2017-07-06: An Adorable Mediator
- Log: An Adorable Mediator
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lily Keil, Lunata Croze
- Where: Old Petra
- Date: July 6th 2017
- Summary: Old Petra was a battle site. Naturally, the contents of the site -- and who was using it as a base -- are of interest to many, including one of the people who had been present and her escort... and Solaris. Antics ensue.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Old Petra. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Smouldering Flames *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The remnants of the town of Old Petra lay before you. At first glance, it seems to be a complete wash - the village is in dire straits, wrecked and left to the dust. Flames from the battle appear to still be present, perhaps stoked by the punishing and unrelenting Filgaian sun. You'll have to cross quickly if you're going to get to the other side to the mine. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
According to the rumors drifting eastward, a great and terrible battle had taken place in Old Petra, now outed as a Metal Demon hideout.
And much more to the interest of the mysterious Holy Empire of Solaris, a great and terrible giant had taken the field. Which means that, like it or not, it's also to Loren's interest to investigate and attempt to separate the wheat from the shaff. Besides, this is a good chance to gather some valuable intelligence on an unknown foe.
Forgoing uniform or tactical gear -- a decision he may well yet come to regret, as usual -- he looks perhaps no different than any other escapee from Ignas' lecture halls, the sort of student that attempts to put their learning to practical use and maybe doesn't die from it.
The first thing Loren notices as he arrives at the site is an important one:
It's still on fire.
Also it's a wreck -- buildings stand at odd angles where they're not leveled entirely, and the detritus of a fight is scattered about (where it's not actually on fire). Without a doubt, that part of the rumor's right -- this place was leveled in a pitched battle. Recollections of a series of photos and images taken from the aftermath of Lahan strike him then. Could it be...?
He'll need to take a closer look than this to see if it was the doing of the black gear.
And for that, he's going to have to get across the ruins here -- which will conveniently take him towards the mine, which is also where he wants to be. Which is, again, still on fire.
Ugh.
Gathering his medical bag close to him, Loren runs for it.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Smouldering Flames.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Thank you again for coming with me," Lily Keil says to Lunata as they walk along. Before they started this trip, that was what the older young woman said. It was very simple, in fact.
"Leon will worry if I leave on my own in this condition. ...But I need to see Old Petra with my own eyes."
Lily by default is not at all talkative, but she's not unpleasant about it. She walks carefully, wearing a black dress and boots along with her ubiquitous bandages. Her ARM is over her shoulder just in case, and she ignores that discomfort. Her medical satchel is with her, too.
But as they crest the hill overlooking Old Petra, Lily's eyes widen. "What...?" She knew it had been destroyed. She heard that much. But this... It surprises her nonetheless, especially the fact that it's still on fire.
"...I need to get a little farther in." A glane to Lunata, "Let's be careful."
She starts forward, but she can't at all move that quickly at the moment. She tries though, moving towards what looks like a clearing...
Until she hits something she hadn't seen, and is sent tumbling downward hard on her side, starting to roll down the hill towards what will turn out to be the entrance to the mines.
She... might've avoided further burns on the way. Maybe. And the fire might've gotten temporarily worse with her kicking it up, making it impossible to leave.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Smouldering Flames.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata is indeed here because of concern for Lily... and honestly, she's still a bit scared herself -- she's walking into an enemy stronghold, albeit one on fire, even though it's one she's entered before with Fei and Shalune and the others and made it to the bottom of. "I--I understand..."
She, too, is wearing a black dress, though her hair is pitch-white to contrast to Lily's. She's got a loooong katana that's like one and a half times her height that kinda just... floats behind her. It's a bit weird.
It is useful, though, at letting her hold onto it as she kinda tries to witch-broom across on her ancient true-blue Hanzo Steel, before looking towards the medical student to say, "O-oh, mister! It's dangerous here!"
Yells the 16-year old that looks like she's more at home at a saloon than a dungeon, yes.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Smouldering Flames. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There are, as Lily discovers, many unexpected objects scattered across the field on the approach to the mines. The sort of thing that can trip up the unsuspecting Drifter making an all-out dash through the flames.
Or the odd medical student.
'O-oh, mister! It's dangerous here!'
Is about the only warning Loren gets as he hurries in the direction of the safety of the mine opening. The flames are thick in places, smoke and fire obscuring his vision -- and likely, until that moment, their vision of him. There's another person here--!?
And that's about the point where Lily, tumbling, strikes him bodily.
More than one person is here, as it happens.
He loses his footing, having only enough time to shout in alarm as he and Lily fall the entire distance down the rest of the slope towards the entrance.
He'll break her fall, at least.
Dazed, the 'medical student' blinks dizzily.
Sudden recognition will clarify his world sharply though:
"--Keil!?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Along the way Lily looked at the sword with some surprise. She decided after a while to let Lunata talk about it if she wants to talk about it, and otherwise for the moment to accept that Lunata had a katana behind her. It's not stranger than the cube.
