eyes blink at him. "Uh... s-sorry about your poncho..."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Flew Over the Cucco's Nest. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Flew the Coop *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you duck inside of a building, you think you might have a moment's rest. The cuccos are busy flying and striking at everything outside. But when you enter, you find yourself in a restaurant kitchen. The stone-top counters are well-polished and the kitchen is bustling. And the chef steps out of the pantry, looking pleased with himself, when he announces: "Today is a wonderful day for sesame seed salad!" In his arms are two great bags of grain. Then, you hear the door to the restaurant knock inward. BANG. BANG. And then: "B-buckaw!" They want the seed. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
What starts as one or two cuccos, carried in on the heads of fleeing patrons, turns into ten cuccos. Then twenty. Then fifty. The birds discover the broken holes that used to be windows with frightening speed; the few that remain are pecked out in short order. People start screaming. Honest Tom is suddenly no longer behind the bar, but there's no indication as to where he went--just a flock of shrieking, flapping cuccos, diving at anyone in range. As luck would have it, that includes the impromptu huddle of people taking cover in the bar.
"Sir, you--" Ida stares at Ethius for a moment, then swats at the bird. She realizes, a moment later, that she has made a terrible mistake. She remembers something--
"Cuccos?" says Dr. Bridges, esteemed scholar of Natural Sciences, specialist in Metal Dragons. "Those natives make up the strangest tales, don't they? Man-eating chickens, what nonsense."
"Well," says Dr. Oxford, Ida's mentor, "I daresay I've seen stranger."
Back in the present, Ida blinks. Man-eating chickens. Just a silly legend from Meria Boule's backwater, right? And yet--
The flock attacks. Ida finds herself assailed from every direction by beating wings, and pecking beaks. "Ow--ow--ow!" Covering her face with her hands, she stumbles blindly towards the nearest window, swatting. "Get away, you devils!" She is trying desperately to maintain composure. The othes will find themselves under similar duress.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"In 'ere!!" shouts the pimple-faced teenage staffer from before, wildly waving his gangly arms and pointing to the entrance to the kitchen. "Come in 'ere, the kitchen's got no holes in it!"
Because, by this point, it's clear that proper shelter must be sought, as the cuccos are ready to either peck everyone down to the bone- that is, if they're not trying to use unfortunate courtship rituals on unsuspecting mysterious gentlemen instead.
When the gang gets inside the kitchen area, the quick-thinking boy closes the door, where-
The cook is still cooking. An opera-singing cook belts out a tune at the top of his lungs as staffers rush around him, wax in their ears. "Fade, you stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!" He hugs the two bags of grain as he bellows his words, his teenage underling flailing at him as the cuccos *smell* the grain through the door.
Of course they can.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida ends up in the kitchen more out of blind luck than anything else. She sags against a countertop, covered in shed feathers and countless little scrapes, her hair a wild mess. Someone slams the door, but this just gives the horde one more obstacle to contend with--and it's not like the cuccos don't have numbers on their side. Ida smells something familiar, raises her head, and sees the chef carrying what are unquestionably bags of grain or seed of some kind. Ida sucks in a breath, whispers a prayer for forgiveness, and then rises to her feet. As she settles into the battle-focus, she makes out Jay, Gwen, some mysterious stranger, and--
Oh my.
Luckily, Ida doesn't have to explain where she recognizes Vin, because she's already rushing the chef. "Pardon me, sir!" she cries, even as she aims a light but stinging strike at the man's wrist. "We need this grain! Please forgive us, it's a dire emergency!"
Outside, the horde pecks, and pecks, and pecks. The door is starting to strain at the hinges.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flew the Coop.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius didn't escape injury. He might just be lucky to still has his life, as his white hair is stained red in his blood. He might have maintained his composure. He will not retain his dignity, as he finds himself ushered into the kitchen by Gwen's direction.
The obvious course of action is right there. Glorified chicken feed. A momentary distraction that could yet save all of them.
"Wait." The mysterious man speaks. "Should we open the door, even for an instant, we would risk being overwhelmed in an instant under the weight of the horde."
Standing up straighter, the dark-skinned man whom bears interesting-looking tattoos running down his arms takes a little lens out from under his poncho.
"I believe I may be able to see alternate places to throw out the bait, redistributing the collected masses and ensuring that no one group of mass proves too much for our current shelter to hold from the angles they would be split up to cover..."
A chant routine and a zap of electricity later, light refracts about the little monocle lens.
"If I see an opening, I will alert the rest of you immediately."
It's all predicated on 'if.'
"If they use sorcery for the cooking, it should be trivial to see how it disperses..."
'If,' again.
"My apologies," he says while investigating, "I'm sure some of us have some catching up to do, but for now, it shall wait for after..."
...You're missing one last 'if' in there, Ethius.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Flew the Coop.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Aghhhh whyyyyyyyyyyy!
Vin is a picture of flailing and agony, hands managing to shove the birds away from his face...but, alas, his normally fine long hair has BECOME HIS UNDOING.
There's a cuccoo stuck in it, you see, flapping angrily, squawking, pecking at his back. "WHY WOULD ZEPHYR ALLOW A CREATURE THIS VILE TO EXIST? It's beak is like a KNIFE! Ow ow ow ow ow!"
Finally, Vin escapes as he does a roll, ducking under the door as it's barricaded...And then they start to -peck at the door-, smelling more delicious grain within.
Thinking fast, Vin whips out one of his ever-present sacks of Delicious Homemade Baskar-Recipe Trailmix, undoes it, and FLINGS the dried-fruit-and-jerky mix out through one of the (many) holes in the Saloon. Maybe it'll draw some of them off!
He scrabbles to his feet, gulping a handful down himself as he kicks a table over, barricading one of the holes as he bravely runs away from the birds to hide in the kitchen, staring with horror at the giant sacks of delicious grain. "...Huh. Yeah, that might work in bribing those things."
He also waves tiredly to Gwen, bleeding from a bunch of basic scratches. Not seeing much better as a way to improvise, Vin quickly wraps up his wounds and rolls his neck. "Alright, yeah, guess I'm on 'Throwing Things' duty. Grand way to go about the day."
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Baskar Trail Mix toward his party's challenge, Flew the Coop.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline quickly joins the others in the kitchen, covered in feathers and scratches from where the fiendish birds had managed to catch up to her. She pauses to catch her breath and took a look. Her eyes are eventually drawn to the same thing the others see.
It was as if they had waltzed right into the single worst place to be in this situation.
As the others try to convince him to depart with his precious cargo, plan, or attempt to distract them with a tastier treat, Jacqueline rummages around in her bags and eventually pulls out some gella. That was roughly the cost of a bag of grain, right?
"Here, compensation!" She says, shoving the coins into the chef's hands. But would it get him to relinquish his goods?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flew the Coop.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Fleeing after Vin (as he did seem to have a good sense of direction the last time she was with him, from what little she could remember beyond puking on his clothing), Gwen stares dazedly at the spectacle in front of her. "... Is.... the cook singing...?"
Somehow, seeing her constant client Vin bleeding allows Gwen to refocus on something other than opera and cuccos. "Uh, hold on," Gwen says, whipping out a small medical kit. "Lemme get you patched up real quick. You too, Mr. Hesiod! Get y'all bandaged up in a jiffy!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Medical Kit toward her party's challenge, Flew the Coop. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Kislev Fried Cucco *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Not even Gentleman's Aisle has been spared the rampage of the cuccos. A Black Tie that is sure to get an earful from Kent Hauch has lost his flamethrower -- because now this cucco is carrying it in its beak, and shooting gouts of flame out... to ward off the customers who were eating at a fried chicken stand. "BUCKAWW!!" it screams, in its terrible, terrible rage. But, its blasts of fire will also decimate the cart next to it, if action isn't taken -- and that will threaten the most important commodity of all: kegs of beer! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The cook finds his precious bags of grain spilling away from his hands! "Ah, such tragedy!" As he weeps, Jacqueline rewards his performance with some coins- at least, that's what the cook thinks is happening. The staff, meanwhile, have fled the, uh, coop, so to speak, taking advantage of the distractions granted by Vin's grainy treats and Ethius's quick thinking.
