2017-05-04: Persisting Corruption
- Log: Persisting Corruption
- Cast: Bart Fatima, Josephine Lovelace, Leon Albus, Lily Keil
- Where: Port Timney
- Date: May 4th 2017
- Summary: Lily organizes a small group to investigate the mysterious caverns near Port Timney.
DG: Lily Keil has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Lily Keil. DG: Josephine Lovelace has joined your party! DG: A party led by Lily Keil 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> Lily Keil has posed.
Since the invasion of Port Timney, Lily Keil has been possessed of an unusually strong interest in the place where all the so-called Hellions retreated after the battle. The distance out there is not so great, but she continues not to see anything unusual about them, just to feel an unusual sensation down her spine. But what...?
The carnage and the misery of the ordinary people she treated for hours after that battle remain in her mind. She is not a noisy woman, but she returned immediately to Adelhyde to make a plan... And to gather support. After all, she can't make this decision entirely on her own. There's Leon, first of all, as this goes outside their interests.
She also approached two of her most reliable allies, one of whom was there with her to begin with. She didn't call Josie reliable. ...She didn't call /Bart/ reliable. Instead the conversations were rather terse on her part; she wanted to explore what had been called the Otherworldly Hollow. She needed support; some had said there was something strange about the creatures that would be there, some had great difficulty with them.
Here the assemble group is looking at th great entrance, not so close as to have been noticed apparently, and a woman in dark clothes, thin gloves, and with black hair stares with her golden eyes over the wandering animals, the Hellions and the opening beyond them.
"...We aren't the only ones with this idea," Lily says, kneeling once for a better angle, seeing emptied armor and convenient weapons. It's not the first battlefield she's seen. Rising, Lily turns to look at the others. "...Try not to get bitten."
Lily moves forward, past the point wehre cover would matter, and throws out her hands, blue light bursting about her hands in circles and becoming a spear aimed straight for the biggest thing she can see.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellion Horde.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
So, wild animals, crazy monsters, all that good stuff. Bart has heard a lot of it before, and thanks to his association with a certain CRAZY SHAMAN PRINCESS he had decided to wander down this way to make sure that this wasn't some dark horrible end of the world thing she had been predicting. Or at least that it wasn't something that needed to be dealt with... right... away... or...
ARRRGG this spiritual mumbo jump made Bart want to tear his braid off sometimes!
Right. Evil cave. Weird monsters. One of his people wanted to check it out. Sounded GOOD TO BART. Even if they are woefully underequipped as far as understanding goes, that was par for the course for Bart. Smashing bad things was the name of the game for him.
See Bart doesn't get the whole 'Oh look HELLIONS! sort of thing. It's not just jam. And he's not someone who's spiritually sensitive or anything like that. He sees a bunch of crazy animals roaming around, and it looks like they've... eaten some other Drifters.
Bart just looks at Lily. "...I'd think trying not to get torn apart might be a better option," he states, pulling out his whip. "Ah well it's a bunch of bugger crazy animals, good show of force should scatter em!" the pirate declares, snapping his whip on the ground. It gives a loud crack, and then Bart lays into the oncoming beasts with a fury.
"Be good animals and turn into tasty meat or something!" he shouts. Really, animals eating people? Really should be the other way around.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Hellion Horde.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon wasn't there for Port Timney. He had stayed behind in Adlehyde, undertaking his own personal mission -- a twofold one. One, to look into what others knew about Jude Moshe. And, as always, the mission to see if anyone had found anything out about Gryndille. When he heard, he was worried. He was /already/ worried, when Lily was later coming back than she intended to be. But, when he heard, it was an easy enough decision.
He promised Lily that he would help. That was what soldiers did, and Leon hasn't stopped thinking of himself as one, despite the best of intentions.
He stands next to Lily -- and then he frowns, as he looks into the otherworldly hollow. A strange, eerie place -- and him, without any sense of magic or ability to see such things. The animals are fierce, ferocious things -- and his eyebrows knit together. "I don't intend to," he tells Lily, before he steps forward. His eyes dart to Bart.
"Let's be quick," he says. "We don't want them swarming us."
He pulls out his flare gun -- and shoots it straight into the air, above the Hollow. It explodes with a blinding flash of light -- and then Leon leaps. Argent Divider comes out, folded up into its shotgun mode. A slug slams through one Hellion, then into a second, as he makes for the entrance.
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, Hellion Horde.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
To be honest, Josie hadn't planned on coming back here. She'd come in with a different group while Lily had been tending to the injured, pretty much right in the wake of the attack on Port Timney, and had come back with an armload of weird papers.
But if she was being honest, what she had found so far wasn't really coming together. And there's a bounty out on some of the same monsters lurking around this hole.
And, well, Lily had asked. So, she's here.
Maybe she's a little more reliable than one might think. She'll have to work hard to fix that.
Penelope, though, is definitely /unreliable/.
It's probably the only aspect of the pigeon that can be relied upon.
Penelope is also not very happy to be here, as her body, squished as far as she can get into the back of Josie's scarf testifies.
"Not getting bitten'd be a good place to start!" Josie says, a little too cheerfully. "Let's not end up like those guys, okay?" She smiles, a little unevenly, at Bart's comment. "Not a bad idea! Maybe if we take out a few, the rest might scatter."