But the objcts are the worst. Indeed Lily does manage to avoid being set on fire, but more to the point she meets an old acquaintance after she starts tumbling. They both end up going down hard until they're right at the entrance to the mines proper, and Lily slams hard against Loren.
She blinks dizzily. She winces. "...Fuck," she murmurs, setting her hands down to try and lift herself and gritting her teeth in the process. It hurts.
She stops heedless of that and turns to stare. "Blackwell!?" She stares a moment longer. "What the hell are you doing here?"
A narrowing of her eyes. "I'm telling you now, if you touch me without permission again I'm going to punch a hole in your chest."
Lily rises, if with a little difficulty, and stands with her hand out at Loren. "...Lunata? Did you make it in here?" Lily steps lightly around Loren and toward the entrance, so she can see everything.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata finds that, uh, broom-surfing on a katana is a little harder than she expects, and she isn't a magical witch, so she kinda winds up... flipping upside down and leeting an 'eek!' as she hangs onto her floating weapon and goes 'hot hot hot!' as her back basically gets slow-roasted on her way towards where Lily and Loren crashed into each other.
She groans and calls out, as she makes it through the flames, "Y-yes, I am, Miss Lily!" she exclaims, fumbling hard as she tries to catch up to where the two crashed. If Loren has any magical senses (or uses his lenses, perhaps?), he would note the... ancient ghostly lich that's actually holding the katana in its skeletal hand, dressed in bridal kimono and looming over her like a guardian spirit. Or a deathly spirit.
Or, you know, he might not, and it could just be a floating weapon in mid-air.
"I--I don't think we should go too far in..." she advises, knowing full well she's not that great at exploring, being a novice, and Lily is injured, and... this man is a medical student! He's needed in a clinic rather than a dungeon! "Um, do you know each other...? Hi, I'm-- Lunata Croze, from the Starfall Saloon."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Great, not only did he have to run into someone else while checking this place -- two someones, at least -- but one of them is Lily Keil.
It's testament to something -- discipline, perhaps -- that Loren's able to stifle a groan. "I could ask the same of you," he says, a touch testily as he sits up from where he'd been essentially knocked flat and readjusts his glasses. "...Oh, of course. And you're still injured, too! Has your medic ever considered using restraints?"
Is he in a good mood? No, he just fell down a slope! That was on fire!!
The other girl comes running up to the mine entrance. Possibly in time to hear Lily's threat. And Loren's rejoinder: "Good, at least it would be over with quickly."
He's still picking himself up by the time Lunata arrives on the scene, and this is the point where he stops and kind of... stares at her. Then he blinks, shakes his head, and squints. ...It's still floating. While he can't rule out the possibility that he's just had a head injury...
He touches a hand to his head while he asks, "...Is that a floating sword?" Oh Emperor he hopes he's hallucinating.
Which is followed by a long, long pause as she both cautions them about going in too far and introduces herself. 'Of the Starfall Saloon'. A few things click into place and Loren finally actually does sigh. "...Why is a waitress here?"
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - Aggressive Beast Charge *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- An uneasy silence hangs over your descent through the base. Then, you hear it: A low snarl, followed by another and several quadruped armor-clad Metal Beasts charge around the corner and bull their way towards you! In this tight metal corridor, you'll need to act quick before you're flattened by their charge! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Slow roasting is not ideal.
Loren sits up and adjusts his glasses, and she glares at him as he turns the question back on her. "I was planning to take it easy," Lily points out. "I even brought a partner just in case I ran into trouble." Why is she justifying herself to him? Maybe she just wants to be right.
"Good, Lunata. I'm sorry to have left you." She rubs at her arm, shaking her head. She's still sore from that tumble. "You..." She sees the lich. She definitely sees the lich.
So she doesn't look at Loren until she processes his question, and smirks. "Just a floating sword, hm?" A look back to Lunata. "I understand, but--"
Lily frowns. "This waitress is a better fighter than you are. And she understands how to be polite." A pause, "Yes, we've met. He tried to ask me questions about Port Timney and Malevolence, but he was too rude for me to deal with. He's a medical student from Bledavik, and he's an irritating, no-good, pompous shitheel of a man."
"We'll see how far we can get. Come on, Lunata. I'm not going to stand around here with him, injury or no injury.
She storms straight off into the mines proper, looking around for where is best to go, ignoring all attempts to get her to stop. Until...
Growl. Four growls, in unison, as four metal beasts emerge from a passageway to the side. "Ugh," Lily vocalizes, and throws out her hands to let a great blast of fire straight out for the lead one.
They don't look like anything that familiar; too squat to be dogs, too long to be some other things...
"Aaah--" Even as the magic circle fades from her hands, Lily stumbles back with a wince of pain. None have touched her at that point.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Beast Charge.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks like she's struggling most from all these BAD WORDS that Lily's mouth is shooting out! Shitheel?! She whimpers just a little bit as she holds her hands above her head. "U--um, that's a good question, but I'm just... here to help Miss Lily," she tries to excuse herself to Loren, with a polite bow. "Oh-- yes, that's a flying sword."
She kind of hurries along as she straps her backpack and runs after Lily with an apologetic look-- and then her eyes widen again.
