2017-08-05: The Dig Wherein Rudy Is the Most Mature Person Present
- Log: The Dig Wherein Rudy Is the Most Mature Person Present
- Cast: Gwen Whitlock, Cassidy Cain, Seraph Ragnell, Rudy Roughnight
- Where: Silver Coast
- Date: 8/5/2017
- Summary: With the Lacour Tournament done, Super Courier Gwen drags some Drifters to the Hillside Ruins for some muchly needed funds. Things go downhill from there, and that's despite them clearing the ruins with expert timing.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Skip Leg Day *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Don't you just hate it when ancient cultures pass judgments on your lifestyle choices? Clearly, this one thinks you haven't been getting enough cardio in your life, because there's a door on a ledge with no ladders or stairs leading up, just a layered, stone wall, with so many convenient indents and outcroppings for you to climb up. Screw you, ancient cultures. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Another day, another tournament done, another few disasters barely averted with minimal injury to attending civilians. Drifters, however...
Well, those are stories best meant for another day.
There's still the fact that supplies are needed for those Adlehyde refugees, and the money for those supplies is something that could easily be helped by some nice finds at a dig or two. Thus, with Gwen being one of the appointed Persons In Charge of Supplies And Making Sure They Don't Walk Off (thanks, Noah) it is up to her to do a little... adventuring.
And she's never been to this site before. Time to load up her nice, new(ish) covered wagon with possible helpers (including one friend who the others may or may not be able to see) and go onwards to adventure!
An adventure that she's quickly regretting. "This is..." Gwen's shoulders slump as she gets off her wagon, giving Gulliver a few reassuring pets along his back. "... gonna be a pain."
There's only one thing she can do. "Okay, I got some rope. One of you guys can get on up and... maybe there's something we can tie it to?" She holds up the rope, looking hopefully to the crew. "I ain't well-balanced when it comes to climbin' walls that tall."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Gwen, you weren't even in that tournament. Mind, neither was Ragnell, but it's the principle of the matter. Though, in fairness, there were certainly plenty of disasters that they might or might not have attended... Of course, disasters mean that people need to work to help those who were affected by it, and while no one was actually killed when the first couple of floors of the coliseum were shaved off, and this event did not in any way stop the tournament, surely it and other matters mean there's some rebuilding to be done.
Which is none of Ragnell's business, but a whim made her agree to come along when Gwen asked anyway. A covered wagon ride later with like-minded (?) individuals, and they find themselves outside the so-called Hillside Ruins, which have no particular route up. It's just you and your inner billy goat and those minerals.
"Y'ain't gonna get anywhere if you just stand around complainin'," Ragnell remarks to Gwen, which is rich because she freely complains whenever the mood takes her. "But sure, I'll do you a solid. Gimme that rope." And she'll take the end of that rope, clench it between her teeth, and start climbing up the stone wall. Ragnell is a reasonably agile Seraph, so it shouldn't be a problem. If there *is* a problem, it's whether or not the others can see her, or if a rope just starts magically floating up the wall of its own volition, which might well cause a commotion.
Which is entirely why Ragnell went to the trouble of volunteering. She's just a nice person like that. Once she reaches the top of the wall, she'll loop it around something solid-looking and toss it back down for the others to climb. Now, for the fun part: is that solid-looking thing *actually* solid, or does Ragnell need to get lectured about carelessness again?
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Skip Leg Day.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
After several misadventures with Jude Moshe, Noah Hawthorne and Morgan Newkirk in the deeper underbellies of Filgaia, Cassidy Cain's general and much-vocalized trepidation regarding 'scrabbling in the dirt' has made one thing very clear: she will not go ruins-exploring unless she really, absolutely, necessarily has to.
This is one of those moments.
EARLIER...
Abelard Ross, the perpetually drunk, ill-tempered husband of the White Heron's bartendress and proprietor has been yelling at customers and drinking most of the backroom stock all day. Having stumbled next to the family cat, Nicodemus, his heavy bulk situates itself near one of the thick wooden posts holding the roof aloft, grousing under his breath.
Nicodemus lifts a paw, and sneezes into it.
It could have been a rare moment of decency on his part, or perhaps a force of habit, but as Abelard lifts his tumbler to take a long draught of his whiskey, he utters, apropos of nothing: "God bless you cat."
The feline's judgmental face turns to Abelard the moment he talks, seemingly attracted to the sudden sound.
"...why would you say that?"
Abelard nearly spits out his liquor, staring at the cat, that has suddenly decided to talk to him.
"What the-- "
"You know I dinnae have the belief system in place for that," Nicodemus continues (why the hell does he sound like a woman??). "Did you just say that because you feel like you're a bad person and you're trying tae get your good deed in for the day?"
"Well-- "
"Did you know I used tae be a god? Have you ever seen a sphinx? Because that's me. I'm a god," the cat continues as Abelard's eyes get wider and wider. "I'm a god that created myself in my own image. Except I cannae look at myself in the mirror without sneezing my arse off every morning. So do you want lessons on self-loathing because that's me. I'm a god that made myself in my own image that cannae even stay in the same room as myself because I somehow became allergic tae myself. It-- "
Abelard shoots up from his seat, a convulsing finger pointing at the creature.
"G- GO F*** YOURSELF, CAT!!!" he cries, stumbling in his haste to get away.
Somewhere behind the post, directly opposite the cat, Cassidy takes another sip of her whiskey.
