2017-04-05: Mining for Clues
- Log: Mining for Clues
- Cast: Talise Gianfair, Zed, Ida Everstead-Rey, Lynnai Albrek, Kalve
- Where: Leck Mines
- Date: April 5, 2017
- Summary: A group of explorers challenges the Leck Mines, in search of clues into the kidnapping of the King of Lacour.
DG: Kalve has joined your party! DG: The party hasn't entered the dungeon yet. Please use +dungeon/enter for your first draw. DG: A party led by Talise Gianfair is now entering Leck Mines. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Sudden Drop *>========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter the Leck Mines, you can see the start of the mining cart pathway. A switch lay ahead, though it looks thoroughly rusted. But, as you step closer, there is a tremor in the ground... and it gives way, plunging you down into the darkness! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise reads the paper as well as anyone. She reads quite a few, actually. Of course it was hard to miss the copy of the Lacour News that someone had left on her table at the tavern, with its huge screaming headline about the disappearance of the King of that kingdom.
The truth of it all is that Talise has no idea where Lacour is.
But she'd also floated the idea of checking it out. There's part of her that wants, very much, to be a hero. And Dragonmaster Chloe wouldn't turn her back on a King in need.
That's why Talise - in her breastplate and heavy boots - is standing on the edge of the minecart pathway, peering down the long hole into the mines. "Okay. It looks like there's some kind of fork off there," she calls back, gesturing broadly with the sword she's holding in her right hand. "And then--"
Something rumbles under her feet. Slowly, Talise looks down.
Just in time for a large crack to race through the unstable rock between her feet. With a groan of displaced stone, the rock begins to give way, opening up into a cavern below. It begins to take the half-Beastwoman with it. A few rocks pelt at her armour.
"Damn it, we're gonna-- we're gonna fall in!" she shouts as she attempts to clamber up the falling rocks, trying to get herself above the worst of the debris. "Hang on!!"
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sudden Drop.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed is used to sudden drops. He and gravity are familiar friends. They are known to one another. Zed goes to watch Gravity's kids on the weekends when Gravity and Mrs. Gravity need to spend some alone time at the motel on the very edge of town. Zed is wise to their doings, but keeps it from the innocent gravitylings, to spare their innocent gravitears.
What we're saying is that Zed falls down holes a lot. He's kind of Sith-y in that respect.
"Do not worry Talise!" Zed yells as he falls by, "I know just what to dooooooooo--"
He disappears into the abyss below... Trailing a yellow scarf that seems to have been anchored to rocks further up. Well. At least it's a good rope.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Sudden Drop.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida really should not be here. She should be back in Adlehyde, helping clean up the mess the cucco horde left in several very important exhibitions. This would help her cultivate professional contacts, and carry a significantly smaller risk of being shot.
But Talise had an idea, and ever since Ida was involved in the mess back in Tumblus, she's been itching to do /something/ about the Black Ties, and this is clearly their handiwork. She's been to Leck twice. She knows two strong young men who have also been to Leck, and can deal with heavily-armed bandits, should it come to that.
This is why she is here, /glaring/ at the ground as if daring it to try the same trick three times. She should've known better.
She knows what to do, though. She snatches at the yellow rope that is Zed's scarf, knowing full well that she is taking a gamble--but better than falling.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai came, of course. She's been busy with some of her own preparations but when something like this came up - and she knew people who were interested in it - she joined in. If nothing else, it would be a good experience - but more importantly, they might be able to figure out what happened and how.
Also, she knows where Lacour is, so she helped Talise out. She /also/ told Talise about the Lacour Tournament of Arms (not to be confused of ARMs), to take place after the Ancient Culture Exhibition, because she figured that a big ol' swordfighting tournament may indeed be more up Talise's alley than her own.
"There's a lot of ways to go in mines," Lynnai points out. "I don't have a map, unfortunately, but I'm sure we can map it ourselves, and - "
When the ground falls, Lynnai doesn't go down - she goes up, because she bounded upward just in time. And then she starts to drop, but slower than she ought to; there seems to be a rather strong updraft from beneath, which helps everybody but especially catches her coat. It flutters and whips around her as she drifts downward, awfully slowly; everyone else gets a more modest boost, but hey, it makes the inevitable impact less painful.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has used her Tool Zephyr Coat toward her party's challenge, Sudden Drop. DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sudden Drop.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve doesn't really understand how Drifters operate. His solution to this problem? Become an adventurer. Nothing teaches like experience in your foe's shoes, or so the Master says.
He's not really super thrilled about re-visitng the mines, though. At first, Kalve considers going for the big hole they blew in the landscape before, but it looks like it's been sealed up. Maybe it was a landslide, or a concerned citizen. Maybe the planet just... /heals/, like the people on it. That wouldn't surprise him overly much, though it would make excavation of precious minerals more difficult...
