2017-04-22: Royal Raiders and the Bandit Canyon

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===============================<* Silver Coast *>================================

The Silver Coast is the name given to the northeastern coastline of Ignas. The origins of the name are lost to history, but residents of the area tend to assume it reflects either the famous white-sand beaches northeast of Lacour, or the region's distance from the desertification slowly spreading out from the continent's heart.

The Coast and its surrounding territories are claimed by the Kingdom of Lacour, and contain a wide assortment of biomes, from plains to rocky hills and mountains to rolling beaches. Major roads between Lacour and its next two largest settlements - the Port City of Hilton and the Academy City of Linga - are heavily patrolled by the kingdom's soldiers, and are generally safe. The hinterlands, however, are plagued by monsters of all types; researchers in Linga can find a variety of uses for the body parts of monsters, and do a brisk trade with Adventurers seeking to protect the population and make a little coin to boot.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbFnoRSW6M

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

The search for the missing king has led to here.

The routes our adventurers might have taken may vary. Some may have worked together; others may have worked alone. Some followed trails of rumors in town -- and others followed the tracks themselves. Both led to, ultimately, this place in the northern and more desertified parts of Adlehyde: a network of canyons, with an entrance that is a narrow gap in the wall of the plateau those canyons.

Before they proceed, there is a chance to stop -- to talk -- to catch up, before they approach. Because the tracks through the sand wind into that cavern, and they consist of both men on foot and the wheels of carts.

/Something/ has moved inside there. 

DG: You have created a party! Your Digger status has been reset! As party leader your presence is very important! If you need to leave, please first promote another player using +party/promote <target>. Remember to set your tools before setting out with +tools/load.
DG: Talise Gianfair has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Talise Gianfair.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has joined your party!
DG: Zed has joined your party!
DG: Riesenlied has joined your party!
DG: Lynnai Albrek has joined your party!
DG: Rosaline Calice has joined your party!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise hurried. It always seems like there's a lot of ground to cover and an increasingly smaller amount of time available to cover it.

Pushing back a fold of her heavy coat, Talise frowns and stops at the mouth of the canyon. A desert breeze teases through the short brown locks of her hair, grains of sand chasing across her cheeks. Brushing them away with her hand, she lets her breath out and drops into a crouch, squinting to check out the tracks. "Wagon wheels. And people walking," she surmises, then squints on ahead with a frown. "...And they're heading for that opening in the canyon wall. Some kind of cave."

With a sigh, she looks back over her shoulder, reaching over and drawing her sword with a rasp of steel. She's already got her gauntlets and breastplate ion in expectation of a fight. "Where they probably will be expecting people to follow them. We're gonna have to be careful when we go in there. Stick together and support one another." 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

What does Zed care about a missing king?

...No really, it's a mystery. He's ostensibly a metal demon; one of those who are chosen to bring final death to the planet of Filgaia. What's he doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?

...Well.

This is a missing king, isn't it?

And if he rescues that king, he'll be a hero, won't he?

And that means... A FAN CLUB, WON'T IT?

It's really not hard to guess what Zed cares about a missing king.

And of course, he's not coming alone...! "Worry not, Talise! No mere bandits can overwhelm yours truly! We'll get through this just fine, ahahahahaha!" 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai has been riding with Talise, Ida, and - more lately - Rosaline on the trail of the bandits for some time. It was a long, slow process, but by virtue of skill and luck they managed it. Eventually.

"Almost certainly," Lynnai agrees, before looking at the others. "I should admit that I've never intentionally ridden into a bandit den before. On a scale of, let's say, one to ten, how worried should I be? Perhaps a six? They're unlikely to have exotic ARMs or Gears so I don't feel it's going to be much higher than that." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida's been away from the search several times, due in no small part to her having obligations that have nothing to do with her risking her life trying to find a missing monarch. Nevertheless, she is here now, having recovered from a repeat run-in with a certain fat bat, an exploding door, and some other incidents. At some point she acquired a wide-brimmed hat and a tan trail poncho, because these are handy things to have when riding a lot.

Ida stoops next to the tracks, inspecting them--noting the distance between them, and the depth. "And not in a terrible hurry," she decides. She pats her horse's flank, considering matters. "If the Black Ties are involved--and they are involved--they most certainly have ARMs. Flame projectors. Their leader has a novel specimen that I didn't get a good look at." Ida takes off her jacket, extracts it from beneath the poncho, and drapes it across Grey Lady's saddle. (Grey Lady is a good name for a grey horse, therefore it is what Ida named her horse.) 

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline has been very quiet as she traveled with Talise and the rest, and it became apparent that this search might be coming to a close, or at least an important milestone.

She's steps down from her horse which, the gang probably learned since they met her, has no name. "I'll do my best to support you all," she says, clutching the cross from which her crest graphs hang. Her ARMs may have been one of the first things they noticed about her, but it turns out the nun is much more proficient with healing spells.

She has a very nervous laugh along with Zed. It's unclear whether this is to help motivate herself, or if she for some reason believes it would be impolite not to laugh.

She falls entirely silent, however, when Ida reminds them of the Black Ties connection, staring at the canyon with an inscrutable expression. 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

"Flame-emitters," Lynnai says tugging up her glove, "are unlikely to be a severe problem for long."

She hopes. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied had found some time to spare inbetween all her other duties (no, not smooching duties, I'm looking at you Talise!! You were about to say something!) to follow up on the tidbit of the missing King -- Talise had made mention of it to her, and when she heard that Zed wanted to go along, it was all the excuse she needed to ensure that her rather eccentric companion didn't get into too much trouble.

The winged woman is perched from a high vantage point to peer into it. "Indeed, the tracks only lead in. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of an ambush, or that they're prepared to do something drastic. We must assume that this is still a hostage situation."

She descends down to the rest of the group, brandishing a very thin side-sword with a wire guard. Odjn floats on in beside her, saying, "We're with you! Tell me if I need to do an encore of 'Blame Shakhan' to distract the guards!" 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

It's a good thing Talise doesn't know Zed's a Metal Demon, huh?