A LITTLE LATER AFTER THAT...
"What did you do to my husband, Cass?!"
"Look, you cannae claim the fat bastard dinnae deserve it, he was-- "
"But he's MY fat bastard!" Mildred Ross slaps her counter rag on her bar's varnished surface. "How are you gonna make this up to me?!"
"What do you-- "
"Now he thinks Nicodemus is possessed by the devil!"
Cassidy pauses. "...well, he is a cat-- "
"CASSIDY!"
"Alright, alright!" The blonde sighs and rakes her fingers through her hair. "What can I do tae make it up tae you?"
Mildred huffs, hands on her hips. "As it happens, I have a friend who needs help with a few ruins in the area..."
"Ach, are you kidding me? Anything but that! I-- "
Mildred glares at the blonde.
"Fine."
NOW...
Gwen asks for someone to climb up and that she has some rope.
Cassidy lifts her hat to fit it on top of her head, rolling lazily off the back of the wagon. There's an absent pat on Gulliver's muzzle as she passes by the noble steed, glade-green eyes squinting up at the height they would have to traverse, in order to reach the door.
"....whoever came up with this is a god damn sadist," she declares, though she certainly doesn't voluteer to go up first. That dubious honor goes to Ragnell, a face that she has seen a few times around these parts.
Once the rope is tossed down to the rest, she moves to climb up.
DG: Cassidy Cain has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Skip Leg Day.
<Pose Tracker> Rudy Roughnight has posed.
"I dont know why Im used to being with invisible people anymore."
Finally, after what seems like hours of voluntary silence, the young man that volunteered to come along has spoken on his own. Previously for the day, he only really has talked when spoke to in the usual reactionary way that seems to be much of Rudys social methodology.
However, there seems to be a challenge and rope that is put upward and he cant wait for the challenge to resolve itself. Once where climbing aid is supposed to be, Rudy will merely begin to climb without any fanfare, presuming that whoever Gwen has gotten to help with this mission is nice, which takes a bit of trust because sadly Rudy has the resonance of a brick. Likely because he is SO NORMAL LIKE A NORMAL BOY.
Really.
DG: Rudy Roughnight has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Don't Skip Leg Day. DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Skip Leg Day.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Skip Leg Day *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Don't you just hate it when ancient cultures pass judgments on your lifestyle choices? Clearly, this one thinks you haven't been getting enough cardio in your life, because there's a door on a ledge with no ladders or stairs leading up, just a layered, stone wall, with so many convenient indents and outcroppings for you to climb up. Screw you, ancient cultures. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
=========================<* Hillside Ruins - Round 1 *>========================= ========================< Results - Don't Skip Leg Day >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(6)--> 6 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassidy Cain 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rudy Roughnight 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Gwen Whitlock 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Gwen Whitlock 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. DG: Cassidy Cain has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================= =============<* CHALLENGE - Walls are Just Doors Without Doors *>============= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ever see a convenient crack in a huge stone wall and say to yourself, "man, I REALLY want to ram my shoulder into that"? Don't worry, you're obviously not alone. And now's your chance! Because who needs doors, when you can dislocate body parts on aging, moss-encrusted stone slabs? Or, just, some other method that doesn't cause bodily harm. If you want to be boring. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Nope, none of them were, all for various reasons, be it mysterious ARMs, being Invisible, or... being Cassidy. And speaking of invisible?
"Well, see, I *am* doing something," the courier says, with a big smile. "I'm getting out this rope." .... does she look like she's talking to the air again, oh right, yes, she probably is, oh guardians
"See, that's a Seraph," Gwen explains to Rudy, pointing to where Ragnell is going up the wall. ... as if it would help any. "Ragnell's a friend o' mine. Kinda mischievous, but she means well!" She's kinda assuming, there. Ragnell could be boy or girl, and really, with Seraphs, Gwen's not even sure if the 'rules' necessarily apply to them. "Thanks Ragnell!" she shouts up to the seraph, letting everyone go first before she does her own climb.
As for how secure that rope was, well... It breaks right as Gwen gets to the top, leaving the redhead barely enough time to latch her right hand onto the edge of that doorway. "I'm okay, I'm okay! Phew. Good thing I went last!" See? Not complaining.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
The caverns past the main entrance do not appear to be anything too spectacular and as the party moves within, shadows outline its craggy walls, the air thick with the scent of must and dust. It extends in a straight line, growing darker the further bodies venture from the entrance, twisting slightly to the left until they are confronted by their first serious obstacle in this imprompty exhibition.
Slabs of rock criss-cross against one another from what appears to be an ancient cave-in, dense boulders that look downright immovable from the granite chevron they form, edges pressed against the walls and tenting over the sandy ground. It seems that they aren't the first Drifters to come across the blocked passage either; it is very apparent that others have come before them, because there are 'helpful' messages scratched into the surfaces of these boulders:
'This is bullshit.'
'Broke arm trying to get through here.'
'Pack grenades.'
'Jerrod was here.'
Somewhere below Jerrod's name is a stick figure flexing his guns, a foot braced on a barrel in an obvious imitation of a very famous spiced rum label.
Someone who either didn't like Jerrod very much or was a smartass has drawn what looks like the head of a massive, toothy lizard opening its maw over the stick figure, on the verge of eating it.
"....ay, well. Looks like whoever came before us spent a lot of time trying tae get through here," Cassidy remarks. "And failed."
