2017-07-27: Jerk Temple
- Log: 2017-07-27: Jerk Temple
- Cast: Cyre H. Lorentz, Catenna, Bart Fatima, Ethius Hesiod, Rose, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: Silver Coast
- Date: 2017-07-27
- Summary: Cyre assembles a team of adventurers (and Bart) to explore a temple. The temple turns out to be a huge jerk.
================================<* Silver Coast *>================================ The Silver Coast is the name given to the northeastern coastline of Ignas. The origins of the name are lost to history, but residents of the area tend to assume it reflects either the famous white-sand beaches northeast of Lacour, or the region's distance from the desertification slowly spreading out from the continent's heart. The Coast and its surrounding territories are claimed by the Kingdom of Lacour, and contain a wide assortment of biomes, from plains to rocky hills and mountains to rolling beaches. Major roads between Lacour and its next two largest settlements - the Port City of Hilton and the Academy City of Linga - are heavily patrolled by the kingdom's soldiers, and are generally safe. The hinterlands, however, are plagued by monsters of all types; researchers in Linga can find a variety of uses for the body parts of monsters, and do a brisk trade with Adventurers seeking to protect the population and make a little coin to boot. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbFnoRSW6M
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Cyre H. Lorentz. DG: Rose has joined your party! DG: Bart Fatima has joined your party! DG: A party led by Cyre H. Lorentz is now entering Temple of Rejection. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============<* CHALLENGE - Open Entrance to the Closed Palace *>=============
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The entrance to the interior of the temple is, generally speaking, a massive
stone wall with no noticeable locking mechanisms or method of operation.
Right now, though, that wall just simply isn't there, letting you freely
wander in to the massive entrance hall, full of beautiful, stone-wrought
paths and pillars and at its very center, three large, floating crystals:
one red, one white, one blue.
At least, that entrance is open for as long as it takes you to step inside,
at which point the wall will just suddenly reappear behind you as if by
magic as alarms blare all around you for your intrusion, easily as big as a
Gear and dense enough to withstand the strongest of blows. There's no way to
go but forward, now, with a stone-carved console from a bygone era capable
of opening one of many paths further into the Temple of Rejection if you can
but figure out how to use it...
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
On the road again~o/"
This is the third time Cyre's been to the Temple of Rejection. The first, he almost got eaten by a giant vampire elephant. The second, he almost got buried in a cave-in. What will happen this time? Will he and Ethius once more come out on top!?
TUNE IN RIGHT NOW TO FIND OUT.
Most people wouldn't come back to a place like this. It's incredibly dangerous to all but the most intrepid of adventurers, but for a guy who's interested in (REFILLING HIS WINE RACK) uncovering the mysteries of the past, a place like the Temple of Rejection is a treasure in and of itself.
Also, he kind of wants to find out if they can make their new robot get up and start walking on its own. A robo-maid would be awesome to have around the trailer.
And so Cyre has rounded up his friends, his companions, and a couple of random randos who happened to be trolling around Lacour and headed off to the Temple of Rejection. He doesn't look at all surprised when the door shuts behind him, but he DOES look dejected at the evident absence of booze. "Well guys," Cyre gestures at the enormous crystals floating in the middle of the room. "I think what we need to do is to align those things. Once we do, the way forward should open."
BUT HOW DOES HE KNOW!?
(He's been here twice, is how he knows.)
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
This is the second time Catenna has visited the Temple of Rejection. She didn't seem to be in too great a hurry to return, but Cyre seemed awfully insistent.
"I remember this console," the priestess says from her position to Cyre's right. She's traded in her robes for the outfit she usually puts on when she needs to move nimbly - her vest, shorts and boots, with her shotgun strapped over her shoulder. A few bottles of potion hang from her belt.
Squinting at the crystals and the console, Catenna presses her lips together tightly, crossing her arms under the curve of her breasts as she considers the problem. "I think their position depends on which of these paths will open. I would suggest, however, that we refrain from taking the one which leads us past the small water-spill. That route did not... serve us well last time."
With a grimace she begins to move one of the crystals into alignment with the others, steering it carefully. "The last thing we need is to encounter Chaugnar Faugn again."
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
After having been off taking care of Things (tm)(r)(cc) for the last little while, Bart has decided that the best way to clear his head is to slip Sigurd's stern and watchful gaze and go out exploring once again. He's heard of this new, difficult ruin that has popped up recently, but he hasn't taken the time to go exploring it as of yet. Finding a group from the Adventurers' Guild who was willing to have him along for the ride doesn't take too long, and Bart is ready to break things, walls, and any monsters that he happens to come across.
Truth be told,. Given the appearance of another strange and mysterious Gear of late, Bart wants to see if there are any other places that might offer clues to the location of one of his particular quixotic goals. The strange machine Lunata had turned up was a step in the right direction, but he wasn't sure that it was the Legendary Omnigear he was looking for.
It was about 120 percent too creepy, really.
But as they arrive at the door, Bart looks at it for a long moment. Takes a deep breath. And turns around. "If you've dealt with this before, I think I'll leave the button pressing to you. Last time I dealt with something like this it exploded. And then got up and chased me around. And then exploded when I made it stop chasing me."
He does keep a look out for anything else that might come along, which is ironic when you consider he's got the lowest eye to head ratio in the group.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius would have turned Cyre down for a third trip. He has something more important he should be doing - something gravely important. Not that he has ever voiced as much to them. Those particular motives as to his strange approach to the Lacour Tournament of Arms and surrounding unease remain well under wraps.
The idea about bringing their looted Scutum back to get an establishment of its effective range wins him over. (That is not the exact reason Cyre proposed. This is what we call an 'ulterior motive.')
"The door moved further back before it enclosed us," so Ethius remarks calmly. He was hoping to have a definitive answer as to the Scutum issue before they were in 'trapping' range, but here they are anyway.
A small eyeglass - the Caravan Kinship know by now - comes from out of his poncho. One Symbology-empowered spark of electricity from the opposite hand later, a soft glow comes from it as Ethius uses it to observe the underlying connections between mechanisms.
This is his third time here. He has seen the floating crystals successfully manipulated twice. Cyre and Catenna have already given ample instruction of how to make it Work(tm). For his part, Ethius seems to see it more important to get a better look to make sure the underlying devices haven't been disconnected or moved since his last recollection of this space.
It might go a long way to avoiding an encounter with giant vampire elephants again.
...
In so far as Bart is concerned, this man - the one he was acquainted with back during the attack upon Adlehyde - matches the description of a certain someone who did mean things to Diablo with an impressive burst of sorcery. (He also doesn't seem to talk in a fashion that befits his rugged appearance? Ethius didn't talk at all during the siege.)
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"So you never did answer," Rose says to Cyre, as she happily follows along the call of adventure for some change from selling things all day everyday in Lacour. That's really all the reasoning it took to tag along. "Are you a cat, a dog, a wolf, a lion, or something else?" Sorry Cyre, but this isn't something you can avoid settling. "Should I have brought like... treats? What kind of treats? Oh! Maybe I should have carried some of every kind to see which you'd react to...?"
At least she didn't bring catnip?