"I have every confidence in you," the half-Beastwoman says with a chuckle, shooting Zed a wry grin, before tossing her head with a little huff and looking back to Lynnai. "Well. I suppose it depends on the bandits. I can assume their leaders might have exotic weapons, but the regular grunts, I doubt it."

With a jingle of armour, Talise slides down off her horse and tethers him.

Talise named her horse Dragon, by the way. She has a theme.

A little grin tugs at her lips as Lynnai shows off the glove. "Handy."

As Riese drops in, Talise brings Rastaban up in a swordsman's salute - though she's casual about it. Somehow. It just /looks/ relaxed and informal. "Yeah, they're probably not stupid. We have to prepare like they're not. That way if they /are/ stupid, we're /extra/ ready for it." 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has joined your party!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Gwen is likewise quiet, almost oddly so. Having joined the party recently on Gulliver, her grey and blade horse, her cart stashed someplace safe (as it *is* a bandit's den they're possibly going into), Gwen greets faces both familiar and unfamiliar with a cheery wave and a smile, but beyond that, she's been oddly quiet. The only sounds she's made are pointing out possible locations, pointing on a map with trade routes, x's and ?'s marked, various notes, dashed lines, and... drawings.

Of cupcakes, cakes, and muffins. When asked, she explains she was... hungry. But not now. 

DG: A party led by Talise Gianfair is now entering Descartes's Hidden Base.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.

======================<* CHALLENGE - The Canyon Approach *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The canyon leads into a long, narrow path through the network of canyons.     
 The base isn't easily approached, having been hidden in a network of          
 twisting paths. As you start down one, you discover that the bandits who      
 kidnapped the king have taken an abundance of precaution: a trio of men,      
 each wearing cowboy hats and carrying gunsmoke-era ARMs, are scanning about.  
 One of them spots you -- and you have only moments to dispatch them,          
 quietly, before they raise an alarm!                                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

It isn't long, when they start moving, that they find a problem. The problem is, first, a bottleneck. The base, here, is inside a network of criss-crossed canyons that form a maze -- and the entrance is a small canyon, about four men abreast. Three of them are at the entrance, and one looks up from where he was sitting behind a rock.

"Shit!" he yells. "We got intruders!"

"Dive for cover, dive for cover!"

The three take cover -- behind the rocks littering the canyon floor, for the most part -- and the smooth, gleaming barrels of gunsmoke barrels poke out. Shots are taken. The first shoots /just/ over Rosaline's habit. the rest, however, might have more precision.

"Josey," the lead one says, looking to the youngest of them. "You make a break for it! The boss is gonna wanna know!"

"Y-You got it!" he says. He darts away from the rock, trying to hurry down the canyon's path -- and at a full sprint! 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied frowns as the situation gets sticky almost instantly, looking back towards the group as ARMsfire come and nearly strike them. "I'll catch the runner and prevent him from warning the others!"

She's got the advantage of flight, even if it's in a not terribly ideal and cramped canyon -- the winged woman ascends sharply into the air, and takes bead on the escaping one -- Josey -- and lets gravity do the work in a manuever many fondly refer to as 'the divekick'. 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Gwen's a face Talise doesn't know. Nevertheless she brings her sword up again to salute with a little smile and a quiet greeting.

Moving through the maze of canyons, Talise squints ahead - and as one of the men calls out, she immediately starts forward, breaking into a dead run - but as the men begin shooting at her, she swears and dives forward, rolling and coming out with her sword at her side. She's gotten better at understanding what ARMs are but it still makes it hard to fight when all she has are weapons useful at short range--

She pauses. Remember that she /doesn't/ just have short-range weapons.

"Let's take 'em out!" she calls back towards the team. As Riese takes flight, Talise reaches back and slips a pair of knives into her hands. They aren't her usual shock knives. Instead they're regular throwing daggers of a sort you could get in Adlehyde on the cheap.

More gunsmoke shots pound into the sand around her as she comes up out of her crouch, keeping her upper body down somewhat as she darts into the questionable cover of a decent-sized rock - and from there she shifts her sword to her off hand and rears back. With a snap of arm and shoulder, she hurls one of her knives. It whistles through the air towards one of the gunmen.

The other one sails towards the retreating man in a lobbing arc that she's hoping will bring it down into one of his legs. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"Eep!" Rosaline lets out as a bullet whizzes by her headpiece, prompting her ears to lower flat. She immediately scampers right behind the rest of her companions and gets to work. She's afraid, of course she is, but she knew they would have to fight sooner or later.

Her contribution, for now, is to conjure up translucent shields around her companions, in the hopes of deflecting ARM fire away from them, or at least hindering the shooters' accuracy enough that the injuries won't be serious. 

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida adjusts the tilt of her hat to something she thinks is more rakish, and takes a deep, centering breath. As it flows out, so too does distraction, leaving her calm and focused. It's up for debate how long this will last, but for now--

Ida sees the men clustered ahead, and before she even realizes who she's facing, she's in motion. She twists out of the way, ducking into a hollow in the rock that's just wide enough to accomodate her, and just deep enough to shelter her if she sucks everything in. The shield flickers into place a moment later. Riesenlied jumps into the air, and Ida takes advantage of the older woman's bravery to draw a pistol. Rather than aim at the gunmen, she aims at the rock wall above them, and fires; the bullet digs into the soft, weathered sandstone, which erupts downwards in a spray of dust and high-speed fragments. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

This escalated quickly.

Lynnai doesn't fight well on a horse, so it's a good thing she's not on one; /her/ horse is safely tied, and will not be necessary right now. Her reaction to being shot at is to duck down, sheltering herself, and then begin the Symbology. A ring of runes forms around her as she focuses, channeling her power with a few words. She would make a prime target except she's behind a rock.

That actually means she's still a prime target, but for a different reason. Always kill the mages first, right?

Whichever; a few seconds after beginning her chant, Lynnai rises far enough to lean past the rock, performing the last few gestures in plain sight. Above the running man, air begins to condense into a green-tinged lance of hardened air before it lances downward, a piercing bolt of wind aimed to slow or stop the fleeing man! 

DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Ahahahahaha!" Zed laughs! He is glad Rosaline shares his sense of humor, otherwise this might be awkward, and that would just be TERRIBLE!! One must always have SOMEONE to laugh along with, or else one is simply... laughing alone. It helps that Zed... recognizes this one. Yes. She is... She's--

...

No. You can't. NOBODY CAN KNOW WHAT LURKS BENEATH THE HABI--

  • BLAM*

OH NO LOOK AT THAT A DISTRACTION!!

"Did someone just shoot at us?" Zed squints through the hail of gunfire and lets his lips draw into a thin line. It doesn't last, because it soon breaks into a big old grin. "Great! Looks like we've found what we're looking for! Ahahahahaha--" Zed... Leaps!! "HA!"

Zed throws a cluster of little white beads. The beads explode. Everything is shrouded in smoke. Zed tucks, rolls, and lances through the haze.

And starts leaping, sword-first, for the closest bandito. 

DG: Zed has used his Tool Smoke Bombs toward his party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

All these grim thoughts on Gwen's mind have managed to blot out a rather critical question: just what the heck is she going to do when they do run into bandits? The courier's been experienced with scaring bandits, robbers, and various ne'er-do-wells, but never with intentionally *shooting* at them. "H-hey, Rosaline, you okay?"

The thought of possibly killing a fellow human being isn't something Gwen wants to think over too much, even with gunfire coming straight at them, that she takes a page from occasional cart gnome who-is-not-at-all-Vash. Taking off her glove and pinning up her sleeve, Gwen loads a round into her arm, and, steadying the mildly anxious Gulliver with her left hand on the reins, fires through the palm of her metallic right hand at a cropping of rocks next to them.

The recoil, unfortunately, nearly makes her fall off her horse- like Lynnai, she's not used to doing this on horseback. 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Canyon Approach.
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 7 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.

======================<* CHALLENGE - Swinging Spotlights *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The bandits here have built wooden towers on the tops of the canyons. It      
 seems they have gotten some old ARMs working: spotlights, which occasionally  
 flash down into the narrow pathways below, and illuminate them. While they    
 are too far to do much about anyone caught now, it would certainly raise the  
 alarm.                                                                        
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

First, there is smoke. Zed's smoke bombs explode between the two bandits who did not run. "Wha--hngh!" he yells, as Zed's sword slams into his midsection and cuts him open. He crumples like a sack of dropped potatoes, stumbling over. The other fires a second shot, but it strikes Rosaline's barrier. It bounces away, then, and shoots into the desert.

Which is when, first, a knife from Talise strikes him -- and then sandstone chunks slam down onto him, courtesy of Ida. The shot from Gwen slams him back against the wall, and he crumples there.

The man running looks back in time to see Talise's second knife slam into the sandstone near him, with a spray of sparks. And, then, Josey shouts in a panic when the wind bolt slams into him. He slows, when it does, and that's when Riesenlied drops from the sky -- and drops him, face first, into the canyon floor.

There is, of course, a problem. Further along the canyon, there are watchtowers built up high. They have huge beams of light coming from spotlights -- and one swivels towards where they are, threatening to point them out towards everyone.

"Hey!" a voice calls from up high. "Point that thing over there. Thought I heard somethin'!"

Duck! 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

You can almost see the procession of angles that Riesenlied takes -- as soon as Josey drops, she briefly ensures that he won't be getting up to cause trouble, and then rises up in a diagonal ascent. While she may not be the fastest demon around, her wings afford her a level of agility and adroitness that the more earthbound demons may be jealous of. "I'll take out those lights," she announces, more to herself, her flight path taking her around the darkness away from the searchlights where possible.

And when she's gotten up there, she thrusts with her side-sword to pierce at the lights, emerging like some avenger of the night going for the takedown. ... non-lethally, actually. 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Wind magic does a lot to help. Lyn will worry about herself first and the bandit's health later.

Lynnai starts to run after seeing that the alarm isn't set off yet. "Come on," she calls to the others. "Faster is better, and quiet is best, unless you want to wait for them to notice these people are missing."

She is impressed by Riesenlied most, though. She wasn't aware the girl actually flew. She's not sure what to think about that - is she some exotic Beastman, or what...? This might require investigation later.

For now, though, she's moving. Lynnai keeps low and moves quickly and quietly. Her coat billows out behind her, but dampens the sound weirdly; she's making noise, a little, but it's muffled and distorted and doesn't sound like a person at all. 

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Angel Wings toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.
DG: Lynnai Albrek has used her Tool Zephyr Coat toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"Phew," Talise breathes as the guards go down faster than she'd hoped. She reaches back to rub at her shoulder. Not that she's especially hurt, but it's good to keep that throwing arm loose, right? Zed's man goes down, and she winces slightly, but soldiers on; she's seen men die before.

The great floodlights play through the canyon ahead, Looking back, Talise holds a finger to her lips. Shhhhh.

She fixes Zed with a particularly long look and holds that finger up all the more meaningfully.

'Let's be quick,' she mouths before juking to the side, towards the canyon wall. Stopping an inch before hitting it, she gingerly presses her shoulder to the wall and drops into a crouch, covering her sword up within a fold of her coat. For lack of wings or a flying coat, she simply slinks, darting between bits of cover - hiding behind a big rock at one point, then slipping onward and hiding behind another rock, then moving on and -- oh shit, the spotlight's coming her way and there's no cover.

The spotlight plays past a big cactus.

Behind it, Talise is standing with her arms held up in the shape of the cactus's arms. The cactus is juuuuust big enough to hide her if she holds her arms right.

(Please, Althena, bless this cactus,) she prays silently. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"I'm all right!" Rosaline tells Gwen, in-between two prayers that double as spellcasting chants. She sees a bandit cut open by Zed's sword, and signs herself without missing a beat. Bandits are bandits, but still.

The party proceeds, and...

Ah. Everyone's favorite thing: stealth sections in jRPGs.