Kalve is mulling this over when the ground falls away. He suffers a moment of deja vu, and then uses the updraft to try and maneuver enough to grab hold of Zed's scarf and slide down to the bottom. Gauntlets means he's not afraid of something like rope burn.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sudden Drop. DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 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: Lynnai Albrek has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Big Boulder *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A large boulder has rolled onto the path in front of you and partly blocked the way ahead. You may be able to move it, but it looks especially heavy - and lodged into the door. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The Lacour tournament is /right/ up Talise's alley. She was a very appreciative not-actually-an-elf.
"God, I want a coat like that!" Talise grouses as Lynnai goes soaring elegantly above her, but the boost from the coat helps nevertheless. She reaches for Zed's scarf despite momentarily thinking it might be a bad idea, then boosts herself up with a short jump, clearing most of the rubble.
Huge stones crumble into the cavern below, piling up in a heap.
But it's a manageable heap. The group acts quickly; most everyone is able to land smoothly. Even Talise lands in a neat roll, coming out of it in a three-point stance with her sword in one hand.
"Everyone alright?" she calls back, looking over her shoulder.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai touches down late and very lightly. She seems unharmed by the fall despite the distance - even most of the rocks hit before she did, so she doesn't get hit by them when she lands. The updraft vanishes several seconds after she does, the faint greenish haze of her Symbologically manipulated wind fading.
"It's a useful tool for its purpose," Lynnai admits. "I can do a lot with it. Still, it's not the be-all and end-all... it helps me get around, but when we have other obstacles, it's not like it's always useful. How is everybody else?"
Such as a big ol' rock. Lynnai looks at it for a moment. She looks at Talise because she's one of the strongest people she knows. "As shown," she sighs, because what is she going to do against a rock? She moves toward it, and though she assists by firing a sphere of compressed air at it to try to rock it, it's not as effective as it could be.
The most useful part is that, when the air sphere bursts, it starts clearing out some of the compressed grit around the edges, making it slightly easier to shift; seeing that, Lynnai uses a stream of air like a blower, trying to loosen it a little so that stronger people have an easier time actually pushing.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Giving herself a brisk shake, Talise comes to her feet again and starts forward. A few pebbles bounce off her shoulders as the rockslide tapers off entirely, but she ignores them. They're pebbles.
"Every little bit helps. And, I'm alright," Talise assures as she moves up alongside Lyn, flashing the woman a broad smile that flashes the points of her teeth for just a moment. "Nothin' a little walking-it-off won't cure."
The huge boulder looms up ahead. Rolling her shoulders, Talise moves ahead of Lynnai without actually stopping. The symbologist's wind blast billows around the stone, a moment before Talise herself lays hands on it. Her gauntlets thrum subtly, shoulders tensing as strength wells in her arms and through her body - as if she wasn't strong enough already. "Alright," she huffs as she runs her metal-clad fingers over the face of the immense rock, feeling around for grips or handholds.
"Okay. I think I have this," she says. She hunches her back and braces her feet against the rocky ground.
And with a rising growl in the back of her throat, she proceeds to try and just lift the entire monstrous stone off the ground.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The gust from Lynnai's coat buoys Ida up, making it a bit easier to grab Zed's scarf--rather than slide, she climbs down, hand over hand, until she can hop off. "Well enough," she says, as she does a head-count. The sight of the boulder blocking the door makes her eye tic, just a little--there's no way she's helping lift that. Instead, she gently clears away some of the grit with little scuffs of her boot so Talise (and anyone helping her) can keep their footing.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed lands! On his feet! Like some kind of bizarre, oversized, metal cat. Or perhaps a ninja. "Hmhmhm," Zed chuckles, straightening up as he waits for his passengers to finish their descent. "And so, here we are again. Here we are... But I wonder... Is our miner-friend still here? I hope so! I'm due for a rematch!" He's due for a rematch with everyone. Even you. Especially you. But first--
First there's a matter of... a giant rock in the way.
"This..." Zed frowns. "This was not here before? Hmn. Strange. Maybe the explosion knocked it loose-- ah! Talise! Let me... Lend my hands!" Two hands, a mere fraction of Kalve's full array of tools, but enough to try and help Talise heft that giant stone!
DG: Zed has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Big Boulder.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve hits the ground a little hard. The impact is jarring, but not disabling; he gets down with an ache, but not much more. He'll be fine in a little while. He checks himself, dusting bits of rubble off, and glances around his party of the evening to make sure nobody has broken anything essential. "I am beginning to believe we should start checking the path whenever we come here."
He watches them start on the rock. Kalve exhales a little, moves up, and provides a couple extra hands to help. He's not super strong, nor secretly possessed of MANY MORE ARMS THAN HE NEEDS, but he's going to at least give it a good shove.
"We should also," grunt, "pack explosives," he adds.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Big Boulder. DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 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> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Though Lynnai's sandblowing and Ida's dirt-shuffling is not very helpful for it, Zed, Kalve and Talise do indeed manage to move the boulder - not all the way, if only because there's not very many places to put it in this corridor, but enough that it's no problem to slip past and push the door it was blocking open.
