2017-08-11: Facing Further Rejection

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  • Log: Facing Further Rejection
  • Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Riesenlied, Emma Hetfield, Noeline, Dean Stark
  • Where: Temple of Rejection
  • Date: August 11th 2017
  • Summary: In search of information about the golem Lolithia, Avril and Dean return to the Temple of Rejection, this time bringing Emma Hetfield with them. Avril has also invited a couple friends from the ranks of the Metal Demons, though...

DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Temple of Rejection.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Wine About It *>======================
|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, but hey, it's not all bad: some kind soul left
 a couple bottles of that extremely popular and extremely expensive Johnny
 Appleseed wine out of the goodness of their hearts! Wait. Aren't those
 supposed to be a sacred offering to the temple--? Well, whatever. Enjoy!
 You're gonna need it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Sometimes, the best place to go to investigate a mystery is to return to where the first clue was discovered.

So it was with Avril, and the matter of the mysterious name 'Lolithia'. Deep in the ruins there had been a plaque -- and some potential information from ages long since past besides. Investigating had turned up mention of a golem with the same name, now since lost to the hands of the Metal Demons, and she had turned to the person who had excavated the golem, Emma, for any information the woman could provide, but...

In the end, she's returned to where it had begun.

The door slams shut behind them with a certain finality, and the klaxons again scream into the depths of the former temple. "..."

The feeling, even though she was prepared for the eventuality, is weightly.

"...It appears that I am still being rejected," Avril observes, lowering her gaze.

She's not alone, though. With her are Dean and Emma, and two friends she had managed to navigate this labyrinth with once before -- Riesenlied and Noeline. Outside waits Rebecca, with the horses. Just as a precaution, just in case someone needs to stage a daring rescue.

"...The console ahead will open the door. I believe I still recall the sequence needed to operate it," Avril states, before approaching the stone device -- and passing by the wine as she does so. That's a gift for the temple, isn't it?

"By the way, I have been meaning to ask you both a question," Avril says, hands gliding over the controls. "Noeline, Riesenlied... The Metal Demons have taken the golem Lolithia away, have they not? What has become of it?"

...Did she deliberately wait until the door slammed shut to ask that question?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wine About It.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Poor Rebecca, forever doomed to the same unverifiable offscreen space as such trustworthy companions as, say, Zero.

Riesenlied is more hale than she ever has been last time she set foot in this place, but... her expression is no more happy. Much like what Avril observes, she can sense it too -- the pressure of rejection exerted by the very nature of this place. In her hand is a new gemstone set upon a silver locket, which quietly ebbs with a thrum of colour -- and emotion.

"... it is still inert," she expresses quietly, with a kind of respect people probably don't hear much from a Metal Demon regarding the Golem. "I remember well the warning we received last time. ... to be honest, I have went back to the Tomb to try to find more clues, but... to no avail, myself..."

There's a faint and sorrowful sigh as she looks to Dean with a gentle smile -- they last met briefly in Gounon under... more trying circumstances, and she... honestly couldn't remember him very well. She was very much stricken with anxiety and fear that led her straight to this temple.

"My name is Riesenlied," she expresses to both Dean and Emma, perhaps with some contriteness. She holds her hand out gently. "I understand there will be... misgivings, but... above all, I wish to prevent the Golems from abuse, lest we see another calamity like the Day of Collapse."

It's a bit rich, since she still acted in the capacity of stealing them, but... well. She doesn't have the power to call all the shots.

She looks back to Avril. "I have advocated against its use to my brethren in all my power, but... I cannot say I have the power to completely stem that tide..."

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wine About It.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

Emma Hetfield has shown up sans blazer, which makes her look even more like some kind of misplaced steampunk refugee from the Terry and the Pirates comic strip. The cigarette doesn't help.

"Oo, free wine," Emma says, snagging a bottle to take with her.

When the door closes behind them, Emma inspects the label. She suddenly seems to freeze, like a still image, when Avril makes it clear who and what has joined them on this journey into rejection...!

Ambient light hides her eyes as she looks at Riesenlied. "..." She'll thaw out soon enough, probably.

DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wine About It.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline is still rather an odd figure around Gounon; she definitely looks more at home there than she does in Adlehyde, her rather flamboyant manner of dress - an over-the-top collection of frills in black and crimson - more suited for lazing around posh vineyards and orchards rather than Adlehyde and Lacour. Not that that would stop her either way, of course.