Rosaline ducked the very moment someone said 'hey'. And then...

A moment later, possibly faster than anyone else, she's made it to the other side. It's possible that the spotlights caught the corner of an ear, the tip of a tail or a the flash of an eye, but is a stray feline really any cause for alarm?

She's licking the back of her wrist when the first person catches up to her. She immediately stops. 

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida thought she had prepared herself for violence. She was not quite as prepared as she thought she was. Her breath hitches in her throat as Zed cuts a man open, and she closes her eyes, trying to refocus as mayhem erupts outside the little nook. She bursts out of her hiding place, running past what used to be a checkpoint without looking too long at any of the men who used to be minding it. Then, suddenly--

"Electrical spotlights," Ida says, half-awed, half-annoyed. "Cover, now."

Ida throws herself to the ground behind a boulder, and curls up into a little ball. As the spotlight passes her--moving on its way to Talise's cactus--she rises, half-crouched, and hurries further in. Up ahead, there's a bunch of wooden detritus piled into a makeshift barricade. Lying in its shadow is a crate, her family's insignia still visible despite the weathering. Ida glares. Then, an idea strikes her.

On the spotlight's next pass, there is nothing there but a crate. A few minutes later, the crate is sitting with more of its fellows as part of another barricade. Really, there's so many (PROBABLY STOLEN) arms crates here that it's tough to pin down any specific one. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed straight up kills a man. It's fine. Bandits aren't people. And besides that, it's a small price to pay to avoid embarrassing oneself. A small price to avoid falling... To the unspeakable.

...

"I am not always loud," Zed huffs as a spotlight sweeps overhead. His eyes widen as he sees it.

As he sees... /His spotlight./

"I--" Zed's gaze is fixed. His grin widens--!! "I see now. What I must do. WHAT I WAS BORN TO DO!"

Zed turns. Zed leaps. Zed hurls his scarf vaguely upwards, where it hooks, somewhere, around a grapnel point just somewhere out of sight. "GO AHEAD, MY FRIENDS! I WILL DO THIIIIS!"

Zed swings... Right into the spotlights.

No really, literally right into them. He grins like a superhero, like a madman! "Ahahaha! Here we go! Let's get this party started...!!" Zed leaps from the searchlight, sweeping at all the bandits he can reach with fist and foot and sword-flat.

These ones... These ones must live.

They must tell the story. 

DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Behind her cactus, Talise silently cries in absolute despair. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The crate just stops mid-scuttle as Zed does his thing. Peering out from a hole in its side, Ida... stares in disbelief.

She really should know better by now. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

So yes, it was pretty smart of them to leave their horses way back as soon as they neared the den. As diligent and chill as Gulliver is, he was certainly *not* used to investigating bandit hideouts. He's more used to running *away* from bandits.

Leaving her ARM, er, arm out and unhidden, somewhat in the hopes of people just accepting it as a 'handy' weapon (yes) rather than a sign that she's some sort of weird monster in disguise. Like a Metal Demon, but those are extinct.

Gwen barely hears the 'hey' of a possible bandit and Ida's command before she just scrambles behind a nearby rock, suddenly appreciative of her metal arm's lightly textured surface. It wouldn't do to have her ARM give her away, after all.

Looking towards the sweeping spotlights and listening to Lynnai's and Talise's words of wisdom, Gwen's lips stretch into a frown of disbelief. Move quietly and fast. How is she going to manage that? If only some person comes in and steals the spotlight-

Like Zed does, just now. Gwen mouths a probably unseen 'thhaaannkkk yooouu' towards the green-haired dark hero as she tries to creep on through. 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Swinging Spotlights.
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 32 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: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.

==========================<* CHALLENGE - ARMed Drone *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 As you make your way through the canyon pathways, you hear a buzzing from     
 above. Then, a gleam of silver against the night sky -- and a drone with two  
 rotors on it drops down. The turret on its underside swivels, before the      
 gatling ARM there rotates, and opens fire, shooting a burst of rounds into    
 your direction!                                                               
                                                                               
 But where did bandits find something like that!?                              
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

Talise hides behind a cactus -- and the light lingers there for a moment, which she hides behind, and that keeps it away from Rosaline as she moves. Her habit is not sullied by a beam of light -- nor is Ida, as she moves in a crate, or Gwen and Lynnai as they duck and move low.

Or at Zed, whose peeling laughter is joined by the shriek of shattered glass when he strikes the spotlight! The two men shout -- and shout again, as the second spotlight is rammed into by Riesenlied. One turns, then the other, and they see her peel away.

"What--what was that!?" one cries.

The other grabs his comrade by the shoulders and shakes him. "That was... the goddamn batwoman!"

"AAAH!"

While they panic, something else comes in. First, it opens fire on Riesenlied in midair. The drone buzzes by her, before it banks around sharply; a panel opens up, and a trio of small rockets fly free towards Zed's back. The good news is, for the moment, the drone is /utterly/ unaware of the fact that so many people are down below.

But the gatling cannon is tearing up part of the plateau as it fires on Riesenlied -- and the rounds create a terrible, fiery muzzle flash. 


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riese has dark wings, so it's perhaps understandable that people sometimes mistake her for a bat... but she doesn't have a habit of hanging upside down in caves, she'll have you know! But, well, given what's happening, she might have a habit of hanging out in caves and arming it with dangerous technology and creating computer complexes... and she doesn't have parents either. Uh oh. Don't become a Brews Whine, Riese.

Still, the presence of the Drone causes Riese to falter for a moment as she feels its gatling shear against her feathers, and she's forced to abort her trajectory and duck underneath some cover -- several sturdy bags of sand that help to dampen the bullet hail coming her way. "Odjn!"

The tiniest dragon soars up and says, "Holy Flying Drones, Bat-Riese! I'm on it!"

Her little arm goes super-sized, and she gives it a good attempt at a sock upside whatever passes for its jaw. The screen switches into a colourful sunburst for a moment:

>>**KAPA-YOWW!!**<< 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

(Cactus, please, please, please be a good cactus,) Talise pleads with it silently. (And cover for me while Zed does stupid things.)