Specifically, the staff went through any and all the holes that one could find access to in the walls, where they will likely still be when the cucco horde finds them. BAD END???
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
With Gwen's help, Ethius has some of his immediate bleeding taken care of. There is a quick thanks - little time can be spent pontificating at length (moreso than he already has, maybe he should just budget his words better).
Afforded a moment to break away from the current horde, they might yet believe they've found a break in the action as they come down Gentleman's Aisle. Huh. To think someone would go here, believing it is safe. These are truly the darkest times for the Kingdom of Adlehyde--
"BUCKAWW!!"
Also, 'fwoosh,' but the 'BUCKAWW' is more ear-catching. There's a whole lot of fire for the eyes, so the eyes won't be left out, as a fried chicken stand is set on fire.
"...That one has a flamethrower." Ethius could afford to enunciate a little more here, because... that's not normal.
A cucco barrels towards them, flamethrower on its back spewing flame everywhere at and around them - uhh, wait, is that a cart full of beer kegs?
...
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING READING THIS DESCRIPTION DO SOMETHING SAVE THE BEER!!!!!
Ethius, for his part, shuts his eyes and does some chanting business to call forth more symbology-based sorcery as he clutches a bag, trying to throw it into the nozzle where the bag's contents explode into dust.
This allows everyone else a moment of cover to try and make the best of disarming this creature.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Kislev Fried Cucco.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida dumps the bag of grain exactly where the mysterious stranger wants it. Hopefully, it will buy everyone enough time to escape--and escape they do. Staff anf patrons flee, screaming, desperately trying to escape the horde before it realizes it's been tricked.
Ida doesn't stop running until Ethius does, and sinks against the wall of a stall that, up until about fifteen minutes ago, was selling beer. Now, it is being menaced by a chicken with a flame-belching ARM--one that Ida recognizes. Did that chicken mug a Black Tie? How fiendish must it be to steal from such a dangerous individual!
Ida breathes. The stranger throws something at the cucco. Ida tracks its trajectory, reaching around to the small of her back and slipping her hand beneath her jacket. She draws something--a gun, its barrel gleaming with the distinct patina of treated Metal Demon bone--and aims at the cucco's gun.
Ida fires. A single, half-molten metal slug races towards the stolen ARM, to destroy it before the cucco can wreak further havoc.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, Kislev Fried Cucco.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Well...as long as he was alright with it and they weren't stuck here in a room full of bait for these hellbeasts, Jacqueline didn't care how he interpreted her actions. Fortunately, they had managed to break away from the main horde and into an area relatively clear of the beasts.
"Whew, I think we're safe n-"
Poor Jacqueline. She should've known not to tempt fate.
As if mocking her hubris, a 'BUCKAW' reaches her ears, followed by a familiar 'fwoosh'.
"Oh, this isn't fair at all!" Jacqueline shouts, frustrated. She'd seen those flamethrowers, and had been on the business-end of them before. They weren't a pleasant sight...but, she knew how to deal with them.
"She draws a bottle of bright-orange liquid from her bags and begans edging around the cucco with the help of Ethius's smokescreen. Its attention fortunately on avenging its fallen brethren, making it slightly easier.
She uses the sound of fire from Ida's ARM as a signal, removing the stopper and splashing the flamethrower with the liquid inside.
It was her traditional Haywire Draught, desired to seep into ARMs and gum up the works so they couldn't do as much damage. If Ida's shot didn't disable it, this should.
I mean, they'd still have the bird itself to deal with but it was something, right?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kislev Fried Cucco.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
The Baskar sighs, rolling his shoulder as Gwen helpfully patches up a few of the worst cuccoo-inflicted wounds that are messing up yet another shirt. "Eesh. Thanks. Those birds are insane. And they're claws are like knives, I tell you." The Baskar relaxes a bit as the dispersal of Delicious Seeds gives just the opening needed to escape the kitchen and its friendly singing chef, confronting the band of interpid Cucccoo Swarm Survivors with the next abomination that the birds have brought upon them!
"..." Vin's eye twitches as he peaks around a corner.
If there is one thing Vin Barrett, Baskar Drifter, Guide, And Adventurer understands, it is FIRE!
It's one reason he dislikes the Black Ties so much.
"Black Ties must be lowerin' their standards these days." Shaking his head, he reaches under his cloak, pulling out a small carved totem and clutching it. The Mysterious Totem's eyes gleam, and magic boosts the combat abilities of the Intrepid Anti-Cuccoo Brigade.
That done, Vin acts quick as the others try to deal with the angry fire-breathing chicken, snatching up the empty grain sacks and attempting to shove the (hopefully) disarmed cuccoo into a sack. If he can pull that off, he's totally flipping an empty crate over on top of the angry bird and hoping it goes to sleep or something. I mean, the sacks probably have a good deal of grain in there to sate its wrath, after all.
...Maybe. Regardless, Vin's showing that he's a brave man, putting his hand near those TERRIBLE CLAWS and VICIOUS, KNIFE LIKE BEAK and SOFT, FLAPPY FEATHERY WINGS! "Get in there!"
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Pyre Totem toward his party's challenge, Kislev Fried Cucco.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The Baskar may have more than one thing to deal with, however, as Gwen just *clings* to the poor man for dear life. "Oh god oh god oh god IT HAS A FLAMETHROWER oh god..."
And so, the mighty Gwen Whitlock, the inadvertent slayer of Vash the Stampede (he quickly got better) and stainer of ponchos (puke) and dark heros' scarves (tears), clings to Vin's body with a surprising amount of strength, even if it's focused around one arm, leaving the rest to be just plain ol' courier feat strength. Which is pretty fearsome in itself.
If it helps, she's grabbed onto something else- a promotional sign post, or somesuch, and just whipping it ahead at the MIGHTY FIRE-THROWING CUCCO with a massive dose of fear-inspired batting.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kislev Fried Cucco. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 27 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The ARM finds itself being strongarmed into non-existence, between fine layers of dust, molten rounds of ammo, gumming up its inner mechanisms, a simple act of containment, and a simple batting of a sign post to bat the box-covered cuccoo away.
There is a muted explosion. There is another muted cry for help that rings heavy in everyone's ears, that blood-curdling war cry no less harsh in spite of the lesser decibels that escape the box that somehow proves sturdy enough to contain an exploding flamethrower.
More cuccos converge where the war chicken has been pushed, allowing the lot of them to consider whether or not stealing a lot of beer might yet be a bargaining chip for anything that might see them receive safe passage outside of the city.
"...As we were," Ethius so declares.
DG: Vin Barrett has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Cluck Off *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You bolt around the corner, to find yourself face to facade with the Grand Opera House of Adlehyde. The doors come open, and cuccos pour out. Each is dressed in all of other peoples' finery: powdered wigs, opera glasses, fancy dresses, suits, and fanciful outfits used on stage. One cucco trots forward, then points a feathery wing at you. "Buc-buc-BUCKAAAAWW!" The others do the same, making various gang sign-like motions with their wings. These cuccos are issuing you notice. You just got served, and the only answer is a cucco singing contest. Of course, they aren't particular about their music: loud belting, percussive instruments, and using explosions to accompany your symphony will be acceptable. And if not, they will fight you. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
The Baskar sighs in relief as his temporary Clinging Anti-Cuccoo Partner bats the Box Containing Black Tie Cuccoo away, safely disarming the threat for the moment!