"Ge Ramda, please..."
The floating sword descends slowly -- Lily sees the lich place its hands upon Lunata's, the two seemingly moving in tandem. She stoops to a position that's rather familiar to practitioners of Clear Water, Still Mirror or Arctican Fast Draw--
--and in the blink of an eye, there's a maelstrom of slashes that linger just a little longer than they should, with Lunata reaching the other end to re-sheath her sword.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Orochi-Agito toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Beast Charge.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
A moment later, Lunata breaks cool-pose to whimper and go, "Oww, that still really stings to do! Can't you do an easier move for me...?" she begs of Ge Ramda. Coolness: Instantly ruined.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren's initial response is to, essentially, facepalm. 'Better fighter than he is', alright.
It might help that it's not the first time he's been on the receiving end of a whole lot of bad language from Lily. Or been exposed to ~Lamb vulgarities~ in the first place. 'Thomas' in the end merely wrinkles his nose at the barrage as Lily lets loose and says, flatly, "Still charming, I see." His blue-eyed gaze slides to Lunata. Who is accompanying Lily as support. With her floating sword, probably stolen from a ruin somewhere. Great.
"You're here to help her?" Loren shakes his head. "I feel sorry for you." A pause trails out. "Thomas Blackwell." It's an... introduction? Just not a very friendly one.
"Suit yourself," he says to Lily as he dusts off his jacket.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Aggressive Beast Charge. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Lily Keil has posed.
Still charming. The Kislevi woman gives Loren a glare that could kill on its own.
Lily doesn't often show real anger, less so around those she deems delicate... But sometimes it spills over. Times like these--injured to begin with, dealing with Blackwell, remembering the feelings of those place--well, her glare stays on as she storms down the hallway.
Half-turning to see Lunata as she invokes Ge Ramda, the black-haired sorceress has a chance to see the lich's movements, to see Lunata's along with. She's seen these styles before, though she practices none of them. More to the point she doesn't think Lunata knows such styles.
In the end, Lily's magic doesn't help much here; it's a large burst, but not precise enough to harm the others; in fact, it left her with pain that made it difficult to act again, leaning against the wall with a cough.
Lunata, on the other hand, scythes through (yes, scythes, she's got a death spirit) the enemy all at once it seems like, in that whirlwind of movement. There are yelps and howls and not at all silence here... until Lunata stops. And then the silent breaks because Lunata is complaining, adorably.
She doesn't see Loren watching her magic; she only sees Loren when he rushes through, depositing a sol in her hand. Be careful.
Lily glances it over and pops it into her mouth, judging it as probably some kind of medicine. She'd glare more at Loren but she can't move very well until it kicks in.
"Ugh..." A shake of her head. "I'm surprised you came to join us." She's not going to thank him. "Whatever." Huff. She pushes off of the wall again.
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Illusory Wall Ahead *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Now here's a curiosity. The prison walls don't appear to all be here -- the one closest to you appears to just have been a very convincing holograph! You could knock on every single wall, but that would take entirely too much time. There must be a better way to get through this maze. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata whimpers, but then accepts Mister Loren's medicine with a curious look in her eyes. "O-oh, thank you..." She kinda -- holds it over her head for a moment, before finding an instruction label to spritz it on some of her wounds with gratitude! "Wah... it feels better already, I'm not as sore. Thank you, Mister Blackwell!"
It isn't long before they come to a... dead end, however. She furrows her brow. "This wasn't here the last time..." She places her hand forward and-- springs back with a gasp as the wall suddenly disappears, revealing another dead end. "Is it an illusion?? But how're we to understand how to move forward...?"
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Illusory Wall Ahead.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Well, that's a glare. If he's even the least bit fazed, though, the alleged medical student doesn't show it.
From here, once he pulls up behind them as they engage the beasts, he's also able to see that
Yes, the waitress just did the bulk of the damage here.
...Somehow, to judge by her complaint afterwards. 'Possession', an unwelcome part of his mind suggests, and he has to tamp down on that thought hard.
"Read the instructions," Loren says to Lunata wearily. When she thanks him, he just closes his eyes, as if attempting to ward off a headache.
"And stay out there with the flames? Hardly," 'Thomas' says, shrugging. Perhaps it's his medical code that's also got him coming along with, considering one girl seems inexperienced and the other is definitely injured?
Or it's the fact that he's come here for a very specific reason, and he's not about to walk out without a good reason. And the fact that he now has two very good reasons to observe the both of them. It would be a problem if they died, too -- calling support to retrieve their bodies for analysis would be a hassle.
He trails along without further comment -- not even when Lunata comments on the dead end ahead. Instead, he gazes at the wall.
And reaching up, appears to fidget with his glasses, as if he's inspecting the wall himself.
What he really does is burn a miniscule amount of ether, enough to heighten his sight. Now, if there's a way forward, he should be able to see...
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Illusory Wall Ahead.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily has her own way of helping with wounds, but Loren is better at it than she imagined, if only because of quality medicine. Where did he get it?
