2017-05-14: Fire in the Hole
- Log: Dire in the Hole
- Cast: Kahm Yugh, Jude Moshe, Morgan Newkirk, Stork Bluegaze
- Where: The Sacred Ruins of Linga
- Date: May 14th, 2017
- Summary: Kahm recruits several diggers to explore the Sacred Ruins of Linga in an attempt to learn what Adlehyde has been trying to dig up, some of them familiar, others...much less so
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
**************** NOTICE ****************
The SMITH & LUIO AGENCY hereby issues an open call for all DIGGERS and GENERAL ADVENTURERS to commence an EXPEDITION at the SACRED GROUNDS OF LINGA on behalf of its client, the BLEDAVIK SOCIETY FOR HISTORY AND HERITAGE. Participants will be rewarded with a competitive pay for services provides, and shall be entitled to any treasures not deemed of historical or cultural significance for purposes of the expedition.
Interested parties should rendezvous with appointed company agent MARCUS RIDER at the expedition site at the appropriate date and time.
*****************************************
This was the missive that had gone up in the adventurer's guild and various other locations around Adlehyde in the previous week. Kahm's previous experience with enlisting the services of diggers had demonstrated that the promise of some gella and a potential artifact or two were more than enough to get a few able hands to help, and Lieutenant Van Houten's previous report on the expedition at the Leck Mines had given him some insight on names to watch out for.
The Gebler Captain stood at the entrance of the Sacred Grounds in the full guise of 'Marcus Rider', his trademark black hat, vest, and boots now showing a degree of wear and tear more appropriate for the role he'd been trying to ape the first day he set foot into Adlehyde. The man's blue-steeled gaze flitted between his timepiece and the horizon with a minor impatience, and he wondered if the current issue with the 'Hellions' wasn't already interfering with their operations. Ideally, he'd like to get started before dark.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"You look like a guy who values his time."
The voice comes, nonchalant and easy, as 'Marcus Rider' stares impatiently towards the skyline beyond. The source isn't particularly hard to spot -- a messy mop of red hair and a lax amber stare accompanied by the laziest smile one could ever muster is there to meet Kahm the moment he looks as Jude Moshe makes his way towards the entrance of the Sacred Grounds. Thumbs hooked into his pants pockets, he very slowly looks towards that timepiece the other man keeps steadfastly glancing at like someone who's been watching the act for a while now.
"Just a wild guess, though," he mentions after, off-handedly. The shrug that follows is a haphazard one, rolling past his shoulders like the sluggish lap of an ocean wave. His right hand lifting, the red-headed sellsword(-slash-journalist)'s gaze rolls towards the dungeon's entrance, as if to quietly inspect it with a certain air of familiarity. Or...
... maybe it's just to give wordless directions, considering the fact that seconds later what looks like a bird swoops past seconds later, delving right into the caverns before disappearing amidst the creeping shadows with only the briefest glint of something metallic to hint at its passage and nature.
"So, Bledavik, huh? Long way from home," Moshe decides to remark instead of acknowledging any commentary about the bird, head tilting."You are one dedicated guy, I'll give you that much. Hope they're at least giving you some nice benefits. Then again, maybe getting out of that dumpster fire of a desert is a benefit in and of itself."
...
"No offense."
There. That ought to cover it.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
The promise of cash and prizes always gets the attention of some people. Even when those people really have no business being out of bed or up and about after facing down the physical embodiment of fear and rage. However if there is one thing that has never stopped MOrgan Newkirk, its logic.
Which is why he's here. His horce clip-clopping up the trail towards the mouth of the cave. Ears perked forwards. His shirt seems freshly patched, as does the fox-man himself.
Most of his wounds though were not delt to the physical. They were less visible, delt to the soul. Ones even more dangerous and insidious than the slashes he recieved from that Knight's swords.
However there was no use dwelling on the past. No use wishing things had changed. No use raging against the series of events that brought him here. No, the best way past this pain in his soul was to keep busy. Keep moving forwards.
He was good at that.
His voice is lazy as he reaches the entrence to this little jaunt. "Evenin," His drawl just slightly more pronounced. He may have been drinking.
...look whiskey is purely medicinal!!
"I'm guessin' this is the right place for our little decent to the depths?" A flash of a grin.
There is a laugh though as the second one of the team shows up. "I'm told its a dry heat at least." He angles the words towards Jude. "...which really in a bloody desert makes no difference at all."
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
EARLIER TODAY
"Aaah! Me ankle's sprained" cried the burly man, clutching the joint at the end of his tree trunk-sized leg. "Oh, geeze! Oh, fiddlesticks! Now I'll never make it to the dig at the SACRED GROUNDS OF LINGA."
"Oh dear, sir. You look to be in a pickle," said a small man, crouching next to the burly adventurer on the side of the road. "That sprain looks nasty. Here, let me bind it." He does, with the giant's permission. The thick pelt of wiry hair that covers his entire body makes the wrapping and poulticing difficult, but the little man perseveres, wiping sweat from his brow. "There. That should do it, but you'll need to stay off that leg for a week or so."
"Oh, thank you, little boy!" the man cried again, wrapping the little man in a crushing hug.
"I'm... not a little boy..." gasped the victim. "I'm just very short."
"But, ALAS, wee baby man," continued the first man. "If I don't get to that dig and rustle up some cash, my dear old mother an ailing wife will... die! Oh, what a pickle, as you said. I've no money for the very specific medicines they require, or the very expensive foods my wife's diet demands. Whatever shall I do?"
Disentangling himself from the hug, the small shaman stands, still only coming up to the sitting adventurer's nipples. "Don't worry, sir!" he says, pumping a fist with determination. "Stork Bluegaze will get you that sweet cash! Just you wait right here. I'll be back before you know it!"
Mounting an absolutely giant cassowary, Stork Bluegaze rode off down the road.
NOW
"Hello sirs sorry I am late," Stork calls from atop the cassowary's back. "I am here to save lives through the power of adventure!" He hops nimbly down from his perch and strides up to Marcus Rider, extending (and raising) a hand. "My name is Stork Bluegaze and it's a pleasure to meet you." Turning his head to the other arrivals as well, he offers a beaming smile. "All of you, too! Let's work together! And don't worry about the heat-- I'm sure it will be nice and cool inside."
DG: You have created a party! Your Digger status has been reset! As party leader your presence is very important! If you need to leave, please first promote another player using +party/promote <target>. Remember to set your tools before setting out with +tools/load. DG: Kahm Yugh has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Kahm Yugh. DG: Morgan Newkirk has joined your party! DG: Stork Bluegaze has joined your party! DG: Jude Moshe has joined your party! DG: The party hasn't entered the dungeon yet. Please use +dungeon/enter for your first draw. DG: A party led by Kahm Yugh is now entering Sacred Grounds of Linga. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Annoying Ascent *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The path to the Sacred Grounds of Linga leads your party up a long and twisted mountain slope. Bare patches of earth suggest a path once existed, but now it seems you'd have to be half-goat to follow it in places. The first challenge of the Sacred Grounds, it seems, is climbing your way to the entrance. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Kahm's eyes glanced in the direction of Jude's voice, giving the redheaded stranger no more than a half-second's assessment before succinctly clicking the button on his timepiece. "Many services are billed by the hour." He said in response for Jude's remark. Time was money. He followed the first arrival's gaze, squinting when he saw the flash of something-a bird, possibly?-as the Jude turned the subject towards his nominal origin. "Smith & Luio takes good care of its employees, and many of our clients have ties to Adlehyde." Kahm answered, eyeing Morgan and his steed clopping over the trailhead, "For myself, I enjoy the opportunity to travel."