As the door bars their way and people start putting forward the solution, Rose spins on her heels to meet the famous BART for the first time. She'd heard of him, especially during the Adlehyde disaster, but hadn't had time to seek him out due to also being on the frontlines.
"I dig the eyepatch! Is it for realsies, a cool fashion accessory, or BOTH?"
She's leaving the button-pressing to other people, too, as much as she wants to go over there and start touching glowing crystals.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace. DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The Temple of Rejection...Jacqueline had only been here once before. It had been an...interesting visit, and had raised more questions than it had answered. So, of course she was interested in heading back in to see if she couldn't uncover more answers. Apparently two members of her crew had their own reasons for coming, so she was more than happy to come by to help help out. That Rose and Bart were coming along was just another good reason for her to be here.
While Catenna adjusts the crystals themselves, Jacqueline waits by the console so that she can be ready to activate it once their desired path is ready to be opened.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Open Entrance to the Closed Palace. DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has passed this challenge! The party gained 11 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> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
It turns out that if a temple's been around for several hundred(???) years, the things inside that would have broken down probably did ages ago. Crystals are fiddled with, buttons are pushed, nothing jumps out of the dark to devour Bart's other eye, but no guarantees are made that nothing has snuck in to inhabit the hollow under his patch.
Cyre turns to Rose.
Cyre frowns.
"Uh. I uh. Don't think that's really the most appropriate thing to bring on an adventure!" Apparently Cyre is weak to some manner(??) of treat. It's probably catnip. "Let's just... Keep going? I'll tell you maybe if we make it through this without being eaten by a giant vampire elephant."
Catenna.
Catenna halp.
Soon enough, a nearby wall slides away, leading deeper into the ever-patient darkness. Cyre leans in, vaguely trying to gauge whether this path is familiar or not. It... Appears to not be! That might be a good thing though. "There we go. Let's press on, friends!"
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Extinguish the Spark *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Beautiful architecture of a bygone era still somehow preserved in perfect form is, on occasion, bedecked with unusual sights that were not there before the temple's security activated: torches, all of them flickering with hauntingly beautiful, cold blue flame. In many of these winding rooms they can be found, barring the way further upwards through the temple by way of strange, archaic gating mechanisms. The torches must be extinguished in order to continue -- yet if they are not all extinguished in time, those bizarre blue flames will reignite again, forcing you to start over again. As if the temple were deliberately trying to exhaust you... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The wall slides back. Catenna, meanwhile, gives Cyre a look, then another for Rose.
"I do wonder what manner of treats would appeal to you, Cyre," she muses with a deceptively mild smile for the cat-eared man. "Perhaps Miss Rose is right, and I should begin to experiment. I do have plenty of interesting herbs and compounds to work with, after all."
She leaves unsaid whether or not she has catnip. Instead, she holds that smile, touching delicate fingers briefly to Cyre's shoulder as she steps past him and strides onward, her free hand resting at a hip for a moment.
It takes a bit of walking through long corridors before the group winds their way into another room, lit by flickering blue torches - torches which cast cerulean reflections in the metallic bars of a large, complex-looking gate mounted into a doorframe at the head of a flight of stairs. Frowning, Catenna advances forwards, laying her hands on the gate as though to test it somehow.
She looks back to the group. "I believe the gate is tied into those torches. Perhaps if we extinguish them in a certain order, or in a certain amount of time--"
Frowning, she squints from one torch to the next, as though trying to discern the order visually.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart really doesn't know too much about this place, but he's willing to take a nod from the others on what the best path is going to be. Getting the door open is just the first step, and for the most part Bart is willing to follow the lead of the more clever folks who are leading the exploration.
But Rose is clearly in the mood for asking PERSONAL QUESTIONS and Bart looks at her for a moment before he grins. Well, he appreciates people who are really bold, even if it is also a touch rude. "Nah, this is for real. I got it while I was out being a pirate once, and I had to save the entire ship from exploding! Alas, there was this terrible - yet smaller and not ship destroying - explosion, and it made me into a monocular adventure from that day forward."
He poses a little, and then nods as the door opens. "But fear not, I am just as fearsome as any other man with two eyes. ...once we get to something that's my specialty." He looks at the large number of blue glowing torches - it is a nice effect - and shrugs. "Well, there's a derth of monsters or large rocks so far, so I'd say we're doing pretty well." Bart's used to being the brawn, rather than the brain. He does poke at one of the torches, before watching it relight. "Just tell me which ones need to go out," the pirate states, pulling out his whip. "I'll snap em out real quick like."
Like other whip wielding heroes of other, less sci-fi related genres.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I'm more of a visual treats kind of guy. The other kind have their... place. Sometimes. Maybe. B-but that's not for here or for there. Let's just carry on, shall we?" He seems... Nervous. Does he have a history!? IS HE A RECOVERING DRUG ADDICT!?
(No, probably not.)
Cyre regards the room and its eerie blue torches with a curious stare. The flames are... Pretty, in their own way. Fire does not often burn blue- not naturally, anyway. "Well! At least we didn't end up going another way. This is just a pain, it's not... Super bad." Cyre contorts his hands into strange, occult gestures. The wind begins to stir, then howl, as he directs RAW ELEMENTAL FORCES to extinguish the flames enmasse.
Maybe if they all go out together, it'll work!?
Or maybe this is more involved than he realizes.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius stoically divests himself from matters of 'treats' and stories to impress the ladies. He soldiers on with the rest down to the hallway with the strange blue torches. He puts a hand up near one, as though disbelieving of the sensation he feels. He can't describe it. He has no protests to Catenna's proposed solution, as it seems logical enough. Once again, he takes the lens out, holding it up to his face as he starts the incantati--
Even holding it to his eye prior to its proper activation, the light that filters through the lens is blinding! Ethius visibly flinches as he lowers it away from his face - whatever's going on here would be too much to look at.
"My apologies. I do not believe I will be able to provide further analysis of the arrangement at this time," Ethius says. Even when being apologetic, he doesn't break that tone and rhythm he has to the way he speaks. (He kind of doesn't sound that sorry, then?)
He instead contributes through smaller blasts of dusts in an attempt to put them out, being roped into trying to figure out this pressing issue before them the hard way.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Fortunately, unlike last time they weren't immediately faced with a giant, murderous elephant monster upon opening a pathway from the entrance, so this visit to the Temple was already looking better than her previous visit. The hallway beyond, however...
Lead them to a path of torches.
"I wonder how they determine that you've extinguished them in the proper order...and then light them again afterward. Perhaps if we can figure out how the mechanism works, we can manipulate it to our advantage..." Jacqueline comments.
She watches as Cyre decides to just extinguish them all at once. Would that actually work? It seemed possible...but it was also possible that whatever they were dealing with was already prepared for that notion.
"Well...we'll figure something out, at least." She comments with a nod toward Ethius. Even if they were without his lens, they still had their own raw intellect to use here. While others focus on putting them out, Jacqueline focuses on getting a better understanding of the system so as better to direct them in solving this conundrum.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Is it?" Rose questions, not knowing if it's really inappropriate or not. Do Beastmen NOT like treats, unlike animals? Well, if she keeps prodding, surely Cyre will answer eventually.