Lynnai stops sandblowing when it starts to move, letting the sparks of light fall from her fingers. That was not a Symbology effect she expected to use in a place like this, or at least not for that purpose, but if it helped, she can't really complain...
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - Parm Express Rollthrough *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A great roaring noise echoes. The Parm Express, one of the railroad lines crossing Ignas, runs through part of the Leck Mines. The railroad tracks under foot rattle, and then the light shines. The train is coming - and it certainly isn't applying the emergency brakes! After all, what Drifter in their right mind would stand on the railroad tracks! =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Believe me, I am strongly considering it," Ida says. Some explosives she can trust, not whatever's lying around here. Who knows how long it's been exposed to moisture? She squeezes past the boulder, being slim enough to do this without much difficulty.
Beyond is a much larger tunnel--one excavated fairly recently, more recently than the rest of the mine. It's reinforced, and some ways in, it joins another, larger tunnel. Ida follows it, glancing around with the help of her lantern. "We should be getting close to the Express's path," she says. "We--"
A train horn sounds. It is alarmingly close. Ida's face turns white with terror in the light of her lantern, and she looks down to see that what she thought were mine tracks at first glance are much larger, and of more recent construction. She swears. A moment later, she dives out of the way at a considerable fraction of the speed of raw fear.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Parm Express Rollthrough. Zed (Z) pages Ida Everstead-Rey, Lynnai Albrek, Kalve, Talise Gianfair, and Sheriff Star: HEY Zed (Z) pages Ida Everstead-Rey, Lynnai Albrek, Kalve, Talise Gianfair, and Sheriff Star: Star
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Hnngh!! We'll-- we'll deal with any miners once we get down there!" Talise chuffs as she attempts to lift the boulder.
All the extra hands help. Between Lynnai and Ida clearing out cruft and Zed and Kalve helping her heft and balance it - well, fine, Kalve helping her heft and balance it - Talise is able to hoise it, roll it to the side, and set it back down. She exhales heavily, shoulders settling again. "Phew. Thanks, everyone."
She hustles on behind Ida and the group. The sound of the train horn not so far away startles her enough that she physically jumps - but not knowing what a train is, her first instinct is something different. She brandishes her sword and pivots to confront whatever's coming.
Then she widens her eyes and realies that whatever is is, it's much bigger than she is, it's going really fast, and "oh THAT's what a train is. Cool.
"YOIKS," she yelps as she lunges back the way she came, fumbling after Ida and reeeeeally hoping she didn't waste too much time standing on the edge of a train station platform. It'd be a dumb way to die. So many dumb ways to die.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Parm Express Rollthrough.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"We can't blow up all our problems," Lynnai says to Kalve. It is unclear how serious she is. Lynnai's humour tends to be very straight-faced, when she does it at all.
She slips into the larger tunnel. This is all well and good, but she hears something in the distance. Raising one hand, she listens, hard. It's familiar, but it's too faint for her to make out what it is, exactly.
At first.
"Get off of the tracks!" Lynnai rarely raises her voice, but this is one of the times she does it. She leaps, actually bounding over most of the group before touching down again (okay that coat really is good for a wide variety of maneuvering activities), pressing herself against the wall - and trying to grab other people and press them there next to her, if necessary, because the last thing they need is to get someone steamrolled by a train.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has used her Tool Zephyr Coat toward her party's challenge, Parm Express Rollthrough.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve doesn't do a great job with the boulder. He's fairly strong, but he's not Ridiculously Super Strong; as a result, he has to strain more than he'd like to contribute more than a tiny amount. He's good at helping with the balance, at least, but still. "That is where you and I must disagree," Kalve tells Lynnai, also straight-faced. Is this a battle of the humor-stoics?!
Well, probably not, no.
He moves on in. Kalve hears something, but he doesn't recognize it. He turns his head slightly. The noise... doesn't make any real sense to him. Boulders on the move? Some kind of enormous creature, rolling down the mine shaft? Light comes, and he faces it head-on, sliding one foot back and his hands forward. They'd better kill it quickly, then --
Everyone else is getting out of the way. Well, when on Filgaia...
Kalve jumps straight up instead of to the side. He launches himself towards the ceiling, leaning forward and letting his back hit the roof of the tunnel. Something underneath his poncho moves, gripping the ceiling; his hands, a fraction of a second later, do the same as he moves to flatten himself out up above as the train thunders past.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Parm Express Rollthrough.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Why not? Most problems go away when you apply enough explosives! Tell her, Kalve. There are no problems that cannot be solved by too many explosives, except if your problem is having too many explosives. But then! Your problem is its own solution!" Zed is clearly in the Blowing Everything Up Camp. But then... Then, something interrupts his explosive reverie. Something... Big. And heavy. And metal. And chugging.
And coming right at them.
"This--" Zed's eyes widen.
YEARS AGO------
Zed is walking through the Photosphere, munching morosely on a patented Uncle Al's NutriBar. Now with more dirt! He sighs. There must be more to li-- why is the ground rumbling.
