2017-05-03: Everything is Under Control

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<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Previously, the cave system once known as the Batical Grotto had little noteworthy to commend itself to Gebler's operations in the area-a pleasantly distracting tourist attraction and little more. However, recent activity had suggested otherwise: There was news about of local fauna becoming enraged and skulking about the place, along with reports of stranger, unknown creatures fleeing in the cave's direction after an unprecedented attack at Port Timney.

A judicious examining of memory cube use in the tri-regional area confirmed those reports, along with some suggestive evidence that -lambs- may have already been looking into the area. It was reason enough for the mailed fist of Solaris to shed it's usual auspice of subterfuge in the region and deploy a small team of its own to investigate.

The operation was simple, in theory: Journey to the caves and investigate there was no threat to regional stability. The goal of further expedition would be assessed based on this initial mission, so Captain Kahm Yugh was hardly loaded for bear (or sand-bears, as it were) when he took the group's first cautious step into the receding caverns, taking only the minimal amount of supplies required travel light for a scouting mission.

His sidearm was out, and he activated a small flashlight attached to the barrel as he took a few more slow steps into the subterranean demesne, attempting to be simultaneously unsure of and prepared for whatever awaited them. "No signs of anything yet, but be careful." He cautioned to the rest of the group, noting signs of passage over the entrance, "We're not the first ones to have been here." 

DG: Kahm Yugh has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Kahm Yugh.
DG: Loren Voss has joined your party!
DG: Myyah Hawwa has joined your party!
DG: Kent Hauch has joined your party!
DG: A party led by Kahm Yugh is now entering Otherworldly Hollow.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.

========================<* CHALLENGE - Hellion Horde *>=========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There can be little doubt you have found yourself at the right place if one
 but looks at the creatures that call this place their home; congregating at
 the yawning entrance of the Hollow, the animals wandering here are many and
 varied but all have one thing in common: to the spiritual eye, they are
 undoubtedly Hellions, warped in ugly and frightening ways and exuding a
 sickening sensation to all with the spiritual presence to sense it. To get
 inside, you'll have to clear them out, but you won't go entirely
 empty-handed: scattered bits of armor, potions and other intact provisions
 dot the landscape in front of the cavern; given the presence of blood smears
 and bone fragments, it's probably best not to dwell too long on how these
 boons got here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

As it happens to be, when you query the database for meta-natural experts currently stationed in the Bledavik region, there is a familiar name at the top of the list: Lieutenant Commander Myyah Hawwa.

Fortunately, LtC. Hawwa is willing to help, because LtC. Hawwa is always willing to help. The upside of having her interest in the project is also that requisition becomes immensely easier. Her reputation for easing effort is well-deserved; so many people seem to think well enough of her (or owe her favors) that the bureaucracy is powerless to slow her.

One ride in a dropship later, Myyah is following up behind Kahm doing final pre-mission prep on her tablet computer. "I'll devote some of my attention on keeping an exit route plotted," she says. "I'll let you know if my assessment of the situation becomes negative."

This is a scouting mission. No use dying over it. A larger party with larger guns can make that decision later in the week.

Myyah is silent as Kahm leads the group toward the entrance. When they are close enough to spot the Hollow's guardians, she pauses. Her gaze doesn't leave them for several silent moments.

"Be careful. They're possessed," she says, her voice quieter. "I'll plan an alternate route."

Myyah does not have a gun. Myyah has a tablet. Most of those here have seen enough, by now, to know that Myyah does not seem inclined to begin carrying a gun. 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellion Horde.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly always feels strange about descending into caves. Something about the entire experience tugs at the back of her mind, simultaneously comfortable and subtly horrifying. And that's just for a regular cave such as might harbor an obscure, medically important berry stand.

She's got her side arm out as well, although she's keeping her light off at this point. No point in getting tons of flashing disks of flickering, ambiguous illumination over the cavern floor and throwing off people's twitch reflexes.

But it's not even a cavern yet: It's the entrance to a cavern. A liminal place on the threshold. And thence: The animals. Myyah reports they're possessed. Elly swallows, but...

It's strange, she says as she brings up her gun, sighting along it carefully towards one particularly large and antler-bearing creature. "... I wish there was something we could do other than this," Elly says, quietly.

Is she having second thoughts? And then: BANG

Elly follows this up with a rippling surge of Ether that sends spikes of jagged limestone arcing out from the ground and crumbling away shortly thereafter, possibly doused in critter blood, but that deer looked really problematic. 

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sidearm toward her party's challenge, Hellion Horde.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Judging from the reports, it seems there's been some significant damage on one of the cities in the area. Cause: unknown creatures. With destabilizing forces and singular individuals at work in the region, it's naturally prudent to send in a team to investigate first-hand. Especially since some of the Lambs have already been sticking their fingers into matters.

It's just that if he's being honest, Loren would have really preferred /not/ to be on the same team as van Houten.

"So this is where they're coming from." The young medic squints in the direction of the cave. Like the rest of the team, he's come along with his basic field equipment... which in his case means the medical supplies on top of 'basic armaments'. "Some of the Lambs /have/ been here already." Case in point: the remains.

Pausing a moment to do a last-minute check on the gauntlet covering most of his left forearm -- caution is best, particularly when you're entering unknown territory -- Loren draws his sidearm and follows after the Captain into the cave.

There's, naturally, one problem here.

They're not the first here, the Captain says. "I'd say so," he says, his voice flat as he spots the animals. His gaze darts off at Elly, sidelong, as she takes aim and fires on one of the animals. They even /look/ sick. Shaking his head slightly, he follows suit and similarly opens fire, but for now it seems he's holding ether in reserve. 

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Hellion Horde.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

No more than a moment too soon did Kahm speak did the caves' erstwhile protectors come into view. His reaction was swift-to actually turn off his light source for the same reason Elly never lit hers at all-though Myyah's words of cautious do give the Captain a brief pause. Possessed? They looked like they'd gone rabid to him....incredibly rabid.

Nonetheless, you didn't bring someone of the Lieutenant Commander's expertise along with your operation and then ignore what she said, so Kahm nodded his head dutifully before he spoke, "Acknowledged. Stay out of close range if you can help it, everyone."

The report of Kahm's sidearm joins the punctuated chorus of the two Lieutenants, though he shared none of Elhaym's regret for the endeavor. The Captain even did one better and armed a sonic grenade in between shots, lobbing into the closest center of the creatures he could discern to try and corral them away into a more convenient direction to mop them up.

Much as Kahm hated to admit it, times like this are why they brought 'local resources' with them. "Hauch." He said gruffly, "You're up." 

DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Hellion Horde.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Where's Kent Hauch? Y'all definitely hired Kent Hauch. Y'all DEFINITELY told Kent Hauch, who you pay money so that he has to do what you say, to be here. Is the -Lamb- spooked? Scared of the rumors about this place? Lord knows the gathering of animals out front of the cave isn't at all normal. -Lambs- are known for having many and varied superstitions.

The Solarians start firing. It really is an awful lot of animals. Kahm kind of growls and hopes - did someone trust Kent with a radio at some point? Is this just a dope cosmic coincidence? Cry to the sky, and sometimes the sky will answer.

Five glass bottles soar over a rise, thumping and bouncing amongst the simple country animals, followed shortly after by a thudding noise and a bright white bullet of molten rock. The Core Bullet punches into the bottle of dark green tipple with a soft hiss.

The special fuel detonates, spraying shards of suddenly-hot glass along with a thump of blue-green flame. The explosion sets off the two bottles to either side of it, which in turn set off the remaining bottles - a line of blistering heat, dangerous shrapnel, and the physical impact of violently displaced air.