Having earned Catenna's approval, Rose grins, reiterating the facts. "Yeah, see! I think it's useful knowledge! Wanna know what kinds of treats -I- like in exchange? The answer is anything sugary enough! I've got a sweet spot for cinnamon too. And strawberry! And lemon. See? Now it's fair." That's probably not how it works, but sure.
Bart's answer to her makes the merchant all the more excited to be here, as she sizes the man up from head to toe. "Is that so? So you're a pirate AND a brave hero! Like... a hero pirate! ... pirate hero? Herate? ... Piro?" Rose taps her chin. "Maybe we'll stick with brave pirate hero. Still, that's cool! Sorry about the eye though. I heard you were helping push the Metal Demons back when they invaded Adlehyde so I'd actually been looking forward to meeting you! ... maybe work out some business deal later, hm~? I bet pirates need supplies when they can't find any to steal and having a merchant friend with good deals might come in handy?"
And that right there is why she wanted to meet Bart.
Oh, a torch puzzle.
"I'm not big on puzzles, what if we just snuffed them all out at once? Maybe it'd trick whatever spell or mechanism is barring the way into thinking it was done right."
DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Extinguish the Spark. DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 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> Catenna has posed.
Catenna gives Cyre a considering look. "Then we can talk about it later," she says, voice quiet.
Cyre's gale of wind reaps through the room; the blue torches billow stubbornly. And then, all at once, they flicker and die.
Within the walls, something clicks multiple times; there's the sound of several identical-sounding chimes of approval all playing at once in a layered cacophony. Startlingly quickly, the gate pops up to open the door beyond - but it doesn't remain open for long. One by one, the torches begin to light up again - and as each one alights, the wall mechanism clicks, and the gate begins to ease a little lower.
"Quickly, before they shut," Catenna gasps as she throws herself through the opening.
She hits the ground on the other side awkwardly; stumbling, she lands on her hip, catching herself with one hand. The priestess winces and pulls herself back up, scrambling towards an open match of space just beyond the gate.
It'll take some scrambling. Eventually, though, everyone will make it through - just before the gate clicks closed again.
DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.
==========<* CHALLENGE - The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising! *>========== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Access further up into the temple seems impossible in this room: there's a doorway above but there's no stairs, there's no elevators, there's no anything... except the series of rising and falling pillars that all raise up to specific and varying heights before falling back down again in strange, erratic patterns, as if the temple was deliberately trying to throw you off. Considering some of those pillars ascend so high they collide with the roof of the room, well -- that's probably not far from accurate. Try not to get flattened like a goomba! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Well now, Bart was willing to bask in some praise, but the fact that this redhead pivots IMMEDIATELY to a merchant angle means that he's giving her a second, hard look. He scratches his chin for a moment, where he's got a layer of blonde stubble thanks to the long trek to get to the Temple, and considers Rose for a long moment.
"Welllll now, you're quite ambitious, aren't you?" he states with a grin. "Of course, if you have a merchant concern that wants my business, you're going to have to prove that you've got something to offer over my regular contacts. Pirates have special needs and all, and not everyone is able to get us what we want, when we want it, and with the quality we've come to expect..."
He chats with Rose as the group walks along, climbing up a long flight of stairs until they come to what appears to be a large, open landing. The path ahead is higher up the wall, which suggests that a climb will be necessary...
Or rather, the 'suggestion' lasts only until the floor begins to move, pillars rising up from the ground at a decent rate of speed. Some of them move faster than others, and the danger of the room becomes apparent as one *Thuds* into the ceiling.
"This'll be exciting," Bart states with a grin, pulling out his whip. "Alright, anyone who doesn't feel confident of their pillar parkour skills, stick next to me. We'll take this at a run, and if you don't think you can clear the jumps I'll give you a hand."
He'll make a few trips if need be, but he feels agile enough to run this course without too much trouble.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Looking back towards Bart, Catenna blinks at him a couple of times. "I think this should not be overly difficult... but I thank you." He may not be very bright, but he's a useful man to have around for reasons other than that.
Standing back for a moment, Catenna watches the timing of the pesky piston puzzle. She draws a coil of rope from her belt, lazily twirling a grapping hook in a slow, looping circle. Then she sweeps her arm back, spinning the hook faster and faster, before casting it in a long arc towards one of those high-soaring pillars.
The hook bites into the top of a pillar - and as the pillar ascends, Catenna hangs onto the rope. She's swept clean off the platform, trailing behind the rope as it ascends to slam into the ceiling.
With the pillar as high as it's going to go, Catenna swings like a long-shafted pendulum through the pillar course. Her hair streams behind her, long legs together to catch the rope, one calf angled forward as she goes soaring towards the platform on the far edge - and at the farthest point in her swing, she lets go.
The rope is left dangling behind her as Catenna expertly finishes her leap over the last couple of columns. Her momentum gives her enough of an angle to clear the course and attempt a landing on the far side!
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
On the subject of treats, Jacqueline was known to enjoy a good pastry. She was, however, a little embarrassed to admit this out loud, especially considering the topic at hand. The subject was moving on, however, so she was saved from wondering whether she should comment or not.
Unfortunately, the subject that it had changed to was a series of rising and falling pillars. Jacqueline's eyes narrow slightly.
It was like this temple was challenging her directly.
She rummages through her bags, eventually pulling out a bottle of green liquid. She downs the lot and begins to move quickly on her own. As she moves she draws a Crest from her bags and begins to summon a series of her own pillars.
These primarily serve the purpose of blocking some of the Temple's pillars and preventing them from rising too dangerously, giving the others a chance to pass through them safely or take a bit of a breather, if necessary.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
The gates ease up, Rose suddenly quite happy that her (well, Cyre's) plan turned out to work. If only long enough for them to waltz up to the door and slide through before they close again. A win is a win, don't question it.
She answers Bart, of course, without missing a beat. "Please! The Sparrowfeathers pride themselves in delivering only the best wares and services! ... and for pirates, it sounds like you guys are fighting the good fight, so there's no image concerns to worry about. Besides, us merchants have to be neutral, don't we? What good is a merchant who only sells to select people!" Besides, dealing with the enemy is usually great cover, and a great source of information.
"Let's talk business sometime we're not actively avoiding ancient death traps, yeah?" Said as the group stumbles into one hell of a room, the stomps and crashes of those pillars slightly unnerving.
Rose whips her rope and hook out, preparing it, before walking up to Bart and grinning. "Oh! Race you to the door, mister hero!" She's confident in her skills, don't you worry. And if anything goes wrong, she has her grappling hook, ready to be thrown towards the door to shortcut right to it, probably from a higher pillar, or from the base under it. One or the other. Never leave home without your trusty grappling hook.
DG: Rose has used her Tool Grapple Hook toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius shadows the rest (as is his usual SOP) while Bart and Rose entertain pleasant conversation about business arrangements - up until they come across the crushing floor-pillars. He quietly considers Bart's offer to be helped across, but he would consider it courteous not to have to trouble one to cross through so many times.
Ethius closes his eyes for a moment and internally considers the risks. He believes it might be foolish to wait for a pattern, given the behavior of a number of traps in his times through this place.