'Let's be quick', says Leon. "Get ready," Josie replies with a curt nod, propping one foot up on a nearby rock as she draws her rifle free and draws it up, already sighting one of those twisted deer towards the cave entrance. "Last time, we thought we had them, but it turned out to be a trap. Don't hold back, kids."
She pulls the trigger.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellion Horde. DG: The party led by Lily Keil has passed this challenge! The party gained 21 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily hears Bart talking about not getting torn apart and spares the second it takes to shrug; that sounds reasonable enough, and she isn't going to bother arguing it. Besides, Leon is moving ahead quickly, and he's right. Josie, talking about not ending up with those guys, is something she doesn't answer. But meat...
"They're probably diseased," she answers and explains at the same time, pulling her gun.
They don't need to be able to see Malevolence in order to understand the rage and distortion in the animals' faces, as they rush towards them all at once, scrabbling along the ground. Before they have a chance to really start moving, the group is on them; Josie shoots straight through a twisted deer, and it's dead before it hits the ground. Leon's flare gun blinds and enrages more still as they try to charge at their new foes, and Bart's whip is as effective on twisted animals as it can be on other rampaging things, which is to say that animals are crushed soon enough. And Lily's ice spear scythes through one that's charging /her/. Some of them do get close, but it's nothing the four can't handle.
...And along the ground, there's ammunition and potions that never had a chance to be used. Lily, for once, stops to pick one up and starts forward again after she looks over the group to check for harm. The monsters have indeed scattered; down they go, into the Hollow...
DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Malevolent Mass *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The Malevolence in this part of the cavern is thick, thick enough that even the most rudimentary of spiritual senses would still feel the hair on the backs of their necks standing on end, even if they couldn't see the reason why: condensed into a thick, unstable mass at the end of this passage, Malevolence has bound with rock and mineral to create a bulging, seething obstruction of blistering negative impulse. To press on, you're going to have to find a way to carve through bedrock and bitterness. Lucky you. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The horde of Hellions is a bit of a challenge - at one point Bart is literally covered by evil bunnies that are trying to chew on him from every angle, and he is literally punching, kicking, whipping, and even biting some of them (Lily said don't let them bite you, so by extension in Bart's logic ITS OKAY TO BITE THEM RIGHT?) in order to escape the pile.
When he finally does he looks a bit scratched up by generally OK. "Hah. Who needs to hold back when they're all to willing to come to you!"See?" he comments, partially in response to Josephine. "Nothing to worry about. Just a bit of alcohol to wash this crap out and I'll be fine."
He is Bart.
HE IS INVINCIBLE.
At least in his own mind.
But as they travel deeper into the cavern, it's clear that whatever swirling darkness that is plaguing the place doesn't want them to proceed any further. Bart stops as they find what looks like a congealed mass of rock and what he would casually describe as 'ick'.
In fact that's how he does describe it. Sort of. "...looks like someone snorted out some giant evil glob of mucus and left it to harden and block the way," he observes. He walks up and kicks it once, looking thoughtful. And then the pirate grins.
"Well you know what they say," he states, looking back at the others. "If it's not willing to move, BLOW IT TO SMITHEREENS." And with that, Bart pulls out what looks like a stick of dynamite, and wedges it under the rock.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Malevolent Mass.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Does it spread, if you get bitten?" Leon asks. He scowls. "Like hydrophobia?"
He takes a couple of berries that were dropped, and slides them into his big grey coat. The man turns, still wearing his duster, to look at Josie. "You were here?" he asks. "When this broke out?"
He breathes hard -- and he slides another shell into the chamber on Argent Divider as they walk into the chamber. He slows to a stop -- and he listens to what Bart says. To his eyes, he only sees a series of rocks, all piled high. Imposing and terrible, but not that, even if the shadows seem too deep in the many crevasses. "It... looks normal, to me. Or--"
He frowns. "Not quite. But what /is/ this?"
He swings back Argent Divider. The shotgun barrels unfurl, and a long two-edged blade comes out. A faint silver glow alights one side -- and then he slashes down into the mass of rock!
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Malevolent Mass.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She doesn't linger long after the deer falls. Leaping over the rock she'd just been using as a stand, Josie reholsters her rifle as she makes for the cave under the cover of everyone else's onslaught. She slows just long enough to scoop up a few stray potions just resting there and glinting under the sun -- hey, it's not like their previous owner would use them, and they're /still/ good.
Leon catches up to her about then. "Not when they attacked the town, but shortly after that. I think, a day or two after?" She pauses, scanning the horizon briefly. "It looked like this then, too."
Once she slips inside the cave she glances over at Bart. He does look a little worse for wear. "A little alcohol, huh? Luckily--" A little bit of rummaging ensues. "--Here you go!" It's not a large flask that she tosses his way, but it's /a/ flask. Something inside sloshes a bit.
Though the wall ahead...
Sort of makes her wish she'd kept the flask. Josie crinkles her brow, frowning. At the back of her neck, Penelope does her finest to be the flattest pigeon. "...Something's wrong," she murmurs, to Leon's comment. "It looks kind of like..."
Josie looks Bart's way. Then, abruptly, nods. "Like that. It feels off, too. It's that same feeling as when I was last in here. And it feels like those animals that attacked the town..."