He looks to the right.
And then Berserk just sort of shoulder-checks him through the ceiling.
NOW------
"NEVER AGAIN!"
Zed... Runs for the train. No. He couldn't be thinking of... Of...!! "I will not be intimidated by the likes of you!! HWAAAAAAHHHHH!" Zed... Leaps.
He may be trying to vault the train.
DG: Zed has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Parm Express Rollthrough.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"WHY," Talise screams after Zed in utter disbelief.
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has failed this challenge! The party gained 4 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida flattens herself against the ground, trembling as the train thunders past. It seems to take forever--partly because the Parm Express is a passenger line with a lot of cars, and partly because she's literally so terrified she's shaking. "Is everyone--?" After a moment, she raises her head, and opens her eyes. She's almost afraid of what she's about to see.
DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Rock Scramble *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A partial cave-in blocks the mineshaft ahead. However, the loose rocks and scree here could be approached with some care. If you can scramble over them - and not cause them to all give way under you - you can reach the next room without injury! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"HWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Zed yells. Ida can tell that he's nearby, but it's hard to say exactly... how nearby. But if one cares to look... If one DARES to look...! One would see that he's running ON TOP of the train, like some kind of ridiculous ultra-sprinter. Only after it passes does he drop back down to solid ground. "H-hahhh. Berserk... You see? I'm not the weakling... I once was...!!!"
Who's Berserk?
ANOTHER UNCLE!?
"Well!" Zed beams, looking EXTREMELY CHIPPER. He seems VERY HAPPY that he did not get run over by a train and instead in fact succeeded in his self-appointed task. "Let's keep going!" And so they do. Until they get to... A crumbly, gravel-encrusted, upward-sloping path. It's the only route forward.
"Hm. Well. Only one thing for it." Zed says, scrubbing his chin. "It's a good thing..." He bends at the knee. "THAT I DO NOT SKIP--" He leaps! "LEG DAAAAAAY!!!"
Wherever he lands, his scarf extends to help pretty much everyone else up to join him. ZED HAS LEARNED: COOPERATION.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Rock Scramble.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai is mostly okay.
She slammed herself into the wall pretty hard, which a) guaranteed she was not, in fact, run over by a train but b) is hard on her ribs, because it's not like she has armour on to protect them. When the train passes, she pushes off the wall, clearly sore but trying very hard not to show it for more than an instant.
"I'm fine," she says, which is not quite true but good enough for government work (and this is government work, right? If you're trying to figure out where a king's gotten off to...) She seems well enough to continue, anyway.
At least they get a problem she can help with. Lynnai still has some lingering power left from the last time she went heavy on her coat, so she is moving a little more lightly than she otherwise would; between that, Zed's grapple, and her natural agility, she's hoping she can make it up decently. There's even time to give other people a bit of a hand now and again!
DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rock Scramble.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I'm fine," Talise shouts hoarsely back at Ida.
Talise managed to get clear of the train. She even managed to get off the tracks.
She didn't manage to get clear of everything. Somewhere along the way she seems to have cut her left leg on a railroad tie, leaving an ugly, bloody gash running down the outside of her thigh. Wincing, she does her best to try to clean it with a bit of wine and wrap it up as tightly as she possibly can with a bandage.
It helps. A little. She looks up, but manages to flash a tight grin and a thumbs-up back to the naturalist, as if to assure Ida she really is okay despite the tear in her pant leg and the blood running down it. Nevertheless, when she comes to her feet she's limping somewhat; she takes a few unsteady steps as if to make sure her leg can carry her weight, then looks over to Lynnai to make sure she's alright too. "Hey... hey, hang in there," she urges, flashing a rough smile as they continue on.
The path becomes unsteady. A few steps leave her unable to properly get up the slope; she plants her injured leg and slides back down with a wince.
She clenches her teeth and growls. "No. No, /screw that,/" she snarls, a sudden spark of fire burning behind her eyes.
Dragonmaster Chloe wouldn't let a flesh would stop her.
The gash in her leg screams pain at her. She forces herself to ignore it. She doesn't feel it. Backing up, she braces herself - and then she sprints forward with a loud shout, grabbing Zed's scarf for a moment and using it to pull her into a long, soaring jump, attempting to land good leg first and then bound up again before the ground can give way under her. She's breathing hard but something intense blazes in her eyes, fixed forward.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rock Scramble.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve jumps. It works.
Until the entire cave starts to vibrate.
Loose chunks of the ceiling start to give way under the rumbling and the extra weight he adds to it. He ends up spidering forward on his back, slowly moving as bits of stone rain down on him. He nearly loses his grip, but clings to it as hard as he can, straining to stay in a precarious position that /was/ solid a moment ago.
The train passes. Kalve falls, flipping in mid-air and taking a knee. He breathes deeply for a moment, and draws himself back to his feet, rolling his neck and then adjusting his loudly-colored poncho. The back straightens itself out, somehow. He looks this way and that, and then gets moving, following Zed towards the pile.