She reaches into her bandolier, and brings out a couple of grenades. She tosses them towards Gwen.
"Never say I dinnae follow good advice when I see it, though."
DG: Cassidy Cain has used her Tool Heavy Grenade toward her party's challenge, Walls are Just Doors Without Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Are you sure about that? Are you *sure*?" Ragnell calls down to Gwen. Her razor-sharp grin may not inspire confidence, though at least everyone gets up safely in the end. It's probably for the best for Rudy that he can't actually see or hear her.
Nonetheless, once they've made it all inside and head deeper inside first straightforward and then slightly to the left, the group is soon face-to-face with... a wall. It's something of a haphazard wall, given the rock criss-crossing against each other and the boulders that look like they've settled in nicely together, thank you, and are in no mood to leave now that they've gotten comfortable. A variety of graffiti litters the wall. Ragnell snorts, smiling at the stick figure and the monster about to devour it.
"Good thing we're a group that's packin' a lot o' grenades, from the looks of it," she remarks to Cassidy, first side-eyeing the blonde when she pulls out a couple of grenades, then reaching into her poncho and pulling out another one of her own. She hefts it up and down, then smiles sunnily at the others. "After you~." Once everyone's ready, she'll pull the pin and chuck it with the others, then get behind cover.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Walls are Just Doors Without Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"I'm sure, I'm sure!" Gwen answers back, almost seeming comically irritated that Ragnell would even ask the question. Not only that, but ask the question *two times*. "Besides, digs ain't fun when you're by yourself!"
Yeah. Rudy is definitely not missing out on anything.
At the sight of the huge stone wall, as well as the messages documenting what has gone before, Gwen just starts to pace forward, a smug grin on her face. "Well, I'll just- ggh!" Gwen's confidence instantly wilts as some grenades are casually tossed her way by Cassidy.
Barely managing to catch them, Gwen lets out a small sigh of relief when she realizes that the pins haven't been pulled. "Whoah, whoah, I have my own ways of dealin' with these, so all I need to do is... uh..."
Out comes Ragnell with her own grenades. And Rudy, well. She knows Rudy's probably got some explosives of his own. "I'll just sit this one out."
Though that doesn't keep her from hurling a supplied grenade over when the others are done throwing theirs.
The pin's not completely off, though.
She couldn't stand to hold it long enough to do *that much*.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Walls are Just Doors Without Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Rudy Roughnight has posed.
"Ah, I would say now I know, but I wont. Because I dont see or hear them so I have no way of telling them apart." The matter is frustrating toward Rudy, but its unclear if hes more upset at the situation itself or himself for being the odd duck that cant see people. Still, as the door is observed and noticed, Rudy merely pulls out explosives of his own. Cain has her large grenades, while Rudy is merely setting up much larger, but stationary bombs around the door. He doesnt set timers on them, merely doing some work to the charges here and there so that they will go up when combined with the appropriate explosion. When life has you down, the important thing sometimes is to find a way to move forward. In this cause it's merely... finding a way forward.
As soon as the charges are set and everyone's are enough away no one else is going to get hurt, Rudy just waits calmly to see the sea of explosions.
DG: Rudy Roughnight has used his Tool Excavation Charges toward his party's challenge, Walls are Just Doors Without Doors.
=============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================= =============<* CHALLENGE - Walls are Just Doors Without Doors *>============= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ever see a convenient crack in a huge stone wall and say to yourself, "man, I REALLY want to ram my shoulder into that"? Don't worry, you're obviously not alone. And now's your chance! Because who needs doors, when you can dislocate body parts on aging, moss-encrusted stone slabs? Or, just, some other method that doesn't cause bodily harm. If you want to be boring. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
========================<* Hillside Ruins - Round 2 *>======================== ===============< Results - Walls are Just Doors Without Doors >=============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 6 --(10)--> 16 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 6 --(8)--> 14 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cassidy Cain 8 --(6)--> 14 Pass Heavy Grenade 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rudy Roughnight 6 --(6)--> 12 Pass Excavation Charges 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Gwen Whitlock 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: Fanfare(1)|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Gwen Whitlock 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> Cassidy Cain has posed.
It is not a small feat to surprise Cassidy Cain, but when most of the party brings out their grenades, there's a small blink, before a grin curls up on her lips. "There's hope for adventurers yet," she tells them, moving away to give the explosions some room.
Though as she quietly inspects the cache that has been brought to bear against Jerrod and his boulder, she changes her mind and moves further up the shaft away from the boulders. Just in case there was a cave in and she would have to throw herself back through the way they came.
The booming sound that follows rocks the entirety of the cave, dislodging debris and leaving a fine mesh of hairline cracks through the walls. Hard stone crumbles in a flood of heat and irrepressible alchemy, revealing a clear passage ahead.
Clear...for now. Who knows what else they'll find inside?
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Puzzling Puzzle Door *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Before you is a door that just won't quite open, even if you say please. Pressure plates line the room, perhaps meant to have pressure applied onto them in some specific and obscure order. One could stop to wonder who would be so bored as to put so many pressure plates in a dingy old ruin, but it probably won't get that door open faster than a good pressure plate puzzle would. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The explosions go off. The path forward has been prepared. ...wait, no.