She slides her pack off her shoulders. "Well. No way but through, huh? Hey, kiddo -- take her, would you?" She manages -- somehow -- to pry Penelope off her neck and hand her over -- kicking and squirming -- to Lily.
A moment later she's got the archaeologist's best friend out of her pack, and stalking towards the wall with it held in both hands, takes a breath before slamming it into the cursed rocks.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Malevolent Mass.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
It is definitely not okay to bite them back. Lily would never agree with that.
"I don't get paid if you die of an infection. Let me look you over when we're done here." A pause, as Josie... hands him alcohol, and you know what, that's handy. She looks to Leon as they walk at his question, and shakes her head. "Honestly, I don't know. But it's risky for mundane infection, even if it doesn't."
Lily checks over her firearm again and reholsters it, looking up to the ugly rock wall. To her it is ugly... but that's all. Something sets her on edge about it, but there's no visible evil. Besides, there's no way that a wall of rocks can be evil somehow. Right?
She steps forward anyway. "Vivid descrption..." Lily answers darkly. She steps up beside Bart and kneels down, opening up her satchel. She clearly has the same idea, taking her charges and unwinding the fuses she's already cut, wedging them against the wall. She only puts in a few, carefully measuring mentally the appropriate distance, knocking on the wall to confirm stress points.
She's on her feet and setting the last before she steps backward, looking to Leon's glowing weapon. "It looks normal enough to me, but normal crumbles fine. We'll see if it's strange."
"What--" Lily suddenly has a Penelope in her arms, and blinks down at her. One can tell she wonders how she arrived at this point in her life.
"Fine..." The younger woman takes a breath, "Everyone step clear." Once they have, she keeps Penelope under one arm, carefully--more carefully than one might imagine she would, or could with her struggling--and snaps her fingers to set off her fuses and blow the wall. It should be easier with the stress in the center from everything. It's going to be loud, though.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Explosive Charges toward her party's challenge, Malevolent Mass. DG: The party led by Lily Keil 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.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The obstruction is faced with three unstoppable elements. Courage. Determination. And expensive, high quality digging tools.
The Boulder of EVIL shatters under the combined efforts of Leon and Josephine's digging, followed by a mighty blast from the explosives that Bart and Lily have set up. It literally breaks in half, splitting almost evenly down the middle and rolling out of the way. In fact it works so well that Bart doesn't trust it. He looks at the rock for a moment and sets his jaw.
"I think it's a trick. Someone get me a stick."
About five minutes later after he's sure that the two halves of the rock are not going to slam together, the pirate shakes his head. "Okay, but I still don't trust rocks that break like that. I prefer gravel or something that's not heavy enough to actually hurt me."
Ah well. Bart looks back at the group and gives them a thumbs up. "Don't think this is too bad so far - I mean I believe you about the whole 'filled with evil' thing but I'm just not seeing it so far," he comments to Josie. He then grins at Lily for a moment, and states, "Well, I'm not adverse to you patching me up, but I'll be fine I think." Plus better not to plan ahead when they're not done with this dungeon yet. Still too much of a chance that something will go wrong.
DG: Leon Albus has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Waterworld *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Water rolls through the entirety of the Hollow in rivers and subterranean lakes and other forms. The deeper and more profoundly touched by Malevolence it gets, though, the stranger its nature becomes. Take, for instance, this narrow passage you find yourself climbing up. You hear a rush of water. Perhaps some flowing down from above, one might imagine, gravity taking its toll. Except... it's not flowing down. It's flowing up. A torrential waterfall rising up instead of falling down, right beneath your feet. Would that make it a waterrise, instead? Questions to wonder later; for now, it might be better to try to get the hell out of this passage before you're swept up into the waterfall. Rise. Whichever. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"All the more reason to not get bitten," Leon says, after Lily tells him. Then, he looks at Josie -- and he nods. Her description confirms there is something else going on here. Something that he cannot see. That disquiets him.
He is also disquieted by how the rock resists the way his sword tries to cut through; the way it, unlike many stones, has far more resistance to his energized blade cleaving through than it should. He rotates his shoulders, before he looks at Bart. He nods, then, and he looks ahead.
"If you're sure," he says. "There is something... off about this place. I can't put my finger on what. But... I've never felt anything like it before."
That, alone, disquiets him.
He leads the way, as a path through the Hollow turns more narrow. Even without the ability to see Malevolence, Leon can see that something is wrong when he stops before a waterfall. A waterfall that flows upward, instead of down. And, he realizes, it is shooting up -- and threatens to sweep them away.
"Hold on!" he cries out. He unspools the rope at his side, and throws it, catching onto a spear of rock. Leon tugs -- hopes it won't crack off -- and then quickly swings away, but grabs for Lily's hand. Maybe he can swing around it.
They will have to. Parts of the floor give way -- and the upside down waterfall begins to widen, and the backwards coursing current threatens to sweep them all into it!
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Climbing Rope toward his party's challenge, Waterworld.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The problem is Bart has an effective spiritual sensitivity of zero. Indeed, his sort of reckless exuberance and self-confidence may well shield him from some of the effects of this evil place. Either that or he's just not going to admit that it makes him uncomfortable. But he proceeds forwards with a sort of direct, no-nonsense attitude that people might come to expect from the pirate.