As the door closes behind them, the strange girl of seventeen who calls herself a Crimson Noble flicks out one of her long tails of dark hair, letting out a faint sigh. The sense of rejection of the temple even cuts through her senses, at once duller than Riesenlied's and at the same time augmented by the Medium within her; she sighs in response, letting out a grumpy sort of breath. "Honestly. This place is such a hassle at times," she gripes - but she's obviously quietly thankful that Riesenlied appears to be handling the place better this time, and in fact she also looks significantly better off than she did before.

At her shoulders wing Strife and Trouble, the latter just about getting through the door before it closes with a little panicked sort of whine; the two metallic spheres appear to be ARMs, if somewhat autonomous ones.

Avril's question makes her pause - and then Emma's reaction makes her grin faintly, shaking her head to herself in a quiet sort of amusement. "Rest assured - I would not be at Riesenlied's side if I did not trust her to do the best she could in the name of peace," she assures the scientist with a rich hum; it's a bit of a lie by omission not to admit she's a Metal Demon as well, but she seems happy to leave it at that. "At least give her the chance to prove her intentions, hm?"

"As for my part-- I'm here to see what I can see, I suppose," she adds brightly, picking at the nearest barrel for a moment. "I wouldn't recommend partaking too heavily, of course. We are, quite literally, stuck with each other for the moment."

A pause-- and she sends her ARMS to circle around Dean instead, just to watch the reaction.

DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wine About It.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

We love Rebecca! REALLY WE DO.

Dean of course joins in on the adventure! Sure, things can happen and the friendgroup can get split up, but he promised Avril he'd come with her to the Temple of Rejection this time, and Dean is someone who keeps his promises. He frowns when the door slams shut--this time behind him instead of in front of him--and looks around as the klaxons sound. "Geez, can't they turn that down a little?" he complains. "If they really don't want people coming in, then why don't they just... not let people in in the first place? They could always leave the wine offerings outside for the creeps running this temple to pick up!"

It makes sense to *him*, anyway. More important, though, is when Avril says she's still got a sense of being rejected. Dean turns to her, his frown now concerned. "Are you gonna be okay, Avril? I mean, I know you've been through this temple thing before, but..." But she's determined, and they're already locked in anyway, so he's hardly going to back down now, either. He looks over at Riesenlied, Emma, and Noeline. "Are *you* guys okay?" he asks. Although he and Riesenlied didn't really get formally introduced, she looked like a mess the last time he saw her! He felt really bad that he couldn't do anything to help. And Emma seems upset too for some reason! He wonders why.

"Hey, you can't just take that wine! It's an offering to the temple," he protests when she grabs a bottle, though. He's not exactly sure which *part* of the temple, or why, but still! Regardless, he won't *force* Emma to do anything--they've got to move forward first, and plus Noeline seems to be handling it? He's not exactly sure what's up with those three, but she seems nice enough! (Dean, interpretering "I won't recommend partaking too heavily" as "you really ought to put that bottle away." Dean is naive like that.)

When Avril says she remembers the sequence, Dean nods to her and summons his ARMs in a flash of light. "Just lemme know what to shoot and I'll shoot it!" he says with brightly smiling confidence.

It'd make more sense if one knew his ARMs' special cartridges are specifically for solving puzzles. It still might sound ridiculous, though.

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Don't Wine About It.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Wine About It *>======================
|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, but hey, it's not all bad: some kind soul left
 a couple bottles of that extremely popular and extremely expensive Johnny
 Appleseed wine out of the goodness of their hearts! Wait. Aren't those
 supposed to be a sacred offering to the temple--? Well, whatever. Enjoy!
 You're gonna need it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 1 *>=======================
=======================< Results - Don't Wine About It >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          0 --(16)--> 16                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(14)--> 14                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       0 --(13)--> 13                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          0 --(13)--> 13                 Pass
Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge    3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Conditions: Treasure(1)
Effects: Fanfare
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

"I... believe that I will be alright. I know what to expect, this time, and I am not alone," she says to Dean, though her gaze tilts away from him. "It... is unpleasant, however. As if I were being walled off to some place cold and dark..."

Noeline recommends going easy on the wine. "Yes, we should be careful. This temple is a dangerous place. Perhaps even ruthless," she comments, focus returning to the console.

It is still inert, Riesenlied states. Making adjustments to the controls at the console before her, Avril nods if slightly. "...I see. We also found nothing that appeared relevant within the tool. I suppose if I were to ask for the return of Lolithia it would not be possible?"

Avril might be missing her memories and might have difficulty with certain daily-life things, but that doesn't mean that she's not quick. Something about a situation with this general shape seems familiar, besides. "Have you learned anything else about the golem Lolithia that might tie it to these ruins?" she asks, before tapping the final key of the sequence. This is how it went before.