If he comes up short and/or chooses the wrong pillar, he could give himself some clearance at risk of significant harm. It takes unmistakable focus to maintain a series of chants and appropriate gestures for Symbological casting while also trying to move quickly. A misstep either in movement or in mouth could prove fatal, but in tandem, he'll have that safety net in place.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Ahahahahaaaaa sweet things aren't bad! I like pie. Pie is good. It's a good treat. Let's keep talking about food, that's a good topic. I like apple." And not herbs or anything that might be related to herbs that could constitute a 'treat' for a beastman.
But hey, it looks like Cyre's plan to straight up just blow the torches out like the world's most terrible birthday cake seems to have worked just fine and dandy. Good! Forward! Onward! Away from awkward conversation!
Cyre tilts his head up at the steady oscillations of those mighty stone pistons. They pound the air relentlessly. Some even smash into the ceiling! This is the exact opposite of the last thing that almost killed him. "Well." Cyre grins and unfolds a massive, leather parachute and stands immediately beneath the open passageway. "I'm going up ahead. I can take a passenger, though!"
The wind picks up. The chute inflates. Cyre begins to rise...!!
It's... Kind of cheating to just fly your way up though, isn't it?
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!. DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Hah! If you're not willing to talk business when you're contending with horrible death traps, you might not be as bold of a merchant as I need!" Bart counters with his usual wit and charisma. ...or perhaps its recklessness and disregard for common sense? One of the two.
It seems like the group is well positioned to be able to deal with these sorts of obsticals, because they make their way across the rising pillars without too much trouble. Bart and Rose even have a bit of a race, which Bart manfully holds back at the last moment because it's not polite to outrace a lady who is trying her best.
This has nothing to do with the fact that watching Rose in motion is also pleasant, because Bart has too many women in his already. And the number seems to be growing by the week.
But as they arrive at the top, the pirate looks back at the pillars and grunts. "Wonder how they keep these things moving all the time, or if there's a motion sensor of some sort that keeps an eye out for crazy people invading the place."
DG: Rose has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Pillar Peril *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- A series of pillars are blocking your way; they don't seem like they're a natural part of the architecture of this temple, considering how deliberately they're used as a juxtaposition from further progress into the temple. Almost like they sprang, fully formed, from the ground, specifically to bar your path. It's fascinating, isn't it? Just what happened in this temple to make it so alert, so desperate to get rid of anyone within? Just how is it doing this? Oh well -- maybe in another life this would be a frustrating obstacle that could only be overcome with a specific tool you could only get much much later in your life, but right now? Why don't you just try smashing it, smashing it sounds good. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Rose has critically misjudged Bart! So he likes things reckless and exciting, does he? That makes sense, for a pirate. Must be a pretty active life, especially with giant robots involved. Now that she thinks about it, Rose recalls Layna being much the same, jumping into peril head-first and enjoying fights.
Bart even holds back to let Rose win the race!
If she notices, she doesn't say anything.
The path to the next chamber is thankfully devoid of further death traps, though the sight ahead is VERY familiar to the party. Another room, almost identical to the last one, with massive pillars rising out of the ground.
Only, this time, they're all the way up to the ceiling and not moving. There's barely any room to squeeze through between the pillars and walls, and so, there's really only one solution... and it's through, not around.
"I keep saying it and I keep meaning it, but whoever built these ancient ruins really, really hated convenience. Or people. Or both! You think all these traps were active when the ruins were still inhabited? That'd be weird." And no doubt extremely dangerous.
As she produces some common, boring grenade to take a shot at one of the pillars, she turns back to Cyre with her usual smile. "Apples huh? I'll keep it in mind! That doesn't help me figure out what kind of animal you're supposed to be, though... HMMM... apples, what kinds of animals eat apples... nah, you couldn't be a worm, worms don't have fluffy ears!" You'll have to answer eventually, Cyre.
Back to Bart: "Well, business then! Why don't you tell me one thing you're in short supply of right now, you give me a couple of days, and I'll have you a crate on your proverbial front door to show I'm serious."
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Now this was more like it. A large number of heavy pillars, all lined up and waiting to be dealt with. Bart grins as he looks at the obstruction, and laces his fingers together. A good stretch produces a solid knuckle crack, and he considers how he wants to deal with this problem.
Well with a big rock breaking hammer sounds like a good start, and Bart unlimbers this rather basic tool and gives it a test swing before he gets started.
That doesn't mean he ignores Rose - unless the others interject about the chatter at least. "Well, Miss Sparrowfeather, the biggest thing I need right now are Gear parts and ammunition. We had quick a bit of a problem in Adlehyde the other week..."
And Bart brings the hammer around into one of the pillars with a loud CRUNCH to emphasize that point.
"And we're running low on supplies. So if you think you can get those for me in a few days, I'll give you a nod and see about a more robust contract."
It's a little unfair, just like Bart is being unfair to this rock! Normal merchants getting their hands on those sorts of things would be... unusual. Bart waits to see what this Sparrowfeather's reaction is - he's heard people promise the moon before. But will she try and deliver?
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I-isn't it possible that the kind of animal I am is just uh. Human? Ish? Mostly? With regards to treats?" No, Cyre. You will forever be defined by your fluffy ears and your fluffy tail and your pointy cat teeth. Fengalon's blessing is a great and terrible thing. Mostly great.
"I'm pretty sure that the temple's got a grudge or something," Cyre says then, unlimbering a dark, brassy censer out from somewhere under his cloak. He lights it up, and the whole thing starts emitting a soothing, invigorating aroma. Are these Cyre Treats? Is he burning them to take in their delicious, nutritious treatiness??
Well, they're treats of some kind, at least.
"I think we could all use a breather, though. By which I mean, you guys should probably breathe in deep." He proceeds to begin swinging that smoking pendulum through the air, filling the corridor with oddly breathable vapor. It also means he's not DIRECTLY helping to punch the corridor clean of debris.
Honestly, that's a win in his book.
Cyre is pretty noodly.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
As she touches down, Catenna looks back at Cyre with a hint of a smile, making a mental note to check her herb collection for things Cyre may consider a worthy treat.
"I think there is some mechanism," she answers Bart, brushing back her hair with a pass of one hand. "It may be... controlled from the room where we found the plaque of THE LOLITHIA, before. Or perhaps from somewhere else."
Apparently Catenna's been here before - and with some success to show for it, no less.
"Perhaps not," she murmurs with a glance at Rose. "But then, I do not think the intention of this ruin was to be easily... enterable."
The pillars in the way give her some pause because they're not something she can just lighten the load of with gravity tricks. The party needs to smash them, not move them. Catenna plants her hands at her hips and frowns, then eases forward to attempt to push on one with what little strength she has.
Not much comes of it. Narrowing her eyes, she pulls her shotgun out and attempts to chip away at one of the pillars with a blast of buckshot. It doesn't really achieve much.
Then Bart starts swinging hsi giant hammer, and Catenna just lowers her eyelids and sighs. Why bother when he's that strong anyway?
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"I believe I will be able to assist with the matter," says Ethius as he steps forth while everyone considers (and attempts to act on) the matter of a bunch of pillars that want to play Superjail, "I believe we will have enough clearance and ventilation, if you will allow me to melt them down." After how many times melting architecture backfired upon them, this... might be one of the more reliable options they have in which to get through the obstructionist pillars.