Still, seeing a waterfall flowing uphill is... more than a little weird. Bart looks at it for a moment and then just lets out a single response.
"...huh. Well you don't see that every day," he comments, immediately pulling out his whip and lashing it around an outcropping up above. It's good that he does, because the floor giving way suggests that things might be getting bad in a moment. He holds out one hand to Josie, and grins. "Need a hand?" he asks, taking a step back and getting ready to swing away from the uprush of water that is already beginning to swirl under their feet.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Waterworld.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Doing it like this is always a mistake. You'd think Josie would have learned by now. Hissing something foul under her breath, she takes a step backwards, shaking out her right hand. Ugh, and the worst part is that it felt for a moment like she'd just hit a particularly firm bit of tar...
No, that's a lie. The worst part was feeling that faint buzzing-like sensation of wrongness grow louder for a moment.
"You know," Josie comments, pressing a gloved hand against her left cheek as Bart tests the broken wall by jamming a stick in it, "I definitely would have never have thought of doing that."
Penelope, for now, shows no sign of leaving Lily, instead scrambling up to find whatever good perch is available. Her shining black eyes narrow slightly.
"It isn't..." Josie frowns, before stooping to reclaim her bag and shove the mattock inside. "Well, it's more like it feels wrong, rather than evil. I'm not sure how to put it... Until those animals appeared, I never felt anything like this before." She stands, slinging the pack over her shoulder. "--You don't mind hanging onto her for a moment, right, Lily? I think she'd rather stay put!"
She follows after Leon, rounding a bend. Wait, is that water--
It's water. It's the waterrise. "Look out, it's coming up from below--"
At least she doesn't have to worry about Penelope.
"Don't mind if I do!" she says, seizing Bart's hand. It's better than trying to race the crumbling floor. Which has a head start by now.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Waterworld.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The pirate grins, and then swings his one eye over to the path ahead as he wraps one arm around Josephine's waist. "Hold on tight, this is gonna be..." Pause.
"...a 'little' tricky..."
And with that, Bart leaps off the last crumbling bit of rock, swinging around as he aims to land one foot on the wall and use centrifugal force to launch both himself as Josephine further up the hallway.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily inclies her head to Leon, setting her eyes on him just long enough to communicate... /something/, in alook. Probably the fact that she's thinking about this place very carefully.
Lily does not get Bart a stick. She does wait for him though, and tilts her head sideways as if to suggest agreement, rather than saying anything until he does again.
"It's stange..." A pause at Bart's grin. "I'm a medic," she explains, shrugging. "It's my responsibility." As, apparently, is Penelope in her arm--no, not on her arm, on her shoulder, which makes a secure perch thanks to her dress's fabric. It's not particularly comfortable having her climb up, and Lily doesn't say anything about it. She looks at Josie and starts to say something, and then just... stops. "...No," she answers instead, "I don't mind."
But she follows Leon too, glancing to the bird and shaking her head, keeping herself loose just in case. But something seems strange; it takes her a moment to spot the waterrise, and she would stop to appreciate it more if it weren't rushing up already; she stumbles with it, starting to slip, before Leon reaches out for her hand. "Aah--" Surprise, at least, in how she's suddenly moving, but she reaches to hang on. "Penelope!"
If she can find a spot, she'll use her feet to anchor herself, but mostly she's holding onto Leon and trying not to be swept away.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Waterworld.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
There's a lot of action, so it's probably easy to miss the moment when Bart looks at Lily as she comments about being a medic.
Somewhere in the corner of the screen there's a quick sentence. Bart will remember Lily said that.
DG: The party led by Lily Keil 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.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon and Lily have worked together enough now that when Leon grabs onto her in these situations, he doesn't panic too much. He feels her start to slip, and his arm tightens -- and then he looks, briefly, towards Penelope. He wants to be sure that she is there; he doesn't want to contemplate what may happen, if the pigeon is hurt.
(Josie would be upset. Probably.)
They swing around the rising waterfall -- and land on a higher section, as the last of the ground gives way. Leon sets down, then looks over his shoulder. "My God," he swears, softly. "What is wrong with this place?"
Then, he looks ahead. The path has narrowed -- and the is only one, winding ahead. That makes it easy, at least. Leon starts to walk.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
===============<* CHALLENGE - Color-Coded for Your Convenience *>=============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Torrential waters run through the Hollow; you've stumbled upon one such location, a gap between dry land and the raging river carving through the Hollow that will most assuredly sweep you away somewhere unpleasant if you're not careful. The only way to cross? A series of natural stepping stones. Easy enough, right? For those that can sense such thing, though, the presence of Malevolence permeates even through rock, and several of these natural outcroppings reek of the violet-colored spiritual blight; stepping on those infested with it will make them crumble away within an instant. Best hope you're very careful -- or have someone who can see them to guide you. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie switches up her grip, slinging an arm over Bart's shoulder (the better not to fall). This makes it the second time that she's had a young man hold her around the waist while swinging precariously over a waterfall (ok waterrise) in a week. All in all, not a bad turn of events, she considers, as she alights on solid ground.
"Thanks for the lift~" she says, grinning. Catching a blur of white out of the corner of her eye, she stretches out her arm for Penelope.
