2017-07-25: His ConSulting Fee
- Log: His ConSulting Fee
- Cast: Layna Manydays, Corwynt, Talise Gianfair, Animal, Cyre H. Lorentz
- Where: Sult Ruins
- Date: 07-25-2017
- Summary: Layna leads a party into the Sult Ruins to see what treasures might lie inside. They find something, but it's not quite the treasure she was hoping for...
===============================<* Sult Ruins *>=============================== The Sult Ruins have a truly imposing entrance: a large, angry head lined with fans. The mouth of this glowering man leads into a maze of narrow cavernous rooms. The ruins are likely a mine from before the Day of Collapse, having since become infested with monsters. They are also rumored to have drawn the attention of military forces, for it is said that some of the minerals here are necessary to power the ancient technology of the past. DG: A party led by Layna Manydays is now entering Sult Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Barricaded Gate *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are no obvious guards at the gate of the Sult Ruins, but whatever force has occupied the area has placed a heavy barricade of some sort in front of the entrance to keep trespassers away. This could be as simple as a large number of heavy crates, several wagons with their wheels locked, or even stones piled in front of the entrance. Getting through is simply a matter of time and effort. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna's been busy lately. Between the tournament and arranging some things business-wise, she hasn't really had a whole lot of time for a spot of good, old-fashioned adventuring.
Now, however, it was time to do something about that.
And so, against the advice of her Quartermaster, she'd gathered together some folks and decided to just set out for the first Ruin that caught her attention. The Sult Ruin sounded interesting, and it was made even moreso by the fact that the entrance was clearly blocked off with all manner of rubble and wagons. Someone didn't want people to be here.
"You know, me hearties, I wonder if people ever realise doing this is the same as asking folk like us to come around and poke our heads in." Layna comments with a chuckle. "Well, I'm sure you all know what to do here!"
Whoever had set this barricade up, they probably hadn't accounted for this particular party. Layna doubted they'd have any trouble getting through.
She moves in to start moving away some of the blockade.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Barricaded Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
MYSTERIOUS DRIFTER CORWYNT, who is PROBABLY NOT the same guy as STORM FIST CORWYNT except wearing a HORRIBLY FAKE MOUSTACHE, has been taking advantage of the relative peace and calm of the Lacour Tournament of Arms to accompany Drifters and investigate some of the reports of these ruins for himself. It has gone reasonably well, all things considered.
Today, though, is the first day after Corwynt received a report of Jean's tournament match from one of his Guards. And so he approaches the detritus surrounding the entrance to the Sult Ruins with a festering anger that demands an outlet. As such:
"Indeed I do," he says, then spinkicks one of the crates into the next dungeon over.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Barricaded Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A jaunt through a ruin back the way the team just came is just what the doctor ordered for Talise to get her injured leg going again. She's no longer visibly limping thanks to more than a few bottles of heal berry cordial.
On the plus side, she's keeping Old Man Ettlesbury in business - though Lady Chloe did a little more in that regard.
Not that Talise knows anything about said woman of mystery. She's back to the rough-but-still-stylish traveling gear she tends to prefer - long seafarer's coat, tunic with light mail under it, high boots, shorts - and she's got Rastaban sheathed over her shoulder, waiting for now as she moves up the slope towards the entrance.
Layna drops a nice, worldly 'me hearties' and it just brings a wicked grin to Talise's face. "No, they'll never get it. Never. And I wouldn't have it any other way!"
Rolling her right shoulder, then her left, Talise takes a moment to stretch her arms, almost as if she's taking the barricade lightly. After a moment or so, she thumps her gauntleted fists together. "Okay! Let's get in there," she says casually, strolling forward. She lays her hands on a wagon.
Talise picks up the wagon as if it weighs little to nothing.
She does a couple of reps with it. Just because she can. Then she turns and hurls it back down the path they just came.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, The Barricaded Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
"Hi Captain."
Not that Animal is always easy to find, living off in the middle of nowhere most of the time. But when summoned, he shows up and lends his muscles to the cause. Grabbing on to one of the wagons, he simply walks it out of the way like it's a child's toy, and then starts throwing rubble over his shoulder. Including large boulders and chunks of stuff which he just casually lobs away.
"I like your gloves," he says to Talise when he sees them. Not because of what they can do, but because of how they look. He of course, has no idea what they might be doing for the woman, just that he likes gloves and now wants a pair like them.
Lob lob lob.
DG: Animal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Barricaded Gate.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
The Sult Ruins are...
Well, they're certainly a Baskar-y place to be, aren't they? The exact kind of place a Metal Demon might go to try to find something of the Guardians to deface and/or spraypaint graffiti all over. Cyre is, alas, uncertain about whether or not this place actually HAS anything left in it that still remains sacred to the Guardians, but it's worth coming down and snooping about just in case there is something worthwhile to protect.