Ragnell half-smiles at Rudy, who aside from his grumbling seems pretty chill about the prospect of an invisible person hanging out with the group. Maybe she's just hung out with Rose too long, who's only gotten used to/accepted the idea of Seraphim now that she can actually see them. She also snorts in amusement at Cassidy's talk of hope for adventurers. Regardless, no one gets mauled in an explosion and they're all free to move forward.
The path continues on, left and right, until finally they reach a decent-sized room. On the other side of it is a shut door. Ragnell pushes at it, but it doesn't budge. More grenades might be an option, but she catches sight of the many pressure plates lining the room. "Hmmm..." she murmurs, eyeballing them. "Looks like this one's got itself a specialized lock. Now, let's see..." She reaches into her poncho again, this time to pull out a personal electric fan. She clicks it on, giving herself a refreshing breeze. "If I were some crusty old asshole who hates explorers, what kind of sequence would *I* make the door password...?"
She thinks about it for a moment; then she smiles, clicks off her fan, and gets to work. The others are, of course, free to try their own combinations. Ragnell's sure not stopping them.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, A Puzzling Puzzle Door.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
When the rest of their party arrives in the next room, Cassidy takes one look at its configuration, and groans.
"Ach, fook me running."
She is no great archaeological brain, but the blonde lies, takes and steals for a living. The evolution of the more cerebral workings of her craft may have brought her all across Filgaia, but her early years have been marked with heists that depended more on her knowledge of locks and any developed agility and dexterity her younger body could muster; nights spent perched atop Hilton's roofs, flitting through shadowy gaps, running herself through the latest methods mechanical and magical security has to offer. It is downright distressing to her that she even recognizes what she is looking at in places like these - she has never been fond of digging up the past.
As Ragnell fans herself while she thinks, there's a lazy roll of her head towards the Seraph (what's a Seraph?, having only heard the term when Gwen mentioned it).
Stifling another groan at the next bit of recklessness she has to do, she takes several steps towards the pressure plates. She doesn't even bother figuring out what ought to come first, because she has a plan.
Sort of.
Twelve percent of a plan.
So she steps on what she thinks is the wrong plate immediately.
It cracks under her weight, and caves in unceremoniously. Her heart leaps into her throat as her body disappears through the hole. Certainly, she would have died, body broken to messy, meaty pieces at the bottom of the chasm were it not for quick reflexes and fingers gripping on the edge of what she knows is stable ground.
As the dust settles, she speaks up.
"It's fine. Everything is fine! I just needed....tae...aha. There it is."
There's a flicking sound, and suddenly, there's a mote of light, somewhere in the space where Cassidy has decided to throw herself.
But dangling the way she is, she can see under the floor and the switches within, squinting through the half-lit shadows.
"Alright, give me a minute and I'll be able tae come back up with the pattern."
DG: Cassidy Cain has used her Tool Pocket Lighter toward her party's challenge, A Puzzling Puzzle Door.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"It's okay," Gwen says. "I didn't either until I got really weak that one time. The more you're around them, the more you just... kinda..."
But is it really the best thing to encourage anyone to gain that sight? The things she saw and felt earlier...
Her auntie did say that ignorance isn't a sin, which Gwen always found to be an odd statement from someone who usually found a lack of knowledge something profoundly irritating. And would it be called ignorance if it's something that normally no one would develop a sense for?
"Honestly, you're better off just being whoever y'are, and just let whatever happen. That's what I do-"
See, Gwen had stood up slightly to better indicate her point to Rudy. That was, however, when the explosions happened.
That was also when a particularly fist-sized piece of rock comes sailing across, nicking her forehead as she moves her head back with a shriek. And likely making her ears ring, which is why, for a while afterwards, Gwen just stumbles behind, trying to apply some pressure with a wad of medical cloth to the right side of her forehead, even as blood keeps seeping down. "It's just a surface wound!" she says, rather loudly, before she realizes her mistake. "Damn, these buggers bleed like *crazy*. Um, anyone... uh... well, I guess it'd just be me, right?"
Just be yourself.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Medical Kit toward her party's challenge, A Puzzling Puzzle Door.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"It's okay," Gwen says to Rudy. "I didn't either until I got really weak that one time. The more you're around them, the more you just... kinda..."
But is it really the best thing to encourage anyone to gain that sight? The things she saw and felt earlier...
Her auntie did say that ignorance isn't a sin, which Gwen always found to be an odd statement from someone who usually found a lack of knowledge something profoundly irritating. And would it be called ignorance if it's something that normally no one would develop a sense for?
"Honestly, you're better off just being whoever y'are, and just let whatever happen. That's what I do-"
See, Gwen had stood up slightly to better indicate her point to Rudy. That was, however, when the explosions happened.
That was also when a particularly fist-sized piece of rock comes sailing across, nicking her forehead as she moves her head back with a shriek. And likely making her ears ring, which is why, for a while afterwards, Gwen just stumbles behind, trying to apply some pressure with a wad of medical cloth to the right side of her forehead, even as blood keeps seeping down. "It's just a surface wound!" she says, rather loudly, before she realizes her mistake. "Damn, these buggers bleed like *crazy*. Um, anyone... uh... well, I guess it'd just be me, right?"