"Hmph," Lily answers Lunata's thanks to Loren, not bothering to look at him for the moment.
Stay out there with the flames. "Right. All right, fine. You can come along. You've been useful."
Neither Lily nor Loren are particularly nice about one another, though it's true that she's voicing more venom for sure. She already was skeptical of him before, and now...
Loren looking with his glasses, after Lunata notices the dead end. Lunata working with her hand...
"Hold on, Lunata." Lily pulls her notebook from her satchel, flipping through for.. Ah, a section on lighting might be useful, there might be...
The notebook goes away after a moment. "All right then. I think I have a method. Different lighting angles and..." Lily snaps her fingers and a fist-sized, blazing ball of fire appears before her, which she sends around to bounch about walls while showing off new light. This is smaller, easier to keep up than the big blast earlier, though she still is very careful, very stiff, as she sends it around.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Illusory Wall Ahead. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Lunata Croze has posed.
Loren's etheric lenses help him channel what he indeed starts to perceive as a hard-light holographic wall. The kind of technology being used here is quite remarkable, for how run-down this place otherwise looks; Lily's notebook also assists her as she uses fire (as she often does) to solve her problems. Several singed walls later, they're making progress through careful analysis and also experimentary balls of flame.
What does Lunata do?
*spritz* *spritz*
"This wall's not getting wet! It must be fake!"
Good job, Lunata!
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Pipe Nightmares *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A small squadron of strangely dressed soldiers in blue robes have managed to get your team into a pincer attack in the midst of a large room laden with piping and overhangs! They've got steel pipes and pipettes, and don't look like they'd mind making you pipe down with it! Better put some ideas down that pipeline, or success will be a mere pipe dream! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
At least it's mutual -- Loren's nastier himself than he's been in some time. Then again he did have what should have been a simple survey interrupted rather unfortunately, so perhaps his temperment at the moment is not as fine as it should be.
In the meantime, there's the matter of the apparent dead-end and the fact that this whole area almost shouts that it's an attempt at concealment rather than an actual, legitimate wrong turn they made or unexcavated area.
Which proves correct. "Interesting," he murmurs, squinting at the wall ahead. Hard light illusion, and advanced, too. "That one looks off to me." If the Metal Demons made this...
More ether use from Lily. Good control, for a rogue user, he has to admit.
Lunata, meanwhile, spritzes the wall. With the medicine. "...Stop that," he all-but-groans, reaching over to attempt to take that back.
As they push into the next room -- a wide-open area -- he and the rest of them are about to have a larger problem on their hands. The blue-clad soldiers leap down suddenly from above the moment they reach the approximate centerpoint of the room, catching them offguard in a pincer formation. "--Damn," 'Thomas utters, rounding far too late towards the way they came in. He lifts his left arm before him as if to shield himself -- and his bag.
Which he digs into with his free hand.
It's not a nice looking tool that he pulls out.
It's for snipping bones, actually.
And it still makes a pretty good bludgeon.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"O-ohh... aww..." Lunata pouts as she hands the aquasol back to Loren, a bit embarrassed that she's using the medicine in an improper way. "Sorry...!"
But it was so fun. She'll have to ask Shalune about a spritz bottle next time, and then they're going to go out the back and have spritz gun wars. Yayyyy!
Her eyes widen as she gasps, though, when they get ambushe dfrom above. "Ah!--" she focuses... but no energy comes from Ge Ramda, who seems to be content to hang back and not hard-carry her through this time. She pouts. "Ge Ramda, you're mean!"
She takes hold of the blade regardless, knowing that the lich is testing her. She recalls upon the memory of battles that have been emblazoned upon her from ages past... and then does another quick-draw --
--and attempts to cut through one side along with Loren and Lily to get them out of this situation.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
At least there's Lunata for a certain amount of... innocent to cut the sheer antipathy between the others. Lily, for her part, is aware that she's the oldest one here. She does not feel tender protective feelings for Loren, however. She's impressed with Lunata, though.
And admittedly, Loren did get the right wall. Lily lets her fireball poof out when she's done with it, in a puff of smoke. He takes back the aquasol...
"He's right," she says absently, shaking her head. She glares at him a moment later, as if annoyed he obligated her to say as much. But medicine isn't a toy.
Lily is the slowest and thus in the rear for their next room, but the soldiers appear suddenly. An ambush, and Lily's eyes narrow as she immediately goes for the rifle hanging on her shoulder. Trying to overdo it with magic didn't work last time, so...
While her complanions handle melee, Lily starts firing shots from her rifle, one after another after another, one for each target. "Ge Ramda seems to be doing well enough for you," Lily points out.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren's only response to Lunata is to sigh, long-sufferingly.
Oh good, and he's getting glared at, too.
The soldiers don't wait to close the distance -- they come in fast, and wielding heavy bludgeons. While Lunata is (surprisingly?) formidable with her blade, and while Lily provides effective cover-fire for the waitress with her rifle, there's just one
large
problem:
There are a lot of these guys.