For his part, Vin carefully disengages Gwen's Death Grip, eyeing the cart full of beer kegs speculatively. "Alright, so, while I'm normally in favor of liberating booze, I'm pretty sure that chickens aren't big drinkers, so I'm not sure if they'll take the bribe. if nothing else, maybe they'll just enjoy a nice drink, instead of trying to maul us. Also, kegs are heavy, and, y'know, that's not a good thing when we're under attack by agile little flying knife-clawed bastards."
Vin dislikes cuccoos. Oh yes.
Still, the Badlands-raised scout blinks as he turns. Huh, he had no idea they were this close to the opera hous-
Did...
"...Did that bird just insult us?"
Vin's eyes narrows, and the Baskar glances around, looking for something he can turn into an impromptou instrument...and then, he eyes the beer cart. The dancing cuccoos. "Ladies and Gentleman, I do believe the way out that doesn't involve getting mauled by these fancy city birds...is to beat 'em at their own game."
He taps the kegs, shoving a nearly empty one out of the cart and rolling it over, thumping the top of it with the butt-end of his ARM.
Bit rough, but it'll do!
That done, Vin starts to lay down a low, thumping beat on his impromptou kettle drum, thumping the flat top and bottom of the keg while keeping a foot planted on it to keep it from rolling away!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cluck Off.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"You raise a most excellent point," Ethius seems to concede with Vin's insights.
He finds he has no words when they are accosted by cultured cuccos.
"A game, you say." A hand goes to his face. Vin starts working with the kegs, setting a percussion. A beat.
His hand remians at his face for a while. Shame?
"Hm... this sound." What about it? Is there something special about someone thumping a keg with the butt of an ARM?
His tense posture, a thing that seems to be a product of careful cultivation, appears to slacken. His movements, looser, as he calmly moves to sit down atop the cart and remove the gloves on his hands.
...
He starts to beat the drums, complimenting the one already started by Vin. Not with the clumsy slamming of desperate palms, but one that seems familiar, even comfortable, with this choice of instrumentation.
For Jay, who has been around Ethius the most of anyone here... even with the bandanna over much of his face, she might be able to pick up a little something... off.
A sense of peace, perhaps. Familiarity? His sense of rhythm and timing isn't too bad, as he drums palms against the beer kegs. It helps provide a nice beat, a nice tempo, to freestyle off of when put alongside Vin's own beats.
...
The lyrics are someone else's problem.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cluck Off.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Devil's Due spits ash and a half-molten shell from its ejection port. Ida blinks; she's never seen it act quite this way before, but she's also well aware that ARMs can be finicky beasts, and custom-built ones are the oddest of all. She holsters the gun as the box goes flying, and the stink of superheated Demon flesh dies down ever-so-slightly. Something catches her eye. She turns around as Vin does, seeing--
That. Ida's left eye twitches, ever-so-slightly. It takes her a moment to realize what exactly these birds are demanding--really, the fact that birds are demanding anything, period, is distressing enough. But these are no mere birds.
Nevertheless, the one thing Ida has in her repertoire is birdsong, which she picked up on earlier expeditions: she cups her hands to her mouth, and starts freestyling, which amounts to mimicking one birdcall after another. She's... not that bad, actually. But will the cuccos take offense regardless???
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cluck Off.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Through the power of teamwork, they somehow managed to defeat the fire-breathing menace. She looked around at the others, nodding in approval. They seemed to make a great team.
And then, a door slams open, and an army of well-dressed cuccos emerge. One of them even steps forward, as if taking the position of leader.
Jacqueline stared. Was this happening right now? Yes, this was happening right now. They were being challenged to a music battle by an uppity chicken.
And...they were accepting it? Vin and Ethius were providing a beat...and the latter seemed to even be enjoying it!? At least more than anything she had seen before from him!
Well, she might as well join in too. She does not provide music, however, but she can provide them with a little style. After all, what was the point of victory if you didn't look good doing it?
She draws a Crest from her belt. With two invocations, Vin and Ethius are raised up on pillars of stone. They were smaller than her usual conjurations, instead only a couple of feet or so off the ground. Ida starts providing birdcalls, so with another invocation she is raised up as well, her platform slightly above theirs. She seems to be taking the lead, after all, so she deserves the most prominence. Gwen is given a platform as well, though Jay herself remains firmly on solid ground.
Another Crest comes out, this one in her other hand. She uses it to summon down lightning, punctuating what she interprets to be rather biting remarks in the language of birds.
Hopefully these cuccos appreciate the show they were putting on!
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cluck Off.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It's hard at first to extract Gwen's death grip from Vin's back, but as the 'Firebird' is taken care of, Gwen slowly relaxes her grip, murmuring a self-conscious 'sorry' to the Baskar for his trouble. Maybe she dislikes cuccos herself? Or fire. Or a combination of both. What's clear was that she was irrationally scared.
That is, if there was an actual rational way of being afraid of a cucco wielding a flame thrower.
Gwen senses something else coming around to greet them. One hand is already gripping Vin's poncho in ready fear. She turns around and-
"... that's... kinda... adorable. I really gotta admit, this is cute. Look, look! One of them even has a lens for one of its little eyes! The lens is so big, but its eyes are so tiny..." Gwen can't help it. She starts giggling, then, sighting another cucco with a powdered, giant wig, the giggle evolves into barely contained laughing, accompanied by the occasional snort. "Hhee... he..." She attempts to catch her breath. "And one of them's... got a pocketwatch, only it looks like it's an actual clock... *snort* And the coat-tails!!! This is _amazing_..."
Thus, while Ida, Ethius, Vin, and Jacqueline do the mighty job of raising to the cuccos' musical challenge, Gwen just snorts and laughs into her hands in the background, tears beginning to run down her face.
It's for the best, really.
When the ground suddenly raises up below her, Gwen is snapped back to attention, Jay's efforts bringing the courier to finally try to, well, *contribute* to the effort. She eventually tries to whistle, but it ends up, due to the intermittent giggle and snort, petering out to not that much accompaniment at all. Then, finally, she manages a steady whistle. Nothing spectacular, but she's not off-key, either. If there was a key to begin with, anyway.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cluck Off. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
The Cuccoos of Adelhyde watch with beady, unimpressed eyes as the Drifters of Drifting put on their best shot. There is FIRE, and LIGHTNING, and BIRD NOISES, and DRUMS.
The first few beats make the Head Cuccoo recoil...but he quickly rallies, raucously starting to cluck back every time Ida makes a new noise, gradually growing louder and louder...
And then, the Feathery Finery Filching Fowl all hop forwards in sequence, forming into ranks as the Drifters continue their desperate musical freestyling...
That is when the Cuccoos begin to DANCE! In Line.
It's rather mesmerizing, and ends with the Head Cuccoo hopping forwards and pointing both wings at the Drifters before dismissively cawing!
That is when the semblance of civility vanishes, and the horde of foul fowls flock forwards, viciously pecking at the amateur musicians, inflicing more painful pecks and small slices as they give chase!
Luckily, they're eventually distracted by another band of musical fowl wearing rather shabby purloined clothing, the two flocks putting on a display worthy of an angry peacock as they pause to establish domininance in the ancient way of the cuccoos!
For his part, slumping in an alley, a bit worse for wear and panting for breath, Vin glances at the rest of the party of Bird Attack Survivors.