Of course, it helps that he also knows the illustrious captain Manydays well enough to come along and help her with her expedition. The first obstacle: LITERAL OBSTACLES.
"Eh. Who'd just leave something like this lying around? It's rude, and disrespectful besides," he gestures with his crooked staff, a sharp wind suddenly rousing to blast heavier debris free of the greater assemblage of knick-knacks and assorted rubble. "Well. Let's clear it out."
BUT WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS HOODED MAN!?
(Layna totally knows.)
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Barricaded Gate. DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Aye, ain't that the truth?" Layna replies with a grin toward Talise. Indeed, it certainly made things a lot more interesting! The group gets to work.
The barricade didn't stand a chance.
If Layna could count on Corwynt for anything, it was having an interesting taste in facial hair. Also - spinkicking crates so hard that another group will run into them as an impromptu Brute challenge at a later point.
Talise and Animal, forgo the 'smashing' part and decide to just remove the obstacles entirely. Layna grins and laughs unflinchingly as a wagon flies past her, proceeded by several other large obstructions.
There's a little bit left over, but the Mysterious Hooded Man Who Totally Isn't Cyre has it covered - the wind stirs, and eventually the rest of the blockade is cleared by a mighty gust. Layna nods approvingly.
"Good work, me hearties! Let's get moving!" She says, and they make their way inside...
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Stop Just Run *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- There is a click as the party steps into the hallway following a rather boring and uninspiring room. The mechanical sound is unusual, and a bit different from the normal sounds of ruins that they might encounter. Then the ceiling behind the party drops down, and with a rumble the comically sized large iron orb starts slowly rolling down the long incline into the hallway, picking up speed as it moves. It crashes and careens into the wall, clearly being poorly sized for this sort of trap. It is, however, huge and coming right at the party. Better get moving. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
With a smile, Talise flicks a hand up to wave to Animal briskly. "Thanks, pal! They've been pretty helpful since I got here."
The arrival of the windy man leaves her squinting at him, as though trying to see past the hood. She gives up after a few seconds of that, though, and chucks another piece of cart aside. She shoots Layna a wide, fierce grin. "Then what say we get in there and see what they're trying to hide, huh? Y'know, you'd think I'd have been in here before now, but apparently not."
Talise ducks through the entryway and into the ruins beyond, quickly passing through a simple anteroom. As she steps into a long, wide corridor beyond, though, she squints, peering down the length of it. "Huh. It didn't look this long from the outside. And it kind of slopes, doesn't it?" she murmurs.
That's when something begins to click from the ceiling. Then there's a thud. Then a grinding noise. Talise widens her eyes and looks back over her shoulder.
Just in time for a section of the ceiling to drop out and a huge iron orb to fall through. It begins to trundle down the slope towards the group.
"Crap, run!" Talise shouts, immediately breaking into a dead sprint down the hallway. She looks back over her shoulder as she sprints towards the ledge at the far end of the corridor, a door waiting there for the group to reach it...!
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Stop Just Run.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Mysterious Drifter Corwynt regards the Mysterious Hooded Drifter curiously. For a moment, he wonders whether the person is another one of Althena's Guards, using one of the White Knight Leo-Approved Disguise Kits. But then he swings his staff around and wind carries the debris away WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A PRAYER to the glory of the Goddess. It would be disgraceful, if he was a Guardsman and not a Mysterious Drifter. So all's good there.
Except for the giant rolling ball, which Corwynt begins to outpace quickly, wisps of wind dancing around his bare feet as he goes. Dude can sprint.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Don't Stop Just Run.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
When the flooring clicks under them, Animal jumps straight up and hangs on to a few odd spots on the ceiling for about a half a second before he realizes that a trap hasn't sprung a trap door from beneath them, and instead has slammed a gate behind them and sent them a present.
With a huff, he takes off running behind the others, and calls out ahead, "I could try to catch the ball!" and then glances over his shoulder. "But it might be too big."
Running harder, he smiles a toothy grin as he runs along. His hair streaming behind him, and his weathered feet slapping against the stones of the floor.
"I like these puzzles. No weird blinking lights or mazes or anything, just stuff to run from and lift," he says and continues to bound along like his namesake. "But I bet there's a big bug or something ahead. There's always a big bug."
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Don't Stop Just Run.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Indeed, the contents of Cyre's cowl are both mysterious and quite likely heretical by the standards of some religion somewhere in the world. Certainly the other contents of his robes would constitute a theological infraction among the most ardent of monotheists, but hey, those guys are TOTAL LAME-OS anyway.
His hood still twitches just a fraction of an inch at Talise and Corwynt's curious gaze.
He seems more interested in the former than the latter, though. For reasons.
Yes.... Reasons.