Then Riesenlied and Zed deal with the spotlights. With a sigh, Talise peeks around the cactus as the light shatters. Hustling on, she whips her blade out of her coat and pivots, half-expecting more bandits to begin to run down towards her.

What she was not expecting is something like /that./

"What /is/ that," Talise gasps as she spots the drone, her eyes wide. Her first thought is that it's something alive - like a giant bug. She has no real concept of what a flying drone is - at least until she realizes it's loaded with ARMs of some kind rather than claws and wings. It must be a machine, she decides, but it's still unnerving to see something like that.

From down here she has absolutely no chance of using swordsplay on it. Instead she pulls out one of her knives. This time it's one of the ones with a spell etched into the hilt.

Clenching her teeth, she measures the distance between herself and the drone even as it begins to tear up the turf with its heavy cannon. She focuses on where it's /going/ to be. It may be a mechanical thing, but the principles of aiming are universal.

She hurls her knife - and it goes whirling end over end as she attempts to dig it into the drone. And if she does, it'll bear the brunt of the entire explosive lightning spell that the throwing knife will unleash like a bomb! 

DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Bomb Knife toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The crate finally ends up beneath one of the towers. It tilts up on its side, inch by inch, as absolute mayhem breaks out on the tower above. Ida peers out, taking in as much as she can with the spotlight out of commission. She sees a glint of silver in the sky, and hears the tell-tale sound of something metal spinning around rapidly. A fanblade?, she thinks. No, it's not that--it's something /flying/.

Ida slips free from her hiding place, and ducks behind one of the tower's wooden legs. She stares at the drone, recognizing it for what it is: some sort of ancient machine, heavily-armed and clearly too small to have a pilot somewhere inside it. She looks over at Talise, nods once, and draws Devil's Due from its holster--she aims at what she thinks is the flying thing's center of mass, and fires. A white-hot slug of metal screams towards the drone. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Devil's Due toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline, having reached the Safe Zone, looks up at Zed's shenanigans with disbelief. W-Well, that's one way to do it. A distraction should be rather helpful to people who aren't in some small part a notoriously stealthy nocturnal creature.

But then comes a... what IS this? Why would bandits of all people have something like it?

What is obvious to the nun, at least, is that they can't be allowed to keep it.

Taking advantage of the spot she's found for herself in the shadows, she begins quietly chanting, her light-reflecting eyes fixated on the ARM-equipped drone. A moment later, a layer of ice begins forming around it, the growing pressure threatening to crush it! 

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai gets a relatively easy trip once the lights are out. She can relax a little and meet up with the others; she wants Talise with her in case of hazards she's not equipped to fight. Such as...

Looks like Lynnai's original judgement about these bandits was wrong.

"ARM," she replies to Talise, short because she's distracted. "Not a Gear, though. It's not big enough." Though given it's flying around all by itself, it has its own hazard. Unfortunately (for it), it also has a weakness.

Lynnai begins a more simple application of sorcery. Simple doesn't mean easy, though; it's a lot of force that all has to be moving the same direction. So it's hard, but not complex, a little like picking up a very heavy object - actually, it's a lot like that except with Symbology instead of her arms. (Though given her tattoos are on her arms, she's sort of using them too...)

Lynnai makes a short, sharp downward gesture - and the sky itself presses down on the drone. Air pressure amplifies as it is literally pushed downward; Lynnai is trying to force it out of the air, slamming it against the ground. Though she'll have to let go of the pillar of wind shortly thereafter, it will (hopefully) have done its job by then. 

DG: Lynnai Albrek has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

That's a really good question. Where *did* the bandits get such a weapon?

If a small unit of electricity was enough to scramble her ARM briefly, what would it do another ARM? An ARM without anyone behind it, like this one?

To Gwen, it's akin to a skeleton with flesh, almost. She shivers. "H-how is it moving on its own like that...?" ARMS ARE SCARY, GUYS.

The elements are tried against the their unothodox foe: Ice, wind, dragon, and knife. Yes, those are elements, hush. Gwen's about to add one of her own, darting in close enough attempt to project a current of electricity towards the drone. "Hold on, gonna try something kinda stupid here, bear with me!"

Nono, gwen, you're supposed to say that *before* you do the stupid thing, not after 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ARMed Drone.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Look at them! Look at those men run. Zed laughs! He laughs until he realizes that they... aren't running from him. They're running from Riese. Zed glances over and frowns ever so slightly. Come on Riese, why do you gotta steal Zed's thunder, come on m--wait what was that sound.

Zed turns. He comes face to face with... Missiles.

Oh.

They have a drone.

"That's--" Odjn soars into the sky. "No! Wait, dragon-chum! I CANNOT LET YOU GO ALONE!" Zed growls fierce and furious at the missiles screaming for his now frontside. He whips his scarf forward and ensnares a rocket. He snaps his head back, hurls a trio of smokebombs. Missiles smash into tiny little spheres, spreading fire and smoke and glitter all over, and Zed...

Zed is soaring up on the shockwave. "NOW!" Zed beams, grabbing hold of... a commandeered missile. "TASTE!" Zed winds up...! "MY--!" Zed pitches...!!! "MISSILE PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

He tosses the rocket right at the drone.

That's what they call... Playing hard-ball. 

DG: Zed has used his Tool Smoke Bombs toward his party's challenge, ARMed Drone.
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 26 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: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.

=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Precarious Gap *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The canyon floors are sometimes criss-crossed with crevasses, and a spill     
 down one of those would be a good way to break a leg... or worse. You come    
 across one now -- and at nearly ten feet across, and with no bridge nearby,   
 it won't be as easy as walking. But, if you look closely, you may notice      
 something strange. This crevasse is too smooth -- like it was cut into        
 Filgaia.                                                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

The drone is, in fact, far more advanced than many bandits would have. The Black Ties have incredible ARMs, but they do not have this sort of incredible ARM. However, such ruminations may be hard while they face the drone.