Also as it happens, despite its weight and heft, and despite reasonable melee skills, a bone-cutting tool is not a particularly effective improvised weapon. In shielding his kit (and its fragile contents that he might need later) from an incoming strike, Loren takes a solid hit to the ribs and staggers back, possibly bumping into one of the girls.
Oh, now this is just an embarrassing place to die.
He jerks his hand upwards, forgetting in the moment to at least act like he was using a different art of sorcery. Not that it might matter, for some of those present. An earthen wall stutters upwards from the floor -- his aim is to knock away and deflect rather than kill or hurt.
"Running... would be a good idea..." he hisses out.
At least Lunata and Lily have partially cleared the way in the opposite direction. If they hurry, they might be able to lose these guys.
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Bastille *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You've come across an expansive and oppressive jail floor. The scent is putrid, and skeletons litter the insides of the long-abandoned cells. This prison provides dark insight into the dire rumors behind Old Petra. A relief-valve door provides access to an inner chamber, amidst the cells. Problem: Said release mechanism is extremely heavy and requires inordinate strength to keep in place, due to the pressure mechanism having failed long ago. Better have a steady grip if you don't want your teammates crushed under it! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The trio flee their pursuers, with, all things considered, only relatively minor bumps and scrapes. But they've got a slightly bigger issue: They're even deeper into the dungeon now than they might have considered themselves going. The mines of Old Petra have given way, especially now, to what seems to be a prison.
It's a putrid, ghastly sight, and it can't be attributed to the Metal Demons alone -- the long-abandoned cells, the ashen-white bones... such rumors of a horrible gaol have long permeated themselves around Old Petra, and it seems that they are in fact true.
"T-this is... awful... I can hear them... I can sense them..." Lunata's eyes widen as she glances around, hearing the echoes of the deceased in the background.
They stop at a release-valve which appears to control the way out. Problem is, it's a rather heavy contraption that's going to require a great amount of strength to keep in check due to how the steam-valve pressure machine controlling it has given way to failure long, long ago.
"Let's try to move quickly... this place doesn't make me feel good at all."
She concentrates... and Ge Ramda rises from deep within her soul once more, and grips at that valve. It turns, turns, turns, making heavy work of what is a considerably ancient and rusted device.
Of course, to Loren, it seems like the valve is turning on its own merit. Spooky!!
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Bastille.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The fight does not go well. Lily is sure if she could cast properly she would be able to make short work of many more of these strange soldiers, but that thought only leads to more frustrations. She fires until she runs out of ammunition,and then she starts scrambling to get more as she pops her rifle's mechanism to eject the casings.
But then Thomas--Loren--lifts his hand, and shapes an earthen wall from the floor. Lily's eyes widen as she spots the familiarity with this magic. "You--"
She grits her teeth. "Seriously!?"
She moves at the suggestion though, moving about as quickly as she can, which admittedly isn't terribly. Her weapon goes back over her shoulder, until eventally they make it deeper in, coughing once or twice in the process from her speed. This is...
Some kind of prison. "What...?" Lunata says she can hear them, and Lily turns to her. "It's all right. Try to focus on me, not them. All right?"
"...I'm glad I only sense the living," she murmurs.
"I'll do what I can. I see a place I can handle these from." She reaches into her satchel and pulls explosives, starting to attach them up beside where the door moves to its top as Lunata raises it. "Right here, and I can force the door off its track and keep it stuck up there. As soon as you get it there Lunata, I'll light the fuses."
She places it where it needs to be, secures it, gets the rest, having made the calculations in her head for this complicated demolitions job. However...
Once she steps free, waiting, she glances to Loren. "So where did you learn to use magic like that?" Lily asks. "I recognize it. It's not Symbology. And you didn't show a Crest. ...And I know you're not from Lunar."
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Explosive Charges toward her party's challenge, The Bastille.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That was unsubtle of him, Loren realizes, a moment or three later. To be fair, they were having a bit of a problem there (to put it mildly) and he still could salvage this error, if it was even noticed, but... the fact remains that it was clumsy.
Right now, though, he runs.
"...A prison," he says at last, once he catches his breath in the place they reach in their flight from the soldiers. "The bones look old. They can't be from the battle."
'I can hear them', Lunata says, and the hairs stand on end on the back of his neck. "Stop that," he utters, glancing about himself as if expecting to see something... unusual haunting this place.
Unless they want to chance the soldiers finding them, there's only one way out -- and it doesn't look like the mechanism controlling it will move easily. "This is going to be a pain..."
He looks at Lily, mild shock filtering into his gaze. Emperor. She noticed it. Recognized it for what it was.
'Don't underestimate the Lambs,' the Captain had said, and he's once again being reminded of it. Visibly, Loren stalls.
And then realizes exactly how he can fix this.
"...The same way you did, Keil," he says flatly, apparently irritated. Pushing away from her as she finishes with the charges, he moves over to join Lunata with moving the device. Or, more likely, puts one hand on it to push before it starts moving on its own. He jerks his hand back as if stung.