Kent Hauch in his long ash grey coat steps onto the top of the rise, molotov bag swinging at his hip, Red River's gun in his right hand with a chamber and barrel still glowing white hot. He reaches up to his low top hat and lifts it toward the party. "Figgered I'd take a different route, didn't I? Let everyone collect their thoughts." He grins, puffing smoke from his hand-rolled cigar. Kent thrusts his chin toward the cave entrance. "Thass the place, innit?" 

DG: Kent Hauch has used his Tool Molotov Cocktail toward his party's challenge, Hellion Horde.
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 31 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: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.

=========================<* CHALLENGE - One Big Push *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Oh hey look, it's a giant boulder. How'd that boulder get there? What was
 this boulder's life like, until it got here, resting on that lonely slope,
 blocking your way further down into the depths of the Hollow? Oh, what
 adventures this boulder must have had! Epics of scales one could scarcely
 imagine! Adventure! Intrigue! Romance!(?) A true hero, this boulder very
 well could be. But right now it's in your way so maybe you should try to
 just push it down that path so it stops continuing to be in your way. Alas,
 poor boulder. You were the best of us.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Loren's shot goes wide. Damn. On his first field outing since assignment, and right in front of the Lieutenant Commander to boot. He hopes no one noticed, but let's be honest: they probably did.

And then, he's pretty sure part of the landscape just exploded. He doesn't have the opportunity to do much of anything, let alone flinch. He can feel some of the heat from over /here/. ...Hadn't the Captain said something about 'local support' earlier?

Well, this should be /great/.

At least that's the end of the maddened animals swarming the cave exterior -- not that there's all that much left, after that.

"...We should move along," he says, after a moment spent surveying the landscape.

It's dark down here. The passage is somewhat on the narrow side as well, which probably won't help anyone given to vague sensations of claustrophobia. This isn't Loren, but there's definitely the sense -- not one that he'd vocalize, ever -- that something isn't quite right here. The only problem is, all he can see are shadows, no sign yet of anything wrong.

Well, aside from the giant rock blocking the way forward. It looks as if... it fell here recently. As if it only fell here days ago, in fact. Loren glances up, as if to confirm that fact. Then, he sighs. "Van Houten. Let's get this out of the way." A collective application of ether should be more than sufficient to move it.

Trying to blot a certain memory out of his mind, he focuses, letting his ego go for a moment, dredging up a sudden arc of stone towards the boulder from the cavern floor with a surge of etheric force. 

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Big Push.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

A barrage of glass bottles flies forwards, and Elly's head snaps to watch them, when

FWOOMP!

The familiar feeling of superheated air against her cheeks makes Elly lower her weapon. That... Seems decisive, after all. The smell of burning flesh and blood and hair is not pleasant to contemplate. She looks at Kent, but somehow she's glad to see him. If nothing else, he contextualizes the area. This is a real place, not just a filthy hovel of dead -Lambs.-

When some walk downwards reveals that there aren't any - or many - more horrible animals, Elly holsters her sidearm. She glances back towards the adjutant for a few moments as she goes, sweeping her hair back with one gloved hand before at the end of a twist and a turn they are confronted with:

A BIG OL ROCK

"... Right!" Elly answers Loren, clapping her hands before her with a pleather-muffled pap and gathering her thoughts and her focus. The polysynaesthetic twinge of Ether being emanated from him warns her at about the same time that the scent of flint-wreaked stone does that he's doing something with earth-model Ether.

So, Elly helps otherwise. A hissing sheen and a sudden intensification of the chill in the air, which suddenly weakens (as the humidity suctions its way out) as water pours momentarily into the gap between Loren's arc of stone and the boulder's side. The pool spreads out in an anomalously focused way for several seconds before pressure eases slightly and:

Now it's ice. A track, maybe, for the rock to slide along. Elly presses a small regulation cloth to her forehead afterwards, exhaling with force. 

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Big Push.

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah stands back behind the advancing wall of smartly-dressed Solarian soldiers shooting animals with guns. Her expression is neutral and she hardly blinks. It is only when Kent's fiery entrance clearly becomes the harbinger of the end that Myyah's attention returns to her tablet.

"Assigning salvage drones to the area," she says, perhaps to no one. Back at the dropship, several automated drones begin spinning up. No one here is paid so little that they should have to sort through adventure garbage.

The group moves forward. Myyah follows behind, managing the map as her tablet generates and records an ever-increasing amount of information. Fact-finding missions must find facts, even if they must also occasionally shoot animals.

Myyah looks up again when she senses the party stopping in front of her. She observes the rock, perhaps considering how to deal with such a storied and dignified foe. Eventually, she decides to put her tablet into her satchel and give it her full effort.

"A moment, lieutenants," she says. "I can coordinate."

Myyah raises her right hand, and circuitry throughout her glove glows to life. The rock vibrates with potential foisted upon it by telekinetic meddling.

"There--get it moving and it should be pushed in a safe direction." 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has used her Tool Ether Amp toward her party's challenge, One Big Push.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

The tipple does its job - it cuts out a solid enough array of (possessed) animals that, by the time Kent Hauch calmly saunters up to the Gebler unit, the rest of them have cleaned up what's left.

Of course Kent goes right up to Loren Voss, making no secret of inspecting the man up and down. While the -Lamb- is dressed remarkably - perhaps unwisely - well, particularly in comparision to most others, he still sticks out like a sore thumb. He lives in the dust, and doesn't bother to get it completely out of his clothes. His face is a bit dirty, needing a wash. He doesn't stink of sweat, but the smell of tobacco and wood smoke is like a part of him.

Finally, he grins, smoke puffing out of his mouth and collecting around the brim of his hat. He reaches out and claps Loren on the shoulder, watching his reaction carefully. "Kent Hauch. You just ship in from whereever you lads ship from? Welcome to this sunny 'ole in the ground." He falls into rough step, laughing, clicking his boots off rocks underfoot.

The cave doesn't seem to get to him, at least not yet. Kent's either too dumb, too bold, or too focused on his own self-image to look concerned. "Bloody rocks," he mutters, clipping the gun of his ARM to the large tank on his back, walking toward it. He takes a few sideways steps away from the Ether effects like a briefly spooked horse before shifting his shoulder into the boulder, planting his feet.

The fabric of his suit strains, heavy muscles shifting beneath as he starts putting his gains to the test. "Fookin' move," Kent growls under his breath, shifting his stance and leaning in more sternly. 

DG: Kent Hauch has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Big Push.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Smoke, fire, and general mayhem appeared mostly on cue when Kahm invoked the Black Tie leader's name, a fortuitous arrival considering the man had gone and pursued his own route into the caves alongside them. "You'll recall our earlier conversation, Lieutenant." Kahm offered to Loren as he passed by the new recruit's sudden introduction to Kent, absently fanning away the smoke the lamb exuded (from the cigar and otherwise) before speaking again as he passed them by, "Introductions can wait. We should keep moving."

Believe it or not, this was actually progress in Kahm-Kent relations.

On the way through, he picks past a mostly intact corpse of some felled beast. "I want this one tagged and collected as well." He adds to Myyah's directive on the drones, "Full vivisection and analysis."

Later, a boulder has the temerity to exist in front of them and may well suffer the price. The Lieutenants are already weaving a wonderful exercise in extremes temperatures overseen by the Lieutenant Commander, and Kahm will extend his hand and mental will to add his own flavor into the operation: A jolt of of ionized air and crackling forced, aimed dead center at the cracks wrought in the boulder by the other invoked forces. Hopefully, that would be enough to remove it as an obstacle. 

DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Big Push.

DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 2 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.