Morgan was a more familiar face, both from the Lieutenant's reports and their own brief encounter in a saloon some months ago, though Kahm was not entirely sure he was welcome when he spied the telltale signs of intoxication. "This is the site, thank you both for coming." He said, his eyes narrowing slightly, "..keep in mind, of course, that the agency bears no fault in the incident of injury and death during the expedition."
Stork is perhaps the queerest arrival of all-Kahm was familiar enough with the customs and dress of various Baskar tribes, but this was the first time he'd seen one mounted on such an unusual...conveyance. "Marcus Rider." He introduced himself by way of Stork's handshake, no poise lost by the shorter man's arrival and exuberance, "Well met, and thank you all for coming. We'd best get started while we have sunlight. Any stragglers will just need to catch up."
The Captain will take the lead at the head of the group from there, navigating the rocky terrain and sharp ascent with the worthiness of a man who'd spent enough time outdoors, his hat tilted to low to abate the dying rays of the sun on his face. The switchbacks begin to get a little steeper, and the feeling of sweat on Kahm's brow was suggestion enough that he'd benefit from a little extra oomph in the endeavor, quietly eating a ration to compensate for his lack of dinner as he pressed forward on slowly burning calves.
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Field Rations toward his party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
The cassowary looks at the patchy trail with distaste. Well, it looks at most things with distaste, but Stork can sense a specific flavour of the emotion here. This is the kind of challenge that would be a pittance if the cassowary could fly, but of course it cannot. That's why they're in this situation, after all. "Hey now," Stork says softly, leaning towards the cassowary's head. "It'll be all right, friend. Just take it slow and steady, and we'll get up there before you know it. Save your energy!"
The cassowary tilts its head to better hear its rider, then squawks shrilly and slashes at the ground with a wicked claw, as if seeking to eviscerate the very earth that would dare to offer it such an insulting "path." Ignoring Stork's advice, it bounds up the mountain and is soon worn out, slowing its pace on the difficult terrain.
"What did I say? Reign it in, friend!" Stork says, stroking the beast's scaly blue neck. It glowers back at him, but finally slows. It starts to take steps with exaggerated caution, as if trying to prove that this new, slower approach was its own idea, rather than the result of fatigue.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
"You got a pretty headstrong little friend there, friend." Calls Morgan cheerfully as he dismonts. A few quiet words are exchanged with his horse before he leaves him tied to a bit of scrub near the start of the trail up. "...just like people to make the way down start high up." He adds to no one in perticular.
Then he starts. No matter what kind of intoxication he might be feeling, the Drifter plies himself to his task with his usual flair. Picking his way over the stones and bare earth with ease. "Names Morgan, if either of y'all are intrested. "I remember ya though, Rider. Didn't know you were the one headin up this little get together." He adds with a chuckle as he comes to a espicially steep and nasty bit of slope.
"Huh," A pause. "...I'll set some topes up higher up."
...wait higher up?
With that he raises his gauntleted hand to point at a strong looking outcropping of rock. There is a whirr of power before a blue-white grappleing beam shoots out to lash to the outcropping and haul the fox further up the cliff.
Yup. He cheats.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used its Tool Force Lash toward its party's challenge, Annoying Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
I enjoy the opportunity to travel, Marcus says. Jude runs a hand through that unkempt mop of red hair.
"Yeah, I bet," he asides easily. "Not that 'perpetual warfare' doesn't have its quaint charms, or anything, but I bet it trying to skirt around battlefields can get pretty stale after a while." A pregnant pause, before he asides a small, nonchalant smile Morgan's way, like someone sharing a quiet joke. "But at least the heat's dry, right?"
And with that, the redhead's hands clasp behind the back of his head, elbows tilted upwards as he looks towards the steep climb they're in store for. His lips purse. He whistles. "Wow. That's gonna be a pain in the ass to get past. Three people's not a whole hell of a lotta manpower, either."
Stork Bluegaze has been there for at least a half a minute before Jude made this claim. A handful of seconds pass before the tall man sees that offered hand in the peripherals of his vision. He blinks. Looks down. Slowly.
"... Huh. Four, then. Kinda."
Did he just say he's here to save lives through the power of adventure--?
"... Not sure how cool we're actually gonna be when you're such a big barrel of sunshine, kiddo." He even reaches out to ruffle Stork's hair. Like an older brother might. "Neat bird, though." Really. That thing looks like it's going to maul them all to death.
Still, he carries on soon after Kahm, taking towards the cliffside to grapple onto its rough and jagged edges to begin hauling himself up, frock coat flapping behind him as he goes.
"My favorite," he huffs out, between each little shove up the steep slope.
DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Annoying Ascent. DG: You fail the challenge, and take 9 Exhaustion! You have 9 total Exhaustion. 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: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Fallen Filligree *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These strange, swirling creatures look like they may once have been guardian spirits, nearly-formless creatures of pure air. Unfortunately, the air in this part of the cave is pretty rank, and the creatures bring their full flavour to bear as they fight. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
The climb is a hard one, taking the wind out of the climbers. Morgan's ropes don't seem to help everyone, though the fox seems also to be part goat. Considering he made it to the top.
...see fact that he cheats.
The top though is not as pleasent as they all might have thought though. As before any of the little group has a chance to catch their breath, something else arrives to rip the breath away again.
Horrible creatures of fetid stale air swarm out of the mouth of the cave. Ghostly howls on the wind as they swarm in. Some attempt to shove them back down the path they just conquered, others simply try to suffocate the intrepid adventurers.
Morgan isn't really having any of it though.
"What the hell are these things?" The Gauntlet swiches to a more defensive mode, shields made of blue-white energy springing up to keep the creatures as bay as he pulls a pistol to try to dissipate the things before they get the upper hand. "They smell worse than a damn dancin' troop's boots!" A pause. "I know thats oddly specific. Long story. Like most of my long stories I can sum it up by 'It was Cassidy's fault.'"
This message brought to you by the power of gunfire.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used its Tool Shield Gauntlet toward its party's challenge, Fallen Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Kahm felt like he might as well have eaten nothing at all. The hike upward remained hard and unremitting, and the temptation to take a break is strong by the time those of them without a fancy grapple tool manage reach the point where the trail leveled out. But time wasn't their ally today, and so the Captain continues to stride forwards. "That's an interesting gadget." He says towards Morgan once they meet up, "Where'd you happen to get it?"
His curiosity seemed strictly professional.
"Come on, then." He'll call back out to Jude and Stork, double-checking to verify that yes, okay, Stork did bring the bird with him, "The worst of the climb is over, for now."
But not the worst the sacred site had to offer, apparently, as a gang of foul-swirling apparitions descended on them from above. Kahm instinctively reached for his sidearm, then switched methods when the nature of the creatures dawned on him. "Not hellions, I think, but some manner of physical spirit all the same." He responded to Morgan, thumbing the primer on one of his sonic grenades, "If they're based on air, they may subject to dispersal.." And thus, threw the silvery devices into the midst of the creatures, hoping the resultant shockwaves and would disperse them.
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Fallen Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
"Well I'm not a kid, but sure," Stork replies, amiably enough. "I'll try to keep as cool as you!" He winks, urging the cassowary on before it can attempt to rip off Jude's hand. He and the bird make it to the top at last, but both look fairly wilted by the experience. He looks up to see Morgan practically soaring up the mountain, and gasps. "Wow! That's quite the contraption, sir," he calls, giving the fox man a thumbs up.
Just then, the creatures appear, pouring out of perdition. "Oh, geeze!" he cries, clapping his hands over his eyes. "That's horrible!" The Morgan he shouts, "I've never seen anything like it!"