Way to assist, Loren.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Bastille. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 16 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Ge Ramda begins to shift the great wheel, with a low moan that seems to echo those of the voice of the forlorn. Slowly, the rusted door begins to move, ever slowly and with a quiet rumble. Lily works quickly to plant explosives and wedges them up against the critical points, and sets the fuse and calculates the job thusly.
She doesn't seem to comment on the different kinds of magics -- other than Shamanism and the Guardians, Lunata has very little exposure to anything that isn't Jacqueline's earth crests and more recently, Lily's, outside of her mother's... though she never asked what her mother uses either.
"U-um, I'm sorry," Lunata says in apology to Loren telling her to stop speaking to the dead.
The explosion goes with a 'paff!' and pries the door open, which is both less dramatic and yet exactly what they want. The way is open, and out of this hellish prison!
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
=================<* CHALLENGE - Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Despite the ominous and oppressing metal decor of the other rooms, you enter a curiously well-lit and colorful room. A rainbow strobe lights the open dance floor, which appears to be pulsating red, yellow, green and blue cubes in a random order. A curious device that, upon testing, appears to amplify sound is set on a stand in the centre of the room. There is a metal door on the side of the room. A voice that attempts to sound menacing, but mostly only succeeds in being goofy, announces: "W-w-welcome! This door only opens to those who have proven their talent in SINGING! Kick, punch, bomb, it doesn't matter what you do, it's all in the mind! Sing well, heroes, or you shall be forever locked here!!" =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"It hasn't been that long since the last prison I was in," Lily remarks when Loren comments about the prison. She knows he looks to be right about those bones, though. The battle was only recently "...Maybe the Metal Demons aren't the only thing that's been here in secret."
But 'Thomas' tells Lunata to stop hearing the dead, and frowns at him. "You can't just stop hearing things, Blackwell. I sense a lot of strange things about others; should I just stop?"
A pain. That's probably right. Buuut...
"What?" Lily asks Blackwell. "...I guess you would recognize it. Regardless, I never told you how I learned. It was mostly practice, helped along by my parents' guidance without abilities like mine. Practice since I was a small child."
She hadn't told Lunata that. ...Oops.
Lily lights the fuses of course with conjured tiny flames.
But the moan echoes, and Lily glances to Ge Ramda moing before she moves back as well. "Lunata," she says, "Please keep that secret." Then a frown at Loren. "Don't bully Lunata."
A pause, "I know you'll keep it secret. Solaris would be after us both otherwise."
About that.
But as they progress out of the prison, they end up in a very well-lit, irritatingly colorful room. Red, yellow, green, blue. A metal door... A sign. Lily's eyes widen as she reads about singing.
"You have got to be kidding me," she says flatly. She eyes the door, as if judging it's explodability, and then scowls. "Sing. This is completely ridiculous." A deep breath, as Lily's hand shakes into a fist. "Completely... Completely ridiculous."
She keeps staring for a few moment before she turns away, her face pale and her mouth a thin line. "Don't you say a god-damned word, Blackwall. I swear I will kill you." Pause. "Lunata... Turn around." Lily moves towards the stand in the center of the room.
She turns around, "And Blackwell, don't you fucking dare look this way." Hell hath no fury like a woman...
...At karaoke.
"Whatever," she mutters, pulling her notebook and flipping through to the right page. "Fine. Mother loves this song." She keeps it open. Lily picks up the microphone, not that she knows to call it that. "Testing..." It's very audible.
Lily sings, barely audible except for the amplification, a song about a soldier taking in the countryside of Kislev on the way back from war. Her life is... adventurous. Lunata might want to cover her ears. Some of its subject matter is not for young ears.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata lowers her head just a little. Lily's parents sound really harsh...! Would she have come out the same way if her mother was like that? In a way, her resistance against the somewhat raucous and definitely very belligerent Meredin Croze is miraculous in its own little way.
She nods-- very slowly as she says, "O-okay..." she doesn't exactly know what they're discussing about. She's kinda sure Solaris is probably after her after what happened at Rujm el-Hiri, in some way, anyway...
She blinks a few times. "U-uhmm... okay--"
She turns around and closes her ears, perking down. Whimper!!!
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The... last prison? That earns her a raised eyebrow. "Precisely."
Ugh. "Never mind it," he mutters, this apparently being a hill he's not willing to die on as they continue on.
Particularly when she brings up Ether use again. "I figured it might have been the same as you. Seems I was right -- they don't teach this in schools." Well, unless you come from where he comes from, but he's not telling. "So your parents helped you out? That's fortunate," he says, exhaling a sigh. "...And it isn't bullying."
Solaris, huh. It sure is a good thing that Loren is well-practiced at not showing emotion. He glances sidelong at Lily, and nods. "...Agreed." At least in this, the charade is easy to maintain. He just has to act as normal, for him.
And then they enter a very garishly-lit room.
And the door just might have slammed shut behind them. "...What? ...No, this is ridiculous," he says, turning this way and that. This... isn't really happening, is it?
Oh yes, it is.
He's got one major problem, aside from the fact that even under normal circumstance he'd be loathe to get up and sing.
Every single song he can think of is in another language.
If anything would ever count as a mission security failure, that would.