=====================<* CHALLENGE - Corrupt Crustaceans *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Things are quiet. Too quiet. An eerie creak. The soft sound of chittering
 mandibles. And then you see them, coming out of the cracks and crevices of
 the cavern -- exoskeletal Hellions, from chattering and
 enormous centipedes to to venomous spiders, they come from the dark, hungry
 for prey. You may ask yourself how some of these creatures count as
 Crustaceans, but who are you to question the taxonomy of the Hellion world?
 You're the one about to be eaten by them, after all, maybe you ought to just
 respect their classification system. And like, kill them, probably.

 ... Is that an armadillo in there? What--
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The three powers of Ether Amplification, Ice and Earth come together, but without the aid of Wind and Fire they are insufficient to summon -Captain Planet-, more's the pity. Kent's pressure added to Kahm's unholy mastery of the Dark Side are able to move the boulder... juuuuust enough... to present an unpleasant, sideways-walking-required gap, probably smelling strongly of Kent's cigar. Enough to continue forwards, and the boulder probably won't plug that gap back up until the ice melts, but not exactly encouraging.

Elly looks down at the ground momentarily. If only, she starts to think, but the negativity sort of pools down around her ankles and doesn't follow much further. Instead of /just/ feeling sorry for herself, she detaches the light from her sidearm, twists it around, and clicks it onto her uniform's breast pocket/style line before she moves ahead, as if to advance.

Is she cutting in front of Loren? Yes. Because she feels like she's the one here with something to prove. (Also, because Kent has his ARM on his back and probably would have to file through later, Elly thinks. It's her responsibility, she thinks further. She does not interrogate that thought further.)

Elly does have the advantage of being relatively petite, and so this gap, which might be more of a pain for Kent or Kahm or Loren, is a little less bad for her. Her light washes over the gap several times as she is no doubt clearing the immediate area on the far side of that gap.

"I'm not seeing anything," Elly says, because the pointed white illumination of the LED light is enough to make the cave creatures duck out of her immediate pans and scans, "but there's some kind of a sound."

She turns to face others as they come in, reporting briskly, "The obstacles seem smoother, though I don't know what the nature of that smooth floor surface is. It might be a colloid of sand - the humidity's high enough - so please, step carefully and..."

Elly trails off because while she was saying all of that, a centipede that's about as long as her arm had been dangling carefully from the ceiling and executing a leisurely inversion, placing its forward mandibles down into all that flowing red hair and just NOW gathering up a few strands of it, experimentally gathering it around its horrid forward limbs.

It then drops down to twist into Elly's face and go for her mouth.

About two seconds later she explodes in fire (/voluntary/ fire, an important precise note) and shrieks. She dumps most of a magazine downrange in the process. It is not dignified, if, perhaps, justified. 

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sidearm toward her party's challenge, Corrupt Crustaceans.

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah continues to apply telekinetic topspin to the boulder. It begins to slide along Elly's ice patch, but there's not enough force, and the ice really should be applied over there also rather than only there--

Myyah doesn't say anything. The boulder spins, pirouettes partially out of the way, and there's enough of a path to work with. She lowers her hand as the circuitry in her glove dies down.

Myyah takes a step toward Elly, but the other woman is already gone before any interaction can take place. Myyah watches her go, then waits for Loren and Kahm to go next. She gives Kent a faint but genuine smile.

"Mind if I'm next?"

Probably not, considering Myyah is the one delivering his envelope of fight money every few weeks. However it goes, Myyah wriggles her way through the narrow passage, listening to Elly's soliloquy about the conditions as she goes. It's a familiar over-correction, one that has remained in Elly's generalized persona despite all casual and institutional attempts to rid her of it. One wonders. One also hears screaming.

"Elly--"

Myyah is out the other side of the boulder with the others. She seems breathless as she surveys the attacking beast-things on the other side of the Solarians from her, but her expression doesn't quite reach horror or even caution. Her body language tells another story as she backs up against the boulder, pressing her body against it as she stays out of the desperate ambush-melee.

The boulder is strong and true. Maybe it will protect her. 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Corrupt Crustaceans.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Loren would have turned to leave, if that... person hadn't suddenly approached him, stepping right into what the young Solarian would like to consider his personal space. Loren draws himself up, all five-foot-eight of himself, staring up silently at Kent, his expression as unexpressive as before. ...Do Lambs even /bathe/? This one has a particular odor.

His shoulder is rigid when Kent slaps a hand there; his eyes narrow slightly. "...So you're Kent." A lot of questions? Just answered, unfortunately. He glances sidelong as Kahm passes, reminding him of their mission. "...Understood." With one last look at Kent, which might be better termed a bit of a level stare, he follows after.

In the cave, the Lieutenant Commander lends a hand. He can feel it. Part of the rock's quality has changed; it resonates now, like calling to like even as he shifts a section of the very earth up towards it. Between an application of force (of varying types, both physical and not), and Elly's more tactical use of ether, this should...

...Nudge it a bit. Loren furrows his brow. 'Really', that look in his eyes seems to say, before he shakes his head. Elly seems to be taking point, a factor that Loren doesn't move to dispute.

It's not a pleasant squeeze when he passes, likely right after Elly, moving hand over hand as he inches along the space between wall and boulder.

It's more open over here. "Perhaps there's flowing water somewhere. Karst topography, maybe... And we're near the sea." His own light isn't showing much of...

Loren's eyes slowly widen and eyebrows lift. An insect just dropped down towards her--

He flattens himself against the wall as Elly, perhaps about a foot or two away, bursts into flame. It takes him a moment to realize that /was/ controlled, to realize that /wasn't/ the only one of the things incoming, and he calls back, "We have a situation! Hostiles!" as he moves to free his medical kit. He has the feeling he might need that in a moment. 

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Corrupt Crustaceans.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

A vein appears at Kent's temple and calmly travels its way up past the brim of his hat as he continues to push on the boulder. The ground starts to shift around under the pressure from his feet. He stops briefly, rolls his shoulders with a few pops from his back, and charges in harder.

Kahm's bolt ends up hitting very close to his new position on the rock, causing Kent to snap his head back reflexively. He drops onto the seat of his pants, his hat toppling back to come to rest on the closed lid of Red River's tank. "Bloody LIGHTNING," he curses, developing something of a history with the element. Puffing and red-faced, he gets back to his feet, casting around irritably for his hat until realizing where it is, cramming it back onto his head. He pulls on his collar and calls at Kahm, "I'll right well ASSEWWWWME that were an honest accident, so we don't have a bloody issue in front of the laundry!" Did he... mean Loren?

Sure enough, he tries to go casually through the gap they've managed to create, and it's already difficult for his own robust frame. His tank clangs painfully, the lid nightmarishly popping up for a moment. Kent storms away from the gap, swearing, and kicks a rock while everyone else makes their way through. He sort of waves at Myyah, but proves his basic intelligence by not swearing at her as he does so.

There is a delay on the other side before Red River slides through on its own, banging against a rock and releasing a small slosh of dully glowing lava to slowly trickle downhill. Kent slowly inches his way through afterward, growing visibly more irritated with each step. Most know that when Kent gets like this, he needs to make a fire immediately or he'll never calm down.

Oh good!

"More slaggin' nature?!" He whips a long match out from his left sleeve, which ignites against the inside of his wrist. Kent clamps his teeth down on it, but his heart enables him to continue speaking. He pulls another bottle from his bag, this one filled with a more 'normal' clear liquid and soaked rag, lighting it on the match in his teeth and hurling it against one wall where Things are trying to come out. He lights a second, going for the other wall, visibly relaxed as the flames plume outward. His features soften beatifically. 

DG: Kent Hauch has used his Tool Molotov Cocktail toward his party's challenge, Corrupt Crustaceans.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Well, it wasn't exactly the kind of solution they'd planned on, but Kahm would take sneaking past the boulder in lieu of exploding it and possibly sending harmful shrapnel in all directions. The Captain met Kent's outburst with a level stare, hand planted absently on his hip as he answered coolly, "If I had wanted to hit you, I would have." And if that doesn't re-assuring enough...well, that's unfortunate.