Who totally ditched Lily the moment things went south.
Penelope fluffs briefly, as if irritated, and hunches up.
"Yeah, it's no picnic, huh," she murmurs to the pigeon, her gaze softening briefly.
Just one path, this time.
There is, again, the sound of water. The tonal quality is different. Rather than a roar of falling (up) water, it's the tumult of the rapids. Perhaps, somehow, they feed the waterrise?
"This is new," Josie comments, resting a hand on her hip as she regards the path forward. There are certainly enough stones dotting the way forward -- no obvious ledges or crossings visible here in the gloom -- but...
"That one." Josie points, at a rock that glints a sickly purple to her eyes. "It looks off." She can see a few others that seem strange, too. "That one, too. It's like that wall from before. Probably..." She nods, to herself. "We can't trust those."
She takes a leap forward, landing on one of the rocks that /isn't/ colored to her eyes. It holds. Standing there, the waters roaring about her tiny perch, it occurs to her that Lily and Leon don't seem to be /able/ to see.
"You can sense it too, right, Penelope?" Penelope, still perched on Josie's forearm, looks away. "Penelope... Won't you please help them out? You know, if you help them, I'm /sure/ they'd be happy to make it up to you later," Josie wheedles. "Anything you like!"
There's a moment of silence.
Almost begrudgingly, the pigeon takes off.
It'll take a little memorization to track the route that Penelope traces in her flight, gliding atop the stones, but it /will/ lead across.
The only price is an uncertain debt to a fancy pigeon.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart is glad to carry Josephine in order to avoid anyone falling into the water, although he does have a moment of concern for Lily as Leon swings over with her. Losing anyone here would be bad - the pirate doesn't want any of his folks getting hurt, and losing someone in such a cursed place might have... further unpleasant consequences.
But everyone seems to have come through more or less intact. But this next obstacle...
"...wow this is just mean," Bart comments, considering the raging water and the stones across. This was not something that he would normally expect to see. And then Josie comments that some of the rocks are strange looking, and the pirate knows what that means.
Rock Spiders. Terrible things.
"...so your bird can tell which ones are bad?" he asks, crossing his arms. And... and... the pirate tilts his head to the side for a moment, trying to memorize the pattern.
He stares at it for a moment, and then scrubs his hands through his hair. "Aaaaaah this is too hard, let's just do it the old fashioned way!" he shouts. And takes off across the raging waters, leaping from rock to rock with wild abandon!
This may not turn out well.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Leon's tightened arm helps keep her balance, though by the time they mae the last platform, Lily steps closer to him to avoid wheeling bakwards by mistake into nothing in particular at all. She is entirely soaked, and entirely bereft of a bird, and more than a little bit unsettled.
It's with some worry that she looks around immediately, eyes wide, before she spots Penelope with Josie.
It may not be entirely that she knows Josie would be upset.
"I don't know," Lily murmurs to Leon's question. But here they are, still going...
The rapids make Lily clench her teeth, particularly as she sees the stones they're expected to cross on. "Off?" she asks, and peers closely. "Mm..."
"Oh, you're back," she says to Penelope, with a little surprise and something not quite darker than usual in her tone. "Hold on a second..." Lily cups her hands together and there's a burst of flames that lasts for a few seconds, with her usual red-orange circle for fire magic. Only once her gloves are a bit dryer does she reach into her satchel and pull out her notebook. "Let me flip through this..."
"Optimal balance and speed..." Lily does a bit of math in her head while she stares down at the manual in her hands before she puts it back safely in her water-resistant bag. "All right. Penelope, I'm ready. Do it like this, Leon."
Lily goes according to her calculations and jumps. Very, very carefully.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon can't see Malevolence. To him, this is nothing but a series of rock platforms through the surging rapids. The leaps look easy enough. He feels comfortable with it -- but comes to a stop, when Josie speaks. His eyes widen as he looks at her.
"I... see," he says. "Then--that's worrying. We'll need to be careful."
He gets more quiet when Josie makes her negotiations with Penelope. He runs a hand through his blonde hair, before he nods. "Yes," he agrees, "I can... get your favorite seed. Or... whatever birds seem to like."
It sounds so convincing.
Leon looks down at the notebook -- and then he nods to what Lily says. When she starts, he starts after her. Careful hops, instead of charging across. Like...
He looks at Bart and raises an eyebrow, mid-stride.
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Color-Coded for Your Convenience. DG: Not everyone in the party has acted yet. +act/complete can only be used once the whole party has acted. DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Color-Coded for Your Convenience. DG: The party led by Lily Keil has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
One of the rocks vanishes from under Bart's feet.
There is a loud splash! The pirate has been washed...
...away?
There comes a sound that is somewhere between a shout, a scream, and someone drowning. And then Bart comes swimming back up against the current, grabbing onto a rock and pulling himself ashore.
"ACCURSED TRECHEROUS DISAPPEARING ROCKS!"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She shrugs, smiling slightly. "Animals have a sixth sense about these things, right?"
Josie thinks, anyway. And she's not about to question it now.
Following her own sense of the layout of these rocks -- that one's bad, that one's fine, that one's fine, and so on -- as well as a few well-timed leaps above the raging torrents, Josie's able to eventually make it to the other side without much more than her longcoat being a touch damp.
As for the others...