The expedition leader tosses a sonic grenade into the midst of the mist, and the cassowary follows it like a dog after a ball. It screeches a rage so pure it would make a berserker blush, adding its thunderous voice to the effects of the explosive. It also begins whirling about, slashing at the apparitions with its claws as Stork wails in fear, still keeping his eyes tightly shut, gripping the bird around its chest and hanging on for dear life. Whether this has any effect or not, it certainly seems to be cathartic.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Fallen Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Well.
That could have gone a bit better.
As Jude climbs, the sole of his boot hits a patch of slick rock. Already exhausted enough, the move has the redheaded sellsword slipping against that moist, friction-free surface in a way that makes amber eyes go wide.
"Ah crap--" he begins, eloquently, before gravity introduces itself to him in a most formal way by gently and subtly enabling his free fall off the slope. That look of shock in his eyes is almost muted, in its own way, seconds before he finds the will and instinct to grab hold of a rockface and -yank- tightly upon it, snapping back into the surface of the cliffside with a wet crack of impact and a disgruntled grunt of pain.
"... glad... to see my... hypothesis checked out..." he groans, voice muffled against the dense cluster of mineral and stone it is smooshed against.
It takes some doing, but eventually he scrapes his way back to the top, sprawling as he manages to clock in behind the others. He heaves a burning breath, shaking his head with a way utterly, casually hapless for someone who almost ended up a splatter on the uncaring earth. "Guess I oughta start cutting back on the cigarettes, huh?" he murmurs with all due consideration.
Seconds before he produces a nice, silver cigarette case from his frock coat to pull one free.
He said he -ought- to.
He's pocketing that nice case, cigarette hanging from his lips, when he looks back towards the sight of those ghastly spirits. He stares, blankly.
And he's still sitting as he produces that large revolver shotgun, the runes on it hissing with blue life as he fires off several shots of ice-laden ammunition the creatures' way.
"Hey, come on now, jeez," he utters around his unlit cigarette, "don't you people know what a smoke break means? Rude."
He'd probably even go back to lighting it, except... Morgan uses that strange ARM, and couples it with that declaration of a single, distinctive name. 'It was Cassidy's fault.'
Turned away from the rest of them, Jude stares impassively at the ground beneath him as if in quiet contemplation of the fall he nearly took, an expressionless stare that breaks past his casual indifference.
By the time he looks back towards the rest of them, it's with a commiserating smile for Morgan's sake.
"Ouch. Sounds like a real pain in the ass."
And then blinks as the cassowary goes on the rampage.
"... is it really safe to have that thing around? I feel like I'm gonna get rabies just looking at it." All these things, distracting him from his precious smokes.
DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Fallen Filligree. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 6 Exhaustion! You have 15 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Jude Moshe has drawn a new Challenge.
=================<* CHALLENGE - Minor Miners Minor in Mining *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Down this corridor, you find a pair of centuries-old skeletons - miners, from the looks of them, their tools lying where they last fell. A barely-legible map suggests they were trying to dig their way around a particularly fiendish section of the Sacred Grounds...is it worth trying to finish the job? The tools are right there... =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
In the chaos, the cassowary fails to notice that its slashes and stabs are having absolutely no effect on the wraiths... but the same can't be said for the reverse. Their stinky touch does more than ruffle the cassowary's feathers, and one of their inky tendrils even manages to slap Stork across his cheek. The diminutive Baskar shrieks in pain and horror, and the sound is swiftly mirrored by the towering terror of a bird. It immediately leaps backwards, away from the fray, but the damage is done. It squaks and fluffs its feathers in angry indignation-- but secretly, in its withered soul, it feels shame at its failure to protect its charge.
"Is... is the danger over?" Stork asks in a whisper, and the cassowary caws softly in reply. "Okay, if you say so," he says miserably, opening his eyes and roughly scrubbing away a few errant tears. "That really hurt..." he mumbles. The bird turns its head away and marches onwards, seemingly ignoring the man.
It marches straight up to the end of the corridor, then looks down and spears the map with its beak, bringing it up to show Stork. He squints at it, then passes it on to the next person before dismounting and hefting a pick. "Nothing for it. Here, friend," he says, pulling a wad of some brown and red material from his pouch and tossing it over his shoulder. "Take a break."
The cassowary snatches the snack out of the air, swallows it, and then puffs up to look twice its usual size. With a grunt, it charges the wall crest-first and begins repeatedly ramming the rocks. Stork gives a few half-hearted swings of the pick, then sighs. "Oh, well. I suppose you're working out some stress."
DG: Stork Bluegaze has used their Tool Cassowary Snack toward their party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
With the guardian spirits dealt with, Jude finally deigns to push back onto his feet. Unlit cigarette hanging from his lips, he produces matches from his pockets as he meanders past the dissipating wreckage of those spiritual presences with a lackadaisical gate. He wanders deeper into the Sacred Grounds (why are they so sacred??), looking to strike his match against the rocky walls surrounding him, only to find himself stymied by the moisture slicking their surface. Frowning just a bit, the redhead presses in deeper as if in a single-minded pursuit for a dryer spot to finally light up that cigarette in...
... only to find himself stopping just in front of a heap of skeletons. He blinks, staring at those bones already mostly crumbling and decomposed, the sign of centuries of wear and tear and erosion and good old-fashioned entropy. Amber eyes trail a path of femurs and ulnas and countless finger bones that point in the direction of an unfinished dig. His brows lift in quiet consideration. He nudges one of those skulls, feeling the bone crumble away against the slightest touch.
"So, first thing, I think they're dead," which is important to note, because not all skeletons are. "Second thing -- I think they were trying to dig around something."
If the sound of hellish wailing that punctuates those words wasn't indication enough.
"... and I'm kinda thinking they had the right idea."
Cigarette forgotten for the moment, Jude lifts that large shotgun again. He opens up the revolving cylinder, fishing in his frock's pockets for a symbol-inscribed round of ammunition to slot into the empty chamber before snapping it closed again. He points the shotgun at the partially-dug hole, nodding towards it for the others. Helpfully.
"Need you guys to just open it up a bit more for me, and I'll take care of the rest for you," he declares, casually. Generously, even. Like he was doing them a favor.
Translation: he's not helping dig.
He's doing the important part here, after all.
DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Demolition Shell toward his party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
The grounds don't seem very Sacred anymore, at least to Morgan. I mean really if they were Sacred they wouldn't have anything that smelled that bad in them would they? That was just wrong. "...well. Of course it is," A flash of a grin. "But at least it isn't boring." This towards Jude on his commiserating smile. Before they run into a wall in their progress.
A literal wall.
"So I'm guessing we dig you supervise?" This to Jude as he makes his little comment. The fox nudges the skeletons with his foot before he nods. "...yup. Look actual dead to me." At least they havn't tried to eat his foot yet. Thats something.
A deep sigh before he picks up a tool, an ancient pick it looks like. "You gonna hel--" This question was aimed towards Stork, just before said persons cassowary goes charging by to headbutt the wall. "...right." A beatpause. "You gotta real intrestin' bird, you know that friend?" He adds with an amused smile. "...he's energetic. I give him that." A beatpause. "I'm not gonna dig in his direction, if its all the same to you."
But he does dig, widening gaps for Jude's plan to get though. "Whats your name anyway?" This one towards Stork and Jude before he realises that Marcus asked him a question.
"Oh this ol' thing?" He waggles the fingers of the gauntlet. "Found it on a bunch of lizardmen. They didn't need it anymore."