Just be yourself.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Puzzling Puzzle Door *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Before you is a door that just won't quite open, even if you say please. Pressure plates line the room, perhaps meant to have pressure applied onto them in some specific and obscure order. One could stop to wonder who would be so bored as to put so many pressure plates in a dingy old ruin, but it probably won't get that door open faster than a good pressure plate puzzle would. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=========================<* Hillside Ruins - Round 3 *>========================= ======================< Results - A Puzzling Puzzle Door >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Medical Kit 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassidy Cain 14 --(6)--> 20 Pass Pocket Lighter 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 14 --(7)--> 21 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Gwen Whitlock 30 --(25)--> 55 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Fanfare(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Gwen Whitlock has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell attempts to work out the pattern starting from the correct first position; Cassidy does the exact opposite and almost splatters herself messily in the far far below. Ragnell actually jerks her head over to her, eyebrows rising sharply. Then she laughs, somewhere between disbelieving and amused. "Hope for adventurers, huh? You sure got the lack o' self-preservation part down pat," she remarks, walking on over and peering into the darkness that Cassidy had thrust herself. However, thanks to her light, she can see the edge of the switches and so on... She whistles, impressed despite herself. That's some nice thinking. Cassidy better hope she can pull herself out of there as easily ("easily") as she got herself in. "Ready an' waitin'," she drawls.
While Cassidy works on that, Ragnell leans back and looks over her shoulder askance at Gwen, who apparently got hit by a rock and is now holding a medical cloth to her bleeding head. She shakes her head slowly. She could offer to heal that, but... well, she'll let Gwen ask for it first, if she really wants it. "Yeah, I'm fine," she drawls. "Guess you didn't move fast enough earlier, huh? You sure seem to get hurt easy." AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT, RAGNELL. WHOSE FAULT IS THAT. "Get that under control, wouldja? What're you gonna do if we get through this door and there's a buncha goblins waitin' t' jump us on the other side?"
Regardless, once Cassidy gets her shenanigans done, Ragnell inputs the correct sequence. Soon enough, the door rolls open with a satisfying sound of stone on stone, allowing everyone to head on forward. Rudy will likely take up the rear to make sure no one jumps the group while Gwen is recovering from her injury. Or... something. HE'S AROUND HE'S JUST NOT HERE, SHUT UP. Either way, the group presses forward!!
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ==============<* CHALLENGE - The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack! *>============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Vorpal Apes are big and smelly and brutish and oh hey look that one's eating all sorts of useful treasure and items, maybe you ought to kick it in its big, smelly, brutish face until it stops and take that stuff for yourself. To eat, or not, that's your choice. No judgments. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen, for the most part, does not ask.
... Mostly because she doesn't even think to. Ragnell's for electricity and being Ragnell, she's not a healer! Even if she *did* heal King Justin, but that's besides the point.
"Nothing that'll kill me," Gwen says with a big grin, plastering some adhesive bandages over the wad of cotton. "And that's why I got the med kit. It's come in handy for lots of things!"
And what would happen if a bunch of goblins are waiting to jump them on the other side of this wall?
This would happen.
Only, it's not goblins, it's a bunch of Vorpal Apes, the sort that lurk in ruins like this. And Gwen's already coming in. "Hey, hey!" Unfortunately, the tactics better suited for scaring off a vulture or lone coyote do not quite apply here, as one of the Apes just takes a moment to put down their piece of the... treasure(?) and come over to challenge the strange hairless pink ape coming over to challenge it.
Gwen then reels that right hand back and swings it forward in an uppercut, punching the Vorpal Ape square in the jaw.
There's more, don't worry. Everyone can punch themselves an ape or two. That, or go after whatever delightful thing they were chewing on. Gwen's going for her second, as a matter of fact.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack!.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
You sure got the lack o' self-preservation down pat.
Cassidy hauls herself out of the hole, rolling her shoulders back and turns her puckish expression towards Ragnell, her smile cutting like a blade through the shadows. "Ay, well, I hear that often, lass," she says. "Would be the last one tae deny that I have a verra serious problem on that end. Cannae seem tae help myself, though." Glancing at the Seraph askance, she flashes her a wink, lashes lidding low over glade-green irises flecked with shattered gold. "The line between death and excitement is just as thin as the one between pleasure and suffering."
With that, she starts moving forward as Gwen leads the way, being the current leader of this expedition. Down through the tunnel and through the chambers, she pauses suddenly. While the lighthearted expression doesn't leave her face, the fact that she stops suggests that she senses something.
It isn't that she hears anything and it isn't as if the blonde has magically enhanced instincts - she's certainly not bionically augmented like Gwen, or some entity of cosmic power like Ragnell. But Cassidy is a creature perpetually enslaved to her senses; a hedonist can't help but be, luxuriating regularly in sights, smells, sounds and touch.
This time, it's scent.
This part of the ruins reeks, spiced heavily with an intangible miasma of animal musk. That cheerful mien fades into one that straddles the line between exasperated and expectant. "Ach, bloody hell," is all she says.
And then the Vorpal Apes show up.
She does what any self-respecting, warm-blooded woman would do in this situation. Her pistols come out, and she shoots first.
"Dinnae come tae monkey around, you furry bastards," she tells them casually, conversationally. "But if you're feeling frisky, I have a friend who's always looking tae marry and he dinnae care if you smell. If you let us go, I'll give you his address."
Poor Morgan.
DG: Cassidy Cain has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack!.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell certainly doesn't have a healer's disposition, regardless of her having healing artes or not. She snorts again, half-smiling at Gwen's insistence that a little cranial bleeding won't kill her. "Good girl."