The drone doesn't have a jaw, but it has something akin to a nosecone. Odjn slams into it with her not-so-little claw, and with a bright burst of color, the drone yanks to the side -- though it keeps firing. However, that gives a moment for Talise's bomb knife to slam into the side. The explosion sends it careening, smoke wafting away, and it smashes hard into the side of the canyon wall.

But it rights itself. Ida's shot slams into the armor, and the round dents it in, but the drone holds -- even as ice begins to weigh it down. Rosaline's spell makes it sag, and then it gives driven down by Lynnai's air spell, which smashes it against the earth. That lets Gwen launch her bolt of lightning.

Despite her warning, it has tremendous results. Sparks fly, as the lightning slams into the ice and the drone, and it shudders. The rotors stop spinning, and it is perfectly grounded when Zed's thrown rocket completes its course.

And explodes, sending the drone flying high into the air...

...and then down into the gap ahead of them. It explodes below -- and lights up the gap, showing just how deep it is.

And how wide. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied has a bit of a wince as she emerges from her cover, holding up a makeshift field compress to where the drone's shots have grazed and made her arm bleed. It's red, and not any kind of kooky white nanomachine-infused demon blood, at least. "... hmm, either they've got another way forward, or they've trapped themselves in here," she muses. "Troublesome either way."

"I'll fly across and give you guys a hand," she suggests, looking for a suitable set of planks that'd been scattered about and gesturing. Odjn hefts it, and the two fly across to try to set a makeshift workaround where the bridge has given way. It won't be the best of bridges, but it beats having to try walking on thin air. 

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Angel Wings toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise nods back to Ida before she throws her knife. Technology's scary! As Lynnai explains, she sets her jaw. "I didn't know ARMs could fly."

So much for hoping the bandits didn't have exotic ARMs. As the drone detonates, Talise sets her jaw and starts towards it, collecting her knife as it slips loose and falls to the ground. Something gnaws at her as she does so. She wouldn't normally think of bandits as having something like this.

Maybe things are different in Filgaia.

The drone plunges into the gap and explodes. Talise draws in a breath as she realizes that there's a great gap in the earth there - a wide, unnatural-looking one at that.

Something's really bothering her now. "These guys... these guys can't just be ordinary bandits," she murmurs as she tucks her knife away and starts forward, sword in hand. For a moment she weighs the thought of waiting for some to throw a rope across -

Grimacing, she shakes her head and dismisses the idea. "Fuck ropes," she says venomously, turning and jogging back several yards. She sets herself up across from where Riese and Odjn are fussing with a makeshift bridge.

Sheathing her sword for the sake of stability, Talise sets herself, then breaks into a dead sprint. Little dust clouds kick up behind her as she races towards the edge of the crevice, tucks in a little, and then springs up with a high, long leap. In midair she shifts her body weight, legs coming forward as she prepares to try and stick the landing.

Hopefully not at the bottom of the void. 

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

"Most can't," Lynnai says to Talise. Don't get her started, she'll explain all day. "No, you're right. An ordinary bandit wouldn't have something like that. Even if they managed to excavate it, it's doubtful they'd be able to repair or operate it without assistance. They wouldn't have the tools."

On one hand, that was effective. On the other hand, that's a big pit.

Lynnai frowns. /She/ can get across it, sure, but she's not sure if other people are going to make it. "I'll help," she says to Riesenlied, but takes several steps away from the edge. She takes a breath, then another -

Then she runs. Toward the chasm.

Lynnai leaps it. Her coat billows behind her - and she's trailing a faintly shimmering haze, a friendly current to make it easier for other people (like Talise) to make the jump. More personally, it holds her up; she can't fly but she can glide, and she does so, aiming for the far side to touch down and help out. Her landing is a lot lighter than most people's are likely to be.

But if all else fails, now she can hold a rope for someone else. 

DG: Lynnai Albrek has used her Tool Zephyr Coat toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

The party wins the day and reunites. Rosaline's anxiety over the drone's appearance is plain on her face. She watches it drop from the sky and explode spectacularly, which is a small relief. On one hand, not getting to salvage it for parts means they can't learn much about it. On the other, mankind was never meant to lay their hands on such things.

"Oh! Riesenlied, your arm!" she lets out, letting herself be distracted from frightening questions so she can do her usual job as healer. That is, unless Riese flies away before Rosaline can work her magic!

"I'll do the same," Rosaline then says. "I mean... Jump across. I'm confident I can do it. I mean... Not... fly... I can't fly, of course. That didn't need to be said, this is obvious and I'm looking very silly right now, and should probably stop talking, and..."

Blushing profoundly, she takes a deep breath, coils her legs and puts her whole body into bounding towards the other side, where there are, for a short moment at least, thankfully fewer people right now. 

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed lands with only a little bit of a flourish at the terminus of his leap. "Haaaah. That was pretty great! Let's keep moving, fellows! We have still so much to do, and so little time to do it all!" Like... Leaping over a terrible gap in the world that may or may no go literally all the way down into the guts of the planet.

Seriously, you can almost hear the 'gablelegrable' of Filgaia's oozy core bubbling up from inside that thing.

"Hm. Well. I suppose this might be--" Rosaline jumps. Like a cat! A CAT JUMP! Zed's eyes twitch every so slightly. He grabs hold of his scarf, slings it around Yet Another Invisible Grapnel point and leaps boldly toward the other side of the ravine.

Don't think about cats, Zed.

Don't. 

DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

"...an autonomous, flying ARM," Ida remarks, once the drone is safely in pieces at the bottom of the canyon. Ida hadn't noticed it before, being more occupied by all the various parties shooting at her, but now...

She jogs towards it, stopping a safe distance from the edge, and peers down into it. What's left of the drone is well out of her reach. "Well," she says, "that's bothersome. I would've dearly liked to take pieces off of it." Who built it? How was it able to fly around on its own without an operator aboard? How was it able to recognize them as threats? Ida almost looks despondent as she peers down into the canyon at the twisted lump of char and wreckage. As such, it takes her a moment to realize that something strange is going on, stranger than the drone. "This canyon," she says. "Someone carved it. See those walls--if water carved them, there'd be texture on the sides where the water level was."