DG: Morgan Newkirk has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
The combined offensives seems to scatter the possessed spirits to whatever winds brought them, along with their odious scent. Kahm counts this as a blessing and moves on with the rest of the group, keeping his eyes peeled for any further traps or enemies that await in these supposedly 'sacred' grounds. He tiled his head in a nod towards Morgan when the digger explained how he got his unique tool, "Lizardmen, was it? They've been known to do their own raids on ancient sites before."
Inwardly, the Gebler Captain notes that Morgan was providing a consistent story.
Jude's explanation for overcoming the dilemma that had killed the unfortunate miners seemed sound enough, and Kahm had learned he couldn't afford to let his pride interfere in an operation when it came to toiling alongside -lambs-. With nary a grunt of protest, he hoisted a picked and set to work aside Stork, his swinging more methodical and rhythmic, chipping away at stone with an earnest patience. He kept his distance from the angry bird, who seemed set on attacking the rock like it owed him money...just what was in the food the Baskar had given his feather charge, anyways?
Eventually, Jude is ready to fire. Kahm hoisted his pick up, covered his ears, and prepared to deal with whatever jumped out at them next.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Minor Miners Minor in Mining. DG: You fail the challenge, and take 5 Exhaustion! You have 20 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Stork Bluegaze has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Driving Mist Daze-y *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The fungal growths along the wall that have been providing illumination suddenly begin discharging mycetic spores so thick that they're almost a cloud. With some quick thinking, you may be able to protect yourself and advance forward. If not, you've heard stories about these funky mushrooms... =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
The runes on Jude's shotgun ARM begin to glow with a crackling, hissing orange-red. The chamber crackles, the barrel spinning as more and more of those symbols light up along the gun, growing brighter and brighter, whining louder and louder.
Lizardmen, huh?
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he helpfully declares, seconds before that demolition shell explodes from the barrel of the shotgun with a shriek of metal, imbedding itself into the hole helpfully dug, sparking, crackling, symbols infused with intense amounts of magical power--
--before it just EXPLODES violently, tearing a path through the rest of the way for them to clear their way through.
"Yeah. Call me Overseer Jude Moshe. Something like that."
And off Jude stalks amicably, to find a good space to light that damn cigarette.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
"Thanks. It wouldn't like people swinging tools around near it, so that's for the best. It's my familiar," Stork explains, leaning against the tunnel wall and dabbing at his bleeding cheek with a sticky, spicy-smelling paste. "I'm Stork Bluegaze, from Avia Village. "It was nice of those lizardmen to give you their grappling hook. They must be a kind people." He smiles. "I've never met one, but maybe I'll go try to find one when we're done here."
When Jude calls his shot, Stork stands and makes a swift gesture. The cassowary abruptly stops mid-ram, then hops the several feet back towards Stork in a single bound. The wall explodes, and Stork throws an arm over his eyes and face to protect them from the debris. The cassowary stares stubbornly directly into the explosion. A razor-sharp shard of rock flies into its eye... and bounces right off.
"I can see more light back there, I think," Stork proclaims, peering into the dust-- dust which has yet to settle. "I can feel a breeze, but this dust isn't clearing... maybe..." he makes a few more gestures with his hand, and a cool, gentle breeze wafts through the cavern. The dust starts to settle, but this only reveals a new threat billowing out of the newly-blasted hole. Stork's eyes widen. "Spores!" he shouts. "Cover your mouths!"
Suiting action to words, the little Baskar pulls his bandana up over his mouth and fishes a bundle of braided herbs out of his pouch. Chanting softly, he runs a striker along the wall and holds the flame to the end of the bundle, producing a thick, pungent smoke. With the same hand gestures as before, he blows the heavy smoke towards the spores, where it mingles with-- and, hopefully, neutralizes-- the dangerous cloud.
Some of the smoke also coils around the room, wreathing the other adventurers in its strong but pleasant scent. It's invigorating.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has used their Tool Smudge Stick toward their party's challenge, Driving Mist Daze-y.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Spores.
"Well. This brings back some fond memories."
Jude remembers this area all too well from the last time he was at these would-be sacred grounds. His hand is already covering his mouth, taking in a deep breath even as Stork provides his warning, his brows furrowing faintly into the stretch of fungus. As he prepares himself, though, that bird Kahm glimpsed at the entrance flies in and past the rest of them; gunmetal gray, it looks almost like a messenger bird...
... except for how it looks to be made of metal and gears rather than feathers and flesh.
"Atta boy, Jacob," Jude encourages with a faint smile; the automaton remembers this place too, much better than Jude. And as Stork starts to chant and light his smudge stick -- which reminds Jude with no small irritation of the presence of his unlit cigarette, now tucked against his ear -- Jude points towards his mechanical, bird-like companion, and the route its taking through the halls.
"Follow the bird!" he declares, with all due serious, before wading into the wreath of soothing smoke, one hand over his mouth as he goes.
"Lizardmen are pretty nice, kid," he casually asides to Stork as they walk. "Really friendly, great conversationalists...
"... have a real unfortunate habit of eating any tiny things they come across. Something about predator-prey instincts or something, they just identify anything about yea tall--" he gestures, at roughly around Stork's height, maybe a little taller, "--as their main source of food because of poor eyesight."
And he says it with such conversational confidence that it must be true.
DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Jacob toward his party's challenge, Driving Mist Daze-y.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
That warning wasn't fast enough for Morgan it seems. Or at least it wasn't fast enough to let him dodge that chunk of rock that flew out of the explosion to clip him on the side of the head. He staggers for a moment as he sees stars as he reaches up to touch the quickly forming lump on the side of his skull.
"Mighty fine little shooter you have there, Jude." He adds wryly as he shoves himself off the rock wall to try to regain his footing.
The dust obscures vision and he peers into the mess but the shout from Stork has him scrambling for a bandana. He pulls it up over his nose and mouth, no reason not to trust the little Beskar. Not a moment too soon.
"Stork is it? Quick eye there. And..." A touch of a smirk from under the cloth. "...the lizard men didn't actually give it to me. They just didn't need it anymore. See they wanted to have me for dinner and I politely objected."
An amused chuckle again as he cants eyes towards Marcus. "Heh, you ain't the first one to ask about this little thing. Though no offence ment but the last two who asked were a might easier on the eyes."
Then Jude is pushing forwards in the wake of a mechanical bird and Morgan makes the decision to trust the man as he follows after. Again that chuckle. "Well Jude, ya got about the right of it. So if you do meet a lizard man, Stork. Don't go askin him about dinner. He might take it the wrong way."
DG: Morgan Newkirk has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Driving Mist Daze-y.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
"Overseer of what, precisely?" Kahm's asked of Jude once the explosion had cleared, trying his best to channel his irritation into sarcasm. The man was reminding him too much of a certain Black Tie leader. Of Stork's seeming ability to have a positive outlook on nearly any topic, the man had no words. The young man must've been as green as Baskar come.
Kahm fitted the cassowary with a stern, appraising look after Stork mentioned how he got him. The bird looked awfully real for a familiar.
However, the Baskar lad shouted the word 'SPORES!!' before the Captain could weigh in on anything, prompting Kahm to immediately cover his mouth before being instructed to do so, the memory of the hellion lair and its insidious fungal spores still fresh in his mind. Many things happen at once-the fumes of Stork's herbal incense fill Kahm with a furious sense of poise and purpose, while the other avian he'd glimpsed before this journey started turned out to be an automaton under Jude's command. Questions abound, but the Solarian had learned this was what you signed up for when working with differs. He took the opportunity that Jude and Stork presented, huddling forward on the path 'Jacob' had laid out for them, subtly invoking his etheric element of choice to push a soft breeze through the cavern, hoping to push the concoction of spores and Baskar folk remedies out and ahead of them.