What he's not interested in: Being run over by a giant boulder. Cyre cusses softly, unfurls an enormous sheet and holds it open like a small sail. He leaps, a sudden gust of wind blasts into the sheet, sending him rocketing forward towards safety!!
A simple, reinforced leather sheet can be pretty useful if you know how to use it.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Don't Stop Just Run.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Me either. Guess this'll be new for both of us, aye?" Layna replies, looking back at Talise. New was good - it was exciting and different. And, of course, new meant the possibility of interesting treasure.
Talise does have a point, though. This was looking a lot different on the inside than she thought it would...the reason for this becomes apparent when a clicking sound suddenly comes from the ceiling. This was the only warning they got before Layna finds herself suddenly being chased by a giant orb.
"I think it might be going a bit too fast now even for you, lad." She comments with a glance toward Animal as she begins to run. She doesn't seem all that concerned, especially when she spots Corwynt and Cyre taking advantage of their wind to get ahead.
Well...three could play at that game.
After a brief incantation, Layna jumps forward through the help of a powerful gust of wind. She wasn't going to be left out!
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Stop Just Run. DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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. DG: Corwynt has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* CHALLENGE - An Uncrossable Gap *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- One of the rooms within the ruins opens to a sheer drop, with the door to the next chamber visible twenty feet away. The jump itself would be almost impossible, and climbing up the hundred foot drop would be tiring and time consuming. But there also appears to be a pair of strange mechanisms bracketing the portal just before the gap - intricate but incomplete mechanisms that might hold the key to raising the path to the other side. If the devices are merely broken or have had parts removed by the invaders remains to be seen... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise is pretty recognizable, and not hooded in the least! She might be a known Lunarian troublemaker who's had run-ins with the Guard before. But she's definitely not the masked tournament competitor who beat up White Knight Leo.
It's a mad scamper down the corridor! The mysterious Drifters in the hoods have the advantage, drawing on wind powers. The hooded Cyre's prevailing wind seems to cheer everyone on, though, providing a rare lightness of step. Before long, Talise - running as hard as she's run in awhile - is lunging down the corridor, grasping for that ledge.
She throws herself onto the platform and pulls herself up, grimacing with effort.
The huge iron ball-bearing slams into the edge of the platform - and though part of it chips away, the ball goes no further. It remains lodged there, unable to budge past the platform lip, which acts like a vast doorstop. Talise breathes out a sigh of relief, pushing her hair back, then grinning at the others with bright eyes. "See! That wasn't so bad, was it?"
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
"I've certainly seen worse," agrees Corwynt, though his eyes are on Layna. Her use of the Blessing of Althena has drawn the attention of the Guardsman (and his undoubtedly registered to her as well), so now they both have a good idea of where the other is from, if not who that other is, unless she can pierce his CUNNING DISGUISE. Which is possible.
The chamber beyond the platform is massive indeed, with a yawning chasm preventing the party from moving further forward. And littered about the platform are... pieces of machines. "Blast," the little martial artist grumbles as he looks down at the pieces, which make little sense to him. He has attempted to divine some of the rules governing Filgaian ferromancy since his arrival here, but has hardly managed to do more than scratch the surface. None of it functions the way anything should - there is no source for the power that makes sense to him. It just seems to... work. Which is troubling.
But troubling or not, he has a job to do, and so he fingers a small jewel dangling from his neck, letting a whisper of Althena's Blessing coil around the gleaming stone. Corwynt sends his mind back through basic diagrams sketched out by one of the ferromantic maegi in Linga, as they instructed their acolytes in the ways of their art. As he recalls... his first step should be to place 'Tab A' into 'Slot B.' Unfortunately, none of them are labeled.
(He may need some help here.)
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, An Uncrossable Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Once the ball is stopped and they aren't being chased by it anymore, Animal turns around and gives it a few pokes and seems to be trying to decide if he could have just caught the big sphere rather than run from it. The answer is apparently inconclusive, as he doesn't look very satisfied as he turns to follow the others to the chasm.
Looking over the edge, he then looks to the fancy bit of puzzle work and rubs at his lucky headband as he tries to figure out what to do.
As always, once proper itching is done, he pokes or prods a single thing, and then walks away. Content that his contribution has been noticed and he can just watch the others puzzle it out. Walking to the edge, he hunkers down and lets his toes dangle off the edge, his shoulders by his knees, he counts his toes and occasionally shoots a glance across the way towards the distant side.
"I should get a rope with a hook on it, so I could swing across," he decides as he stares. "I could jump some of it, but the rest, a hook!"
A nod over his shoulder and he finds himself searching around in his pocket, he produces some meat which was cooked in the past few days, and starts to chew at it. A bit loudly.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Lucky Headband toward his party's challenge, An Uncrossable Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
It's a good thing Talise doesn't use the Blessing of Althena, huh? She may be from Lunar but she's never shown so much as a hint of magical potential. Instead she went the other way and adapted to Filgaian combat tactics.