"...So, all in favor of pretending that never happened?"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Party Fowl *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A swarm of cuccos, perhaps hundreds of them, aren't far behind you. They descend suddenly, then run, like a great wall of charging white feathers. Fortunately, you see a door ahead -- and when you bolt through it, you find yourself in a party hall that was abandoned. Long tables, still piled with beer and food, can be seen. So can chairs and other odds and ends. If you move fast, you can construct a barrier and hold the mass of cuccos at bay! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Me. Yes, me." Jacqueline says, raising her hand. She invokes her Crests again, bringing everyone back to solid ground.
Unfortunately, however, the cuccos themselves don't agree.
Perhaps they were angered by the lightning? Perhaps they didn't even realize what was going on? Or, perhaps their sensibilities were offended by what they perceived as a poor display from the group of Drifters invading their new turf.
Both bird bands return, joined this time by even more of their oddly-dressed ilk.
Technically because they are cuccos wearing any amount of clothing could be considered 'oddly dressed', but now is not the time to discuss semantics! Now is the time to run.
Quickly.
And Jacqueline does, after making sure everyone else is following her.
They eventually reach what looked to be some sort of party hall, filled with tables, food, and alcohol. Because of course. In other words, the perfect position to hold out and hope the cucco swarm backs off.
She could summon a pillar of earth in front of the door, but she didn't want to block themselves off completely.
"Someone help me with this." She says, taking one end of one of the tables and trying to drag it over to the door.
Hopefully they'd have enough time to get a decent barricade going before the cuccos arrived!
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Party Fowl.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida makes an inglorious, hasty exit. She sags against the wall next to Vin, gasping for breath. "I hope... it wasn't something... I said," she says. Jacqueline finds a door, and Ida limps in after her.
Much like the last building, this one only serves as temporary refuge. This one, at least, is slightly more barricadable--but Ida is already exhausted. It takes everything she can to grab the other end of Jay's table, shoving it over to the door with an agonized screech. "Bridges--thought these--monstrosities were--a legend," Ida gets out. She sounds more than a little manic, mostly because she's riding the trailing end of a wave of adrenaline while trying to stay focused.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Party Fowl.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Notably, it takes Ethius the longest to snap out of the musically-induced stupor to understand that his music was not impressing them.
His return to business as usual is stunted, and he makes up the back of the pack whom barely makes it into the hallway behind the rest as he clutches his scalp with an ungloved hand.
"When was that," he muses about nothing in particular... brought back only to the current situation by the louder clucking and the invitation for everyone to help get the barricades back up.
"My apologies. I felt faint, for a moment." Moving on, he seems to survey the tools they have available for their makeshift barricades.
"Troublesome... were this structure and its furniture not made of wood," Ethius somehow finds time to speculate about possibilities when they are in a massive panic to BARRICADE THE WAY IN RIGHT NOW, "I might have been able to fuse the way in closed."
Which means he's going to have to suck it up and just help keep moving tables and other objects as far up against it as he can, which he does as reasonably well as anyone in his level of physical fitness and health (which is to say, pretty good).
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Party Fowl.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin stares at the wave of white feathery DOOM for just a moment. "Ah -hell-."
He sprints off with the rest, and as they lunge into the party hall, he nods, grabbing the other end of the table and hefting it up, spilling delicious high quality food and drink to to the floor, helping Jacqueline haul furniture over to try and block the obvious entry points from the oncoming HORDE OF DOOOOOOOOM!
"Sweet Guardians, I think I'd consider giving up Chicken for a month if it meant these bastards go the hell away."
...What? Give up chicken forever? That's madness, because poultry is both delicious and affordable.
"Someone find a way to prop this stuff in place! We don't want 'em popping the barricade from sheer numbers and weight of 'em!"
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Party Fowl.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Well, the line dancing cuccos did it. Gwen just can't carry a whistle worth a damn at such an amazing sight. She begins snorting again, her tear ducts well primed for the tears that begin to stream down established tracks on her freckled cheeks.
But, alas, the time for laughing as at an end, as their performance leaves something to be desired. It was probably Gwen's laughing that did it.
That's what the courier is thinking, as she runs for her life with her life through the same door as everyone else. "What's this about Bridges? We could use a bridge or two to get this barricade set up!" Gwen saves, haphazardly shoving chairs, hauling tables (with some help) and, as a last resort, throwing food on the ground. "If they get past the barricade, there's some food to distract them, if they're not already full from the grain."
Or the flesh of their enemies. "Y'seemed like you were having fun, at least," Gwen says to Ethius, a half-smile. "Maybe it's a sign that you need to take up a hobby or two?" She's not ignoring the danger, of course- things are being hauled towards the pile of wood and debris barricading the door. ".... as for me, maybe I just have... too many hobbies. Maybe." A chair gets thrown onto the pile, then, a rug. It's kind of obvious that she's favoring one arm versus another in getting things hauled over. "Hey, er... Jay, was it? Good call on the platforms!" SHe then looks to Vin. "... Good, uh... letting me cling to you." She frowns.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Party Fowl. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has failed this challenge! The party gained 2 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Well...guess you'll have a story to tell him if we make it outta this alive." Jacqueline says with a grunt, as she fixes a table into place. With everyone's help they had a pretty solid-looking barricade going.
She sends a smile over to Gwen. "Thanks." She says with a proud nod.
She is about to say something else, but she stops. It was quiet. There was no sound of cuccos outside at all. Jacqueline frowns, backing away from the barricade. She had already learned her lesson not to tempt fate today, but the thought came to her head - 'maybe they left'? She curses herself mentally when she hears an odd, mechanical sound outside.
A whirring. She'd heard that kind of whirring before.
"Everyone, duck!" Jacqueline shouts, throwing herself to the ground.
No, Jacqueline, cuccos.
If one looked outside right now, one would say that somehow, some way, the chickens had a chaingun. Where did they get that? Did someone drop it in an attempt to escape? A flurry of beaks peck just the right places and a hail of bullets shoot out, reducing their barricade - and everything in their path - to nothing.
It was probably time to run again, just in case they somehow figured out how to get more bullets into that thing, and before they surged into the building now that the barricade was down.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Stone Door *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you run down the streets of Adlehyde, darting into a smaller alleyway, you find a massive stone door blocking your path. It is covered in ancient Baskar runes, and has no visible keyhole -- or handle. Yes. Even in the middle of Filgaia, giant stone doors block your path. Are you clucking kidding me? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida would laugh at Jay's joke if she weren't convinced she was about to be murdered by poultry. It's not even a proper murder, because murders are what crows gather in, and these are clearly not crows.
Ida recognizes that familiar whine, and her eyes go wide; she throws herself to the ground, and moments later, the cucco-powered chaingun shoots the hell out of the barricade. The good news is that it's torn open the side of the building, as well. "RUN!" Ida screams, forcing herself to her feet. She breaks into a sprint, fleeing down the alley--stone walls loom high on either side, and they look older than the other parts of the city. This might be the entrance to a catacomb, if they can get down there, they'll be--
Door.
Ida isn't sure if she wants to laugh, or cry. She manages a polite smile, which of course is transmuted by the outlandishness of the situation into a rictus grin. "Gwen," she says. "Door." She gestures in its direction. This is her contribution to getting it open.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Stone Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"A hobby, you say," Ethius might be taking a cotton to the suggestion... maybe? There has to be some element of truth to it, though - one can't fake something like what he did, back there.
A peaceful moment in which to gather one's thoughts, reintroduce, maybe spend a moment to converse about something important is cut off by chaingun fire, and so, he flees with the rest...
To a stone door.
Ah, doors. A problematic element, as of late. Such simple constructions, built to last the ages...
Ethius runs a hand across the smooth surface, and looks to the rest.