Kalve momentarily has a flashback to attempting to scale a mountain and instead ending up surfing an avalanche.
He shakes it off, starting to ascent. Talise gets a glance; her leg, in particular. "Do not further injure yourself," he cautions.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rock Scramble.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida does another mental headcount. Everyone is alive, and she is too glad for that to really question how or why it happened. She gives Talise a concerned look, but rather than caution her like Kalve does, she offers her a spare bandana from her pocket. She's gotten used to carrying the things around, they're just so /useful/ in this business.
That out of the way, she brings up the rear of the formation, using Zed's scarf as a climbing aid. She has no idea how it's able to hold this much weight, but she also knows better than to question it, lest she tempt fate.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rock Scramble. DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 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: Kalve has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================<* CHALLENGE - Cave Bats *>=================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------ Cave bats aren't uncommon in these mines. These, unfortunately, are fierce and biting creatures, and some carry toxins - sure to leave an unfortunate adventurer delirious when they need to be alert. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
With a low chuff in the back of her throat, Talise flashes Kalve a fierce smile. "Don't worry about me, I've got this!" she says with absolute confidence.
Once she's at the top, she does take the bandanna from Ida - and she attempts to clasp the woman's hand tightly. Planting her feet against more solid-looking stones, she turns and tightens her grip, bandanna wound around her hand and Ida's as she grips the woman tightly, then brings her other hand around to attempt to hoist her up to stable ground.
Injured or not, Talise just gives Ida a big smile and squeezes her hand. She doesn't do it with her gauntlets charged up, blessedly. Her grip's firm without them.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Let it be known. Those who walk in the shadow of Zed shall know no fear. They can sometimes know scuffed knees and the occasional slip-fall right into a whole bunch of pointy, scrapey gravel, but they will make it to their desitnation. Eventually. As long as they don't, you know, slip and fall right back to the bottom again.
"Hmhmhm. That wasn't so bad!" Zed says at the top of the hill, his miraculous extendo-scarf snapping back into its normal length behind him. "Let's keep going!"
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve nods, accepting Talise's confident declaration at face value. Then, he slips. He pauses there for a second, takes a breath, and trudges on upwards. He's a little more beat up from the constant leg-abuse than he expected, but he manages to get to the top.
The slope leads into another cavern. It's pretty big, and pretty dark, with a high ceiling. Kalve looks up, and holds out a hand, a flicker of yellow-white light appearing just above his palm. He making a few motions with his fingers, and the light turns into a ball, brightening to glow as he sends it drifting overhead to light up the cave.
And to wake up all the bats that were sleeping in it.
The bats swarm, screeching and diving, apparently fearless and blessed with a toxic bite! Kalve fends off a few with open-handed slaps and strikes, driving them away and materializing what looks like a spiked club in his other hand with another glimmer of light to swat them with. The club stays yellowish, and looks sort of like stained glass, but it seems to do the job!
And hey, that light is marking targets. That's helpful, right?
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Silhouette Engine toward his party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Sadly, Lynnai is a Symbologist and not a Crest Sorceress. She can't help Talise with her leg with sorcery, though she looks sympathetic at least, and digs in her pockets long enough to find a bottle of... something, which she tosses to Talise. She's lucky that her bruises and contusions are a little less... leaky. (She'll strap everything down later to let it heal.)
The bottle has a numbing cream. Will it help it heal? Not really (Lynnai has a different bottle for that, but it's not instantaneous and is more useful /after/ the Dig than during). But it'll make it slow her down less now... at least that's the idea.
Lynnai isn't particularly surprised or worried by Kalve's light tricks. She can do some of that, too, after all; she /is/ a Symbologist, though she doesn't see how he's doing it so there is that. But - "Bats," she hisses.
Lynnai doesn't like bats.
Planting both her hands on the ground, a runic circle spreads around Lynnai's feet, out a yard or so from them. It's a distinct Symbological ring, filled with angular long-form Symbols, and slowly spins around her. Vertical lines of wind form from the ring - and then /they/ begin to spin too, flaring out into a small tornado with Lynnai at the eye, her coat whipping around her dramatically.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida smiles at Talise, and manages to make it up the rest of the way with a little help. She offers Kalve a hand up, since it's the right thing to do.
Then a distressingly familiar stench fills her nostrils. "Guano," she says. "Be careful," she adds, turning to Zed, "the bats in here are--" A second source of light appears. Ida watches the sphere flit lazily up to the ceiling, illuminating the /giant flock of bats/. She frowns, and reaches for Devil's Due. "Dragon round out!" she cries, as she braces against the wind of Lynnai's tornado. She raises the ARM, and fires--the ignition mechanism turns the bullet into a wave of flame and shrapnel. Something like the echo of a roaring dragon underscores the gunshot.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Injury or no, Talise soldiers on with a flash of a smile for Lynnai, as if to ensure her that everything is alright. She catches the bottle of whatever it is and dips a hand down to smear some over her thigh. It helps - enough. She may be tough as nails but it's easier to be tough and smart than to be tough when you don't need to be.