The vast chamber beyond the door leaves her frowning a little. "No, we can figure it out. Machines aren't that hard," she says.
There's a confidence there she didn't have six months ago - at least, there's an edge of it there. Enough time spent traveling with Filgaians has given her some insight. Or so she hopes.
Easing past THE MYSTERIOUS DRIFTER who definitely isn't Corwynt, Talise crouches near one of the mechanisms. Her tongue passes over her lower lip as she slides her gauntlets off, running her hand over one. "Okay," she murmurs. "So this thing's supposed to interlock with this thing, and... that one I think goes... here... and...." She narrows her eyes and squints more closely.
"Uhm. Okay, I see the problem, I think. There's one of those doohickeys missing," she explains, extremely precisely.
She makes some gestures with her hands which don't seem to mean anything.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, An Uncrossable Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Corwynt's disguise is impentrable. How could anyone suspect that someone with such a MAGNIFICENT MOUSTACHE could be anything but on the up-and-up!?
Cyre regards the gulf across the missing bridgeway with a curious cant of the head. "Well," he muses, "I could ferry us across one-by-one, but that'd take awhile, and I don't know if the Wind God's power should be used so frivolously." OH, NOW HE CARES!? No, he's just lazy. "Sooooo we should probably just figure out how to make this bridge go, and we should be good, right?"
RIGHT.
Except these two Althenians and this one weird animal guy appear to have basically zero knowledge of how mechanical bits and bobs work. Cyre's brow furrows ever so slightly under his hood. Do... none of them have more than a passing knowledge of mechanical engineering...?
IDA WHERE ARE YOU, WE NEED YOU.
Cyre sighs, moving towards the assemblage of gears and gizmos. "I think some of these are redundant," he says, starting to pluck and swap at the mechanical bits, moving gears from place to place until something hopefully connects and activates. "Well, maybe. It'd kind of be a pain if someone just took the bits that make this thing work, but then they'd probably have a reason to, and that probably means there's something interesting hidden beyond here."
Possibly.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, An Uncrossable Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna had noticed, of course - but then again, this wasn't the first time she'd been on a Dig with him. Whether or not she knows the truth of his identity, however, is something she doesn't let on.
That boulder problem really wasn't that bad, though, on the whole. Honestly, Layna could appreciate a good run. She returns Talise's grin, then turns her attention to the task at hand. Logically, a few of them could probably jump it...but it'd mean leaving the others behind, and it was a very wide gap. She didn't know if she wanted to risk it.
So, instead, she reaches for the telescope at her waste and focuses it on the machines near the door. She nods to herself, then turns the telescope toward the machines parts scattered about the platform. She'd actually been reading up in Filgaian machinery lately, and she thought she had a decent grasp of the basics.
"'Doohickeys', aye? Well, I think..." Layna walks over to a couple of the parts, picks them up, and sticks them together.
"...These are what we're looking for, aye? Looks like there are more of 'em scattered around, too."
She goes to walk over to the machine and stick the parts in. She seemed confident...but whether she had the right ones or even installed them correctly was another matter entirely.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, An Uncrossable Gap. DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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> Corwynt has posed.
"I don't know how you can tell the dohickeys from the don'thickeys, honestly," Corwynt grumbles with frank exasperation. He's clearly going to have to delegate a few Guardsman to full-time study of this ferromancy, heresy or not, just so that the Guards can know what they're fighting and how to counter it for as long as they're on Filgaia.
Fortunately, the others (including Layna, which draws a surprised glance) manage to piece enough together to cause the machine to turn on, which raises a platform out from the depths. CAN OUR HEROES WALK ACROSS?!?!?!
(yes)
DG: Animal has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Baskar Totem *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The mechanism that locks this room within the ruin appears to be linked to a large slot in the floor. A slot that is about six feet deep and requires a large and heavy object to be dropped into it in order to unlock the door. Thankfully the object itself is not hard to find - there is a massive carved pole on the far side of the chamber, laying on its side. It is also twelve feet tall, and made out of intricately carved stone. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Those are absolutely the doohickeys," confirms Talise with a deep nod, her smile wide and flushed with relief. See, someone understood her attempt at doing machine things! She wiggles a doohickey into place before looking back to Corwynt.
"See, the doohickeys have the dinglehoppers on them," she says, holding up her hands as if to indicate the shape of something. "The don'thickeys don't have the dinglehoppers, they've got the dingleberries. And sometimes they've got the thingamajigs on them, but sometimes so do the doohickeys, but the doohickeys' thingamajigs are shaped like the whatchamacallits and not like the dingleberries or the thingamajigs. Unless it's a thingy. Then you're screwed."