"None taken." He offers towards Morgan with a muffled voice, "It would seem you're not the only one with an affinity for gadgets, anyways."
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Driving Mist Daze-y. DG: You fail the challenge, and take 8 Exhaustion! You have 28 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - Effervescent Elementals *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These strange, swirling creatures look like they may once have been guardian spirits, nearly-formless creatures of pure air. Unfortunately, the air in this part of the cave is pretty rank, and the creatures bring their full flavour to bear as they fight. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Under ordinary circumstances, the combined tactical efforts of the group would've been enough to see them all through the stupefying fungal spores safely. Stork's quick thinking and tribal knowledge compared with Jude's handy automaton might well have seen them all through this one, if the corrupted elementals from before hadn't re-grouped and headed the expedition off to take their revenge.
The rise up with swirling winds and hallowed moans, blasting the group with spores and fetid winds alike.
With little more than his hand to protect, Kahm is unable to avoid taking yet another breath of unknown spores, already feeling the dulling effects on his mind and reactions. "Not...again...damn it..." He mutters, blindsidedly gripping a grenade and trying to make out the corrupted spirits in his hazed vision. "Blasted spirits...." He gasps, "Everyone...try and stay back, they're still here!"
He looses the grenade while simultaneously trying to hobble to some sort of cover. Hopefully he actually lobbed it at the air elementals and not his friendly digger pals or anything, that wouldn't be great.
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Effervescent Elementals.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
"Oh," Stork says, looking somewhat crestfallen. "Well, I shouldn't wish to be eaten. I don't know what the cassowary would do without me." The bird in question looks pointedly away. When the spores hit, Stork's bandana and protective wreath of smudge protect him and his familiar from the ill effects, allowing them to pursue Jude's mechavian through the new passageway. Unfortunately, the darkness houses more than simply spores-- it houses those damnable shades. The exhibition captain's grenade goes off again, and Stork continues to fan the smoke towards the new apparitions, redoubling his chanting. Occasionally he checks the back of his hand, as if he were hiding a cheat sheet there.
Clad in smudge smoke and armored with sacred magics, the cassowary flies into action. One would think the bird would be a little more conservative this time around, but one would be deeply mistaken to think in such a way: if anything, it seems even angrier than before, eyes and talons flashing in the sickly light of the bioluminescent fungus. Without Stork on its back, its frenzy is even more fearsome than its first assault on these shades, and it still seems to take no notice of the efficacy of its attacks. Hopefully Stork's meager sorcery will lend the creature what power it needs to vanquish these shades once and for all.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Effervescent Elementals.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Like it?" Jude asks, waving that large ARM about one-handed. "Put it together myself. Yep. Not as fancy as a Lizardman's ARM, but it cost me a pretty penny getting all the right materials. Guess you can't put a price on quality though, right?" He says all this conversationally, even as he rubs the back of his head and purses his lips after.
"... still, the debt collectors managed to put a pretty steep price on it, actually."
Deeper they go, and when they get closer to the opening past the mushroom and fungus, Jude exhales a nonchalant sigh of relief, he plucks that cigarette free, slipping his ARM away into his coat once more to fish free a match. Overseer of what? Kahm asks.
"Love," he says, without so much as missing a beat, voice entirely serious as he strikes that match--
--only to have it suddenly BURST into flames upon contact with that expulsion of fetid, gaseous spirits, the entire match combusting in a way that forces him to cast it towards the ground behind him. Where it hits the fungus behind them.
And ignites it.
"Ah, crap," he grouses, good-naturedly. Despite the fire. Cropping up behind them.
"Sooo that's not really an option here," he asides leisurely to Kahm, leveling that ARM upon the elemental spirits to peel off several fiery shotgun slugs into whatever accounts for their central mass. "We're gonna want to press forward, fearless leader, if you want to stamp your approval on that."
Flames lick at his heels.
"Maybe spin the wheels of bureaucracy kinda fast, though." Just some advice. A second passes. BLAM. BLAM.
"But at least we don't have to worry about the spores anymore so--
"--I'm just gonna call it a win!"
DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Effervescent Elementals.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
They were almost out. Almost out. Morgan could see the clear air on the other side of the spores...
At least he could.
Until the return of the stinking wind from before blows it all back in his face.
He chokes as the draft slams the spores past the meger protection offered by the cloth around his face. He chokes on them. Eyes watering as visions swim before his eyes. He chokes and hacks his way though the rest of the spores and fungas, eyes tearing up before he comes face to face with a vision of one of hte elementals.
What he sees causes him to snarl something in a language that isn't from around these parts but sounds rather impolite. The ARM sweeps up, the shields snap up. Used offensively those barriers of light can smash and slash like blades if he so chooses.
...and he so chooses.
Apparently what he's seeing is making him rather unhappy. Judging from the laid back ears and the bushy tail.
And then there is fire.
He rolls out of it, the vision taking second place to putting out his damn tail. "Watch where you throw fire! I sware you're as bad as my other friends!" He adds as he spins to place his back to a wall.
He would have something to say about debt collectors if he had time. Maybe later.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used its Tool Shield Gauntlet toward its party's challenge, Effervescent Elementals. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 1 Exhaustion! You have 29 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Morgan Newkirk has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Jellies *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The wall fungus has spread to the floor of this part of the Sacred Grounds...and it's exceptionally slick, to boot. Making your way through this part of the halls will require some careful coordination. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Oh this is gonna be painful.
The fire, the shields, the sheer angry cassowaryness, the bombs, they all combine to dissipate the soiled air a second time round. Of course its air, so if it'll be back or not is the question.
The fire and the pungent insense of the Baskar also seems to have gotten rid of the remaining effects of the spores.
Which is good.
But now what faces the slightly singed and slightly loopy troop is...well...even more diabolotical.
A ledge covered in slime.
Of course the path continues on the upper level, but getting there is going to be...well its going to be something. Espicially to get Stork and his familiar up there.
"...I don't suppose your familiar can fly?" Morgan asks, his voice still rough from flames and spores. "...wait. Familiar. That means your one of those finger-wiggling magic types? Don't suppose you can make us fly. Eh?"
Too much to hope for he knows but he still hopes.
"...I'll see if I can get up there, then we can get some ropes and get the rest of everyone up. Unless you all can think of something better..."
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used its Tool Force Lash toward its party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
Stork manages to make it through the scuffle unscathed this time, but he's shaking in terror at the sights he's seen. He hadn't suspected that trying to help that huge man save his wife and mother would land him in such a perilous situation. The smudge stick burns down to his fingers, singeing them slightly, and he hisses and drops the spent braid to the ground. The fires behind him consume it as they pass over and eventually burn out as well.
He's about to breathe a sigh of relief when his foot slips out from beneath him. Squawking much like his avian familiar, he falls backwards and nearly cracks his head open-- but the cassowary is suddenly there, swiftly but gently nudging him back to his feet with its head. "Whew, thanks," Stork sighs in relief, clambering back up on to the unharmed bird. It clucks, then sets out to scramble over the slick surface. It's not doing a very good job of paying attention to where it's stepping, and Stork seems to be still too shaken to offer it any guidance.
"Sorry, neither of us can fly," Stork says, sounding a little disheartened by the admission. "I can tell you it's probably going to rain tomorrow, though. Probably."
DG: Stork Bluegaze has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Look, Kahm got hit by stupid fungus, he's a little compromised. Fortunately if Jude's logic doesn't quite reach him the freakin' fireball certainly does, removing all current traces of the fungus and torching quite a few of the Gebler Captain's britches as he leaps forward with a barking order, "Fine, right! Press forward and get these blasted things out of my sight!"