"You are correct," Ida says, to both Lynnai and Talise. Something weird is going on, weirder than a kidnapped king. But first she's got to get to the other side! Fortunately, Lynnai, Riesenlied, and Odjn are able to make things easier for the rest of them. Ida has learned to recognize the billowing trail left by Lynnai's coat, and she lines herself up with it, gets a running start and leaps--!

Hopefully she will land gracefully on the planks Riesenlied provided, because if not, well, it's a deep canyon. 

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"You're right," Rosaline lets out quietly, when several people point out the oddness of this chasm. "I'm starting to think this place is no ordinary bandit base," she says, trying not to get down on herself a second time for stating the probably obvious.

She also remains probably oblivious to how much she's been distracting Zed the whole time. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied did pause to let Rosaline walk up to her, though when she spoke of magic, she pauses just for a moment in hesitation. "Ah, it's all right..." but relents for a moment, in order to let her heal heÉ}Bò ?<È

|?hålòèaw Rolòèline pull her hand away, and she blinked a few times, looking a bit more alarmed than before. "Ah... thank you."

She cleaned the rest of her arm with a sigh. "... there definitely is evidence that there is more than just a desperate hideout, yes. I just hope that this is no military base, or anything of the sort." 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"Maybe they have an ARMS meister at their base? Someone with knowledge," Gwen supposes, looking at Lynnai and Talise. "This doesn't seem to be just some temporary foxhole. It's almost as if-" Ida hits upon Gwen's next thought, causing the redhead to nod her head. "Yeah. Never seen walls like this that weren't ice or somehow manmade. Maybe it's set up so that they don't need to go out for anything except supplies. Which'd explain the bandit'ing. But aside from a big ransom, not sure where the kidnapped king comes into all this."

Rosaline's alarm makes Gwen pay attention to Rieselied's arm. "I got a med kit, Rosaline," Gwen states a moment after Rosaline starts her magic.

... Rieselied may have preferred that. Not that Gwen knows that.

The smooth walls make it especially nerve-wracking to consider crossing. No way to get a foot or handhold if she even tries to leap across. Which some people do, making Gwen stammer in shock. "H-hey, don't *DO* that without explainin' what you're gonna do to get across!" she yells across the chasm, shaking one fist in the air. "Oh god, how am I gonna get across..."

It's left up to Rieselied's efforts to help the careful courier across. She's just not very keen on trying to make a jump like that on faith alone. 

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Precarious Gap.
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has successfully explored Descartes's Hidden Base!

========================<* CHALLENGE - A Narrow Escape *>========================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The presence of the Garlyle Gear causes a loud alarm to sound through the     
 base. You hear the wail of a siren, and that results in a shout from the      
 base. The presence of the Garlyle-supplied Gear suggests that, perhaps,       
 there is more than it seems here.                                             
                                                                               
 It is time to fall back, regroup, and plan an attack!                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

With all of the resources at their disposal, they clear the gap in epic fashion.

In fact, as they do, they slide a little. Rosaline's boot slides on the ground, which sends a rock falling and tumbling... down a slope, and they discover they are at the end. The good news is that they have a route through the canyons to the base, now. The bad news is that the base is no ordinary base. For one, it is a ruin in its own right: ancient stone walls mark what looks to be a Metal Demon Wars-era holdfast.

And, behind those walls is an encampment. They are bandits, make no mistake. The flashes of light, the downing of the spotlights, and the rest have drawn attention from within the base. On the battlements, they can see one of the commanders: a huge bear of a man, Descartes. The cyborg's mechanical claw arm clacks, as he shouts -- and his earlobes, hanging down past his chin, shake. So does his great, green mohawk.

"FIND OUT WHAT'S GOIN' ON OUT THERE!" he yells. "And get it up!"

It becomes apparent. At first, there is a shifting against a sky -- and then, rising from behind the walls is a massive Gear. The machine stands, all black and grey. On its shoulder, a red and black shield with a cord and a sword through the middle is emblazoned. The symbol of Garlyle.

Its head turns -- and looks in their direction, before the green optics flash.

The Gear starts to turn. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The look of surprise on Riesenlied's face is, perhaps, more than most. She's had extensive history with the Garlyle military, given their position and how long she's been around in Elru, and seeing the crest on their unit's enough to send her into a state of high alarm and a racing myriad of thoughts and possibilities, all dire.

"Turn back!" is the first shout of warning she gives just out of instinct, gesturing towards the rest, rising up and granting herself distance as she says, "That's the mark of the Garlyle military, and I know them. That isn't something we want to take on at the moment, not like this. This has turned into more than just a rescue mission against banditry. Just between the Gear and the Drone, they likely have other weapons in stock. We need to reassess our strategy here."

She looks to Ida, thinking back on the beginnings of all of this -- the activity of said military in the Sult Ruins, and now, this. Just what kind of military operations are happening here? They need to know, or the Demons' own plans could be in jeopardy.

"I'll cover us where needed -- just hurry, before that Gear's optics get a bead on you!" 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Riese calls for a retreat.

Zed is... Frozen in the middle of what can only be described as a running man pose.

He looks back at her, betrayal clear in his eyes. "But... But I want to fight it." 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise lands harder than she thought. Wincing, she comes to her feet and shakes her right leg out, reaching down to rub gingerly at her knee. "Damn," she hisses, limping for a few paces before clenching her teeth and bearing the pain. Somehow it helps. She moves forward, on down the slope -

Until she catches sight of those walls. Holding a hand up to her forehead, she peers off into the distance. They're formidable walls, enough so that she realizes right away that storming them with the group they've got is going to be challenged - and it helps that they can see just slightly past, too, from the vantage point that they're at.

But even without that, there was no way she was going to miss what's now rising up from behind the wall. Talise's breath catches, and she draws her sword, setting one heel apart from the other. Not recognizing the symbol, she's focused instead on the fact that what she's confronting is a metallic giant that seems to rise as high as the heavens, with green eyes of fire.