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Crossing the raised platform, Animal pauses about half way across to hang a foot off and then pulls a small pebble out of a pocket and drops it. Then he can be seen to stand there, ear crooked as he listens and his lips count out a count but make no noise. When it apparently hits, he nods to himself and calmly keeps on walking. "I don't like doo-hickey puzzles," he says to the captain, since he knows her best. But he also seems to be talking to the girl with the gloves, since she is so keen on discussing them. "They always have stuff I haven't learned about."
Leading in to the next chamber, he goes over and examines the hole, and then looks at the big key of sorts, and walks over to start carrying it. No real finesse here, though he could probably use a hand to make sure he doesn't bang it off of something or somehow damage it in the process.
DG: Animal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Baskar Totem.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Corwynt nods along with the explanation, his expression softening as Talise makes things clear and concise. "I am grateful for your assistance," he says seriously. "We did not have many... machines in the dojo where I trained. I will be sure to look out for dingleberries in the future."
SOCIAL LINK....UP?
The next puzzle, at least, is something he knows how to help with. The little martial artist pds up behind Animal and leans some of the totem under his shoulder, carrying part of the weight. It looks like he lifts a bit.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Baskar Totem.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Ida taught Talise well and it shows. She lifts her chin with a certain pride.
"I felt the same way when I first got here," Talise assures Animal as she moves along, flashing him a reassuring smile. "I didn't have a ton of machines back home in Dalton, either. I had to figure them out as I went along. Once you get exposed to a few, it gets easier. Maybe if you hang around for awhile I can give you a few pointers, Mister...?"
The moustache is a perfect disguise. Talise has no idea MYSTERIOUS DRIFTER CORWYNT is Leo's right-hand-man Corwynt.
The next chamber leaves her resting her hands on her hips. "Well. This looks fun," she murmurs, sliding her gauntlets back on, then thumping her fists together again with a metallic clatter. As the Notorious MDC starts shoving the statue and Animal does as well, Talise circles around to the other side of it and begins to pull.
It immediately gets easier; her strength is great as it is owing to both her size and her Beastman genes, but the gauntlets' magic power makes hoisting the totem around quite a bit quicker. Her shoulders and back bunch beneath her coat as she drags the heavy thing along. "Gh... c'mon, get it to the right a bit--"
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, The Baskar Totem.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
A-are they
Are they just PICKING UP and MANHANDLING an ancient Baskar totem!?
Cyre stares agog at this terrifying act of CULTURAL ENDANGERMENT. "I--" he starts, then staggers over and VERY CAREFULLY plucks a brass censer from his cloak. It begins emitting plumes of relaxing-- and yet invigorating-- smoke. Why? Because right now HE KIND OF NEEDS IT. "Okay. Uh. Hold on guys. Be... Very careful with that. Just, easy as she does it, okay? Come over to the left a little bit, steady, steady--"
If they break it, something terrible might happen.
There might be a curse!
A Guardian might become upset!
CYRE MIGHT HAVE A HEART-ATTACK. (That's what the smoke's for.) "Steeeaaady now."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, The Baskar Totem.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna nods in agreement as Talise launches into her explanation. Yes, that sounded perfectly reasonable.
"Well, lad, there's always time to start. Figuring out how to use doohickeys is an important part of Digging...and life in general." Layna comments with a glance toward Animal.
The next puzzle is an interesting one. It looked like they needed to shift a giant pillar into the place. She has a feeling she's just going to get in the way here, so she reaches into her coat and pulls out several bottles of liquid.
Animal would recognize this liquid as definitely not being water.
"Got some drinks here, once you lot are done with that!" She says to the group doing the actual work.
While she waits, she undoes the cork of one and gets to drinking. She watches as Cyre basically...starts kind of freaking out a little bit? She grins and offers him one of the bottles. It looked like he already had it partially covered, but a little more relaxation couldn't hurt, right?
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, The Baskar Totem. DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 27 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: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - The Carved Stone Head *>==================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The deepest chamber of the Sult Ruins contains a mysterious structure - a large stone head that has been painted in much the same way as the entrance to the ruins up above. Its eyes are open and hollow, and its mouth a closed mesh of sharp teeth. Around the room are scattered a number of odd ritual objects - carved stone orbs, wedges, and squares. Gazing between the teeth, one can see the form of a lever of some sort - but the mechanism to cause the head to open its teeth and allow access is an obscure and strange one that the party must unravel. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
With motivational rum and 'relaxing (herbal) vapors' on hand, Animal, Corwynt and Talise manage to just muscle the pillar over to the hole and then lower it in. Easy peasy.
Animal dusts off his hands once they've dropped the pillar in, and says, "Mr. Animal!" he replies with a thumbs up, and seems very amused to call himself 'mister.' That said, he grins at Talise with his pointed teeth, and wanders off through the hole in the wall that the giant key has managed to unlock.