He'll proceed to squeeze past the larger man regardless of his grouch. It's not a particularly comfortable passage, but at least more so for not having to share space with Kent's cumbersome tank. Kahm silently observes Elhaym's desire to take the vanguard, saying nothing-she'd earned the chance the prove herself after the last few weeks, he thought.

The redheaded Lieutenant's use of the flashlight was a smart one, and Kahm will even follow suit, mostly nodding in agreement with her assessment of the situation. His eyes are perhaps a bit more keener, and catch a scuttle of activity a second before it happens, but not quickly enough shout to Elhaym before she becomes a beacon of riotous, orange flame that briefly illuminates the cave and the degree to which they are surrounded.

"Take defensive positions!" Kahm shouted, holding his hand up to ward against the heat. While the others turn their respective weapons on the enemy, he fell back toward Myyah's position while doing the same-figuring her to need more cover during a fight. He tosses another grenade, firing shots about as the SCREEEE paralyzes the chitinous creatures in their tracks, even going so far as to kick an armadillo and send it flying before it gets too cozy. 

DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Corrupt Crustaceans.
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 37 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Kent Hauch has drawn a new Challenge.

========================<* CHALLENGE - Phantasmagoria *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Moist, cavernous outcroppings make the perfect breeding ground for fungus
 and bacteria and moss and all manner or disgusting things. Combine that with
 the presence of Malevolence here, permeating the rocks and the fauna... and
 even the flora. Spores riddled with Malevolence dot this narrow, rocky
 passage, making it glitter with beautiful violet light... but beware
 inhaling them, for they will settle into your very soul, and make you see
 the worst things about yourself made manifest. Your fears, your guilt, your
 regret... those deep, dark things that you would never wish to admit to
 anyone was real. And all it will take is one... little... breath.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Kent only notices after he's hurled his molotovs that the ginger woman had somehow lit herself on fire with no ill effect. He double-takes toward her. "Cor," he says, with wonder. "Can you do that one again?"

Boulders are hard, but murder is very easy for the military unit. Low on molotovs, Kent just starts booting Crustaceans that get too close, eventually pulling Red River to make a few red-hot pot shots. "Bloody hell," he says. "It's enough to make a man really believe in ghost stories." Kent sneers, but there's a little something around his eyes. He bulls forward instead of waiting for the others, shaking a few spare drops of lava out of the gun, clearing the chamber. He disappears around a corner.

...and is standing still as the others round it, knuckles white on his ARM. He's about halfway through the next chamber, spores swirling in his wake, dusting his shoulders. He seems to have charged right in without worrying about them. His skin has broken out in sweat, shining under the lights of the others, the long match burning, dangling in his other hand.

He starts when he hears a footstep behind him, taking several staggering steps forward, shaking his head. He's mostly lit from below by his flame now. The look in his eyes makes him seem ten years younger. Red River lifts shakily toward them, but doesn't point anywhere specific.

"Jack...?" he says, weakly, the put-on accent out of his voice. 

DG: Kent Hauch has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah continues to press herself against the boulder while the fight goes on. Fire, more fire, bullets, another one of those damn sonic grenades--

It's over in a few moments. It's always over in a few moments. Fights only linger when people aren't committed to murder. In the first bit of silence after the confrontation, Myyah exhales. She looks over to Kahm, who is nearest to her by personal initiative.

"Captain," she says, to get his attention. "Thank you."

She is more pale than usual. Kahran did the same for her back in Lahan, when the birds attacked. Maybe this scored Kahm a few points.

Kent gets going again. Momentum is good. Myyah follows it, silently encouraging others to do the same.

At the entrance to the inner cavern, Myyah hesitates. Her gaze moves around the visible portion of the passage through. A very clever eye may notice that she has stopped breathing, but there are so many other things to pay attention to--especially with the threat of armadillo-insects with a lust for tongue meat that cannot be slaked.

The pieces fall together. Moist air. Dank smell. Visible fungal growths. It is the likely vector for the ambient energy she senses through the area. She thinks of the rebreather in her bag, the rebreathers that all of them must be carrying--but.

But this is an opportunity.

Myyah takes in a breath and continues walking through with the party. She retrieves her tablet from her bag and begins speaking to get people's minds off of their surrounds for a moment.

"It will be easier if I plot a course through all this debris," she says. "There's some etheric disturbance in this area, so focus on my directions."

Her attention briefly moves to Kent and then back to her tablet. Notes to file away. Momentum is good. 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has used her Tool Field Computer toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly might think that the worst part here is hearing her name called, almost casually, with that sort of subtle gentleness that Myyah often has - and perhaps in disapproval - but she does have a giant evil centipede in her mouth, which is a more urgent form of suffering.

Shame, though, is #2 on that list. Elly coughs out the centipede, having reflexively /bit down/ on it, but her also-reflexive eruption of flame-flavored Ether had killed it beforehand. Some leaked venom has made the inside of her mouth numb, but no worse than that. Coughing a few times, she doesn't answer Kent right away.

But she tries. Her voice is shaky and rasping. "It's hard... to explain... Mr. Hauch. I'll tell you... later." If we survive, she thinks, because she breathes in SOMETHING as she struggles to get her composure together while moving ahead. She does not try to put herself in front this time. With her weapon emptied, it goes back in its holster, and she folds her arms loosely.

Then they tighten, as if she's hugging herself. She swallows dryly, but past that she forces herself to be still, suppressing a cough.

What she did there, Elly thinks, her mind falling into a groove that's had some dirt thrown into it but which has hardly been /filled in/: It was just like what she did then, wasn't it? Maybe here it was justified. The sort of reflex that's positive. Cave bugs and leprosy-carrying shell-pigs are legitimate targets. The world may need them to snuffle around the sewers, but...

How different is she from them? From a reflexive destroyer? Her lips and cheeks purse, relax, purse again. They're dead now, Elly thinks. Her hands feel wet again. She wants to think that it's just dew or accumulated condensation - perhaps sweat from the focused exertion of Ether - but some small part of her is sure that if she took her hands out from where she'd tucked them, underneath her arms, she'd have red trails on her sides and she'd look at her gloves and sitting there, wet and thicker than you think, /redder/ than you think, there'd be -

Elly starts to unfold her arms. "There'd be," she half-mutters, to herself. She makes herself bring her hands around, sees that there's something on them already, glistening, gleaming, bringing them nearer to the light, her eyes searching for what she knows is there, hearing the groans on the ground and--

Her head snaps up when Myyah speaks. For a moment the spell is broken. "Ah? Understood."

Her hands are just a little damp, possibly from bug goosh. That's all it ever was, she tells herself. 

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

The firefight is over in a matter of heartbeats, and they were again able to press forward undisturbed. Kahm took a moment to regain his breath-even for someone of his seasoning, the on-and-off nature of combat had to be regulated by some sense of core discipline.

Myyah thanks him, and the Captain inclines his head respectfully. "Any time, ma'am." He says, stowing his weapon and pressing forward with the rest, giving Elhaym a silent clasp on the shoulder-as if to say 'buck up and move out'-before they round the next corner.

"Not so far ahead." He'll call out to Kent, ready to enumerate any number of yet unknown threats they had yet encounter all the while knowing the man would barrel ahead regardless. The Captain didn't see anything amiss so much that sense something was off when he finally caught up to the gang leader, his eyes tracking too many other factors to take any notice of Myyah's subtle action.

"Hauch." He said, snapping his fingers, "Are you...."