Smiling back to Ida, she continues on - only to grimace at the scent of guano. "Oooof course," she mutters as she drops back and fishes one of her knives out. As the bats swarm around her, she remains calm, holding the knife up, and then snapping her arm downward.
The knife digs into the floor. From the hilt, there's an eye-scorching flash - and then a deafening squeal of electricity setting coils of air afire as lightning bolts burn off the putrid guano spell, an explosion of lightning magic ripping out of the knife to send bolts blasting towards bat after bat!
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Bomb Knife toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The bats in here are---
Are what? Bats? Bloodsucking, disease-ridden flying rats!? Zed scoffs at this! He really shouldn't, because he quickly gets a faceful of bat. "Augh! The audacity! I... APPROVE, BATS! I WILL FIGHT YOU!" He sweeps an arm out in front of him, hurling several brightly colored balls into the ceiling, each of which explode with pops of gunpowder and great big clouds of... glittery smoke.
All of which results in a mixture of sound, choking fumes and sparkly dust that will probably make dealing with these creatures a great deal easier overall.
"ENGARDE!" Zed yells, before leaping... Into Lynnai's tornado. But it's fine. It's fine! He's somehow on top of her, held aloft by the winds, and spinning, himself! A DOUBLE TORNADO!?
BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?
DG: Zed has used his Tool Smoke Bombs toward his party's challenge, Cave Bats. DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Bats don't like Lynnai, either.
The bat swarm is a relentless opponent of all things good and just. They dive into the tornado, heedless of the harm, spinning off and coming back around for a pass on Kalve and Ida. The wave of shrapnel and fire causes more than a few screeching, burned little rodent-birds to fall out of the sky. Kalve swats the ones that get through that, but there's just /so many/.
Fortunately, bombs that turn into LIGHTNING seems to solve that problem -- if they could be held still! Fortunately, DOUBLE TORNADO does the job, sweeping most of them up to get BOLT BOMB'D into BATTY SUBMISSION. If such a thing even exists, anyway.
The whole place stinks. Zed's smoke bombs sort of linger in a thin haze. There are sizzled bats everywhere. But... the swarm is gone.
Cue victory music and skipping through the post-battle screens.
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Crudely Drawn Map *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Whoever drew this map is lacking in artistic skill. You find it along the pathway, and it depicts - you think - the nearby rooms. It shows a few small shafts cut as shortcuts, though, maybe? And, maybe, it could lead to a few caches of supplies. But, how can you figure out what it says? And more importantly, could a human draw like this? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Friggin' bats. Almost as bad as cuccos," Talise grumbles as she retrieves her spent knife. She tucks it into her belt. She's moving easier now thanks to Lynnai and IDa's help. Flashing Kalve a smile, she pushes one hand through her hair, then brandishes her sword and begins to move forward.
Beyond a curve in the tunnel, there's a triple fork in the passageway. Talise comes to a halt, frowning and planting one hand at her hip. "Well, this is great. We can't just split up. Not if we're gonna find that royal train," she muses before she turns to look back to the group -
-and spots the map bolted to the wall. Frowning deeply, she leans in to squint at it.
"...Okay, so this says we have to turn...
"...up, then... perpendicular to... orange...?"
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crudely Drawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Oh!" Zed says, having emerged from the tornado of batmurder to come face-to-face with a FAMILIAR LOOKING CHALLENGE! "I know this one! Hm!" He turns about on his heel! And wanders over to a nearby set of mushrooms! "Now... Which direction do we go...?" Is... Is he asking the mushrooms? Or is there something... specific that he's looking for?
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Crudely Drawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"The cuccos were far, far worse," Ida says. The bats had the decency to retreat after their numbers were thinned, rather than doubling down in some insane escalation gambit. Seriously, where were those birds /coming from/? Talise spots something, and Ida seems to recognize it. (Zed does, too, but he is less than helpful about it.) She removes her mother's journal from its handy backpack compartment, cracks it open, and turns to the chart of common symbols. She studies it by the lantern-light, trying to see if there's anything familiar.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flora's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Crudely Drawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Lynnai Albrek lets the tornado fade when the bats do. Not literally, of course, but the swarm kind of does.
"Zed," she says, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that without checking first." For one, he's heavy. For two, she doesn't really like people standing on her. And for three, she felt very silly doing it, which is of course an important part of that.
Dusting herself off, Lynnai marches forward. Talise spots the map first, which attracts Lynnai's attention; she walks toward it, pulling a book out of her coat pocket as she goes. It's one of the smaller, annotated version she uses sometimes. "Hmm," she says, flipping to a couple specific pages - she knows where what she's looking for is.