That half-smile turns into an outright grin and laugh when Cassidy hauls herself out and acknowledges a problem that she has no intentions of fixing. "Nothin' like a shot of adrenaline, eh?" Her grin widens. "Almost as good as a shot o' whiskey."
Meanwhile, on the other side of that door? Are indeed monsters, even if they aren't goblins. The further the group travels, the muskier the dungeon smells. Of course monsters would roam in these parts--they always do--but at least that ape has something in its mouth. That is, something shiny, and not something... rotten and meaty. Removing it may be a delicate process, though, like removing something from the mouth of a dog that is chewing on an unknown object. While Gwen challenges an ape and goes to punch it, Ragnell pulls out her twin pistols and opens fire on the creatures with a rapid ratta-tat-tat, lightning bullets volleying forth towards their thick, hairy skin and, more specifically, their mouths. Treasure is a good thing.
"Your friend needs to get some standards," she jokes to Cassidy as an aside. "He oughtta at *least* mess around with one a' th' cute ones."
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack!.
==============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================== ==============<* CHALLENGE - The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack! *>============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Vorpal Apes are big and smelly and brutish and oh hey look that one's eating all sorts of useful treasure and items, maybe you ought to kick it in its big, smelly, brutish face until it stops and take that stuff for yourself. To eat, or not, that's your choice. No judgments. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=========================<* Hillside Ruins - Round 4 *>========================= ================< Results - The Vorpal Ape Went Snicker-Snack! >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 24 --(8)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassidy Cain 20 --(8)--> 28 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 21 --(4)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Gwen Whitlock 55 --(30)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Stupify(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Gwen Whitlock has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The Vorpal Apes are quickly either scared away or likewise punched or shot away by the invading party, shrieking as they amble away on all fours. "Okay, let's see what goodies we have here-" ^
It's smashed jars of Heal Berry preservatives, with some jars still in the corner, unsmashed. "Well, I'd probably need to make sure these don't have any botulism or whatever in them, but they have to have some value as artifacts. We can double back when we get as far as we can and load up on what we can scavenge." She thumbs up. "A pretty nice bounty~ They probably won't be coming back for a while, so let's just head on further in to see what we can get on top of all that." WIth that, the party moves onward, towards its next challenge.
DG: Cassidy Cain has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - A Cantankerous Camazotz *>=================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- And so you reach the end of your journey, in a suspiciously large room with so many hills of dirt conveniently piled up for you to dig through for hours and hours of grueling work -- just what you always wanted. You prepare to claim your muscle-straining, thankless reward when what should appear but what looks like a gigantic, morbidly obese bat! Hey, it's a Camazotz! It looks mad. Probably because it's stuck in a suspiciously large room that nevertheless inexplicably has man-sized doors. How is it still even alive? How did it get in here? Deep, troubling questions to ponder over, preferably when it's not about to eat you. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Nothing like a shot o' adrenaline, eh?
Cassidy's lashes hood at that, her pliant mouth turning up with a smile so feline that one would most definitely get the impression that the blonde was remembering something good and indeed, the comment churns out images in rapid succssion: two bandit gangs duped to fight while she was trapped in a killbox with a tall, red-haired man with golden eyes, the death-defying leap to an uncertain fate while storage cars crash in the Blue hundreds of feet below; letting a ferret loose in a gambling tournament where everyone was cheating and packing heat, and sinking a casino boat after stowing grenades underneath a very heavy safe laden with valuables and sending it crashing through several decks; standing in the middle of a narrow canyon armed with six bullets facing five bounty hunters rushing at her on horses...
...forced to use her sword arts for the first time in years, dangerously telling of her own past history, in an attempt to take the heart of a Solarian nightmare agent with beautiful, but inhuman cornflower-blue eyes while it still beats inside of his chest.
...and everything so far that has happened in Hilton, because in a way, it feels like the free, exhilarating plunge before dying, too.
And didn't she say it before? The fine line between death and excitement isn't unlike the one between pleasure and suffering.
Almost as good as a shot o' whiskey.
Her smile widens at that.
"Ay. Almost."
The mystery as to why the apes have convened around this specific part of the ruins is revealed in short order - as Cassidy stoops over to pick up a jar of Heal Berry preservatives, her expression flattens. "What," is her only response as to what she has found.
There's a glance towards a pair of double doors at the end of the run. "Well, last thing I need is more sugar," she replies, striding over towards them, curiosity pulling her in like iron filings to lodestone. "Maybe we'll find more in here."
She lifts a boot, and kicks it open.
She stares at what's inside.
There is a bat-creature. A morbidly obese bat creature. It is trying to clamber onto one of the lower-hanging stalactites in the room, presumably in an attempt to hang upside-down it like all bats do, and go to sleep. Its claws grasp the end, and it tries to heft itself up...
...and fails miserably. It slides helplessly off the stalactite and crashes back down on the ground. It's so big that it causes a small earthquake on impact, shaking the entire chamber. It shrieks, a high-pitched deafening sound, heavy with anger and frustration and misery.
And what does Cassidy do?
She doubles over instantly, tears leaking on the corners of her eyes as she loses her shit laughing. She can't help it. It's so fat. And so angry. It can't even fly. No wonder it's so mad!!!!
The Camazotz hears it, and if bat-monsters can feel embarrassment, this one could make anyone believe. Enraged immediately, it flaps its useless wings and charges forward towards the double doors.