Kahm's voice trailed off, and hands shook with growing unsteadiness, the right one gripping his sword with a grip so tight he'd likely begin to bleed. "I won't..." He muttered, eyes shut, voice laden with jagged undertones of murder, "I'm not...like them."

The weak, the forsaken, the unworthy. None of them would be saved, could be saved. Better now then later, if only to...

"Er..." Kahm's grip loosened, the Lieutenant Commander's words stirring him from his dysphoria, perhaps temporarily. "Yes, alright. Lead the way..." He said, his focusing his mind and warding it like a prison against thoughts that seemed to assault him with a veracity he had not know since...long before.

I am not like them. His thoughts made this a mantra. 

DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

The battle's over with quickly, which suits Loren fine. A little bit of mundane (for Solaris) gear and a bit of light medical attention can go a long way in the aftermath of a skirmish. Especially since no one's taken significant enough damage quite yet, at least not enough to warrant him expending ether over it.

Kent heads on ahead. Hesitating only a moment, Loren follows, only to draw up short once he smells something. He looks about himself, this way and that in the next cavern. The walls are absolutely coated with fungi. Mold, moss... and who knows what else in the shallow damp pools. This would be a bad place to take a wound.

"Be careful," Loren warns, holstering his sidearm. "Fungal spores are unhealthy to inhale." These in particular look decidedly hazardous, particularly since they're glowing. "We should get some samples. It could help with future expeditions." But after he gets out the rebreather from his bag. He doesn't want to risk exposure.

Wait, something's...

you know /exactly/ how it's going to end for you right

It's foul, uncurling like the tongue of some serpent into the deepest cracks of his psyche. He's gone stock-still, as if frozen. Still staring ahead, Loren squeezes his right eye halfway shut, jerking his head slightly to the left, as if attempting to shake off some unseen hand.

Something's... not right...

This isn't really...

"Damn it... damn it..." Loren hisses, reaching up to shove his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. That's right, he can hold on and focus on what's really here, what's actually in front of him--

He jerks away then, breaking off from the wall he'd been staring at blankly and turns in time to see Elly standing there, staring at her hands.

It's just like that time--

"Van Houten! What are you--!" He's begun to reach for his sidearm, only to freeze in that position. She's... acting normally, isn't she? Right... he's still seeing things, he thinks, exhaling a ragged breath. Still just seeing things. That's all it was. 

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 16 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: Myyah Hawwa has drawn a new Challenge.

========================<* CHALLENGE - Burnt Offering *>========================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Before you is an altar. Beyond it, a door, the only door to be found in the
 entirety of this cave system. The door will not budge. Not for all the
 greatest force in the world, not for all the most clever keys, not for all
 the most dextrous devices. Besides the altar is flint and fuel for burning.
 Upon the door, a simple message: OFFER UNTO THE PYRE. Flesh, possessions, it
 matters not -- as long as it has meaning. As long as it takes something from
 you. As long as it satisfies the whimsy of this altar's wards. What will you
 give?
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah continues along. She measures her breathing, keeping track of her likely inhalation rate using some obscure medical knowledge from Jugend that popped unbidden into her head. Her ethereal senses linger in her, but there is no concern--she knows she's capable of managing this. How everyone else is doing, now that's interesting.

Listening. Feeling. Little changes in their emotions. Confirmation of projected assessments. Valuable.

"Why are you here?"

Myyah doesn't look up at the voice. She still doesn't look up when there's a pale hand on her wrist. It seems like it's pulling on her, but it's really not. If she focuses, if she really focuses, she can feel that it isn't exerting any force at all. That's how you maintain control during these episodes. You out-think your own insanity.

"Please," the void continues. The hand and the arm it's attached to clutch more tightly, and now she can even hear the footsteps of the person walking along with her. "Please, we used to talk so often. You're still wearing my cross. You're hiding it but I can see."

Upward-sloping rock field. Unstable footing. The party, in its current state, requires an easy route. Myyah holds up her tablet so the camera can map the area and project the best way through. She lowers it again while the system works, but that black-haired figure has already taken advantage of her gaze being eye-level.

"Why are you here and not looking for him? He's going to hurt so many people."

Myyah glances down. The black-haired woman is clutching at the bloody hole in her belly. Sometimes she was like this. Not often. The twins did it more. The one with her a hole in her head seemed to consider it a point of pride. Maybe it was.

The woman who isn't actually there rushes onto Myyah, clutching at her wrists--it was always at the wrists, there is a fixation--and getting blood all over her nice white uniform that should be resistant against these kind of pedestrian stains. Myyah hesitates because the apparition is blocking her vision, but she can play it off as considering her next move on the climb.

"For the love of God, kill Fei and kill Elly. You can kill her right now. Tell her to shoot herself. She'll do it. She'd do it even if you didn't use the Name to force her. Kill them and we can be happy for a little while. It's all I want for him."

Myyah didn't like her anymore. When she was young, and her mother's death was still fresh, it helped to have another mother. Even a mother like this. She taught Myyah so many things. But now, she saw that the pain of her death was too great. It had broken something in her, something that not even divinity could reach into her and fix. That's what growing up is like. Finding out that all the adults are scared.

"Shh," says Myyah. She reaches up to touch the side of the older woman's face. "I know what I'm doing."

"Please. When he realizes how many he's already murdered--"

Pleading. God does not answer these kinds of prayers.

Myyah closes her eyes. One, two, three. When she opens them, the woman is gone. She lets her eyes adjust to the cave again, and then she raises her voice. "We're almost out of this area. Keep following me."

Myyah leads the group to a--doorway? There's no door, but the opening seems crafted rather than natural. When the group passes through to the room inside, it is definitely intelligently designed. The altar and the door beyond it. Myyah lowers her computer, slowly approaching the altar.

"I sense an ethereal connection," she says. "The command--it may be mystical. We should offer something and see if it activates the door." 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has used her Tool Field Computer toward her party's challenge, Burnt Offering.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Kent doesn't correct Kahm.

He just looks at him. Looks through him. Looks around him. Looks inside and out. When Kahm tries to go past him, he puts his hand out to his chest. It's not like you'd expect - not a rough grip and stop. His fingertips. Like you'd hold up a friend. "This is yours," he says, distantly. He takes his top hat off, looks at it, and puts it onto Kahm's head. A moment later, he jabs at it with a finger, fixing the angle. "You dropped it back there, man." Accent's still gone. He's stopped swaggering.

As the unit moves past him, only then does Kent start moving again, behind and to the right of Kahm. Subserviently. He looks down at Red River. "I did that last job," he says, unfocused. "Lost a few guys. We were a good rack. They didn't expect it. Could've lost more." Kent shakes his head at Kahm, continuing to ramble. "I don't know why it had to fucking go like that, boss."

Does Kahm try to take off the hat? With an odd, lunatic insistence, Kent moves to interfere with that. It's like he needs, more than anything else, for that hat to stay right where it is.

There's an altar. The big man moves mechanically toward it. Fuel and flint. Blood and bone. He fumbles striking at it a few times, but when it rages, he sits back staring at it. His hands curl into shaking fists. "I don't know what you were thinking or what I fucked up but you were the closest thing I ever had to a dad in this shitty blown-out pile of Badlands." Sweat drips from his bald head.

Kent lowers his gaze from the flame. He slowly turns, one eye fixing toward Kahm.

Fire. Heat. Pain. Screaming. A scar on his chest. Molten rock spraying into the face of the only person who held Kent's true respect, the only person he'd listen to unconditionally.

"I didn't want to kill you, boss. It was you or me." He coughs suddenly, stumbling, a few spores slipping back out of his mouth. "You didn't give me a fucking choice, did you?" 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Loren gives her something to focus on. Elly looks at him sharply even as she heeds Myyah's guidance, heedless, of course, of what more may be going on. Her eyes are wide as she looks at him, like a dog that's just been smacked. There is no anger there. No hate, no rage.