When satisfied with where everyone stands, Ethius begins the usual Symbological rituals. The lights, the sounds, the syllables, the gestures...
An incredible heat applies itself to one such pillar, threatening to turn its material molten and change it from an obstruction into... a more surmountable obstruction to be climbed over as a rough pile of cooled stone, after being given some time to cool.
This process will be repeated as many times as it takes. It's slower to melt one than it would take for Bart to bash one down with a hammer or blow it up with a grenade or use a shotgun, but reliably, old history will be turned into unrecognizeable slag. (It would be advised not to breathe any of this in.)
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart takes a pause as Catenna points out that there may be some way to bypass this. "...hmmm, do you think? I mean I don't mind breaking things, it's why I'm here, but if there's a smarter solution..." He ponders for a moment, and then shrugs and hits the pillars again, causing a large chunk of stone to fall out from one of the pillars. "I'd expect some mechanism inside these. Think it's down below?"
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"We didn't see much of anything up top. The plaque was weird, but I don't think it controlled anything down here," Cyre answers from behind his MUCH MORE BREATHABLE smoke screen. "If there's a control system, it's probably below all of this, not above. Maybe behind all those Scutums?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
They manage to make it through the room with the up-and-down pillars unscathed, only to run into...more pillars.
This was a test, wasn't it? Why else would they run into them twice in a row?
"Stand back, everyone." Jacqueline warns, holding the Crest out in front of her. She begins to invoke it repeatedly, conjuring forth yet more pillars of earth to slam into the temple's opposing pillars.
It's like they always said - fight pillar with pillar. (No one's ever actually said that.)
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pillar Peril.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Something must control is all," Catenna surmises as she tries to help Bart shove and chip at one of the pillars. "This place was... supposed to be part of a security system, yes? Perhaps I know little of systems, but that would imply that...." She grimaces as she realizes the pillars are going nowhere.
Stepping back to let Jacqueline work, she makes way for her friend. "...that there must be a way to release the security mechanisms, so that those who wish to access it freely, may do so."
DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has failed this challenge! The party gained 4 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> Rose has posed.
"Gear parts, huh? You're a mean business partner, mister pirate! But after running my mouth like that I can't possibly tell you no. Hm, pretty hard to get our hands on Gear parts without a special license, but... I know some people, so I'll see what I can do." There's no time to lack confidence. Rose has to have it twenty-five hours a day! It's a tough life.
What's also tough is dealing with those pillars. It turns out, sadly, that there's no easy way to go through. There's no control mechanism, no hidden gears and cogs. Maybe they built the pillars and forgot to modify them for movement at all? Or the temple just... magicked them up in place. It'd be hard to tell. What you CAN tell is that they are there, and unmoving.
But not invulnerable.
Hammer blows, shotgun blasts, flames, earthen pillars. Little by little the pillars are broken down, collapsing in large messes that need to be avoided. But after a lot of patience, it's done.
There's a way though to the next door.
It was just infinitely more exhausting than planned.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - A Gaggle of Gamygyn *>==========================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
The creatures in this temple do not seem random. They don't seem to be
aimlessly wandering the halls, inhabiting a place long-abandoned, as
monsters often do. No. There's no monsters here except where the temple
wants them to be, as if the ruins were unleashing them in key areas as
defensive measures -- like antibodies to purge unwanted intruders in its
system. Take, for instance, the strange, armored and demonic horse-like
creatures before you, with massive maws full of sharp teeth and chitinous
green plating covering them, that emerge into the halls with the hiss of
lifting stone panels the second you enter this room. Hey, it's gamygyns! Try
not to get eaten!
This message brought to you by: i couldn't find a picture of gamygyn okay so
sue me just imagine mean demon horses with insect armor or something
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius takes point when the way clears, even as he has to take in deep breaths after the sheer exertion involved in making the way through. Sorcery takes a lot out of you. How many burnt lumps of former food would he have to eat to cover all that? (Plenty.)
Surrounding them, the sound of hooves striking against the stone. Ethius turns his head at the sound, drawing a quarterstaff. The rest will cotton to this as other cues happen by. Flashes of iridescent green. Clacking of teeth. The weight of horse-like things jumping down onto the ground from angles improbable and impossible, as they start to surround everyone in the... the place.
This sceneset brought to you by: i also couldn't find a copy writer in time to fill in about the battlefield conditions but there's lots of hexes with swirly colors i think they're elements, one of them is selenium and another is magnesium and i think the other one swirling there is helium?? so sue me, just enjoy mean demon horses with insect armor or something
This pose also brought to you by: i think ethius did the thing with the bag full of sand here fill me in, help, i don't know what an ethius is we normally advertise for some other game.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Truthfully, Catenna doesn't know that much about technology. She's guessing here, but then, who does understand the ancient technology of ages long past?
Wearied from shoving pillars to little avail, the priestess continues on, but the clatter of hooves leaves her startled. Drawing her shotgun from her shoulder, she loads a couple of rounds into it and --
And then some demon horses covered with green plates come riding out of the walls. Catenna stares for a second or two. "Why were they hiding like that," she asks nobody in particular.
"Why do they have insect armor.
"Why are there swirly hexes.
"Why. What. Why."
Sighing, Catenna grimaces bitterly and shrugs, stepping towards the back of the party and covering herself with a shotgun blast, the throaty bark of its firing ringing through the corridor. Then she dips a hand away from the gun to pull her medium into her grip. Quietly, she begins to chant in her own language, a subdued thrum of power beginning to resonate in the air around her as she invokes the Guardian of the Moon and taps into her power.
Those galloping Gamygyn will find themselves galloping much less slowly. The air itself groans faintly as Catenna multiplies the pull of gravity upon them, aiming to pin them to the ground and make them easy pickings for her friends and companions.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart is a little tired after all of that! There clearly were a lot more pillars than he was expecting in that blockage.
Part of him misses Lily, who would surely have had a whole bunch of explosives to deal with the problem. Oh well.
It's hard to say how it might have gone otherwise, and Bart's willing to move on after a quick breather. But he does give Rose an odd look, as she describes some of the problems that she could encounter... but the pirate shrugs and gives her a grin. "Well, see what you can do. Believe me, I've been handling supply issues for a while now, and I know how challenging some of them can be."
Which is about as far as he's willing to go to admitting that the task might actually not be possible, and is more of a test if Rose is willing to talk big or if she is able to follow through.
And then there is...
...an animation failure? Bart turns around, his eye widening and...
Instead there is just a splash screen, which states, Please Wait - We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Meanwhile Bart is going to do what he does best. Power up the party and whip the heck out of some monsters.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre is---
Feeling actually pretty okay, honestly. He's a little tired, sure, but he wasn't the one doing all the exploding and pushing and smashing and shotgunning. He was the guy with the incense burner, and that's about it.
His arms are a little sore from swinging that thing around, though. Maybe just a little.
But then, suddenly--
Weird... insect horse things......???
Not even Catenna knows what these things are.
Catenna, you're supposed to be good at identifying monsters! What the hell!
"Uhhhh," Cyre raises his staff. "Man, I really hope these guys don't absorb wind magic or something, that's kind of all I've got-- WIND LANCE."
There are wind lances.