"I think," she says, "it might be a trap. But it might not be; and the map does show some areas that were probably actually seams around here, so I think we should follow it. But carefully. That means..." She stares at it, then nods. "This way," she decides, though she glances back at Ida to see if she's in agreement.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has used her Tool Albrek Texts toward her party's challenge, Crudely Drawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve blinks at Talise. He smiles, a touch awkwardly, back at her. Honestly, being aware that his allies can actually fight against even strange opponents -- like swarms, which requires use of area of effect attacks, obviously -- is sort of comforting. "Good work," he says. "Well done." Kalve gives Lynnai a long, curious look. Then, he moves on.
Map time.
"Mm. I thought we may encounter something like this again." Kalve holds his hand palm-up, and projects another flicker of light. It forms into what looks like a three-dimensional map of the dungeon, if a sort rough one. Kalve moves over to the wall and leans against it. There's a gentle tapping of metal against stone, echoing into the mines. It's rhythmic, and definitely not Kalve doing something weird.
The map gets sharper, though. He makes motions to show their path and then starts putting in possible routes with the crude one to see where they cross over one another impossibly. "If previous experience serves, /this/ is an acid trap here..." he starts.
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Manipule Array toward his party's challenge, Crudely Drawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"At least none of the bats wore a disguise to look like human guys," Talise grumbles with a glance at Ida, blushing. Her voice drops to a bitter mutter. "Rassin' frassin' actually a stack of frassin' cuccos...."
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair 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> Zed has posed.
Zed stares at the mushrooms.
The mushrooms stare back.
...
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
For Talise's part, she just scratches at her head as she looks at the map. Then she settles for muttering some more as the three smart people guide the way. There's a correct route indeed; the middle and right tunnels lead to pitfalls, but the left one traipses around a nasty fault line, over a rope bridge... and finally to a larger cavern. What lies within it?
"Rassin' frassin' cuccos with their frackin' men's fashion," Talise mutters acidly.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Massive Cave-In *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A massive cave-in has fallen across the path ahead here. Boulders, rocks, and even twisted bits of frame from the shafts have mixed together in a melange of impassability. You need to find some way to blast through, to reach the very deepest parts of the mines. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
Good news: this room does indeed have treasure! It has a very nice set of climbing supplies - rope, pitons - which would be useful if anyone had to climb anything or descend into a chasm.
Bad news: The problem does not require climbing.
There's a lot of junk there. Lynnai eyeballs it - it's more than the last one they had to move, but they got past that. Surely they can get past this one if they try harder? "This is going to take a while," Lynnai says with a sigh. She wishes she had a pick or something, but sadly the miners were not nice enough to leave one of those within arm's reach - and honestly she doesn't know the best way to swing it, anyway.
Lynnai moves to the piles of junk. She starts to help pick through it, and wearing gloves means she can pull and tug at the twisted bits of frame, but it's very slow going for her alone. Fortunately, that's why there's a team? "I wonder if whoever did the capture set this on purpose," she says while she works, "to stop people from looking for clues."
And then she pulls a chunk of rubble out with a grunt. Progress!
DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Massive Cave-In.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
As soon as Talise catches sight of the impossible cave-in blocking the path, her jaw sets, and she pines for a bomb.
She doesn't say anything at first. Slowly, she sheathes her sword. Taking a step back, she holds her hands up, palms slightly apart, at about collarbone level. Her eyes slip closed as she concentrates for a moment.
A faint, low hum of intense focus rumbles at the very back of her throat. Firm shoulders rise as she inhales through her nose and lets it out in a rush. She inhales again, then lets it out. The gauntlets covering her hands begin to thrum subtly. The muscles in her arms and neck bunch visibly. A vein pulses there, conspicuous. She clenches her teeth, but her focus doesn't break.
Talise opens her eyes.
"Whoever did it, they're outta luck," she grunts.
And then she starts forward - and proceeds to start yanking entire boulders out of the cave-in like they're made of papier mache. With one-handed tugs she casts aside boulders that ought to weigh as much as one Lynnai; the bigger ones she has to rip out with both hands, but manages.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Massive Cave-In.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"A stack of cuccos," Ida says. She's clearly not buying it. She does nod, though, when Lynnai selects the correct path--which is backed up by whatever devilry Kalve is doing, which Ida hasn't the slightest clue about. (She knows he is In Possession Of A Peculiar Personal Enhancement, which is bizarre and scandalous enough on its own, so perhaps it's for the best.) She settles in at the rear of the formation, careful to keep an eye out for bandits, well-dressed or otherwise. It seems like everything /but/ bandits has happened.
Except that. It's not the same deadfall that made Bart and Claude give up, but it's close enough. This time, though, Ida is not going to sit on the sidelines. "That would not surprise me," she says to Lynnai. She then does something she has not yet done so far. She takes off her jacket, folds it neatly, and rests it on an out-of-the-way boulder. (This, incidentally, reveals both the shoulder holsters, the holster at the small of her back that Devil's Due occupies, and lots of bullets.) She then rolls up her sleeves.