"I'm going to try and melt it." Coinciding after other attempts to soften it open, Ethius calls upon his symbology anew to generate intense heat that radiates off the stone, to turn it... molten, which is its own set of crazy hazards but nonetheless might be the fastest way to open a path without being mauled by birds.
They might even be hesitant to approach, in a best case scenario.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ancient Stone Door.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin, like the rest of the Survivors, ducks for what cover can be found as the Guardians-Cursed Cuccoos shred the simple barricades that the group has set up with a Guardians-Damned CHAINGUN of all things. Vin groans, groggily shaking his head, a few fresh cuts on his cheek bleeding from splinters. "I'm really hoping this whole day turns out to be a fever dream. I really do."
The Baskar is a little bit wobbly at first, but the fear of Feathery Death does much to sober him up, sending the Baskar sprinting for safety...
And then, just...why.
Who would put a door here?
He stares at it, trying to translate the Baskar runes on the fly. "...'Bet You Wish You'd Paid What You Owed Me, Huh, Jackass?' Oh, for Lucied's Sake...This is why you settle up with your contractors."
To be fair, there is a non-zero chance Vin's just taken a minor knock to the head from mini-gun shredded debris.
Still, he quickly tries to find SOME way to lever or bypass his most -hated- nemesis, an Immovable Handleless Puzzle Door, quickly glancing at the symbologist. "...Screw it. I'll see what I can do."
Vin slaps his hands together, rubbing them briskly, murmuring...and flame blossoms between them as he aims, trying to help burn through the door, hinges, wall around the door...Anything to hopefully escape the BLOODY DAMNED CUCCOOS!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ancient Stone Door.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"What, ducks are in on this to-" As one cucco manages to shove its head through an opening made in the barricade, it peers around, maniacally, as Gwen falls back in surprise. "D-damn! Gotta go, now!"
Escaping down a street with her companions, Gwen groans as they come up against a door. "Can't climb over it, looks like... or around it. Just gotta..." Well, what Ida says. Gwen rams her right fist into the door, each slam generating more and more exertion until she's forced away for Ethius and Vin to do their work.
Gwen watches in minor amazement as Vin summons fire. While he's done it before, it really begins to hit her here. How can someone just... do that, and not be scared out of their minds?
Probably the same way she just walks back up, looks at the fully primed and heated door, and starts slamming into it with her right fist once more, her thick leather gloves probably getting their fair share of charring for Gwen's effort.
Looking over her shoulder, she says, ".... prosthesis." As if anyone's fooled at this point.
Especially when she starts shaking her hand around like she's touched a hot stove. And rammed her fist into a brick wall.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Stone Door.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Ida's the one who calls it out. Jacqueline follows her lead, chasing after her and the others until something blocked their way. A door.
"Why do we always find ourselves in this situation, Ethius?" She groans, glancing towards man in question. How often in one's life did one need to find themselves trapped between a door and a flock of avian menaces? At least these weren't some kind of cucco-bear or something ridiculous like that. She'd probably just give up at that point, if that were the case.
"There isn't some kind of Guardian of Birds, is there? 'Cause, uh...I think he must really hate me or something. Or, all of us. In general." She says, glancing towards Vin. He seemed like the type who'd know about that.
In an effort to help she draws another Crest, using it to try and shift stone as best as she can in between Gwen's punches at the door. It wasn't made for that purpose, though, so she had to be careful not to make things worse.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Stone Door. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 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.
Vin and Ethius try to melt the door. Since it is thick stone, it's very likely it was subjected to some similar process deep in Filgaia's crust; you don't use just any stone for your thick stone doors, after all. If it has hinges, they are also annoyingly heat-resistant, as Gwen's manhandling and Jay's Crest don't do much more than jostle it around. Is this the end? The horde is bearing down--
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* CHALLENGE - Cucco Clock *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- One of the clock towers at the center of Adlehyde is a precious sight and a common tourist attraction. This time, however, something seems off. In fact, it seems that the clock has stopped. Really, you should try to fix it. One day, this too shall pass. But it won't pass if you do not climb up there and fix the clock, because no one will know the time. A winding stairway leads to the top -- and there, resting just inside the clock face, is a very large silver cucco. It clucks, softly, in its sleep. But, how can you get the clock wound again... without waking up this particularly angry bird? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius draws his hand back, taking in heavier breaths as he pushes himself to the utmost to little gain. Their trump cards, their techniques, their secrets... the horde seems to start to round about the corner...
"Wait," Ethius says, looking up, "we should get to high ground--" How? THEY CAN'T GET PAST THE DOOR--
"To our lefts, there's a clock tower." What, they could've run that way to begin with? "I suggest we--- run." He stopped himself from wasting air with two syllables and went for the simpler synonym. He's learning - or perhaps starting to feel the very heat of their survival hanging in the balance!
So, the group goes there, to a clock tower that they will quickly find does not work... it might be worth fixing, even if today may yet be the dawn of the last day for Adlehyde under the terror of angry cucco hordes.
A silver cucco snoozes upon the clock face. It would be a terrible idea to wake it up. This is something everyone would know by now, as their injuries and stresses mount...
Wordlessly (aside from quiet chants), Ethius gets out the lens again, tapping it with a finger and silently starting to investigate the mechanisms to see what's connected to what - maybe there's some way to wind it quietly.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Cucco Clock.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
...Well. Hm. it occurs to Vin, after the DOOR has been superheated until it's too hot to actually open, that most of his fellow Drifters aren't as...hmm...comfortable with higher temperature as the Baskar is. Whoops.
So, when Ethius suggests a new path to safety, Vin fixes him with a dirty look. He had to show off one of his secrets NOW? But, whatever, running for safety is better than dying horribly to angry birds.
As the Giant Silver Cuccoo becomes visible, Vin shudders, moving as quietly as he can. Given his profession, that's pretty quiet!
He carefully hands out bandages and some smaller pouches of that trail mix he distracted the critters with earlier.
After all, A: Everyone could use a small snack break and B: In a pinch, maybe it'll distract the Silver Birb.
As ready as he can be, the Baskar nibbles on his snack quietly, also trying to figure out the mechanisms behind the clock tower to see if he can lend a hand here and there.
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Baskar Trail Mix toward his party's challenge, Cucco Clock.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
This is it, Ida thinks, somewhere between terror and disbelief. I will be killed by demon chickens. Then the stranger spots something, and she looks upward, focusing on something high above them. That's right. Her limbs still ache, but the nervous exhaustion starts to evaporate once she's given purpose again. Perhaps if they can restart the clock, they can use it to scare these monsters off! If anything scares them, that is...
Ida follows Ethius. At some point, her bad arm just decides to stop working, but she moves with the kind of purpose that suggests she is too deep in focus to care. One-handed, she removes a trusty book from its place on her belt, and finds the section she's looking for. She's gotten so used to using her mother's journal that its esoteric organization is no longer a problem.
Clockworks. They're in a lot of traps, as well as more functional mechanisms. "Here," she says, holding up a diagram. It's not quite a clock, but it's some sort of winding mechanism nevertheless. "Can you see something like this?"
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flora's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Cucco Clock.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Oh. Jacqueline stares sheepishly at the other pathway that they apparently could've taken the whole time that she didn't recognize despite being born and raised here. She would attribute it to the fact that she'd been gone from Adlehyde for thirteen years and didn't quite remember every one of the small passageways. Maybe they'd built more recently...?
What she does recognize, however, is the clocktower. She feels emotion swelling up unbidden from within. This clocktower was an important part of Adlehyde! And here it was, sitting there inactive! Who would leave such a precious cultural treasure in disrepair? Jacqueline knew what she had to do. If Adlehyde were to fall, they would at the very least know what time it happened!