Kind of like air slashes, but spears instead of swords.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline's looking a little tired, herself. That took a lot of effort, especially since smashing things wasn't exactly her specialty. Catenna clearly had the right idea in thinking that there must be a system somewhere they should've used instead. She stows away the Crest, but before they can get much further she hears the sound of something approaching.
It seemed something had sensed that they were in an exhausted state.
She didn't know why they were hiding, but she has a guess about one of those questions -
"I think the Temple's constructs draw power from those hexes...we should probably keep them off of them, if at all possible." She comments. Deciding to listen to her own advice she moves into one of those hexes and draws a bottle full of foul-smelling black liquid from her bags. She hurls this into one of the unoccupied ones, before drawing out another Crest and bringing lightning crashing down on the Gamygyn.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"No!" Rose answers Cyre, bluntly. "I mean, yes, kind of! I know you're a person, sheesh, I'm not that much of a lost cause! ... I'm just also curious what species those fluffy ears and tail are from. Maybe whether you were born that way or not? That one's probably rude. I'd settle for earning the right to pet you head!" Like that one pet she snuck in when Cyre had eaten Too Much Food. So had she, for that matter.
After an exhausting and destructive romp through pillars, Rose carefully steps through the rubble, especially the molten slag, knowing by now how Ethius operates around obstacles. Until, suddenly, demon insect horses.
"I... feel like there's some kind of dissonance between the guardians of this temple and the way the temple looks. I expected rock golems or something like that. What are those things... called?" Implying anyone here has encountered them before. Unlikely.
"And what's WRONG with this room?"
Wrong is putting it likely.
But seeing Bart head in pretty much reminds Rose of the only acceptable solution here. "Ahah, don't worry! Though now I'm curious how a dashing young man like you chose the pirate life. With hair and arms like that you could make any princess fall for you and get some nice comfy seat in a castle. Too boring though, am I right?"
Smoke bombs are thrown about, in an attempt to cover the party and blind the horses, hopefully to keep them from navigating to the hexes as Jacqueline instructed. Rose whips her knives out after the fact, dashing into the fray. She twirls like a tornado, slicing and dicing, flames trailing after her knives.
DG: Rose has used her Tool Smoke Bomb toward her party's challenge, A Gaggle of Gamygyn. DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Our heroes... do things! The insect armor horses do whatever it is they do when they're unhappy and also dying by being blown around, smoke bombed, and the pull of gravity and bottles of stuff they don't like??
intern's note: dreamchasers has like no faqs online so i have no idea how to write everyone's used tools.
editor's note: sorry, finding who has the next card, ignore pls, remove this when this Dungeon goes live, thanks.
"I get a sense we have not seen the complete picture at this time," Ethius comments with a hand to his forehead as he staggers from being rammed by a giant armored insectoid horse with his quarterstaff as support. The bodies of the Gamygyn dissolve all around them. There is a way forward from here - it seems like an invitation by the Temple itself, an attempt to funnel them all through.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* CHALLENGE - This is No Mothra Boy *>==================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You come upon a conspicuously large and empty room, almost designed like an arena floor. It must be a great surprise, then, when the door at the opposite side of this chamber opens up to unleash an absolutely massive-looking moth-like creature, unleashed upon you by the temple in an effort to deter or, hopefully, kill you outright. Venom spews from this creature's proboscis, poisonous powder from its wings. It'll soon fill the entire chamber with its merciless venom to choke you with it, if you don't kill it. Quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It was an invitation, of a sort - but unfortunately for them, they were to be the entertainment, rather than the ones entertained. They enter into the arena, and the door closes behind them as the door on the far side of the arena, revealing their opponent - a giant moth.
Most of them had fought one of these before. Jacqueline briefly wonders if it's the same one she'd encountered, recovered after the injuries they inflicted on it.
...Well, there wasn't a whole lot of time to dwell on that!
"Be careful, this creature is poisonous. If you have to get close, try not to breathe in any of the powder, or even get it on you." As Jacqueline speaks, she rummages through her bags and passes out some cloths for everyone to use to cover their mouths.
They do not have much time before the moth begins to fly swiftly at them and attempts to divebomb them.
Jacqueline rolls out of the way, bringing out another bottle of repellant and tossing it at the creature as a distraction before bringing down lightning at it.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Look, Catenna's bestiary may be huge, but she has no baseline for bug horse security guards that hide in the walls of mysterious dungeons from a million years ago!
The poisonous moth, she's somewhat more familiar with. "Be careful! The dust is toxic," she calls out in her heavily-accented voice, tense as she whips herself to one side and shifts her shotgun to her off hand. She's doing her best to keep away from the vast, fluttering moth, hoping to put space between herself and its array of poisons.
Chanting quietly, Catenna once more draws power; a sense of serenity radiates through the air around her, a magical radiance more felt than seen. It is almost as though a spiritual full moon is rising.
And as it does, the vast moth's wingbeats will grow heavier and more laboured. The grip of the earth itself pulls upon it, the power of the Moon acting upon it like a gravitic tide that would drag the moth towards the ground if possible. Every movement it makes will come more slowly, leaving it vulnerable to attack.
"Hurry and hit it now," Catenna calls to her allies, breathing more heavily; her cheeks are flushed with effort. Gravity may be more effective against large things, but it's still not easy to hold the moth.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Eh, it's a long story. And kind of boring too - don't expect everyone's life to be as exciting as you might expect," Bart comments to Rose, as they polish off the last of the strange threat that is... suspiciously hard to identify. "The exciting parts generally come AFTER you become a pirate. But you're right." And he winks at her. ...with his bad eye, so it's more just sort of a weirdly executed glance instead. "If I DID want to spend all my time in a palace, I'm sure it could have been arranged, but what fun would that be...?"
And so they continue onwards, passing deeper into the ruin until-
"WHAT THE HELL!?!" Bart shouts, having terrible flashbacks to when he and his crew plus Lunata and HER crew had gone through Redrum El Evil Death Butterfly Habitat. Terrible flashbacks because there were apparently DEATH BUTTERFLIES HERE AS WELL.
This one was approximately 100 percent less soul sucking and one hundred and twenty five percent more toxic. But Bart just curses a blue streak as he pulls out his whip. And his handgun. He's perfectly willing to shoot that thing several times to keep it away.
"No one mentioned there were horrible evil butterflies here as well!" he shouts. He considers using his vial of energy boosting cologne on this thing, but... well, extoling people to breath in energy is not really helpful when Death Butterfly here is unleashing clouds of toxins all over the room.
"Why do we always keep running into horrible evil butterflies!?!" Bart shouts at Jay, even as he tries to whip the insect out of the air when it gets close. Let's see you fly around with Bart lashing out at you...!
...or dangling helplessly behind you as the bug flies off with the pirate, these things DO happen.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Ugh, it's this asshole again," Cyre growls through grit teeth. Has anyone actually succeeded in putting this thing down? If so, how does it keep showing back up? Is the temple itself regenerating it? Is there a nest full of horribly dangerous and lethally toxic butterflies suspended under a ceiling somewhere? Has it just been long enough for the F.O.E. timer to tick over!?
(Even in Dream Chasers, F.O.E.)