Ida can't handle the big rocks, but she's gotten much better at handling the smaller ones. She's careful to lift with the core, like Claude told her, and Kalve showed her.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Massive Cave-In.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed stares at the massive cave-in. His brow furrows ever so slightly at this... This giant... pile of stuff. "Uh... Yes. Definitely. They definitely did this on purpose.
Beat.
"Psssst, Kalve," Zed whispers to his best buddy. "Uh... Isn't this where we... Exploded?"
Zed gestures vaguely at the general area. Is this... Is this their fault!?
WELL.
ONLY ONE THING FOR IT!
"Time to do some digging, anyway! Probably! Let's do it! DIGGIIIII--" Zed yells, leaping into the pile o' junk like some kind of adorable digging-type dog. "-IIIIIIIIIIII-" He drags all sorts of things out of the pile! Rocks! An old mattress! More rocks! Someone's long-lost armoire! EVEN MORE ROCKS! There are a lot of rocks, you guys. Someone's gotta dig 'em.
DG: Zed has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Massive Cave-In.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve has a map. There's nothing else. He's definitely not doing some weird echolocation-y thing. That would be ridiculous. Why would you think that? He has no peculiar enhancements. Stop looking at him like that.
Kalve moves on, though, banishing the map. He stops when he sees the rubble and debris. Kalve slowly looks over at Zed.
"... ... ... ... maybe," he hedges, eventually. Nothing more will be said on the subject.
NOTHING. MORE.
Kalve starts clearing. He looks kind of... frustrated, actually, like at the idea that this is taking so long. He glances at ida, and then at Talise and Lynnai, and his frustrated expression remains as-is. He could /probably/ clear this faster... if he was willing to let two other people point, gasp, and wonder if he's secretly some kind of horrible Iron Devil from Beyond the Stars.
Which he isn't.
So he does it with only two hands.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Massive Cave-In. DG: Lynnai Albrek is too exhausted to continue! DG: Talise Gianfair is too exhausted to continue! DG: Ida Everstead-Rey is too exhausted to continue! DG: Zed is too exhausted to continue! DG: Kalve is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. Your party can no longer continue and is forced to retreat! DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has been fully Exhausted by Leck Mines!
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
There's a lot of debris here. So much that, even after quite a long time of digging, the route seems as impassible as ever.
Lynnai sighs, leaning against the wall. Her ribs hurt from when she smashed them before, and lifting is hard work; her arms feel like noodles. "I don't think we're getting in this way," she says, with a sigh. "Perhaps there's another route in that isn't quite so heavily blocked, but without heavy mining equipment - which we don't have," Lynnai adds, looking at Kalve because she remembers the 'bombs' comment, "we're not clearing this."
"And none of us are miners, anyway. We'll have to regroup, I think. All in favour?" Lyn is hoping that's everyone because she is /beat/.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed pops out of a hole.
"Actually! I'm okay to keep going!"
And then he disappears back into the hole. More dirt is kicked out. He... Might be at this for a while. "PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY!"
Yep.
"I AM MADE OF STEEEEEEL!"
Yyyyyep.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Even Talise can only lift so many rocks. Eventually the magic in her gauntlets needs to recharge. After what seems like a long time, she finds herself hoisting boulders with nothing but her raw strength - and before long, rather later than most of the others, it takes its toll. Panting heavily, she answers Lynnai by planting a large boulder against the turf, then settles back against it, easing to a seat.
She watches Zed hammering futilely at the rock. Her eyelids lower, and she slips her gauntlets off, swiping a hand across her forehead to wipe away sweat and dust.
"...Yeah. Yeah, let's go back. And come back with some bombs," she agrees with Lynnai.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve straightens, slowly. He puts his hands on his hips and breathes deeply. He shares a look with Lynnai. It's all about the bombs. No matter how much he shifts, he can't quite do it fast enough. Maybe with another set of hands...
"I --"
'i am made of steeeeeeel,' goes a deepening hole in the terrain.
"-- am in favor," Kalve finishes. "Reluctantly."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida keeps at it a while, perhaps as penance for that thing Zed just mentioned. Her face is bright red. Sweat drips down her face.
Ten minutes in, she's wondering if she can go back, maybe find another of those places where they left the dynamite and never bothered to detonate it. Blow it the hell up. Or maybe she can improvise something, with the guano and a few of the testing chemicals from her backpack, or maybe she can just--
Ida just kind of sags to the ground, exhausted. Her shoulder is aching much less than it did before she started this 'physical therapy' thing Claude is doing with her, but the downside is that everything else aches much, much more. "Aye," she says. She'd raise a hand, but the thought is too much for now.
<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.
"Then it's unanimous," Lynnai says, because she is ignoring Zed and/or has decided Kalve can talk for him.
"But we'll be back."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"...Yeah. Yeah, it's unanimous," Talise says, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand.
Coming to her feet, she groans softly, wincing as an ache goes shooting through her. "Okay. First order of business is we're going to get an ice-cold drink," she declares.
She looks down at herself with a grimace. "...Though maybe jumping in a stream and having a bath isn't a bad idea," she murmurs.