Unfortunately, it seems that they are not alone here. A very large cucco had taken roost here. Seeing it sleeping here brought back memories, memories of stealing into this very clocktower to rest just like that cucco was, underneath the calming sounds of the mechanisms. Perhaps it would be best just to leave it be?
Wait a second, that didn't sound right. Maybe this whole situation was making her a bit delirious. Or maybe it was drawing out memories she'd left forgotten...?
Either way, Jacqueline looks over the notebook Ida helpfully provided and nodded. She took a second to memorize the diagram then gets to work, helping the others where possible.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cucco Clock.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
After the onslaught, Gwen's right hand is noticeably twitching, pain creasing the normally bubbly young woman's expression. It's probably a good thing that, despite being a perfectly normal courier, the woman seems to have a lot of pain tolerance, as beyond that, she's not betraying any real sort of pain in her expression.
Scrambling up the stairs, Gwen's breath hitches in her throat at the sight of the guardian... cucco... bird.
Taking out a slim packet which, when unlatched, produce some rather finely crafted tools, Gwen quietly slips to some accessible gears, quietly picking a tool out with her teeth and wedging the packet under one arm. The left hand comes into play to allow the right a chance to... well, heal? Not really a thing that happens, but...
For someone who was slamming fists into doors and throwing chairs like some uncultured brute, Gwen does display a specific sort of knowledge and aptitude for trying to figure out and troubleshoot mechanic systems.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Tool Set toward her party's challenge, Cucco Clock. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Between the instructions of the notebook, Gwen's set of tools, and Ethius being able to determine what mechanisms require the utmost attention, and a set of healthy trail mix, Jacqueline is afforded all the time to really take in the happy sights and sounds of a place that, the longer they stay, the further the chaos beneath them seems to be.
The real value of having come up here was little more than a break from the insanity. The cuccos continue their rampage below. Up here, they may have drowned out the shrill cries of avian hatred through their snacking, studying, fixing, and reminiscing.
...
On closer inspection, as they all have this moment of calm in fixing the monument, that is not a real cuccoo there. That was a decoration that, in their mounting stress and panic, seemed to take that form.
That they fixed a landmark of the city is a nice little bonus.
The clock turns to high noon. The bells ring twelve times.
The cuccos below all seem to stop, turning their beady, hateful chicken eyes towards the sky.
They will all have to make their way down, if all of them make up their mind to go back down and navigate this chaos to its source - whether to fight it off, or just merely survive.
The time is now, to determine fight or flight.
DG: Vin Barrett has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Motherclucker *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- One cucco is behind this: the Mother Cucco, a bird with bright red plumage and fury in her black eyes. She drops down towards you as you make your escape. She lets out a bellowing cry -- and her children come. Then, her wings beat, and she takes off towards the skies -- but gives a final look at you. You don't have the sufficient level to fight her yet, but know this: she will be back. The horde comes at her call, though. Dozens of cuccos swarm, dive bombing, scratching, pecking, and unleashing their terrifying martial arts upon you! Feathers fly -- and so will you, if you're unlucky! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The bell tolls. High noon. Twelve chimes intone the melody that conjures doom into this world. Upon the sixth chime, the sun darkens, the sky blackens. Upon the ninth, the world fills with the thousand-fold cacophany of wingbeats. On the eleventh, Her children take flight on killing wing. On the twelfth a great shadow falls across the square, tied to an immense beast, black and crimson and vermilion--
Wait.
T-that's not a bird's shadow.
"I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" T-that voice. "I'm... Not... Giving up here!" It can't be...! "FOR HONOR!" BUT IT IS...! "FOR GLOOORYYYYYY!"
It's... Zed. Clinging to one leg of the Mother of All Cuccoos. Defying the will of Moor Cluck herself...! His face is beaten black and blue, and his arm barely holds onto his sword, but he's still fighting! Even as the beast lands, nearly crushing him underfoot, Zed swings up...!
His blade... Glimmers red.
A vermilion plume is trapped between his fingers...!
But then the beast kicks him into a nearby barrel-o'-fish and unleashes a terrible, keening wail. Her song is joined by countless others, as the Motherclucker directs her myriad children to war. Their only command: Make the enemy suffer. Redeem the ancient contract... With the blood of the transgressors...!!!
Zed pulls himself out of the pile of fish. He's brandishing a halibut and his sword, and a distressingly serene cuccoo roosts upon his head. TEMPORARY PARTY MEMBER ACQUIRED: ZED THE MACHO MAN.
WHAT DO YOU DO, FILGAIANS!?!?
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
A ways off, just about at the corner of everyone's eyes, there's a huge... metal egg? There are a lot of cuccos sitting on it.
Every so often someone might pick up a shrill whine, but that must be an overactive imagination. Giant metal eggs with something screeching inside them. Pfft. Come on.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
...So.
Um.
Vin does not know anything about clock towers, it turns out.
All his poking around manages to do is get him some nasty pinched fingers, which REALLY stings.
Still, it's a nice break from being murdered by cuccoos, and at least that Giant Silver Cuccoo was just a perfectly innocous decoration, not a harbinger of death. The others even got the clock working again, which is a small, slender silver lining in this terrible, no good, very bad day.
Which is why Vin just feels his head hang low as he lets out a long-suffering sigh when the Mother Cuccoo shows up. Truly, such a monstrosity is beyond any reasonable opponent to fight. Vin leans out of the clocktower for a moment. "Yeah, okay, that's Zed challenging the Head Evil Murder Bird to a fight. ...Well, at least he's distracting it for us!"
TRULY, THE BOND BETWEEN COMRADES WHO HAVE RISKED DEATH IS GREAT!
The Baskar Shaman leans back in hastily, shutting the window he'd been using when a larger cuccoo tries to bite him, embedding its beak into the shutter. Hmming, Vin pulls that totem out of his cloak again, holding it, murmuring a plea for help and succor to his patron into it under his breath before activating it, boosting his party's hand-eye co-ordination and the like with Magic.
He also boosts Zed. You know, to help him do battle. Good thing Zed draws enough aggro that Vin can buff in relative peace! "Maybe if we can hold 'em off long enough, they'll finally take their ire off on someone else and leave?"
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Pyre Totem toward his party's challenge, Motherclucker.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida can't help but wince as the clock starts to chime. If she were down in the street, it would merely be loud, but up here, it's almost deafening. Nevertheless, a challenge has been issued--and she must follow it through if she and her allies are to defeat this fowl menace. Ida sucks in a breath, holds it, lets it out. She sees a speck of red in the cloud of darkness, and as it comes closer--
Zed?
Ida knows better than to ask what Zed is doing clinging to a giant demon-chicken matriarch. These things just happen.
The horde comes. Ida's eyes narrow. She's passed through fear, and reached a place on the other side, where she's just kind of in the moment, no matter how ridiculous that moment happens to be. Her good hand darts into her torn coat, which is splattered with blood and even less-savory things--she comes up with Devil's Due, twirls it as a gesture of prowess, and twirls it again, gripping it like an improvised tonfa. The cuccos swarm. Ida lashes out, responding to their horrifying, screeching assault with well-timed blows. This provokes the horde, but Ida does not relent. Zed has probably never seen her this focused.
The ARM is moving with her effortlessly, despite its considerable weight and kind of awkward shape. Zed's probably never seen that, either.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, Motherclucker.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"Oh, it's him." The mysterious symbologist brings a hand to his face, nonchalantly regarding the dramatic entrance of the equally mysterious but far more flamboyant green-haired swordsman who has come to their aid, fish and blade in hand. This realization comes together as the high chorus of cucco challenges for combat are called in a common cacophony. Shouldn't a greater impression be left than simply noting another's existence?!