"My magic won't do much to stop it," the priest says even as he goes to summon more of the same. "But I can try to keep as much of those poison scales off of us as I can." He reaches back, wrapping the trailing length of his cloak up and around his nose and mouth. "I won't be able to keep it all back, though. Be careful!"
The winds answer Cyre's call. A howling vortex begins to form at the center of the arena, acting as a massive, elemental vacuum, drawing vile, purple dust into a thin pillar of certain and painful death. "I don't know what is with this part of the world and these damn butterflies, but it's KIND OF GETTING TO BE A PAIN IN THE ASS."
"PUNCH IT AND MAYBE IT'LL GO AWAY!"
It's... A suggestion of strategy, at least.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius moves away from the group, scattering as the moth goes to scatter their scales. In previous encounters, the moth has made the most of its assumed short life by making the short stretch of time in which any one of them could know one another complete hell. He moves carefully within Cyre's gales as to avoid being swept into the moved poisonous powder as he attempts to flank the furry winged venomous horror.
Ethius grabs the second satchel and gives it the usual chanting before tossing it up to Bart to het him have the honors of smoke bombing it in the face. The sooner Bart gets back off, the sooner Ethius can try to call up a good blast of heat - he's seen the scales explode when heated.
It's uncharacteristically considerate of him.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Honestly I don't get how nobility does it, political meetings and paperwork all day, that can't be any fun. But then I bet being a merchant mustn't be that appealing to most folks either!" she answers Bart, idly. Rose is glad to be out of that weird, glitchy room full of demon horses though. Less glad when they enter an arena. Even less glad when she sees a giant moth.
She's about to comment on it when Bart beats her to it. Instead she just turns to him all: "YOU TOO?!" Seems giant evil butterflies of death are far more common than she thought. What terrible news. "I'm gonna put in a complaint at the Adventurer's Guild that all jobs with giant death butterflies need to be properly identified as such, sheesh!" Well, it does nothing to help them right now to be upset.
Rose whips another set of smoke bombs out, hurling them towards Not Mothra's FACE with extreme prejudice. Rather than dive into melee, Rose puts the knives away, opting to whip out smaller throwing knives instead and fling them towards the moth. Complete with extra knives materializing out of yellow-ish energy. They stab too, don't be fooled into thinking they're fakes. "Glimmer Dragon!"
DG: Rose has used her Tool Smoke Bomb toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy. DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Reject the Rejection *>==================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You stumble upon one of the many security terminals that dot the Temple of Rejection. Entirely self-automated, this is what has been controlling - at least in part - the lifelike ways in which the temple has tried to eliminate your presence here. Alarms blare the second you enter. The temple knows you are here. The sound of combat dolls activating en masse to scourge your presence is all too audible. And if you cannot find a way to temporarily shut down the temple's rejection protocols amidst all these glowing consoles from an era long past, then they will purge you from the temple. One way, or another. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
If Jacqueline were being pedantic, she would comment that this thing was actually a horrible evil death moth. But right now, she's too busy trying not to get killed by said horrible evil death moth for pedantry.
"I...I honestly don't know!" Jacqueline replies, glancing toward Bart. Unfortunately, it was here, and they still had to deal with it.
Catenna's gravity weighs down upon it. This has the effect of pinning it to the ground, it's wings incapable of producing lift with the power of the Moon bringing it down.
This gives Cyre a perfect opportunity to blast away the moth's poisonous scales...and causes the moth to begin to fly away, too. It doesn't get far, though - Bart's whip wraps around it, both weighing it down and dragging the pirate along for the ride.
Freed from Catenna's gravity the moth begins flapping its wings frantically to try and get back into the air, but in its current condition it is an easy target for the hail of knives Rose is throwing down at it. It thrashes about and knocks the group away...only to soon erupt into flames as it proves unable to get away with all the damage that has been inflicted on its wings.
Now that the threat is clear(and the poison is no longer present), Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief.
"Okay...let's move on, then. Hopefully that was the only one..." She murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
THE GOOD NEWS: That was the only moth.
THE BAD NEWS: The next room is full of KILLER ROBOTS.
It's full of them. This room, it's full of presently all-too-lifeless machines. "Hey, uh, Ethius," Cyre asks his fellow adventuring pal, "You getting any response from the doll? We're pretty far in--"
Click.
BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE--
"Waugh!" Cyre screams, clutching at his HYPERSENSITIVE EARS. "What the hell!?" Something that someone did on the way in (IT WAS YOU) seems to have set off whatever alarm system the Ancients deigned to install in their obviously sapient death labyrinth. Sirens begin to wail and lights flash red as the security system comes alive.
And the robots--
The machine dolls--
One by one, their eyes flicker open. Long-dormant systems begin to come alive. The only way to escape, the only recourse, is to somehow get one of these security consoles to deactivate the security system.
BUT CAN YOU DO IT BEFORE THE ROBOTS KICK YOUR KNEECAPS IN!?
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
As they clear past the boss, there is only one thing left for them to deal with... and it's some weird computer thing that Bart really has no idea how to deal with. Just looking at all the blinking lights is beginning to make him a little dizzy, and so it's with a certain amount of thanks that he turns around when he hears the automatic dolls being activated.
"I dunno what you're gonna be able to do about all this!" Bart shouts as he starts kicking and whipping the robots that are beginning to march into the room with the intent of removing the party by force. "But you better hurry up and do it!" He doesn't really have too much to contribute beyond that - the sheer madness of this situation is making it so he really can only focus on fighting, and is unlikely to contribute to any sort of success in figuring out how to get the robots to stop fighting.
Unless he can break them all and save the day. ...very little chance of that happening.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Taking off after Cyre, Catenna keeps her shotgun in one hand and her medium in the other. "I think it is the only one. At least, they do not usually fly in large groups," she advises Jacqueline with a shake of her head, before whisking past the doorway -
And freezing as she catches sight of the robots waiting in the room beyond. The Zortroa priestess halts just behind Cyre, breath hitching in her throat as she tenses up visibly. The surprise is broken as the alarm begins to wail, cutting through the cold shock and visceral fear that had gripped her.
The fear returns as one of the robots opens its eyes. "What-- what are these beings?!" she gasps, looking up at Cyre and pulling a little closer to him instinctively. They seem more like things than beings to her - dolls, not real people. And that makes them all the more terrifying.
The alarm wails in her ears, and between it and the fear building in her stomach, it's hard for her to think straight. Quickly she glances down at her medium, then her gun, as if she could solve this expediently. But it isn't going to be enough. "That siren must be connected to something," she finally tries to shout over the din, looking rapidly around to try and find the source of the lights.
For lack of a better idea, she hoists her gun and attempts to shoot out a couple of the flashing red lights.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reject the Rejection.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Out of the arena and into... a room full of killbots. And consoles. Rose is not a computer person, and while she count start randomly touching buttons until something works, that seems very much like a bad idea.
Rose pulls the knives back out, joining Bart on the front lines. "I'll help him hold them back, if it buys you guys five seconds that's five more seconds to solve this puzzle! Stupid ancient civilizations being nothing but sociopaths, ugh!"
Rose would like, just one time, finding ruins built by a BENEVOLENT ancient civilization. Instead of killbots, smoothiebots. Instead of traps, nice beds. Instead of riddles, gift baskets full of bath salts and exotic soaps and butters. Instead of monsters, maids and butlers!