DG: Cassidy Cain has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Cantankerous Camazotz.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen's reaction? "... it's... so cute..." The pudge of a tummy, the giant ears, the head, the way its body makes its little feets and wings look like ornaments on a stuffed fang-y doll instead of a dreadful monster. "Look at the _feet_, and then there's the flappy wings, with the claws, and look at the snaggletooth!"
This reaction differs from Cassidy, who is laughing. Rudy, Gwen guesses, is probably just wondering how he got stuck with such strange, strange people, being he's an absolutely Normal Boy.
"Whoah_whoahwhoah_!" Gwen sloppily jerks off her right glove as the Camazotz hears the laughing Cassidy, barely managing to tug her sleeve up with her teeth as her right hand plucks two bullets from the pouch on her left sleeve garter as the massive rolly-polly bat begins to charge.
With a surge of electricity running down her right arm as the bullets are pushed into an opening slot in the bend of her right arm, Gwen lowers downwards and aims, shooting two bullets from her hand into the adorably pudgy bat monster.
Two bullets, which probably shouldn't have been fired so close to Cassidy's *face*, but at least it'll keep the bat from coming over and gnawing onto Cassidy for *daring* to laugh at her.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Cantankerous Camazotz.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
And when you live in a world that's full of things that's trying to kill you, it's for the best that you get your kicks out of nearly dying, isn't it? ...Cassidy and Ragnell might have some things in common, and the lilt and growth of her feline smile implicate that to her. But in the same way, Ragnell doubts she'd just care for the fun of it, particularly when they're in the middle of a fight. It doesn't matter much when it's over; Ragnell just gives her a thoughtful look, then turns her attention to the jars of heal berry preserves.
"Could be worse. Bet they'd taste great spread on toast," she remarks. You'd probably get a solid +500/+10% heal factor increase by doing that. It's a worthwhile cooking ingredient! Gwen and Cassidy might be happy to pass them by for now, but Ragnell swoops one up with one hand and tucks it away in her poncho, that everlasting land of secrets. What *is* the trick? Why, it's having an inner pocket with an item bag sewn in. You'll never want for pocket space with these!
Never mind that she wears jeans and thus has plenty of pockets. Who the hell would put a jar in jeans pockets, anyway?
Regardless, they head on in further into the ruins, to eventually come across a high-ceilinged room with low doorways and lots and lots and LOTS of mounds of earth to dig through to find something of worth or value. Ragnell's outright grateful when she hears the screech of the monstrous potbellied bat as it attempts to scrabble up onto a stalagmite or stalactite or whatever they are (she's not an Earth Seraph, she doesn't need to know, shut up). It crashes, and Ragnell feels herself lift up off the ground a millimeter or two, and it wails in misery.
Cassidy loses her shit by laughing herself to tears. Gwen loses her shit by squealing over how cute it is. And Ragnell? Ragnell loses her shit by laughing at all three of them at once. Not only is this bat hilariously huge and inept, but Cassidy's laughter is infectious, and Gwen--god, Gwen, gushing over a big fast monster! Why are humans so infuriatingly adorable sometimes!!
Unfortunately, the Camazotz takes offense and charges for the group. Gwen bears her ARM and shoots several bullets towards the oversized bat. Ragnell, for her part, still laughing, raises one arm and channels lightning artes through sheer instinct and Resonance memory. "Hahaha--pierce thfffnhghghghh, through-- ahaha-- Thunder S-Spear!!" Electricity crackles into existence, then shoots forward like a bolt from an invisible crossbow, aiming to skewer the big ol' bat.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Cantankerous Camazotz.
=============================<* Hillside Ruins *>============================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - A Cantankerous Camazotz *>=================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- And so you reach the end of your journey, in a suspiciously large room with so many hills of dirt conveniently piled up for you to dig through for hours and hours of grueling work -- just what you always wanted. You prepare to claim your muscle-straining, thankless reward when what should appear but what looks like a gigantic, morbidly obese bat! Hey, it's a Camazotz! It looks mad. Probably because it's stuck in a suspiciously large room that nevertheless inexplicably has man-sized doors. How is it still even alive? How did it get in here? Deep, troubling questions to ponder over, preferably when it's not about to eat you. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
========================<* Hillside Ruins - Round 5 *>======================== ====================< Results - A Cantankerous Camazotz >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 32 --(100)--> 132 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cassidy Cain 28 --(100)--> 128 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 25 --(100)--> 125 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Gwen Whitlock 85 --(5)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: Cassidy Cain is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Gwen Whitlock has been fully Exhausted by Hillside Ruins! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
========================<* Global Escape Card List *>========================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Super Driftio Siblings *>=================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Somewhere, just beyond the chamber the party was previously in, you find a bridge built precariously over lava. It appears to be unattended at the moment. Proceeding forward, you find...some sort of writhing sack. Something must be alive in there. You undo the string to reveal a small man with a mushroom on his head. Is it a hat? A giant growth? Or maybe it's just immaculately-groomed hair. Whatever it is, he seems grateful. "Thank you, Drifters! But your Discovery is in another dungeon!" =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Gwen's shots manage to tag the bat-creature, and given how Ragnell is laughing so hard at everyone, her Thunder Spear misses, crackling past the obese monster's head and fizzing out into the wall.
"Oh...sh...shite..." Cassidy gasps, rendered completely useless in this deadly fight against yet another unfamiliar creature. "It's...c...coming right....coming right for us!"