Pigeons are bright birds, despite their reputation. Penelope might just be on the brighter side. Or just on the 'bribeable' side.
It would seem that Leon's promise is sufficient enough for Penelope. Lily -- well, Lily she might just have to extract an offering from later. Hope you're ready for the beadiest bird stare, Lily.
A little bit of careful analysis of timing from the guide before jumping -- and before following the path that Penelope traces in flight, overhead -- doesn't hurt either.
Bart, on the other hand...
Josie starts at that splash. "Kid?"
Her dark eyes linger on the water, watching for some sign of life.
When he comes up suddenly, grabbing for a rock on the far side, she reaches to grab his hand with her left, to try and help him out of the drink. "Got you!" She owes him one, after all.
DG: Lily Keil 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> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is too distracted to worry about what Penelope wants in the moment. Later, she will have to deal with the question: what does Penelope want, anyway. "Mm," Lily answers the matter of animals having a sixth sense.
She's been barked at by enough dogs that it might be true.
But there's Bart nearly drowning, and Lily looks back at the water in alarm, until he comes out and Josie helps him. She takes a breath, and tries to make it look like she wasn't actually worried about him. Drowning in something like this...
That does make her shudder a little, for all that she barely believes in it. "...Let's keep going. These wet clothes mean we want to complete our business sooner than later." Pause. "An... Whatever it is that's wrong here."
She leads the way this time, hair still dripping, boots sloshing. She neither seems to notice nor to care, except for what she said. But through twists and turns they reach an opening.
They reach a door.
A door, and an altar. Lily steps into the room and frowns, looking around. "What /is/ this...?" An altar. And a door. Immediately, she steps up closer to it; she tries to shove it open, looks for a mechanism whilecrouched before the door, even stands up, glances around, and lets loose a fist-sized /burst/ of darkness that does nothing but light her hand violet. "What... You can't be serious."
Lily steps back to look at the altar again, and frowns, pulling out her manual again. "Hold on," she says, and flips through everything she has... But there is no simple answer here that gives her what she wants. There are less simple answers, and answrs that illuminate what isn't the case. The manual goes back into her bag.
The door itself is strange, not ornate but as disturbing as anything else in here. "Flesh or possessions, she murmurs," and takes another breath. "Fine." She starts to reach for the middle finger of each hand, and tug off her gloves. There's something odd beneath them, a goopy thing that looks like makeup too wet--because it is--and might have concealed once the bizarre, multicolored (mostly violet) lines and patterns along the backs of her hands, down her forearms, up into her sleeves. She tosses the gloves onto the altar and kneels, pulling out a very large knife and hacking it down her arm without warning, using her hand to squeeze out the blood.
"This is wrong," she murmurs, and steps back. "But if it gets us answers..." She shivers. "if the wet doesn't burn, I'll burn it."
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Burnt Offering.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Nearly drowning was... well it wasn't the first time, and Bart was willing to use his own physical prowess to get out of some bad situations. But he takes the hand up greatfuly, smiling at Josie as he does so. "Thanks," he replies, and chuckles. "A little less stable a path than I had expected."
The next room, on the other hand, is something that Bart isn't exactly taken with. The weird altar, the demand that they give something up. No, that doesn't sit well with the pirate. "This thing," he states, and narrows his eyes.
And then Lily tosses her glove in, and actually cuts herself doing so. "Lily!" he states, actually looking horrified. Horrified enough that he reaches out to keep her from cutting herself again. "That... no!" Leon's probably also moving in as well, but Bart isn't going to sit by and let this happen.
He looks at the altar, and then spits on it. "You want something of mine, you damned thing - here you can have my regards for you!" Like hell he's going to contribute anything more than scorn when his friend has hurt herself because of this thing.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burnt Offering.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Bart!" Leon calls out, and he starts forward -- but slows when he sees that Bart is fine, if wet and worse the wear for it. He slows down, though, as he watches him climb out. Then he nods, and lets out a sigh. "This place has played some tricks on us. No wonder the creatures from here caused such trouble. I'd like an idea of what might be causing it."
And he follows, too, when Lily leads the way. He looks around the room and it takes him a moment to understand. He isn't, by nature, a religious person. He has to logic through what the altar might be -- and what it might require of someone.
He understands, after Lily pushes on the door and finds no way to open it.
"This is... I haven't heard of this sort of thing," he says, quietly. "This is no ordinary sorcery." He falls quiet, though, when Lily approaches the altar. He sees when she tugs her gloves off -- and gasps sharply at the strange, violet lines winding their way up her hands and forearms. "Lily, what--gh!"
He didn't expect the knife.
He reaches out to her, though he doesn't yank her away. He sticks his hand on her shoulder, then looks down at the altar with widened eyes.
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burnt Offering.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She smiles, if a little lopsidedly this time. "Be more careful, okay, kid? Don't go drowning on us." He looks no worse the wear, though he is sopping wet. That's not going to be healthy, long-term.
Josie pulls a face that neither Leon or Lily have seen before once she steps inside the room ahead and spots the altar -- not a face they'd know from the generally cheerful archaeologist, anyway. She's briefly angry, staring down the altar as if secretly plotting to destroy it. Abruptly, she glances away, her hand going to her throat, as if attempting to hold something down.