Riesenlied calls for the retreat and Talise nods along with her. "Don't take any risks you don't have to. Just get outta here before it stomps on us," she says tensely, before whirling with a ripple of her coat.

To Zed, she calls back, "We'll come back and fight it later, I /promise!/" 

<Pose Tracker> Lynnai Albrek has posed.

Lynnai is really good at pits, as it turns out. She touches down lightly and dusts herself off. Only then does she look up, eyes narrowing at the ...

Oh dear.

That's a very old base, if she's not wrong. Lynnai reaches into her coat's pocket, pulling out what appears to be a small journal, hand-bound. She opens it, starting to scribble with a stump of pencil. She doesn't worry very much about her handwriting. "Old," she says, more to herself than anyone else nearby. "Reinforced though. Modernized, and then some; I don't know where they would get some of these things. Can probably retrace my steps..."

Oh, and there's a bellowing guy. Lynnai squints at him for a moment, then closes her book with a quiet thump. "We're leaving," she says, as the Gear starts to rise. She's trying not to look worried, but she is - probably more than Talise has ever seen her look before. "That's a Gear, Talise. The thing I said we weren't likely to see."

"We saw it." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida clears the gap with room to spare. She lands on Odjn's bridge, tucks into a roll, and rises to a crouch. She even flashes an 'ok' hand-signal to the dragon and her friend, just to confirm she's okay--Riesenlied /has/ mother-henned at her in the past.

That shout, though, that catches Ida's attention before she can do anything else. Tilting her hat down, she peers down into the canyon, staring at the... compound. There is no question left anymore; these are well-supported renegades with deep connections.

The Gear starts to rise up. Ida recognizes that mark. That was on the documentation she and Riesenlied took from the encampment at Sult. Garlyle was in Sult for no clear reason, and unless that Gear is stolen, they are /here/, too. Somehow, Ida doubts it is. "/Gear/," Ida hisses, moments after Riesenlied shouts for them to turn back. The woman looks down at her, and Ida looks back--their eyes meet.

She twists around and starts to /sprint/, scanning the horizon for anything that could serve as cover. "Get to cover! Don't let it see you!" She is perched on the edge of panic. It feels like she's balanced on a knife. She's never seen one of those metal monsters in combat, but if they're anything like the old rumors, she doesn't /want/ to. 

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline looks guilty in Gwen's direction for leaving Gwen behind. But then again, she jumped out of impulse, and she isn't actually sure she could have carried her to the other side.

But they do all make it to the other side safely. She only has a short time to breathe in relief before her eyes focus on... the scene... before them.

"Oh no..." She clasps both gloved hands to her mouth. "Oh no..."

A retreat is called, and Rosaline doesn't have to be asked twice. She's already dashed behind a rock formation hopefully out of the Gear's view, breathing heavily, and is preparing to sprint away. Zed is being difficult, however.

"Don't worry, Zed. We'll come back, and the battle will be epic, and... and..."

It's unclear whether she means it. Her tone is reminiscent of someone trying to deal with a sturbborn child. The last thing she says is much quieter.

"And we're going to make those bandits pay, one way or the other."

And she takes off. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Thankfully for Rosaline, Gwen manages to make it across with the boards with Rieselied's help. "T-there," Gwen cheers, about to let out a whoop before-

Is that...?

"... That's the..." Gwen knows that symbol. It came up in research when she was looking into the Sult Ruins. "The Garlyle Military." The courier's face hardens into a wince as she nods towards Rieselied. "There was a reason they were diggin' in the Sult Ruins, looks like. Probably got this stuff from there." They may be allied with Aveh right now, but they may be eager to establish their own place, as King Justin had guessed. Why not here?

And of course Zed wants to fight it.

"Nu'uh!" The courier reaches for the green-haired Zed's scarf, a metallic ARM attempting to establish a good hold on him. "Zed, that part's just the tip of the iceberg. This ain't a robber's den. This here's a military post." When Gwen manages to get a good grip on the taller metal demon, she'll try to usher him away, dragging him if she has to. "We know where they are. If we die here, that's gonna die with us. This needs to get this info to other Drifters, and probably Adlehyde too! The king already knows they're in Sult Ruins, but this..."

She grits her teeth. "If Garlyle tries to establish a country here, anything between Aveh and the Silver Coast is easy pickin's!" Hopefully Zed isn't resisting her, because if that Gear sees them, they'll be the first to go. 

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

They take off -- and their escape is good. They are far enough away that the Gear doesn't immediately go for them. The head turns, and they can hear a mechanical whine, as it does. They can't hear or see the servos turning, as the optics scan. But the Gear doesn't move for its gun -- or move to strike.

On the wall, Descartes frowns. He crosses his arms, then looks at one of his men. "Get out there," he says. "I want to find out what the hell's going on! And then... and then we're gonna have to tell Hauch and the others."

He frowns. "Can't have them getting the king... damn." 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise isn't used to seeing Lynnai looking that worried - but then again, Talise doesn't normally look this worried either, unless she's confronting K.K. or Agatha. She bites down to the inside of her cheek, exhaling heavily through her nose. "So that's a Gear, huh," she murmurs anxiously, hustling on as quickly as she can without breaking pace with Lynnai. "It's huge... but the fact that these guys have one...."

The sentence hangs there. She doesn't need to finish it. It finishes itself.

Looking over her shoulder again, she presses her lips firmly together. Then what Gwen says registers on her. Blinking twice, the tall woman gives the courier a curious glance. "Garlyle? What's that?" she asks. "I'm a bit lost." 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed watches, despondent, as his brave companions turn tail and flee before this giant mechanical threat. What of camaraderie!? WHAT OF COURAGE!? WHAT OF--

"AWK--" Zed gawps as he he's suddenly tugged away from the precipice by Gwen's AMAZING METAL ARM. "BUT--"

"...Fine! But I shall have my revenge! AND UNTIL I HAVE MY REVENGE! I SHALL HAVE MY CAT TAX!"

oh no 

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

(!) Rosaline will remember that.

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