And indeed, the explosion combined with the group's other measures seems to cast the elementals away-hopefully for good this time. Kahm wasn't quite sure if he didn't recognize what Morgan had said because it was in a queer language or if it was a lingering effect of the spores, but it was quietly noted nonetheless. The man takes another bite of one of his rations in the wake of their narrow escape, clearing his mind and feeling some of the energy he'd previously expended return to his tiring bones, passing portions out to others if they accept, even fire-causing Jude.
The next fungus they encounter seems to be more of a physical obstacle, and Kahm has little choice but to go along with Morgan's plan being that he has no better ideas.
Fortunately, he did come with rope, tossing it to the fox-eared digger when the other crosses the gap, tying it good and taught to a nearby pillar before carefully threading his way across. "Careful you don't drop another match here, Jude." He adds for the overseer of love, mild burns still smarting.
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Field Rations toward his party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
More fungus.
In slippery, slimy form.
Pushing past the spore-encrusted hallway now licked with billowing flames, Jude very wisely comes to a stop just at that ledge, smoke billowing behind him with the acrid stench of that burning fungal outcropping tickling at his nostrils as his amber gaze sweeps over that ooze-slicked stretch of narrow ground. He looks to the fungus. Looks to the fire.
His shoulder lifts in a helpless shrug.
"It's all on you, buddy," he says encouragingly to Morgan, clapping the man on the shoulder with a little, supportive pat. "I'll send you my moral support from here. Just. Try to hurry."
He jabs a finger back towards the roar of the flames just behind him, slowly encroaching.
"... Because it already smells bad enough in here without adding us into the mix."
See? Supportive. At least he doesn't sound particularly concerned. Maybe he just has that much faith in Morgan, the man he just met.
"Probably, huh? Well, I guess I'll hope I get to probably enjoy that. Thanks, kiddo." And Stork, too. Even if he seems blithely ignorant of the man's actual age.
So, he'll just wait for Morgan, leaning against the wall and offering 'Marcus' a half-assed little salute that looks just formal enough to be vaguely insulting, if one wanted to read into it that way.
"Aye aye, sir."
That probably doesn't help.
DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Jumping Jellies. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 8 Exhaustion! You have 37 total Exhaustion. 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: Jude Moshe has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Keyless Keyhole *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Up ahead is a large door, its frame and surface hardened stone. The door itself doesn't seem to budge no matter how hard you push, but there is a keyhole - too bad you haven't seen a key anywhere in this place. Maybe there's some way... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Morgan can get the ropes anchored and get them thrown down but that is where the fun begins.
And by fun we meen flailing.
Cassowary and ropes don't mix. People and slime don't mix. No one wants to know just how many times people had to hug fungus covered stone to get everyone and everything up to the top of the raise.
The amount of fungus on people now should be enough explination of that.
"...yup." Morgan drawls slowly. "...thats the Digger life. Glamor and excitement." A beatpause. "And fungus. So much hellfire-be-dammed fungus."
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Slowly he glances towards Jude. "...try not to set any of us on fire?"
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
What a delightful romp.
Dragged up that rope, swaying and smacking into rock thanks, perhaps, to angry, heavy cassowary companions, Jude gets the unpleasant sensation of bone and muscle bruising to accompany the even worse sensation of slime smearing a viscous path over his tanned skin and, even worse--
"Beautiful," he says flatly as he looks down at his nice frock coat, now coated with thin layers of spindling slime that just makes his entire expression flatline. "Just. Got it fixed. Just." The words are largely saved for himself as he marches on, hands lifting helplessly into the air as that mechanical bird flies ahead.
"Maybe that probable rain will get this slime off my coat--"
By the time the others get into that large, empty chamber, Jude Moshe is leaning up against a far away wall, staring at a slime-coated match with a thoughtful expression. He shakes it. He strikes it against the wall. Nothing. Ahead, there is a door. With a keyhole. There doesn't seem to be any noticeable keys about.
There is, however, that mechanical bird, gripped onto the door, inserting one metal talon into it, and...
... is it picking the lock?
"Hey, hey, come on now, give me some credit," Jude mentions off handedly, offering a friendly smile Morgan's way. "I'm not some Black Ties pyromaniac." A pause.
"I probably won't set any of you on fire until after we find something good." Slow. Wink. Goes. Here.
"Kidding, kidding."
DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Jacob toward his party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
"Easy, friend, easy," Stork murmurs, still not fully aware of his surroundings, or the dangerously damp floors on which they find themselves. The cassowary misses a step and tumbles over the side of the ledge. Stork screams, but manages to unlimber his hatchet and slam it into the ledge's edge, arresting his descent. His other arm grabs and catches the cassowary's leg, somehow also halting the huge beast's tumble as well. They both slam into the side of the slimy, subterranean cliff.
Stork can feel his tendons slowly tearing as he attempts to hold the very heavy bird-- and himself-- with one arm. Things aren't looking good: he's strong, but he's also less than five feet tall, and trying to hold something nearly twice his size up out of the abyss. "Oh, fiddlesticks," he whines. Now would be the perfect time for Stork to suddenly unlock his latent shamanic powers, summoning a gale-force wind or a giant bird to lift the cassowary and him up to the ledge and save their lives, changing his forever and finally giving his parents something to be proud of. He squeezes his eyes shut, chanting and praying.
A slight breeze rises from the abyss, bringing the smell of sulphur and rot. It ruffles his hair and the cassowary's feathers, but little more.
Well, one thing more. The foul stench wakes the cassowary, who swings its free leg to the stone, digging its talons into the unyielding stone. Next, its beak. Then, it uses those two points and the leg to which Stork is attached to shove the little Baskar up to safety, before scrambling back up to the ledge as well. The two stay there, panting, for a few moments.
"Let's use the rope," Stork suggest, voice shaking. The cassowary nods, gently gripping the rope in its beak as the duo makes their way up past the danger.
To a door of stone. An enigmatic one. The cassowary lowers its head, but Stork places a hand on its flank, and the bird calms. Stork pulls out another braid of smudge and lights it, careful to avoid setting the flammable fungus ablaze. He summons a light breeze to blow the soothing smoke around the area, and specifically into the keyhole, just to see if it can pass through. Perhaps the tendrils of smoke will help find some hidden switch or nook in which a key may be hidden, or at least give the mechanical bird a boost in finding where the trip those tumblers. Absently, Stork holds his still-burning striker out to Jude. "You can offer a pinch of tobacco as an expression of gratitude in my culture, you know. Though usually we don't inhale it."
DG: Stork Bluegaze has used their Tool Smudge Stick toward their party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Well, something went horribly, horribly, wrong in the course of something that by all nominal logic should have gone right. Kahm is not sure exactly what, since all he recalls is having a sure-footed grip on the rope and stepping across the fungus-laden cave floor one moment and slipping and sliding on his ass the next, taking more than a few scrapes and cuts in his frantic motions to find purchase lest he be carried over an edge and into an unforgiving abyss below.
Fortunately there's no such end in store for Kahm, who slams ungainly against a cave wall and rolls over on to his side, nursing more bruises and cuts than he cared to admit. He lifts himself on one foot and then the other in a show of pure, dogged perseverance, ignoring the wretched state of his clothes (back to new ones now, he supposes) and hauling his way via a convenient network of stone handholds up to where the rest of the group confounds over door without a key.
Jude seems to have things hopefully well in hand with his mechanical servant, so Kahm produces a small field flashlight and points it at the keyhole to try and light the bird's way, though he wasn't sure if it needed to 'see' in the way they did. "You must be quite the tinkerer, to create something so sophisticated from scratch." He says absently as the mechabird goes about its work, "A personal hobby?"