"If you do that again..." she murmurs in warning to the bird perched neatly on her shoulder.
She turns her head, watching as Lily investigates the door. "...It won't open like that. You need to sacrifice something on the altar, first." She pauses. "I think all of us do. ...I don't know how it works." She's almost a little sullen, itself uncharacteristic. One might think she'd changed personalities with Penelope for a moment. Absently, Josie reaches up to just brush the side of the bird's face, lost in thought.
She's just not sure what she has that she can meaningfully give.
Or wants to give.
Lily steps.
Lily takes out a knife.
Lily gashes open her own arm.
There's so much blood. Standing there in shock for a moment, Josie shakes her head, rousing herself from the shock as she hurries towards the altar. Something glitters oddly on Lily's arm, amidst the blood, but there are other, more pressing things on Josie's mind. "Lily, no--!" Bart, Leon -- they'll both easily reach her side first. "--Dammit, girl, what do you think you're doing--"
She reaches out with one gloved hand for Lily's shoulder, another person attempting to hold Lily back.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Burnt Offering. DG: The party led by Lily Keil 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.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily doesn't like this altar. She doesn't like it at all.
But she understands what Josie says. Sacrifice... Lily doesn't comment on the strangeness in Josie's voice.
Lily doesn't look back at the calls of her name; she looks down at the altar, though she isn't really seeing it as she hears Leon gasp. She doesn't move other than to peer at her very bloody wound until Bart reaches out to take hold of her arms, an action that makes her seize up, the blood all over her knife and the blood now dripping down onto the ground glinting in what light there is in this awful place. "What--"
They all call out for her, and there's a moment still longer that it takes holding her back. The two of them are the ones who reached her first, after all. But Leon's hand is familiar on her shoulder. "I'm doing what needs to be done," Lily answers Josie, her voice low, deadened despite the pain that such a wound should obviously inflict on her. "Let me go." And yet, they're worried. They're worried, and Len is staring down at the altar. "Fine, just let me..."
Lily opens her eyes wider, and the lines on her arm pulse red-orange as the pile of her gloves and her blood ignites. The flame is at first that same color... until it turns an ugly violet-black and smells acrid, and the door swings open with a creak.
She looks... uncomfortable though, as she looks around to ensure she isn't looking at any of them. "Let me /go/!" Tense? Or upset?
Maybe both. Either way, the way is clear. Her offerings are gone.
DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Hellionized Hydra *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< 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. And then there is a roar, so violent it makes the ground rumble. From the lake bursts forth a tremendous, scaled hydra; once the one who called this place its home, now warped by the grotto's new denizens, this Malevolence-twisted hydra is fueled by maddening rage and torturous corruption and wants nothing more than to squash anything and everything in its path, and right now that includes you. Perhaps you should try encouraging it not to. With violence. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Lily, you don't give things like this what they want," Bart states quietly, although he then lets her go as she gets more insistent. He sighs after a moment as the flames roar higher, and looks at the altar for a moment. And wishes he had some more dynamite to leave on it. Yeah, let's see how well you took offerings when you were BLOWN TO PIECES and all that good stuff.
"Don't let anyone - or anything - tell you that you have to give something up just to get ahead," Bart states after a moment, as the door to further into the cavern grinds open. He looks back at Lily and Leon, and closes his eye. "Life demands too much as it is. No damn reason to let some damn evil cave ask for more." He walks forward into the darkness, grumbling under his breath.
Bart is not amused by this whole situation right now.
In fact, it almost seems like the dungeon is giving him something that he could use at this point. Which is a fight! As Bart walks into the last large cavern, there is a hissing roar, and eyes appear in the darkness, glowing yellow. Far too many eyes, as a hydra crawls from the blackness into the faint light shining in from above. It's clear, even to Bart's eyes, that the thing is in a pain driven fury.
To those who are more sensitive, it's clear that the MALEVOLENCE that infuses the grotto has warped and twisted this creature significantly. There's nothing to be done but to put it out of its misery.
Bart pulls out a bottle from inside of his jacket, and tosses it into the air. A single strike from his whip shatters it, releasing the Ether inside (along with a pleasant sandalwood fragrance) to rain down on the party. A rush of energy can be felt, allowing the group to move faster and strike harder.
And Bart pulls his whip taunt, and grins. "Alright you scaly bastard! COME TO BART!"
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, Hellionized Hydra.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon noticed the change in Josie. It isn't one that makes sense -- and he wonders about it, until he loses all focus on Lily. His hand slips from her shoulder, as he sees the lines on her arm pulse, even through the blood. And then he looks up from the cut arm, to the altar. The altar that is, shortly, on fire. His hand slides away from Lily's shoulder, then, and looks at Bart.
His eyes drift towards her for a moment. "Is your arm all right?" he asks, instead of lecturing her, but he frowns. He can't keep the concern out of his expression.
What were those lines?
He looks to Bart, as he walks away. He hesitates, not sure that he wants to follow, until he sees the eyes appear in the darkness. He hisses, softly. "Damn!" he yells. "Look at that thing!" Even without sensing the Malevolence, he can see the creature is dangerous.
Argent Divider slides free of its holster. The other hand raises a flare gun. He fires it over Bart's shoulder, so it smashes into the wall behind the hydra and flashes bright. Then, Leon moves faster than he has any right to. He is a black silhouette against the darkness, until his sword folds out -- and then a blade of silver light erupts.