So it's for more than a few reasons that 'Thomas' finally says, flatly, "...I refuse." His gaze slides over to Lily. "What, are you really going to do it?" He shakes his head. "Suit yourself, Keil."
He's convinced there has to be an alternate way out. This thing can't possibly be keyed to an actual song... can it?
Lifting a hand, he taps his glasses and -- turning away from Lily and Lunata -- starts to search for hidden doors.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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.
The last prison. They're in agreement about what else might have been here, but the matter of hearing things... Well, Lily hears Thomas back down and doesn't bother mentioning more about it. Its a strange circumstance for most people, but she's protective of Lunata.
"Where would there be enough people like me to school?" Lily asks, shaking her head. "Yes, they did. They more or less had to; I used my abilities freely without discipline. I had to learn to control them or I'd keep hurting myself with my own sorcery."
She doesn't know about Lunata's thoughts, though she has met Meredin, so there's that on understanding.
Lunata nods and Lil acknowledges her one with another back. But Blackwell...
"So you already know about them? I guess there's no need to tell you the rest of what I know. I'm surprised; I went to war with Gebler and thought the connection was a story. None of the Gebler soldiers I killed were fantasy stories."
The door is shut. Blackwell thinks it's ridiculous. Lily agrees. He refuses, while Lily is moving. "I'm not a coward," Lily says about karaoke. "I don't care if I hate it. I'm still going to do it."
So, Loren looks for hidden doors, and in the process he finds mechanisms relating to the lock. Its difficult to make use of them, but if he uses some of his tools he can affect them through the wall.
Lunata... Poor, sweet Lunata covers her ears, and that's for the best. Lily finishes her song eventually and sets the microphone down warily.
"...That song was a lot more risque than I remember it being. She knew I wouldn't get it." Lily actually looks... sad, for a moment.
The door has opened during her moment of reflection. "So we all agree to keep this a secret," Lily says. It is not a question. She starts immediately for the door, reloading her rifle as she walks.
Loren at least has gotten an idea for the rooms around them.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* CHALLENGE - It's Symbolic *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Finally, you've come to what appears to be the end of this bedraggled, logic-defying dungeon, judging from how the corridors appear to have become highly symmetric. The problem: There's an uncomfortably energetic demon guarding the final corridor, bearing an unbearably photogenic humanoid body, packed to the brim with deliciously oiled, rippling muscles and a highly defined twelve-pack. His lower torso is that of a metallic lion with black horns, and he's got a long and hard lance that he'd very much like to penetrate your moist cocoons with. What do you do? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I meant in the way you receive schooling for Crest Sorcery or Symbology," a long-suffering 'Thomas' replies to Lily. He exhales a short sigh, shaking his head sadly. "Just what do they teach you in Kislev? It seems lacking."
He goes on, "...And I lived in Bledavik," 'Thomas' says, closing his eyes as if he's getting a headache. "Is that so difficult to understand? There's more than one reason I came to Adlehyde."
Whatever it takes to maintain the purity of the mission at large.
Within the room, Lily calls him a coward!
He stiffens slightly at the barb, but doesn't so much as glance backwards as she starts to sing, that waitress apparently just covering her ears as instructed. He's going to find a way out of here that doesn't involve a song.
...Are all Lamb songs that vulgar? Well, it doesn't matter, he's found something interesting here near the wall. One of the things a medical kit -- for combat at that -- includes are probes and tweezers, for extracting bullets and other foreign objects. It's not the recommended use, but he can just about reach the mechanism from here and muck about with it.
The door opens not long after -- but was it him, or was it the song?
"Come on," he says, gesturing towards Lunata. Lily, he just fixes with a withering look. "Let's find out what's at the bottom of this hellhole."
The corridors lead on, uneventually (particularly after that last room) for some distance through the honeycomb of a complex.
And then, suddenly, the path comes to an end.
It would seem that the demons were not all driven out of the mines. This one in particular seems... perky.
Loren looks the demon over. Loren looks away, touching a hand to his forehead. "It's all yours, Keil," he says, once again fishing into his medical kit. Yes, he really does seem like he's going to hang back on this one.
At least, until he pitches a glass bottle of something overhand at the demon.
Iodine hurts, especially when you get it in your eyes. Hopefully, the same is true for demons.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata furrows her brow with a tremble as she says, "N-not you again!"
The demon, decidedly less talkative this time, just flexes and glexes and--
--suddenly Lunata's gone off towards the other end of him as she re-sheathes her katana. Ge Ramda seems similarly offended, and when you've offended an ancient lich whose sensibilities must be thousands of years out of date by now, you know you've done something wrong...
... or maybe, terribly right.
"Leave us alone already!"
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Watch it," Lily says to 'Thomas'. "You know I understood you." A pause, as Thomas continues with his condescending tone. "Fair enough. But before you talk much about Kislev schools, you should remember that Kislev doesn't need some other nation to fight its battles."
She feels a little half-hearted in defense though. It's not like Kislev cares if she defends it. Is it just her atigue...? No.
Lily totally alls him a coward.