Or is that just because she's a glassy-eyed doll who happens to have a gentle face on top of something worse?

Her eyes water, but maybe that's just the spores. She bites her lower lip, pulling her attention away from him. She pushes forwards, and the thought occurs to her with sudden force: I wonder where he is right now. Is he alright?

Elly shakes her head once, to push the image away. Focus, she tells herself. F O C U S

And.... she does. It's enough to keep her steady. Maybe she's already figured things can't get much worse here. She steps forwards, passing near to Myyah as she looks up at the altar, which she doesn't care much for. No, not at all.

Before she can say anything, Kent speaks. He speaks strangely. Or normally? Elly looks towards him. She feels the tight grip of anxiety again, a fear mingling with compassion. The fear wins out, but her hand, coming up to clutch at herself for trivial physical reassurance, bumps the place where she's tucked away mirrored sunglasses.

She doesn't pull them out. They set off a memory, and Elly says into the gloom, "If he saw where you'd gone, I think he'd be proud," before she really thinks about it.

After this she trails off. Her attention rests back on Loren, though she seems obscurely fearful again. Aloud, she asks, "Ah... Captain... Do you think we just need to light it?" 

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Officer's Sunglasses toward her party's challenge, Burnt Offering.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm listens, walks, tries to focus on the reserved, professional tone of Myyah's voice as she guides them through the crisscrossing network of moss-laden subterrane, all the while repeating his litany of purpose against the tide he felt rising from his bones. Something was wrong, something was....affecting him, that much he knew. It brought him no comfort, because he also knew he didn't really care.

Kent grabs him and, unbelievably, places that ridiculous hat on Kahm's head. In any other time and place the outcome of such an action would have been radically different, but the Captain all but blithely ignores the taller man but for a vague gaze out the corner of his eye, and keeps walking.

Everyone here has earned death, he thinks.

A gnawing thirst for violence mixed with seething anger and rage that gritted Kahm's teeth, Kent's senseless droning prattle helping not in the slightest at they pressed on. "Shut...up..." He gasped, trying to remove that stupid hat and throw it to the ground only to have the outlaw intercede. The humiliation of putting up with the struggle was outweighed only by the overriding fear that if he tried if he gave even an inch to punch the man in the face, it wouldn't stop there.

Again, he muttered something and maneuvered his way around Kent. A woman lying prone in bed beckoned him, her face a serene mask of death, but this he ignored as well. Each step carried him by another scorched corpse, too young to be yet a man, passed in silence until Kahm's shaking shoulders and tensed fists had them at the pyre.

Kent stood in front of him, speaking more nonsense. "The only choice you know how to make." He spoke slowly, in quiet wrath, "Is blood."

Elly's question barely registered to him. He felt his sword in his hand like it was a part of him. "Lieutenant...." He said, his other hand moving to clasp his wrist in some sense of self-restraint, "Draw..." 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Something seems to crawl, dully, again in the depths of his mind as he stares down Elly. She just looks as if he'd slapped her. But is that real? Or is this just something else that he's going to /fail/ to see in time, something he'd be able to avert since the warning is right here and--

Just follow her, Myyah says. That's a command he can focus on, still shaking loose the cobwebs from his mind. It's /here and now/, not something still lurking about in the future. One step after another, right now, is all he needs to focus on.

The air feels... cleaner in here. He only feels like he has a headache now. He takes a breath, and looks around.

An altar. A door. He inclines his head backwards as he stares up at the sealed stone door, tapping a gloved finger against the bridge of his glasses. He gazes up at it, a half-second or more, then tilts his gaze off towards the sacrifical altar. For an instant, everything is so /bright/. "I can see it. There's a connection between the door and the altar, just as the Lieutenant Commander says." He drops his hand away.

So that's it, then? Offer something up, and the door should open? He'd say it was illogical nonsense, except for the little fact that he just /saw/ the two were related.

He takes a step back, folding his arms over his chest, clearly thinking this over.

Then Kent stumbles in from behind, like a thing possessed, and quite possibly pushing the young medic out of the way as he approaches the altar, muttering what sounds like nonsense to his ears. Loren glances over at Myyah, attempting to make brief eye contact, as if to silently ask 'is he okay?'

Kent doesn't look healthy right now.

As Kahm utters something aloud that makes even less sense, he realizes that Kent might not be the only one. "Captain?" 

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Burnt Offering.

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah positions herself alongside the altar. This gives room for the others to filter in. She is quiet as Kent and Kahm continue their 'discussion.'

"Elly, Loren," she says. She doesn't say anything further, but the gentle tone of her voice and the slight inclination of her head heavily suggests that she wants the two lieutenants to move over here and stand next to her. That means away from Kent and Kahm. 

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

"A proud man doesn't shove a pilot light at someone's heart," Kent answers distantly. "All I could do was kill or live. It's all we're ever allowed to do. I wasn't going to fucking die. I crawled out of too much shit to let myself roll over, Jack." The knuckles in his fists pop. "The only thing I'd never ever let you tell me to do was die."

Veins bulge out across Kent's head. "You can't come back and fucking take my place again!" He rolls a step back like a man winding up. "I finally belong! I finally have things that are fucking well mine and I'm going to protect them! Everything else can BURN!"

Kent lurches across the space between himself and Kahm, more spores trickling out of his mouth. Red River drops from his back and thuds heavily on the floor. As he moves, his demeanor shifts again, his frame swelling, a scowl twisting him. He is heedless of Kahm's weapon as he grabs his shoulders with obscene strength and drags him toward the roaring pyre.

"I killed you! You're fookin' dead! You staggered away to slowly die with the blood of the earth eatin' your face away! All I wanted to do was build a place next to you an' tell everyone who ever thought they could fookin' rule me to take a walk!"

It happens so quickly. Kent Hauch has been living hard for his entire life. "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BACK! YOU FUCKED UP AND IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE AND I'LL DAMN WELL EMBARRASS YOUR BLOODY DREAMS!"

There is a dizzying nightmare moment where Kent shoves Kahm toward the flames, but his hands... do they slip? Do they shift? Intention or accident? His hands slide to the low top hat, ripping it off the other man's head. "JACK VANTABRACK IS DEAD!" Kent roars, his voice echoing as he thrusts the hat into the flames, heedless of his own hands. Burning fabric, burning flesh.

He roars in pain and rage, staggering back, trailing fire on his sleeves, smoke rising from him. His shoulders shake as he shoves his arms into his armpits, smothering the flames. 

DG: Kent Hauch has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burnt Offering.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

"None of you." Kahm's voice smoldered, stomping towards an inevitable collision course with Kent, "None of you realize you've done. What you'll continue to do. You're all so broken you don't want to be fixed, and you'll kill anyone for trying."

The Captain's sword flew out of it's sheath, but Kent grabbed Kahm's arm before he could swing, heaving the smaller man up with unexpected strength.

"You're savages!" Kahm cried out, struggling and cursing and kicking Kent as the other man brought them both closer towards the fire. "You don't deserve salvation! You don't even want redemption! All you want are flames and bedlam!"

He has more to say, and he might've if Kent hadn't either dropped him or he somehow managed to wriggle free, hitting floor with an unceremonious thud as the gang leader paid his respects to the fire. 

DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burnt Offering.
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.

======================<* CHALLENGE - Agonized Phantasm *>=======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Beyond is a large and empty cavern, beset by a spacious lake. The air is
 still, uncomfortably so... and thick with choking Malevolence. There is a
 wail, horrible and tortured. The bones of the dead and forgotten rattle and
 sweep upwards, summoned by your presence. Spirit woven to life by
 Malevolence is made manifest, a horrifyingly skeletal spectre of a Hellion
 is formed right before your eyes, forged by the anguish of the unspeakable
 torments wrought in this room. If you wish the secrets here... you will have
 to deal with it. Before it deals with you.