The lock itself can be heard clicking as a series of small grooves line up and interlock along the pillar and like a key causes the whole platform to lower about five feet and allow them to walk out of the room. Rather than through the obvious door that was now clearly some sort of decoy. Likely leading to traps or something. In case someone tried to force their way out.
Walking along, he says, "I know I need to learn, captain, I'm always trying," he groans in a very boyish way. "But you people are always coming up with crazy things. I just like food."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
The party advances largely unperturbed by the TERRIBLE MANHANDLING OF ANCIENT CULTURAL ARTIFACTS. Largely, because Cyre is plenty perturbed, but also feeling significantly less distressed with the successful relocation of the enormous ancestral totem. It didn't fall, it didn't break, and nobody is coming away from the challenge haunted by twelve generations of upset Baskar ghosts.
Nobody needs that kind of nagging.
Nobody.
But it does seem like there are, indeed, plenty of Baskar relics in these ruins. Sure, most are pretty mundane, but some... Some are amazing indeed. Like this gigantic, toothy, stone head. Cyre frowns slightly, rubbing thoughtfully at his chin as he contemplates the CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE of the giant puzzle noggin.
"Nope," he concludes, "I have absolutely no idea why anyone made something like this. Well, anyway, there should be some stuff lying around that should fit into other stuff. I think, maybe, that we should be pushing something into its eyes and nose? Hmn."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Manhandling the sacred totem rather vigorously, Talise pauses and blinks at Cyre a couple times before lugging the thing around. "Sure, I won't drop it. Why?"
She flashes Animal a grin, then, as the totem falls into place. "Nice job," she approves. "And nice to meet'cha, Animal! I'm Tal."
As she moves after the group, Talise gravitates a little closer to Cyre; he seems to know things about the Baskar that she does not. Perhaps he is one, she decides, though she can't quite figure out who he is with that hood up. Her eyes search him for a moment.
Then she reaches out to pat his shoulder briskly. "I don't know. It feels awfully indecent to just start going right for orifices like that," she says with a dip of her lashes. "There might be a switch, though. I can kind of see a lever behind those teeth but I think we need to open the mouth first, which means...."
Frowning, Talise circles around to one side of the head. Climbing a little ways up, she attempts to peer into one of its ears, as if trying to figure out if there's machinery hidden inside the big head.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Picking up a random piece, Animal carries it over and bangs it off of the head a few times and then after rubbing at his headband a bit, he ends up just randomly making it click into place along the bottom of the jaw. He nods then and as usual, wanders away to watch now. Contribution managed.
He rubs at his headband a bit more then, and nods at the others as if he were approving of their various actions like a foreman.
"Mmm.." he says introspectively and climbs up to look in the ear with Talise, and then wanders around to poke at the nose a little, and seems to be wondering if he should reach inside it.
In the end, he just moves to stand back again, and try not to get in the way. "I wonder how big the body was. Just look at the size of their head," he says thoughtfully.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Lucky Headband toward his party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
"Corwynt," the little martial artist answers Talise once the lifting is done. He dusts his hands off on his gi and extends the right one outward. "Mysterious Drifter Corwynt," he clarifies in a total deadpan, because Leo told him he had to introduce himself like that, but didn't say he had to be convincing. "A pleasure to meet you." He holds up a hand to forestall Layna's offer of a drink - she should know better, as a resident of Lunar - and makes his way through the next door.
And into a puzzle. Which is the last thing he wanted to see right now.
The little martial artist looks around the room, a muscle working along his jawline as he grinds his teeth. He can recall reading a report about this ruin, can recall that the Guardswoman who made it into this sanctum failed to find the solution, but had some ideas after the fact. He can remember seeing the report... but he sees a lot of reports. Corwynt touches the sapphire jewel dangling around his neck, and sighs. "Duty," he mutters softly, then channels the Blessing of Althena into the Rememberizer. In an instant, Corwynt's mind expands, the Rememberizer granting him perfect recall of every moment of his life. Everything he's ever seen, heard, tasted or felt, all at once, all laid out before him, fresh as the day he first experienced it. Every moment of joy ad triumph. Every moment of sorrow. Every cut or strike he's ever taken in battle.
The faces of his family on the last night they spent together at their home in Meribia.
The feeling of a cultist's fingers digging into his shoulders; holding him back as his parents are dragged away.
The sensation of his own throat tearing as he screams in fury as his parents are cut down.
And then his heart skipping a beat as he listens to one of his Guardsmen report on the green-haired dancer's fight in the Tournament. "She said what?" he asks as a wound he'd thought healed suddenly burst open in his soul.