Lily glares back at that withering look, but follows. Here they are at that... ridiculous thing, though. Muscular and strange, human but not. She frowns. But Lunata recognizes it--
"You're kidding me," Lily says as Blackwell leaves the monster to her. "Whatever." Lily takes out her rifle again and starts firing, the first shot straight for this creature's head. She fires until she runs out of ammunition.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Symbolic. DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
And 'Thomas' just gives Lily a look that might be one part acting and one part 'legitimately how he feels right now'. "How nice. So Kislev really is just the nation of brutes it seems to be."
But right now, they have a bit of a demon problem. And Loren visibly does a double-take as Lunata says 'again'. Wait, again?
The waitress -- albeit the waitress with the obviously-looted-from-an-ancient-ruin sword and frankly baffling combat skills -- has been down here before?
The muscular, flexing demon seems little more than amused as Lunata shouts at it to 'leave them alone'. And then bullets fly, capped off by a well-timed toss of a glass bottle of iodine.
Glass and iodine to the eyes are, apparently, super effective. The Demon lets out a howl and retreats, leaving the way open.
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - Paperless Since 23 PC *>==================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You've defeated the final guardian, and you come onto a most private chamber of operations. It looks like this is where the owners of this base do most of their strategizing and planning. There's a problem, though: None of it appears to be written down on paper. These curious devils appear to not have even heard of paper. Only more of those befuddling terminals remain before you, and you're going to have to figure out how to extract any valuable information from within! =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
After the battle, Lily, Loren and Lunata emerge into a... a...!
Well, it's not a skull throne with flaming braziers within or anything. In fact, it's a brightly lit room with an oval table and several chairs, some overturned, with a door marked 'EMERGENCY EXIT' half-opened in whatever evacuation process the demons have.
Ontop of the table is a half-eaten box of churros from Adlehyde, a half-drunk coffee cup and a pitch-black metallic laptop which Lunata points to go-- "There! Last time, this ancient terminal contained vital information from the demons' plans..."
A pause.
"Um, but last time Lunie and Jay were here to help... all I did was-- um, serve soup."
She sets a thermos down and unscrews it, pouring cups and putting a dungeon sign up:
TODAY'S DUNGEON SOUP
Minestrone with cannellini and bacon, served with elbow pasta
with a side of ginger croutons
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Soup of the Day toward her party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I can show you brutality if you're that interested," Lily says, levelling a stare back into his look that seems to entirely ignore how badly injured she still is. The demon is gone shortly after, and Lily leaves it at that except to shake her head.
There they go into this new room, this... strange, well-lit room with an exit and some chairs along with some kind of table. The contents of the table are strange. But...
"Terminal," Lily answers. "Hmm. I have some notes on terminals like this where I've encountered them before..."
It might be something useful. A pause. "I guess they would help," she says. But there's soup. Lily inhales the aroma of non-ration food. "...That smells amazing," Lily says. She takes a cup and takes it with her over to the terminal, sipping at it before she sets it down to pull out here notebook and...
Start typing. "Any key...?" Tap, blink. "Ah. Keys. Let's see..."
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Perhaps it's the sixth sense of all those nerdily-aligned. Loren, this time, makes no further crack, apparnetly unwilling to escalate this further under the circumstances. Instead, he just looks at her sidelong and barely, just barely, rolls his eyes.
And the door opens into...
A meeting room? Glancing this way and that -- poking gingerly at the long-abandoned box of churros. It's almost a little mundane, except for the nature of the hardware. "It looks like they left in a hurry," he comments, grabbing a cup of the soup.
Vital information? And all they have to do is crack a Metal Demon computer system. He leans over the back of the seat Lily's occupying, peering at the screen through his glasses. Which, naturally, he presses a finger against, as if to just readjust the way they sit.
"Try this combination," he suggests after a moment's investigation of the screen and keys.
"I can see these keys have been used more recently."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC. DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Old Petra!
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Attack Plan: Beta *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You discover a reconnaissance report of a nearby train route. The detail is quite thorough, informing one of a schedule, and many dossiers corroborating information on what is being shipped when and where. It looks like it focuses on the shipment of Dragon Fossils and miscellaneous ARMs -- a prime target for banditry, no doubt, and a prime chance to foil an assault! (Please @mail Riesenlied of your discovery for more information!) =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Oh, yeah, that would've probably been where Lunie typed on the keys!" Lunata very helpfully (not really) chimes in as Lily examines her manual -- which probably has a helpful segment on password security and what exactly not to do -- and why Loren manages to get in with a password of 'password123'.
The file that's open has... quite a detailed set of plans on the movements of a certain group towards the west -- detailing train lines, routes, and shipment supplies for Dragon Fossils and Metal Demon ARMs both. While it'll take some time to decipher the ciphers used for this intel, this will no doubt be quite useful for those in the know.
"... I don't get it..." Lunata murmurs, totally not one of those in the know.
Yet it's an actual fact right now:
Lunata may very well be the only person right now who can say 'I invaded Old Petra twice and succeeded'.
That's a sobering thought.