He chops down, across the center of the hydra's body.
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, Hellionized Hydra.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Don't be stupid!" It's probably just as well that Leon and Bart are slightly in her way -- and that Lily's back is to her. Otherwise, it's entirely possible that Josie would have slapped her. She's not precisely gripping Lily's shoulder gently, that's for sure. "Things are just things. If we need to give something up to get past this bullshit, then that's fine. --But don't ever let me see you gamble with your life like that again!"
She's angry.
Even as the blood burns, her grip remains steady.
Only when Lily says to let her go -- with force this time -- does Josie reluctantly loosen her grip and step away.
"I mean it. If I see you doing something that stupid again..." She lets the unspoken threat hang in the air, before glancing over at Bart. She sighs. "Not a bad idea, though, kid. You're right, too, you know." That's not an entirely happy smile, but it's good enough. Life takes enough away as it is, so why give any quarter. Maybe she could learn a little something here, herself...
Following after Bart in silence, she pulls up short, feeling an angry welt of... something, ahead. "Wait..." If that's a warning from her, it's not much of one. Josie pulls the rifle from the holster across her back and darts ahead. She can feel it even before she sees it, writhing. "Another one-- aim for the heads!"
It smells nice. That fragrance, that is. Particularly after a long trek through a cave, particularly here in a place that pulses sickly with that sensation. It seems like that twisted feeling is getting stronger, worming around like it's trying to find purchase, somewhere.
Penelope dives for her favorite spot, at the back of Josie's neck. Falling into a crouch, using a partially fallen chunk of stone as a makeshift rifle-rest, Josie takes aim and fires. That should take it right between the eyes.
"And here's one more!" she shouts, setting up another shot.
One to grow on, perhaps.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellionized Hydra.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Don't you?" Lily asks, but there's no fire in her firmnes when she answers him. But Bart isn't done talking, either, and the black-haired woman watches him for a moment as she continues to bleed. But she feels Josie's grip on her shoulder, hears her words, and she doesn't turn to look at her. "..." She doesn't say anything in response; she hears gambling with her life, and remains silent for a few more moments. But Bart talks....
"...That's what life does," she says instead, turning to look over at Leon. There's a certainty that's beyond bitterness, but on that trajectory, before she shakes her head. "...Josie..." It's hard for her to find something to /say/ to that, and if anything she loks more uncomfortable, maybe guilty. It's hard to tell. She hesitates looking at Leon's concern, and says more softly, "I'll be fine. When we get out of here, I'll make sure to wash the wound."
A mutter, "...I hate not having my gloves."
Bart walks forward, and Lily follows, starting to open up her bag to go for some of her spare bandages... Except that many eyes peer out o the darkness, if peering is the right word (it isn't). She closes her satchel, ignoring the bndages, and closes her eyes as the flare iss sent. Just long enough though; she opens her eyes, and Leon's silver blade is going.
Lily draws her pistol and lifts it up in both hands, squeezing on eye shut and starting to fire in roars of gunshot, using Leon's glowing blade to help her aim. It's a good fragrance; it almost does something to make her feel better. Almost.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellionized Hydra. DG: Bart Fatima is too exhausted to continue! DG: Leon Albus is too exhausted to continue! DG: Josephine Lovelace is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lily Keil is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. Your party can no longer continue and is forced to retreat! DG: The party led by Lily Keil has been fully Exhausted by Otherworldly Hollow!
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The hydra is certainly not an easy opponent - and one this large isn't going to be put down without a considerable fight. As the group closes with it, two things become apparently.
The first is whatever is affecting the beast is making it regenerate... well like a hydra. As soon as damage is done to it, some sort of darkness seethes under its flesh and it begins to regrow the damaged part quite quickly. A moment after Josephine puts her shot into it, the creature's flesh spits out the round, letting it fall to the ground.
Lily even blows one of its heads off, and it quickly grows that back as well, the serpentine growth writhing about for a moment before it just disgorges a new terrible fanged maw. Leon's blade rips open its side, and blood comes pouring out - but even that seems dangerous, as it hisses and boils as it eats at the floor.
But what is worse is as the creature flails and stomps around, trying to hit people in the group, its also causing rocks to fall from the ceiling. Continuing the fight much longer might bring the whole place down, and Bart backs off for a moment. "This place is too unstable! We need to get out of here!" he calls. They're not making enough progress on actually killing it - and if they want too long, the ceiling may collapse on their heads!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Regeneration?
It's a problem.
Frowning as she nonetheless prepares another shot, Josie can already see that they're not doing much good -- she'll run out of bullets long before it runs out of heads. Even when Lily blows one its heads clean off, it just comes growing back.
She's already turning to more arcane measures, running the fingers of her free hand through the necessary gestures of a spell, when the flailing of the beast knocks part of the ceiling loose, sending chunks of rock hailing to the rock floor -- and pool -- below.
Josie doesn't need to be told twice. The ceiling here is giving in. Rising, she turns -- glancing back this time, just long enough to see if the others are coming -- racing for the distant door.
"Tomorrow's another day!" she calls back.
Meaning: get out of here so there'll /be/ a tomorrow.