=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm slowly rose from the floor as the fires continued to burn and the door creaked open, lending further credence to Myyah's theory. Whatever had shaken him seemed to be wearing off. The familiar rictus of violent anger fell back beneath the tightened control he'd hone for it, only to be replaced by the creeping indignation of having been so...handled.

Blue eyes glared a straight hole through the back of Kent, and while Kahm's restored wits were slowly accepting that both of them had been likely compromised by something, the Captain was not known for his understanding nature.

He doesn't wait to here a single word out of Kent before straightening his uniform and passing the gang leader a look that could melt steel. "Don't expect to keep the next hand you try to lay on me." He spat, and pushed past the man to the next room.

(Kahm Disapproved -20)

As they enter the room, a spectre of unknown force and reason assemble before them, it's wail both terrible and incomprehensible even to a mind reared by Solarian science. The Captain's face seemed strangely satisfied by this turn, by something he didn't need to try and understand.

All his unchecked aggression released itself in wholly unusual display of aetheric force as a torrent of a cascading electricity ripped through the cavern, storming with an unbound ferocity. The only sign that the Captain maintained any control at all being that none of the fury managed to be directed his allies. 

DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Agonized Phantasm.

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

The opera plays out. Myyah watches, hopefully with Elly and Loren safe at her side. When the confrontation draws to its inevitable end, Myyah will even reach out to stop either of the lieutenants from interfering.

Moments pass after the two men work their issue out. The door opens. Myyah waits for Kahm to attend to the forward motion of the group, upon which she moves forward to stand over Kent.

"Mr. Hauch," she says, using the last pronunciation he gave to her. "You're with us."

Strange phrasing. It's not a question, nor does it seem to be a command. Myyah's gaze lingers on him, her deep purple eyes mysterious, and then she leaves to follow the captain.

For once, Myyah's discomfort is visible in her expression. She seems battered by the environment even before the bones begin to move. "This activity in this area is intense--"

Her explanation falls short as a ghoulish creation assembles itself. A fitting final guardian. Myyah stays back near the door, even as Kahm moves forward at the center of his own storm. She grips her tablet, an escape route already planned.

"Destroy the bones!" she calls out. "It won't be able to manifest!" 

DG: Myyah Hawwa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Agonized Phantasm.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly does not need to be advised twice, stepping with some haste nearer to Myyah. This is proven wise when Kahm pulls his steel out. "Sir!" Elly cries out, but it's kind of thin and reedy.

Jack Vantabrack is dead.

As of yet, they are not. The offering is sufficient. Kahm is displeased, but, well, it could be worse, Elly thinks, as they move forwards. That was not a good thought to have, Elly!

The first horrid thought that Elly has when the figure forms is that it's a visage of the Emperor, but no - no, there's some superficial resemblance but it /is/ superficial, Elly realizes with a sick wave of dread. Especially when Kahm leaps into the fray. Myyah identifies matters, and gives a clear instruction, which is an emphatic underscore that this is not an icon of the Holy Empire in the slightest.

Unambiguous instruction is really helpful when you are already on edge. Her ammunition stores are exhausted and so Elly snaps loose her collapsible rod, for all the good it will do her. She glares ahead, intent, and it is perhaps that glassy-eyed look that will alarm Loren if he doesn't keep his own eyes on the prize. "Right!" Elly answers, raising the baton with a needless but psychologically helpful flourish.

A breeze makes her hair fluff out behind her, emphatically.

Lightning crashes RIGHT out of nowhere, a titanic bolt of atmospheric electrical potential that snakes from the vaulted and obscure roofs of this dreadful place downwards. For at least one fleeting moment there is ENOUGH light, indeed probably too much. Elly squints into it. An instant later the thunder lands like a Gear just shot, fairly accurately, at the apparition. Sadly, there is no associated shell: but the burst of force has its own charms. 

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Agonized Phantasm.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Myyah calls out, drawing Loren's attention away from Kahm. After a glance between the two men, he doesn't need to be told again -- or need any further explanations. He meet's Elly's eyes for the first time since he nearly shot her, and starts to move away from Kahm and towards Myyah. Carefully at first; this is a bad time for sudden movements.

There's not much else Loren can do but watch, his posture stiff as if ready to move at any moment and his left arm lifted as if it were holding a shield. Which, technically, is completely accurate. He stays put, though.

Somehow, it ends without coming to violence between Kent or the Captain. Even the door slowly creaks open, against the odds. After one glance at Myyah, Loren falls in line, following after.

There's... something that feels off in here. His gaze immediately falls on the pool, in the center of the room. Bones? For a moment, the young medic manages to look confused. "What is..." He shakes his head, as if rousing himself from a mild stupor. No time for that.

Digging deep into the medical kit, Loren finally finds what he's looking for. It's no combat drug (those are not standard for /first aid/ kits), just a standard anti-fungal, but under the circumstances -- particularly under recent circumstances -- it'll have to do. He dry-swallows one of the tablets, trying to forget about the side-effects. There's not a lot of time or space to maneuver here, so the medic just shouts, "Here!" as he tosses a few packets.

"Commencing with support." There also isn't enough time to spare even for alarm at that look in Elly's eyes. The air ripples faintly about Loren as he unfocuses himself for a moment, reaching forward to rearrange the stuff of matter itself into an ether-borne barrier -- weightless, invisible -- around anyone present he can 'touch'. 

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Agonized Phantasm.

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Kent, whose last name is a fallacy, drops to his knees. His eyes are screwed shut, the pain echoing around the room along with his bellow. He hears that name again and again within and without, curling inward on himself. He draws his huge, shaking hands out from his arms. His coat and the shirt beneath it are charred away halfway up his forearms. Some fabric from the hat is stuck to his skin like a memory that won't go away.

He squeezes his fists tight again without looking at them. Skin cracks, blisters pop. Blood and clear fluids drip down onto the floor in front of him. His arms twitch reflexively from the pain.

"Show me your fookin' salvation," he growls, throat hoarse. He doubles over and coughs, blood-flecked saliva spraying out along with a final cloud of spores. It'll never be GONE. He'll always feel like there's a grain of salt in that wound in his soul. "'appy little fiction. The world's turnin' itself to ash. Don't tell me you don't see it." The scar over his heart feels like it's pulling in on itself.

Kent didn't believe in ghost stories before he walked in here. There's always stuff out there, of course. Strange monsters, magic curses, but something caused those things. It was never just evil shit happening, boiling up out of Filgaia's flesh itself. But the thing happening in front of him now, the thing that just happened to him before, what do you even call that?

The Black Tie teeters for a moment over terror and wrath.

"I fookin' am, aren't I."

He stomps down on the bloody stain he's left on the stone with one boot as he shoves himself up and reaches into his vest pocket, pulling out a pair of black gloves, hissing as he shoves his damaged hands into them. With one arm and a growl, he pulls up Red River, the weight-reducing straps slipping through his coat and connecting over his chest. Once it's on, he pulls his molotov bag off from his shoulder, bottles clinking within.

With a bellow, he stomps up next to Kahm, swinging the bag over his head and hurling the entire thing at the impossibility. Red River comes up, barrel widening, arcing ball after ball of lava through the air toward the spectre. Eventually the two shall meet in a pillar of flame. 

DG: Kent Hauch has used his Tool Molotov Cocktail toward his party's challenge, Agonized Phantasm.
DG: Kahm Yugh is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Myyah Hawwa is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Kent Hauch is too exhausted to continue!
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has successfully explored Otherworldly Hollow!