In amongst the sorrow and the rage, a part of his mind examines the report, fresh as the moment he saw it, and then he releases the Blessing with an effort, winds subsiding after a moment. The memories are gone, but the agony remains. Still, he will do his duty. "There are carvings on the wall of one-eyed monsters," Corwynt says, his voice rough. "I believe we should begin by placing one of those orbs in the eye socket."
A drop of blood falls onto the ground under his arms, where the man's nails have dug into his palms. Soon enough, he thinks. She'll answer soon enough.
DG: Corwynt has used his Tool Rememberizer toward his party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Don't blame me, lad. I can't take credit for some of the crazy things people come up with." Layna replies with a grin toward Animal. Apparently, she didn't mind these 'crazy things' all too much, though.
She glances toward Cyre.
"Well, lad, I imagine they built it to keep out folks trying to rob their ruins. ...'Course, I guess it weren't a ruin back then, aye?" She chuckles to herself and draws the telescope from her waist once again now that she'd finished up her drink.
She glances around the room, eventually spotting the orb Corwynt pointed out and the socket it was supposed to go in.
She scans the rest of the room, stopping only to glance toward Talise with a smirk at her comment.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, The Carved Stone Head. DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has successfully explored Sult Ruins!
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Chest of Tomes *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Discovery |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The chamber the party has found themselves in contains a considerable amount of dust, and a single chest. Within the chest appears to be several scrolls and hide bound tomes written in an ancient Baskar dialect. A cursory examination reveals nothing terribly exciting about them, but the Adventurers' Guild and Ethos are known to pay a generous reward for ancient artifacts of this sort. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Well of course," Cyre answers Talise. "We need to properly massage this out before just going on the attack. I'm a gentleman, you know. I go... gently."
"Until I don't."
But it seems Corwynt managed to REMEMBER SOMEtHING IMPORTANT. "Oh, right," Cyre nods. "The Story of Ahriman One-Eye! I should have thought of that. Good job, buddy. You some kind of scholar of Baskar cul--" Something under his cloak twitches. Liquid falls nearby. No, blood? Cyre frowns. "Hey. Uh. Are you alright?" He cants his head at the relatively diminuitive martial artist, "You're kind of... Leaking, there. Everything uh-- hold on."
Layna shoves a sphere into a socket, which flips a switch and activates a set of mechanisms that Talise and Animal are able to follow, which then suggest that the next step is to shove a wedge into the corner of the statue's maw.
This pushes the thing up just enough for Cyre to slide his crook into its now ever-so-slightly widened mouth and tug the lever into a new position.
A nearby wall recedes, then slides away. "Aha, there we go. And, uh, friend, you might want to get that bandaged up, huh?"
Those kinds of wounds can get infected, especially in a dusty old place like this.
But what do they get for their all their trouble?
A... dusty old room in the very center of a dusty old ruin, with a single dusty old chest tucked away in a duty old corner.
Cyre frowns as he steps into the room, taking a moment to light a little lantern dangling from his belt. The little beacon illuminates the room-- it looks like some kind of old ritual chamber, decorated with pictographs depicting some ancient Baskar legend or other, but what Cyre's interested in is the contents of that chest.
"...Scrolls," he says, drawing back his hood to get a closer look- and revealing his TRUE IDENTITY for all to see. Or rather, a pair of twitching, bestial ears. "They're in a... Very old dialect. I think maybe I could try to figure out what they say, but... Is that really all there is here?" He frowns, unfurling a second scroll. "Well. Maybe these things can tell us more about what this place used to be for. Or what the old ones were keeping here."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise squints at Corwynt for a moment as he gives his name. Where has she heard that name before...?
The tall woman smiles as the wall slides back, revealing the cache of scrolls beyond. Her eyes go wide, interest glinting there. Slipping forward, she slides her gauntlets off and holds her hand out - but she stops short of the chest and the scrolls within, biting her lower lip firmly, as though fearful they'll crumble if she touches them.
"Maybe there's more somewhere else in the ruins. We could always come back sometime," she murmurs, leaning over Cyre's shoulder to squint at the scroll. The writing etched across it doesn't register to her as anything in particular.
Then Cyre pulls his hood back. Talise looks up to the...
The cat ears.
Talise draws her lips into a little 'o' for an second, then grins broadly, giving Cyre's shoulder a firm pat. "Think you still found something good there, pal. Sounds like cause for a drink!"
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Seeing that it's a crate full of dusty old books, Animal gets a dejected look on his face and says, "This won't make food either." And so the quest continues to find an artifact that'll make him tasty meals. He goes over to sit and perhaps look for a way out of the room and back toward the outside. Pushing on the walls, he ends up circling back and crouches with his knees up near his shoulders again.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Drinks, you say?" Layna replies with a grin as Talise brings them up. She reaches into her coat, providing more bottles for everyone who chooses to take one.