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
"Well at least your honest about it," Morgan replies with a smirk at the mention of fire comes after they happen to be useful enough to find treasure. For now though the Fox seems content enough to look around. The bird has the door handled, but that doesn't mean there is something else intresting about. Namely a swich of some other kind to get the door.
Secret rooms. They always have secret swiches.
"Its a damn useful little friend." He adds of the bird. "And I'm sure he doesn't eat much." A twithc of a grin. "Did the creditors charge for him too?" He asks with laughter in his eyes.
The fox lets the rest work though, drawing a deep breath of the incsese Stork provides. One that seems to relax the set of his shoulder, dispelling whatever he saw due to those spores earlier.
"Much obliged for your little flame stick, kinda soothes the soul doesn't it?" He adds towards the wee Baskar even as he listens to the responce to Kahm's question.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Keyless Keyhole. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 3 Exhaustion! You have 40 total Exhaustion. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Stork Bluegaze has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - OWLBEARS OWLBEARS *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Part owl, part bear, and part hate, an owlbear is a giant monster with the body of a bear and the head of a very angry owl. Also they use swords. An owlbear - the Linga Academy-approved word for a gathering of owlbears - of owlbears owl out in fury and barrel their way toward you, swords waving. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Him, I bought," Jude mentions off-handedly to Kahm. "I maintain him, though. He's not all that special, really -- not in Guild Galad, anyway. You come out to a backwater place like Ignas and people think it's kinda like a relic of the bygone past, or something." His shoulders roll lightly.
"No offense. You all seem like fine, sophisticated gentlemen," he looks Morgan's way, tipping his unlit cigarette the man's way. "Especially you, foxy."
Still, he's quite happy to fiddle with his match, off-handedly remarking, "Cost me a god damn arm and a leg," to Morgan before that striker is offered up, burning helpfully. He blinks, silent for a moment as if surprised by the offer -- but ultimately, the redheaded journalist brings that cigarette down, igniting the end of it off the tongue of flame.
"Thanks, kiddo," he offers in that light way of his, bringing that cigarette to his lips. "You're a -real- gentleman." He takes a drag, as Stork makes his observation; his brows furrow a bit. "Yeah? I guess I'm just used to doing things the wrong way."
- click*
The lock turns. Jacob flies backwards as the hinges groan open, and the way is presented further inward as Jude shoves off that wall. "Well. Shall we?"
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
"The Smudge cleanses negative energy, yes," Stork replies, shaking out the striker and dropping the consumed braid. "Oh, I don't know if it's the wrong way, sir," he says, putting the striker back on his belt. "That's simply our way. Yours is different." The bird flies off the lock, and Stork smiles. "That mechanical bird is a marvel," he continues, trying to calm his nerves by thinking about anything other than the fact that he and the cassowary almost died moments ago. "We certainly don't have anything like that in Avia Village."
The door finally clicks open, and Stork pokes his head through to see what's on the other side. The cassowary pokes its head through as well, so that both their heads show from the other side of the door. It's lucky, in a way, that they were even slightly cautious in their curiosity. The owlbear immediately on the other side of the door howls in fury and flings a large rock through the opening. It flies off over the ledge and into the abyss, but the other beasts in the next room are already hefting their swords-- wait, monsters with swords?-- and charging. "Oh-oh my!" Stork yelps, ducking back behind the door. "They don't seem pleased to see us at ALL!"
The cassowary tosses its head back and shrieks in delight at the conflict to come and charges into the midst of the owlbear of owlbears. It jump-kicks the one right inside the door, digging its talons into the creatures face and gouging out its eyes in a fountain of blood. That same blood drenches the floor where the owlbear lands, providing a perfect slip-and-slide of viscera down which the cassowary surfs on the corpse of the first owlbear, slashing and hacking with its beak and crest, covered in crimson ichor and looking for all the world like a kid at a splash park.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, OWLBEARS OWLBEARS.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
"Well sometimes the wrong way is more entertaining," Morgan comments on the notion of just how a cigarette and tobacco in general should be used. The door clicks, the hinges groan and the fox just smiles and nods easily as it reveals...
...screaching. Howling. Owlbears.
He it about to step forwards when the cassowary charges right past him and into the room. The first creatures gets a face-full of angrybird and Morgan just blinks in suprise.
I mean really. Who thought that a cassowary would just do...that...
"...I'm glad that bird is on our side." He finally comments as he pulls out one pistol and starts forwards. The report of gunfire is intense this far underground as he does so. The blue-white energy flares to life. Shields circling around the various members of the party to deflect the strength of those mighty swords away.
"You know," The words punctured by the report of gunfire and screaming cassowary. "I never understood owlbears. I mean owls are fine. And bears are fine. But why in the hells would someone want to combine the two. Just doesn't make much sense. I wonder if thats why they are so onery all the time." A beatpause. "...and owlbears are never pleased to see anyone. Not even other owlbears."
DG: Morgan Newkirk has used its Tool Shield Gauntlet toward its party's challenge, OWLBEARS OWLBEARS.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
"My mistake." Kahm curtly added while looking elsewhere, mentally weighing a scale that said 'Insufferable' with Jude one end and Kent Hauch on the other. For now, it seemed about even.
The door opens, and Kahm was glad to be confronted with a more conventional problem to take care of when Owlbears came a howling for their blood and bones. Stork's bird may claim first blood, but no sooner has the first Owlbear hit the floor when another sonic grenade comes sailing over into the group, this one detonated when Kahm shoots it rather than wait for the armed time to go off.
The Captain leaps into the fray not longer after, capitalizing on the shock and awe tactics to lay into the monsters with his unsheathed sword, each blow and parry possessed of a furiously directed sense of discipline and rage that carried Kahm across the blood-slicked floor in a crimson ballet. More than once he fights back-to-back with the cassowary, who might be the only thing even angrier than the Solarian agent is right now.
"All the more reason to put an end to them." Kahm asserts to Morgan's observation, "They're a scourge on the world."
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, OWLBEARS OWLBEARS.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"You're a good sort, huh?" Jude wonders of Stork as they wander into that room ahead.
"You oughta be careful with that, shortstuff. When you're too nice--"
You end up prey, is what he wants to say, before that owlbear helpfully completes his thought with that hideous howl before hurling that mass of rock through the door. It crunches past and the tall sellsword just barely manages to duck beneath it before he grits his teeth; Jacob scatters, that shotgun ARM produced once more in a flourish of glinting metal and glowing symbological signs. "Owlbears," he grimaces, slime-soaked coat fluttering around him with the build up of magical power. "Why'd it have to be owlbears--?"
The cassowary goes flying to maul and gauge in disgusting bursts of torn arteries and punctured eyesockets in a truly deadly display that defies all of its master's niceties. Jude blinks. His head tilts.
"No offense, Mark," did he get Marcus' name just barely wrong to be a jerk--
"But I'm following big bird over there's lead, now."
Maybe he's just joking in a friendly way, for all he smiles affably.
And punctuates it with the peel of lightning-laced shotgun fire.
DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, OWLBEARS OWLBEARS. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 2 Exhaustion! You have 42 total Exhaustion. 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 - Punishing Piston *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- With the owlbear of owlbears defeated, the treasure you have sought lies in the room beyond! Unfortunately, the door to it is already closing, thanks to some ancient mechanism triggered in the fighting. If your party can manage to hold the door open long enough, someone might be able to slip through and grab it, but it's been a long dungeon and you've had no time to rest since the fight... =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
To the surprise of no one, the Owlbears collectively lost their will to fight once their bigger, badder leader leapt down from a conveniently placed ledge and was summarily gutted and pecked to death by a particularly angry cassowary. Those alchemical beasts that are not already decorating the floor in various hues of pink and red flee lest they find themselves under a distinctly different kind of feathered terror-regime.