======================<* CHALLENGE - Rescued Prisoners *>=======================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There aren't just beasts in the Hollow. At the deepest depths, once the last
 of those malevolent obstacles have been overcome, you find them: humans, men
 and women, caged up and held captive in this strange cavern that seems
 dedicated towards the breeding of these creatures that have begun to run
 rampant in the southern regions of Adlehyde. They look malnourished and
 terrified, muttering mad things -- but perhaps, with some rest and some food
 and the prospect of safety, they might be able to glean some insight into
 what has been happening here in the Hollow.

 You should send a +request regarding this discovery!
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

As the battle goes on, Myyah watches on. Her wide eyes do not suggest fear or amazement--the rest of her expression is too calm. Light and shadow cast her features in sharp relief as lightning and fire rage against the dead.

Myyah reads the future a few volleys in. She reads it in the simplest way: experience. No matter how charged and willing the rest of the group may be, they are not yet prepared for a challenge of this magnitude.

That's fine. Room to grow. There is time yet to make them all as strong as is required of them.

Myyah looks down at her tablet one more time. She composes herself, preparing to put the right amount of pleading worry into her voice to appeal to the frenetic pace set by Kahm. She had a good teacher for this.

"CAPTAIN!" she shouts. "We need to fall back! Rearguard!"

Myyah waits for some indication from Kahm, and then she springs from her hiding place and darts across the room. She moves with surprising agility for someone who most only see moving with leisurely purpose. Little obstacles don't concern her, as she very nearly floats--dreamlike--over uneven ground. Some trick of the ether, maybe.

Myyah disappears into another exit. It's not the one they came in from. Maybe acoustic mapping yielded something for her exit plan? 

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm walks towards the vengeful phantasm with singular purpose, though he seems aware enough to take Myyah's observation to heart, lancing lightning about and destroying the bones at least as fast as the entity can call to them, allowing Elly to take the lead and deal the revenant a mighty blow with her own conjured lightning.

Kent is suddenly next to him to fling fire and flame, and Kahm is...at the least unopposed to his presence, throwing no less power about them as Loren supports their efforts with a barrier and Myyah continues to feed them strategic information.

Still, the opponent was too fierce. "Acknowledged!" He shouts at Myyah, releasing his sword for the second time. Ether capacitors embedded in the blades atomic structures opened all at once, and the electrokinetic storm Kahm had conjured at once flowed /into/ the sword like a lightning rod. The Captain gripped the blade with both hands and, with an uncharacteristic "OUUUURRYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!", slammed it down in front of the phantasm, erupting the ground in a pillar of furious plasma and debris that was little more than a very flashy distraction to allow them the chance to fall back,

They went down a confusing network of tunnels and double-acks, eventually happening across a litter of human prisoners, gaunt and pleading for rescue.

Kahm surveyed them with a clinical eye, uncertain what they added to the mysteries that suffused this place. "Radio the dropship." He orders, "We need to figure out what they know, and how they got here."

Whatever they could tell them, Kahm had a feeling future missions here were going to need it. 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The lightning is a thrilling thing to call. Elly feels a hot subtle joy from doing it. It is a thing that she does well, and nobody can take that from her.

She also feels wiped out, because she is probably poisoned in two different ways, has been terrified by a hallucination, and saw both Loren's distrusting glare and Kahm nearly stab their best surface-dweller contact. Sucking in a breath, she --

-- is told to fall back?

Game though she may be, Elly is not prone to argue, and flees post-haste in formation, more or less, with the rest of the unit, stumbling against the wall and having several short coughing fits before at last they discover, almost as if by a curtain falling -

People.

Elly stares at them, catching her breath, for nearly twenty seconds, even as Kahm gives orders. During this time she collapses and packs up her rod, but does little else.

She passes one gloved hand over her eyes. Left to right - right to left. She lingers with her hand over her left eye. Then over the right.

"... Sir," she says, with uncertainty. What she says next has a tone of pre-emptive anxiety in it already, but at least she does not dither excessively in getting the /words/ out, which is, after a fashion, progress.

"Him - her - him - Their shapes... They're changing. There's some kind of a - a purple -Cloud- around them," Elly says, even if that gibberish word may be excluding the ears of Kent. He's probably got a lot on his mind anyway.

She does the pass over her eyes again. "Or... I don't understand - how...?" 

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

This is, in a way, good for Kent. This undefeatable opponent gives him something to focus on. "Why won't it burn," he growls. He tries to smash the thing apart, but bone is hard to melt. He switches to tephra, but the refused rock isn't hard enough, shattering on impact. Before the retreat is called, Red River's barrel narrows to a point, the weapon's chamber suddenly shining blindingly.

The Core Bullet, a white-hot point of rock superheated to the point where it should by all rights be gaseous, punches right through a single arm-bone. What pretty much puts a person nearly out of a fight with outrageous pain barely affects this thing.

Myyah calls it, and Kent snarls again, "Why won't it burn?" Irritated, in pain, he drops back before Kahm, stopping at the door. While the other man throws down a Stock Break, Kent flicks a control on his gun, the barrel extending and widening like a nozzle.

One might observe the single Amontilladonian moment where Kent is outside the door and Kahm is still within. The gun is pointed at the floor. His face is a mask.

Then Kahm comes through and Kent pulls the trigger, flooding the opened doorway with tephra. He can't seal it completely, and the cooled lava is more fragile than it looks, but it should buy them a little more time. The Red River runs dry.

It isn't too much longer after that Kent follows Kahm in, his fallback flick knife in his hand just in case anything else wants to fuck around. "Huh." he says hoarsely, and drops down, putting his knife away, squatting, and elbowing a control on the side of his tank. It doesn't take long until he's levered some large rocks back into it and can start tricking lava down onto cage locks.

"Less take 'em back to the Alley, through the sewers," he says. "Might could be they'd prefer the homier atmosphere."

He glances back to Elly. Normally he'd just shrug, but... after tonight... "Plus," he says, low, "lots of friendly guns hangin' around." Something to do. Focus on something to do. Ignore the blood pooling up your fingers or rock cooling on a man's face. 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Most of the rest of the team has the essential role of offense covered. That leaves him -- and Myyah -- to do what they do best: their respective support roles. Focusing, he tunes out all else but the movements of his allies on the field, trying to watch what they do and anticipate when and if they'll need support. Ether has range, so there's no need to get closer than he already is, but he doesn't have so much as a second where he can let his attention slip.

This isn't working, Loren realizes, moments before Myyah confirms it.

"Understood!" She moves first; with a sharp twist of his left arm, Loren fully deploys his shield, holding the ground near the entrance to the room until the others reach him, heading through ahead of Kent and Kahm.

They're not here to die.

Neither, apparently, are the group of Lamb prisoners they come across in their strategic retreat, quite unexpectedly.

He glances over one, then another, his expression as impassive as always. "They look unhealthy," he announces. Will they even be of any use? Maybe just for analysis, at this point. "We can run diagnostics on them later."

Only to turn his head and look at Elly as she insists the people are 'changing', somehow. It's a particular sort of look, the one you use when you are quite clearly doubting someone's grip on reality. "Are you sure?" 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Yes," Elly says, defensively. "I... It's stronger with my right eye - It's like one of those trick pictures that were popular a few years ago..."

This may also make no sense to Kent, but Elly looks at him. With BOTH eyes. "... Mm. Right..." 

<Pose Tracker> Myyah Hawwa has posed.

Myyah is behind everyone now. She is always behind everyone whenever she wants to be. That's not an ether trick.

She puts a steadying hand on Elly's wrist. With her other hand, she is speaking into a microphone concealed in her glove.

"--approximately a dozen people for crisis recovery. Prepare a level three decontamination area.

She lowers her hand and gives everyone an even look.

"Everything will be fine," she says. "We have this under control."

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