It is. The monster shrieks, it leaps for the double-doors. The blonde is already attempting to half-stagger, half-stumble out of it, collapsing on the ground. Its shadow looms over her, fangs dripping with saliva as it does one, final lunge...
....but it's so fat it wedges tightly into the opening. It hasn't given up yet, though. Like a fat kid trying to grab a cookie jar in the far end of a one-sided cage, it attempts to streeeeeetch its claws as far as possible in an attempt to snatch Cassidy.
But if it's even possible, the pale-tressed conwoman laughs even harder when it can't escape. Morbidly obese, sleep deprived and unable to go outside? No wonder it's murderous!
"This...is...what you get for..." Wheeze. Snicker. "...eating...everything you see. Nae....one...tae lecture about greed, luv, but...but..."
She doesn't have the time to finish because her laughter and comments are doing nothing but make the bat creature all the more furious. The doorway is starting to crack in its struggles. This sobers up the blonde quickly, when she finally picks herself up and starts backing away from the doors.
"Alright, well, this was lovely, lasses, but I think maybe it's time we vacate this guano-infested pit."
With that, she turns and dashes up another tunnel.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Cassidy seems to have chosen the correct tunnel to go into, because there, hanging over a lava pit, is probably something the Camazotz had intended to eat once he digested his meal enough to fit through the door.
Feast or famine.
Freeing the poor creature, Gwen moves to the other end of the lava pit and, motioning everyone to stand back, carefully undoes the string, taking careful steps backward as the creature wiggles out from its sack. Is it some sort of larvae? A fungus-infected zombified creature? Why does it have a mushroom for a hat? Is it a hat? Why is it standing and waddling? Why does it have a monocle and a mustache that matches the spots on its head?
With a strange, minute voice that's high-pitched, not quite human, and... posh-sounding, the strange mushroom man prostrates himself before his saviors. "My greatest and must humble thanks, fair giants! I, Sir Trufflebottom, owe you my life! Why, it was just a moon ago, I was just casually strolling down my merry way, when this *creature* decided to whisk me away for his devilish plans! He suspended me over this pit, you see, and wished to dine on my flesh. The insanity of it all! I, a proud mushman, cooked and eaten like a common toadstool? Preposterous, I say!" Sitting up, his little beady black eyes blink a few times. "Er, uh, yes, we shall get out of here, shall we? You may have to crouch, as the tunnel I came through may not suit such fine tall creatures of yourselves unless you were to, uh, crouch down. You have knees, do you not? I'm sure mammals usually do, but I have been wrong before. Why, my great grandfather once spoke of these one creatures who- ... why are you looking at me like that?"
Gwen begins to tear up. "... his little hat.... and his mustache wiggles when he talks... and oh guardians, he has a monocle..." Her voice raises in pitch with each observation, her fists clenched to her mouth. "I wanna see how he WALKS."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
They end up in the tunnel, in where an inexplicable sight stretches out before her...
"WHAT?!" the thief cries, incredulity thickening the sound of her brogue. "WHAT'S A LAVA RIVER DOING HERE?! HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? FIRST I HAD TAE DEAL WITH A PHYSICS-DEFYING BOULDER AND NOW-- WAS THERE EVEN A VOLCANO NEARBY? I DINNAE SEE A VOLCANO!!"
She throws up her hands, turning her face to the cavernous ceilings and shaking a fist. "Your hobby sucks, Noah Hawthorne!"
But they cross the rickety rope bridge. Gwen unbinds the sack. Cassidy's earlier ire melts away when Sir Trufflebottom, a proud mushman, makes his appearance and describes his trials and tribulations in excruciating detail.
Lips twitch. Honeyed brows scrunch together in an attempt to at the very least maintain a polite facade, but the moment he tells them about nearly getting eaten because he looks like some species of mushroom, the blonde swings immediately from angry to laughing again, doubling over with her arms banding in the middle. It's too much. The morbidly obese batman was already pushing it, the lava river was just nonsensical, and now a mushman named Trufflebottom.
And Gwen? Gwen doesn't help.
I wanna see how he WALKS.
Cassidy falls on her knees, tilting forward to fold her arms on the ground and just bury her face in her hands. She hasn't seen him do so yet, but she can picture it already. Sir Trufflebottom, proud mushman, waddling sideways on the road to his freedom.
"Ay..." she tries to say soberly between gasps. "Ay. I want tae see that too."
She's not going to make it.
She's never making it out of here.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The trio is too useless to actually fight and defeat the Camatotz, and Rudy is probably busy preparing their way out. On the plus side? The bat is so fat it can't actually chase them when they make their escape. Ragnell has to take off her hat and hold it to her chest, she's wheezing so hard with laughter. That's an impressive feat, considering she doesn't actually need to breathe.
And then from there, they double back, going back to a room with an inexplicable lava river... Ragnell's laughter peals anew at Cassidy's outrage at the state of the dungeon. It starts to dim down when Gwen gets that sack and unties it to release the prisoner within... but then a little mushroom man crawls out, conveying his thanks and offering to help see them all out.
Trufflebottom asks Gwen why she's looking at him like that. Gwen only squeals. Cassidy falls to her knees. And Ragnell? Ragnell can only laugh and laugh and laugh. Amidst the peals of her laughter, approximately two words can be made out:
'Worth it.'