This far off ideal is just unrealistic.
DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reject the Rejection.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"Mister Cyre." Ethius responds, casting a glance to the side. "As for your inquiry, I'm afraid there hasn't been a sig--"
Click.
BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE--
Ethius straight-up back-rolls away from the Scutum as it comes to life, scanning the room for intruders like it was yesterday. For all the attempts to get it to go, to be, it moves and acts as though it were still fresh off the line. Its shield holds steady in front of them.
"It would appear these units are intended to be the final line of defense for this very chamber," Ethius remarks. It's so loud that his voice might be lost to the noise, though. It could also just be poor sound mixing by the engineer in charge of the English dub, as he rummages for the lens from under his poncho.
Ethius does remember what happened the last time he tried to get the Spectral Lens going. It damned-near blinded one of his eyes. Some of the details elude him in a haze from taking a hit to the back of his head to stop him from destroying their would-be prize, but nonetheless he has to take the second look. The Symbological spell is cast. He braces himself for the worst as the electrical power lights it up. There's a soft glow, looking from one side.
On the opposite side the light is bright and piercing. Too bright! It means one very important thing, at minimum: there's a lot of activity going on between here and wherever else in the mysterious temple. This may be its very core.
Ethius moves the lens side by side, as though gauging when the blinding light is brightest. Last time, he pointed at the monitor and suggested everyone converge upon it. If they're going through this situation again...
It's no good. The tag-team of sight-robbing light and deafening alarm klaxons robs Ethius of any moment of calm or contemplation he can collect to the crew's cause. They'll just have to repeat whatever method or miracle stopped it the last time.
Ethius draws his quarterstaff and nudges it at a console in an attempt to call attention to it. There! By experience, that's the only clue they have. As he gets harassed by the Scutum they so politely brought back home through a wave of ice, they'll have to pick up the rest from there! He might be able to hold at least one Scutum off.
It's going to be a close call...!
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Reject the Rejection.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline winces at the sound of the alarm system going off. Her ears weren't nearly so sensitive as Cyre's were, but it was still an irritating, grating noise...
...Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem here. The machines were awakening, and they seemed set on removing the intruders.
Jacqueline rushes toward one of the consoles. It looks like it should control the security systems...but she was unfamiliar with the symbols on this one, and they had a strict time limit - if they wanted to get further into the temple she needed to shut it off before the machines bore down on them, or else they'd have no choice but to flee.
"Y-yes, just...just keep them busy and I'll see what I can do here!" Jacqueline says.
She begins to interact with the console, going through menus as quickly as she can in the hopes of finding one that looks like it'd disable the security...or at least delay it long enough them to progress.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reject the Rejection. DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Reject the Rejection. DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Reject the Rejection. DG: Catenna is too exhausted to continue! DG: Rose is too exhausted to continue! DG: Ethius Hesiod is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: Cyre H. Lorentz is too exhausted to continue! DG: Bart Fatima is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. Your party can no longer continue and is forced to retreat! DG: The party led by Cyre H. Lorentz has been fully Exhausted by Temple of Rejection!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
In spite of the frantic key-slapping and half-blind examination of this place's ridiculously complex electronics, it's simply not enough to deactivate the security system in time. Or rather, a certain someone decides that it's time to cut and run rather than risk staying for another potentially lethal thirty seconds as one of the un-smashed robots begins spewing gouts of fire at these filthy interlopers.
But Cyre--
Cyre...
Isn't going to leave any man behind.
Or any robot.
He appears to have... Somehow locked one of his Scutum's arms against his chest. It might have something to do with the strange green glow burning in a halo around him. Or maybe it's just the power of greed. "ETHIUS," Cyre yells, "GRAB THE OTHER ARM AND LET'S RUN FOR IT."
This is probably good advice.
A robot army is not the kind of thing you want to stick around for.
Strangely, though, the pursuit is... short-lived. In the sense that the mysterious robot room is bizarrely close to the front door. Or maybe the mysterious forces that possess the dungeon have simply shifted it around such that it could more efficiently eject (REJECT!?) the adventurers foolish enough to be swarming through its insides.
But there's also a robot army chasing them.
CAN YOU OUTRUN THE TERMINATOR!?
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Shooting out the alarms does not work as well as Catenna might've expected - particularly since she stops and stares at Cyre halfway through. "Cyre...?" she asks, that green glow around him filling her eyes with worry.
She doesn't have time to ask too many more questions because the robots are coming out. One of them hurls fire towards her. The priestess pivots away as quickly as she can, though the flames singe her a little nevertheless; she winces and lays down covering fire, then drops back and focuses hard.
The escape is abetted by a little help from gravity shenanigans - with the result that Catenna's the last one out of the dungeon, and breathing heavily from the sheer effort of casting so fast on the fly.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There's not enough time. Jacqueline tries to find the answer, but as hard as her allies fight, their enemy is too quickly upon them. She's forced to flee from the console.
"I-I'm sorry, everyone!" She apologizes. If she'd been faster with it, maybe they wouldn't be in this situation right now.
She draws a Crest from her pouch, and once she's sure she wouldn't be blocking anyone off she conjures a series of earthen pillars to bar the way.
It'll keep the mechanical soldiers from getting closer...but it'll also mean that, at least for now, there's no way back to the chamber they were just in.
They'd have to flee for now.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is staring the former prize Water Scutum in the eyes. Cyre might remember the last time they were here, how their team of that visit managed to avoid the worst. The way Ethius seemed still ready to fight - to try and utterly annihilate - the robots that went inert thanks to a completely coincidental set of button presses with Alt and F4. As they are all being backed into a wall, Ethius prepares another cast--
Cyre yells his name. Cyre yells the plan. Ethius tries to drone it out. He has other plans--
Cyre tries. Cyre does. Ethius staggers from a burst of errant wind in Cyre's wake, just as a Fire Scutum looks to lash a hot flame into his back. There isn't arguing with Cyre about it.
Just when all hope of Ethius still having his hearing seems lost, the supposed 'mechotaku' - as Cyre calls him - moves in to lock the other arm. It is an active Water Scutum. Both of them are at ground zero for anything the ancient guardian device tries to pull. Chilling its flesh. Turning the moisture in the air ahead of them into daggers. Also, trying to use its robot strength to throw them off.
Between the two of them, they'd barely hold it together - even if the whole process stands to leave the both of them chilled, stabbed, damp, fatigued, bruised, and occasionally burned by parting fire from its Fire Scutum cousins.
Taken out of its range of operation, it will fall inert again - but they'd be back to square one about how to make this thing move.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Square one, perhaps. But at least it's better than being at square zero. They know that there's something in that ruin that can make this thing move, the only question is being able to get to it without being obliterated by a legion of angry elemental robots.
Cyre sags onto a patch of grassy soil once he's well and truly sure that they've gotten clear of the angry mechanical legions. That green halo and the howling winds fade away as well, and the priest takes a moment to... Flop onto his back and take a few long, deep breaths.
"...I think I might've burnt through one of my nine lives there," he sighs into the sky. Part of his cloak is still on fire. He pats it out. "...Everyone okay?"