There's a brief moment of quiet and respite where only the hammering of Kahm's heart and his own breathing register to him, Jude's crack about his supposed name only a distant barb on the winds. It's the creaking of a shutting door at the end of the room that jolts him out of it, and the Captain's eyes fix on the swiftly vanishing prize in the alcove at the other end of the room. "Quick, before it closes!" Kahm shouts, bursting ahead at a full sprint, leaping over viscera and other strewn obstacles to brace against the door-or, if others are holding it, squeeze through the reap whatever lays in wait at the end of this sordid ordeal.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
The cassowary revels in the carnage, clucking in satisfaction with each new death. It battles alongside the other explorers in a graceful dance of death, tearing through the startled owlbears with a scarlet-stained beauty. This is its element. Jude's shotgun rips into owlbear after owlbear, illuminating their monstrous skeletons before they burst like balloons full of blood and guts. The Captain lays monsters open from groin to gullet, slicing away the life from the creatures as they scramble to put up a defense. Morgan's shields rebuff the meager countercharge the survivors of the initial massacre manage, and the three fighters swiftly finish off the nest of owlbears.
Stork peeks his head around the edge of the door again. His eyes widen and a hand goes to his mouth before he disappears again, and the sounds of retching come from outside the door. After a while, he closes his eyes, holds out his hands, and walks into the abbatoir. The cassowary dutifully skates back across the gore, grabs Stork by the shirt, and flips him onto its back. It's time to move on.
<Pose Tracker> Stork Bluegaze has posed.
The cassowary, already shedding coagulating blood from its fluffy feathers, charges headfirst into the closing door. Eyes still squeezed shut, Stork shoves another one of the treats into the bird's mouth, giving it an extra boost.
DG: Stork Bluegaze has used their Tool Cassowary Snack toward their party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
And Jude remembers this, too. He barely even gives the fallen owlbears and their tragic Owlbear Massacre a second glance as he sees those doors ahead, remembering exactly what they do; he doesn't really have time to console poor Stork as he vomits in that readily apparent horror, instead just hopping over the mass of spilled intestines and other vital organs sprayed haphazard on the dust-and-dirt-and-slime-encrusted earth beneath him. His ARM out, he beads on to where he remembers Ida pointing to before -- where the mechanisms of the door are, supposedly, located.
"WATCH OUT!!" is all he manages, the whirring whine of his ARM as the demolition shell preps the only other warning anyone gets before that explosive round fires off, embeds in stone, and, predictably--
--explodes, with hopefully just enough force to halt the closing process entirely.
DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Demolition Shell toward his party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Well that fight was short and painful.
Mostly painful.
Apparently shielding everyone didn't go well for Morgan as he took a sword strike in the side somewhere in there. And now the door is closing.
And the door is closing?!
"Ah hell!" He growls before he takes off towards the swiftly closing portal.
"Block it with something!" He calls out, trying to kick one of the swords in the way to slow it down as he slips and slides on the blood on the floor for the elusive endgoal.
Jude's warning comes though and he drops down to the floor in a feet-first slide for the goal as he lets the round fly over his head. His ears pulled back just to make sure they don't get clipped.
DG: Morgan Newkirk has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Punishing Piston. DG: You pass the challenge, and take 2 Exhaustion! You have 44 total Exhaustion. DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has successfully explored Sacred Grounds of Linga!
======================<* CHALLENGE - Really Weird Paper *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Inside the chest was... some sort of really old...paper? Is this thing even paper? It's not even written in a language you understand. Maybe a linguist would help, but where would you find one of...oh right, Linga. You should send a +request regarding this discovery! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
It's really more the now-familiar windup of Jude's ARM than his shouted warning that prompts Kahm to rush forward into the final room, squeezing through the door just in time to avoid the explosion that rocks the ground behind him and halts the trap's operations. The agent quietly rises to his feet and, after dusting himself off, strides forward to open the chest at the center of the room for whatever gains can be had there. Could this be what the Adlehyde Kingdom had been looking into while pretending to cooperate with them....?
It turns out to be..well, a paper. A paper that looks quite old, with a most curious script. Far from disappointment, Kahm looked the scroll over with a careful eye for detail before surmising that the written language on it was completely unfamiliar to him. "This will require...more careful analysis by some of the agency's friends in Linga." He surmised, producing a conveniently equipped metal cylinder on hand to safely deposit the scroll into (but until then, he couldn't stop anyone else from seeing it).
With that, he turned to the diggers and nodded his thanks, "It was a difficult expedition, but this may well be worth the effort. You will all be well-compensated for your efforts upon our return to Linga. And of course-feel free to grab anything you like on the way out."
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
With that explosive impact, a chain reaction goes off through whatever mechanisms are powering the door. Perfectly timed and impeccably aimed, the gears groan and click and struggle before the doors come to a grinding halt with just enough space for the rest of them to get through, even as Kahm moves on ahead.
But not alone. Jacob flies in quietly behind the head of the expedition, perching itself upon a nearby ledge to look around with mindless eyes, as if assessing the area for any traps or any other sort of clever clues to be dealt with. That mechanical gaze shutters one, twice, as it looks through the room...
... and down towards that old piece of paper Kahm picks up with an errant flick of motion, eyes clenching in a little, whirring blink as its head cocks to the side and it continues its little vigil.
Jude, meanwhile, takes his time -- one might think he was checking on Stork to make sure he's alright, but really, the man's just taking a smoke break, casually sliding between the halted doors to lean himself back into a nearby wall. Paper and tobacco crinkle in glowing embers as more of that stick burns away, smoke spilling in a voluminous plume from his lips as he squints with idle curiosity at the thing Kahm rolls up.
"Fancy-looking paper," he comments off-handedly with all the blithe disregard of someone who couldn't really give a damn. "Hope you're not going to stiff us just because all you found was a slip that'll probably amount to some little kid's diary, or something."
Another, helpful drag of his cigarette. His head tilts. "Happy to be of help, when you're paying as well as you people do," he remarks, tipping that lit stick of tobacco in Kahm's direction like a gesture of thanks. "If it translates into a fancy restaurant from the olden days, you'll let us know, right?" His smile is a lopsidedly easy one. A jokester's smile. "Kinda got a kick for ancient cuisine, these days."
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Sliding though the door at the last moment, Morgan flops back as he breathes a sigh of relief. "...nice shooting." The fox says after a few heartbeats before he pulls himself to his feet. There is still treasure to be found after all, even if its not strictly conventional treasure.
Writing is its own reward after all.
He strolls over towards the box as he peers down at the writing inside. "...nothin that I've seen before. Linga is gonna be our best bet." He adds slowly, his words thoughtful. The paper though dissipears soon after as 'Marcus' grabs it up.
Morgan just chuckles. "...he's got a point. Payment still due, even if we didn't find anything shiny right?" He adds with a grin. "Hope you're happy with your note...if its a novel make sure we get credit somewhere in it." He adds as he glances down at himself and makes a face. "Urgh. Half my take is gonna end up in cleaning bills. Always happens." But he seems...more cheery than when he got here. More sober too.
So thats something.
He wonders over towards Jude as he lets Kahm deal with the paper. His voice dropping as he leans against the wall near the other Drifter.
"Tell me ya got a camera on that fancy flyin friend o' yours."
Because that paper? He's thinking no matter what it says. Its going to be 'not important'.
...and curiousity comes naturally to him.