"I'd advise opening them away from the scrolls, though. Don't wanna mess up our find, aye?" She then focuses on Cyre.
"You know this language, then, lad? In that case, I'm interested in find out what's in 'em. I'll entrust my share to you."
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Corwynt looks absently at his palm, frowning at the gouge marks there, three of which have drawn blood. "...I'll be fine," he says, opening his hand slowly and then closing it. "Thank you for your concern." He reaches into the pouch at his back and takes a few leaves out, placing them into his hand and closing it over them. Layna and Talise, at the very least, will recognize them as good old-fashioned Healing Herbs, available for 40 Silver at your friendly Lunarian general store. (Or rather a lot more here.)
He eventually pads up behind the others to see what the fuss is about, shaking his head at Layna's offer of alcohol again, because Althena is a harsh but fair mistress, probably. "Interesting," Corwynt says levelly. He folds his hands behind his back. "I don't want to get blood on them by handling them, but would you mind opening the others?" he asks Cyre. "I have a small interest in these things."
(And can reproduce them later with the Rememberizer once I've seen them.)
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cat Ears are a defensive mechanism.
"Well, they COULD be something good," Cyre answers the woman who is VIOLATING HIS PERSONAL SPACE. Not that Cyre minds. He's pretty OK with that kind of thing. "Or they could be an ancient Baskar recipe for curry. I mean, one way or another, I'd want to translate them, but still."
He glances to Corwynt and bobs his head, "Sure. I'll just need to be careful with them, the paper's pretty delicate." And it is-- this stuff must have been here for ages, but Cyre very carefully unfurls each scroll for Corwynt and the others to see. Each one is... pretty indecipherable, but the script is Baskar in origin, and the pictographs on each one are interesting to look at.
"It's fine if this is all that was in here," Cyre says with a shrug, then. "This place... Probably wouldn't hold up well if someone wanted what was inside bad enough. I'd feel better if there WASN'T anything in here, but I need to look anyway. What with all that's going on, the Baskars need to protect their heritage, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise looks back at Animal with obvious sympathy.
Her attention settles on Corwynt; the healing herbs confirm, at least, that he's Lunarian, though where he'd managed to find a stash she has no idea. It's not like there's a Ramus's General in Lacour. "So long as you're sure," she says, tilting her head as a couple of ideas spring to mind.
When she looks back to Cyre, she flashes him a light grin, leaning back against the nearest wall and folding her arms under her chest. "I suppose that's true, though I don't know all that many Baskars. Well. I guess I know one. Two, maybe." Isn't Tethelle a Baskar?, she asks herself.
Her tongue briefly passes over her lower lip. "I don't know if they're curry, but even if it's something simple, I'm interested. For all I know it could be a story or a song, and I like both of those things. Always looking for new tales to tell."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Of course, to Layna shaking your head at her is both a refusal and saying 'more for you, Captain Manydays'. She doesn't give it too much more thought. Instead, she focuses on Cyre.
"Can't say I know too much about the Baskar, m'self." She comments. "But if you're saying they're an important cultural artifact, well, I'd feel bad 'bout taking them away from you, aye?"
That 'you' was Cyre specifically, of course. As a pirate she'd done more than her fair share of stealing important cultural artifacts, but Cyre seemed alright and was a useful ally. She could pass it up just this once.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Corwynt's personal stash of healing herbs has lasted quite a while, since most of the time he can rely on the white mages within the Guard to patch him up if need be. He's considered trying to grow them here, but they only have a few seeds and he doubts that the soil would support them. His own observations of Filgaia's air has left him little confidence that the earth is any better off.
The Blue Star is dying. Only the GOddess can save it, should she choose to.
"Interesting, thank you," he says, nodding to Cyre. "Well, pack them up, then, and we can get out of here. I'm also willing to allow you to take them, in exchange for anything of interest you might learn," the little martial artist adds. "My interest is purely a personal hobby - I'm not a scholar such as you."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Well, if you aren't including me in that count, you should probably add one," Cyre chuckles as he begins-- carefully-- rolling each scroll back up. Each one gets its very own strip of leather as binding, and a special place in one of Cyre's more voluminous pouches. "The name's Cyre Lorentz, I'm from a Baskar village pretty far out in the wilderness, so it's less that I'm a scholar and more that I'm, uh."
"A... member of the culture??"
????
"All of this stuff, if we just left it behind, someone might roll in with a Gear or something and tear it to pieces. And then we might lose something... Important." Maybe even beyond just value as cultural relics. What would happen if someone stomped all over a major shrine to Grudiev? Would the land suffer even more than it already is?
Hm.
"Anyway," he clears his throat. "I appreciate you all letting me keep these. If it's anything interesting, I'll be sure to let you guys know."