"Everyone." Ethius speaks to the rest as reason dictates sound would drown out all attempts to talk, bringing a hand to the other satchel full o' dust. "We meet - again, as the case may be for you, Miss Gwen, Miss Jay - in interesting circumstances, indeed." And Zed. He should probably acknowledge that they went somewhere together.
The hordes draw nearer.
"I believe you have the right idea," he says to the shaman.
He side-eyes the gunslinger near him, Ida, whose choice of weapon strikes the eye in its form and function.
He gets another look at Gwen's most interesting arm.
Last, he looks to Jay... and back over to Zed, one last time. Does he have something to say? Anything important? He does not appear to find the time nor words, as he is beset by cuccos.
He drops the second powder grenade he was holding onto. No preliminary chants to turn it into the powdery grenade he's used to navigate difficult hordes before. It is dropped to the ground, spilling out specs of dirt whose granularity could confuse simple bird brains into thinking it might be food to eat.
A momentary distraction is his offer, as his strength is too sapped to provide much meaningful physical resistance, as he starts to walk away from the ruckus.
The foul-smelling bag is still on his person. What could even be in there, and why did he bother to keep it close when this life-or-death chaos would've better asked for him to ditch it in exchange for his life?
He may yet be acting presumptuous about his ability to walk away unscathed.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Motherclucker.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
They can't stay up here forever. Jacqueline knows this. Still, they've had time to recuperate. Now, it was time to meet their fate.
Jacqueline looks between the others, giving each of them a grim nod. In this time, these four were her companions, her comrades. If mankind were to die today, she couldn't think of a better group to go out with.
She strolls out of the clocktower, arms folded over her chest and looks up at the true enemy.
This was the face of the one threatening her town, ruining its buildings and terrorizing the innocent - and not so innocent - townsfolk! Her pride and emotions are at their peak from the time spent reminiscing in the clocktower, and she must face this beast directly! She reaches into her pouch, drawing out a Crest and invoking it, causing her to rise high into the sky until it eventually stops, allowing her to meet the villain's eyes.
Oh hey, she could see her old house from up here. And down there, wasn't that...that guy? Zed, right? She never actually paid him for his help in Linga, but that could wait!
"You! Do you know who I am? I'm Jacqueline Barber, and this is my town! I won't forgive what you've done here! Back off, birdbrains, and you may yet leave this place! Refuse, and I will have no choice!" With one hand she draws forth a bottle of black liquid, while the other points directly at the Mother Cucco.
Technically she just lived here, but it sounded impressive, rightly?
She hurls it at the ground defiantly, spreading the foul-smelling liquid over the area to scatter her children.
She then draws a Crest, ready to strike lightning at whatever may choose to threaten her.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Repellant Vial toward her party's challenge, Motherclucker.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Mr. Zed!" It's Gwen who runs to the green-haired demon, attempting to reach out her left hand for him to grasp. Zed may recognize, if he's not fully gripped in the BATTLE TENSION against the ULTIMATE CUCCOMOM, that Gwen's right arm is... kinda twitchy right now. Ethius himself seems to have noticed.
What Gwen herself has noticed is that Zed... really stinks of fish right now. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to try to help him out of that fish heap, regardless of whether or not he actually accepts her aid.
Gwen also notices that Ida is focused. Wait, no, not just that. Gwen knows that look. She's spent years in the same process, slowly growing familiar with an ARM so that it could get to the level it is now, a process that was likely slowed down by her younger self's inability or willingness to fire the ARM like a true weapon. No, not growing familiar, synchronizing.
Ida's ARM is... synchronizing. Gwen knows better than to point it out, just then.
Well. "Mr. Zed, I'm gonna give you a boost! With me behind you, we may just have a shot at this. Y'ready?" Getting into position, the courier begins to count down. "Okay, uh... 3... 2... 1! Go!" Hoisting Zed to sail into the air (hopefully with his permission), Gwen exerts the last of her strength into Zed's onslaught, the effort, for better or worse, making her trip against the ground. "Grk! ... ow...."
DG: You must use a Basic Action that matches the Challenge's Dungeon Ability. DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Motherclucker. DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has successfully explored Cucco Invasion!
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Free As a Bird *>======================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The feathers begin to settle, as you make good your escape. The last of the cuccos has been beaten back, sent flying away. The Mother Hen, of course, is nowhere to be seen... perhaps only to torment another group of adventurers. You can breathe easy for the moment, knowing the city is safe from this feathered menace. But you know, in your heart of hearts, that they will one day return. BUCKAW!! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Has Adlehyde ever before seen a more valiant band of heroes? Never before has such a battle played out in its streets. Man wars with bird, two divergent paths of Filgaian evolution duking it out for the honor of surviving to see another day. Yes, this is the red of tooth and claw, of beak and talon, of bear... and bird.
Foul smelling liquid does little to drive back creatures that already stink of the worst kind of coop, but as everyone knows, lightning defeats birds hands down. Jacqueline's assault hems the creatures in for Ethius to blast away with his bombs. As Vin chants, conjuring the power of an even mightier bird (which does not seem, for some reason, to reach Zed in his hour of direst need- perhaps he should have joined the party earlier!?), Ida dances through the cuccoo swarm. Her skills have reached that lofty mesa sought by all ARMsmeisters: synchronity.
And Gwen...
Gwen helps Zed to his feet, and gets all kinds of fish-stank all over her. But the mysterious green-haired swordsman is at least compensating her with one of his great old grins. "A boost, you say? Yes... Yes, a boost. A boost! Very well!" Zed leaps up onto Gwen's (NOT AT ALL METAL DEMON-Y :( :( :( ) ARM and braces as if to leap. "Do it, Gwen! DO IT AND WE SHALL ALL EAT WELL TONIGHT!"
"For Zed..." Gwen lobs. Zed leaps. "IT'S SPINNING TIIIIME!"
From Zed, little smoke pellets find the ground, explode, and produce... clouds of brightly-colored, fragrantly scented... Spices? Sword and fish whirl in a maddening spiral as he's launched like some kind of Zed-shaped rocket straight for the heart of the Mother Of All Hens. "I HAVE YOU, BEAST!" Zed yells, his fish falling away. He grips his blade with both hands as chemically-crafted flame and crest-born lightning dances across its dark steel, the latter leaping between the tips of his grinning fangs. "PILED SHOT!"
--==SECRET SWORD - LIGHTNING FLASH==--
Zed surges forward, carried on a foul-smelling wind and flanked by a hail of bullets. Feathers fly as the party tears into the cuccoo swarm, blasting several instantaneously and inexplicably into ready-made chicken dinners and causing yet others to flee with their tailfeathers on fire. But there is one last...!
The attacks make contact...
Zed swings, and lands beyond the great red bird.
For the moment, the blacks of its eyes seem to dim. Zed smirks.
And then the things body turns slate-grey... And it leaps forth from its shed, former form like a phoenix rising from the ashes. The Motherclucker screeches one last time before taking into the air, undaunted by the forces arrayed against it. What a monster...!!
But the other cuccoos... Seem to be in full retreat. And left on the ground, near where the great bird once stood, are a smattering of crimson feathers.
...Well. At least the town is safe!
--ZOOM CUT TO HIGH ABOVE ADLEHYDE--
EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE. AND COVERED IN POOP. A MOTHER IS SCOLDING HER CHILD. LOLITHIA HAS BEEN PAINTED WHITE, AND IS ALSO ON FIRE.
--BACK DOWN BELOW--
Yep! At least the town is safe!!! "H...hahh." Zed sighs, slumping over to clutch a red feather to his chest. "That... Was... AWESOME...!!!"
Yep, sure was, buddy.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
For his part, back in the safety of the Clock Tower, Vin Barrett, Shaman of the Super Mega Ultra Chicken Dragon Moor Gault, slumps down, leaning against the wall, eyes half-closed as he listens to the mechanisms tick and tock away.
Groaning, he pulls out a small bottle of something that looks and smells foul, nose wrinkled in disgust as he eyes Auntie Cecillia's Home Made Sure Heal Remedy (#3 Recipe). "Ugh. Well..." He glances down at the Cuccoo Waste Stained Streets of the City. Then back at the bottle. "At least it'll kill my sense of smell and taste for a bit. Bottoms up."
Chugging the homemade Shady Baskar Healing Potion down in one go, Vin gags slightly, then relaxes, luxuriating in Not Being Attacked By That Giant Cuccoo. He glances down as a large red feather drifts in, landing on his lap where he's perched. Eyeing it, he glances up, then down again, then nods. "Yeah...I get the idea. No chicken for a month for me, I guess!"
Vow made, Vin rummages, pulling a bit of string out, tyring the Mysterious Motherclucker Feather to his Pyre Totem, making it look rather nice!
He can rest up here a bit before having to leave, right? Right.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Fortunately, Jacqueline's vantage point up here gave her a good view of the Combination Attack between Gwen and Zed. It was a rather impressive sight and, for a moment, it seems as if the Mother Cucco has been defeated. But, of course, the strongest bosses always have multiple forms. Jacqueline remains on her pillar, watching the beast until it elects to fly off.
Good, that was taken care of. She draws forth another Crest, and slowly her pillar retreats into the ground. She stumbles a bit as adrenaline starts to drain out of her, but she manages to remain standing.
"Whew. That was something. So, how's everyone doing? Still standing?" She asks, reaching into her bags to pull out a few potions. "I've got some medicine here if anyone needs it. Don't want any of those cuts to get infected, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius Hesiod is, for the time being, nowhere to be seen - having walked away from the battle at its climax.
-- MEANWHILE --
A silhouette creeps up towards one of the awful offal-coated displays of the relics on display. The spreading fires, the awful mess, the terrible smells... few would dare venture around the fairgrounds. The guards are far too busy with the last of the efforts to try and drive the cucco menace out of town.
One man draws ever closer to one such display, dauntless and without hesitation. A hand comes to their face, as if... reconsidering? Nursing a mounting headache? It's hard to say, one way or another.
("I have never been allowed this close.") They think to themselves, as they stand before a glass encasing one such relic.
They take out a shiny, metallic-looking stone of some kind.
("Will there be an answer, today?") They seem to ask, as their eyes narrow before a series of unearthed pieces of metallic creatures, of designs and mechanisms beyond replication and understanding.
("This exotic construct...") Their other hand goes up to the protective glass.
("Pray tell, does it not invite their superstition?")
"HEY! You! Step away from the displays!"
The figure turns their head over their shoulder, and ducks down into the shadows. The guard gives chase, sword drawn. A mere looter, a scum-sucking opportunist...!
They prove easy enough to lose in the confusion, as the shadowy figure steps out back into the outskirts of Adlehyde.
("I suppose... now isn't the time to know, for sure.") So thinks the words of who the light of the burning flames reveal to be none other than one Ethius Hesiod, the Technology Hunter.
He closes his eyes to reflect on what he's seen and experienced among the group today. There are many things he could ask, many things he should pursue, and yet...
The poop-encrusted bag is re-hoisted back over his shoulder.
("I must ensure the utmost discretion... there may yet be more at stake.")
...Who, and why...?
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida ends her whirling kata in a crouch, mostly because her legs are stubbornly refusing to do anything else. She stares out at the horizon as the Cucco Matriarch--undaunted and unfazed by the power arrayed against her--simply vanishes. Cuccos may rise, and cuccos may fall, but the source is eternal.
"No," Ida says to Zed. Her expression is somewhere between genuine accomplishment and that horrible, tense rictus of a grin. "No, Zed, that was not."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"It totally was thoooough," Zed does not actually whine at Ida. He seems eager. Like a bloodthirsty puppy. "Also! I was impressed! It seems your body is acclimating well to that weapon of yours! Ahahaha."
"But be careful... Or it might just synchronize to you, too! Eheh." That's not a thing that happens. Is it?
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Watching Zed swirl in the air from her tripped position, Gwen lifts her head upwards towards the flying Zed. As his attack lands, with smoke, flashing lights, and swirling feathers, Gwen jumps up and cheers, throwing her right arm into the air before realizing her unfortunate mistake in moving it too soon. She grits her teeth and clutches it to her chest, holding it there.
As talk of healing potions is raised by the helpful Jay, Gwen is quick to wave it off with a smile. "Maybe later," she says, nodding to the others. "It's not going to help my, uh, prosthetic, so. Everyone else can have a swig first..." She trails off as Vin drinks his own concoction, her cheeks flushing green briefly at the memory of that cactus juice.
Looking to Zed and Ida, Gwen moves on over at her own pace, craning her neck at Ida. "I think it might be, though, uh, don't quote me on that. Though... is that a... bad thing? Beyond the stigma." Gwen looks at Zed, briefly worried. "Are you going to make her get all scared too, like you did with me?"
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"What? No! Definitely not! It's just-- hmm." Zed rubs at his chin. "The circumstances are different, yes? Anyway, I'm sure it's fine! And in the worst case, Kalve can help."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"That does not happen, Zed," Ida says. She flicks some ash away from the ejection port, because she didn't have the time to do so earlier. She's starting to get used to the smell of superheated metal that lingers after. She looks at Zed, a little worried. "Where is Kalve? Is he in the city?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Well, everyone looked alright and Gwen seemed to think she didn't need anything right away and Vin seemed to have...something...of his own. With a nod, Jacqueline moves to join the others that were in the midst of conversing, though not before taking a look around to note that Ethius had vanished at some point, as was his wont.
Her interest drifts away slightly when she realizes they seem to be talking about ARMs. It wasn't really a topic she particularly enjoyed, and she didn't carry one of her own.
She didn't say anything just yet, however, not really having anything to add to the conversation at hand.
She just hoped her wagon and everything in it was still alright. And her horse, for that matter.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"You never know! It might!" Zed frowns, idly wiping his breastplate clean of... Terrible things. He's just a little bit grossed out. "Kalve's not here. He was busy working on a project or something and I didn't want to disturb him! Don't worry, he's fine." Probably. Unless he pulled an Alhazred. But he doesn't have the equipment for that kind of thing. Yet. Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Good," Ida says. She would hate for him to get caught up in this... mess.
That's really the only way she can describe it.
Ida sits down, and drapes her weapon across her lap. "Jay, if it's not too late, I think I would like to avail myself of your offer." Especially since she's running on reserves, and she's still got to find Dr. Oxford and make sure he's okay, and then see if the Exhibition personnel need her help with anything, and ugh.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
A longer ways away yet, Ethius still continues on his journey of uncertain destination beyond the numerous distractions, ideas, and flights of fancy. Of the survivors, in some way, he may seem to have left the most empty-handed. Whatever business he must have had, has been derailed. Whatever secrecy he has wished to act under, is for the time being compromised.
A red feather flutters from the heavens into a crack between the fingers that now tote his quarterstaff - something he's using to keep his balance as the adrenaline fades from the life-or-limb decisions he and others have had to face.
He eyes the feather with the same nonchalance he appears to harbor for much of the world around him. A reminder of an experience, a shared struggle, a little something that holds no value other than the sentimentalism.
It is quietly pocketed without further deliberation.
His path will likely cross the others again, individually or as a whole, as Drifters are known to.