Certainity turns into...

Well, uncertainity.

"That... should have done it," Avril comments, trying another sequence as she appears to struggle with the console before her. "..."

It's definitely not working.

"Did something... change? Perhaps the passcode is not fixed," she says at last, straightening and regarding the crystals arrayed before her.

Just lemme know what to shoot and I'll shoot it!

Avril considers the crystals thoughtfully. "Dean, please shoot the one on the left twice. Everyone, if you would help to guide his shots? Then shoot the center one. I believe that might do it."

And indeed, the door will -- slowly -- grind its way open once shots are fired in the correct sequence.

"We should proceed," is Avril's comment on the subject.

DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
=========<* 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> Riesenlied has posed.

"No, but... last I checked the Tomb, there were other Golem parts that suggested similarity between Golem Lolithia and Diablo," Riesenlied remarks as she looks towards Avril while she operates the console. She looks towards Dean with a wan little smile as she remarks, "Thank you for your concern... I-- I believe I will be fine."

You liar.

She pauses for a moment, before shaking her head and clutching her hand to that brooch again. "... unfortunately... I don't believe that to be possible. My brethren are keen on seeing it be put to use in some way..." she knows that will inevitably become a point of contention. "And what is more, there are two other Golems that have fallen into the hands of others. The Yggdrasil Pirates, who have Diablo held in their sanctum, and Gebler, who owns Golem Barbados..."

Wow, Dean, this lady sure knows a lot about Golems!!

She blinks as she nods at Avril and focuses, holding a hand out as she checks the rhythm of the crystal. "Ah-- sorry, yes-- I believe that to be the right pattern."

She looks towards the professor and her icy stare for a moment sheepishly, before the door slides and they enter a portion of the temple that... seems to rise up and down with rather rapidly firing pillars before them. She resolves herself, then holds a rope with a hook out as she says, "I'll go on ahead -- we can create a climbing rope from above."

The Tainted then does just that, her black wings spreading out to either side of her as she starts to flutter on up above and tie the rope to a nearby post.

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Wings toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

After Dean speaks up, Emma places the bottle back down without a word.

Her eyes are still hidden by that enigmatic gleam as she looks at Noeline as well as Riesenlied.

"I want you both to know something," Emma says to Noeline and Riesenlied alike, her voice as grave as a serial killer's backyard.

She takes a deep breath -

And then they're confronted with the prospect of a platforming level! Emma's emotional state and demeanor alter drastically and abruptly. "Oh! This is clever. I wonder where THIS is getting its power, too. One theory I've heard is that the increasing quantities of absent fresh water on Filgaia's surface are being somehow captured and channeled down into vast hydrological cycles, where the water is used as a working fluid to transmit energy from the planet's mantle. In this case," Emma says as she takes a couple of steps to the side, aims a punchy gun right at RIESENLIED'S BUTT -

And then slightly above, pwoomp! It has another cable behind it, for convenience in climbing, perhaps. "Mantle refers to a heated area of semi-molten rock under great pressure deep beneath the surface. It's where the magma that volcanoes produce comes from, ultimately."

DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Punchy Gun toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

As the door opens, Noeline marks Riesenlied's moment of hesitation with a brief touch on her back; it's a silent and gentle show of support that looks rather out of place when you attempt to imagine 'Metal Demons' and their ilk, but then these two hardly seem to be cut from the same cloth as Berserk.

A wave of her hand calls Strife to her side; the little ARM seems to be unable to act as a weapon in the same way that Trouble can, the flaps on its front long-stuck with wear and damage - on the other hand, its engine seems to have sufficient power to allow the 'vampire' to simply hop on its back, crossing her legs as she perches there and allows the ARM to simply start drifting upwards a safe distance away from the pillars, ready to dart in through them.

"I see," she hums breezily to herself at Emma's longwinded comment, tilting her head in curiosity. "A closed system to extract heat from the core and bring it up towards the surface for use in old ruins and such - and I suppose you're also suggesting that the main loop of the cycle is inefficient enough that we're losing water along the way," she hums, apparently including herself in that 'we'. "It's certainly a fair thought-- though I have to admit that what I've seen of this ruin so far does imply a more technological bent. Come to think of it, wouldn't you be inclined to get more condensation and the like down in old ruins, if that were the case?" she counters with a fanged sort of grin, her eyebrows up.

As Strife bobs upwards, Noeline politely offers a hand for Dean to help the kid up to the next ledge; she snickers suddenly as she does so. "Perhaps if we got the Princess to simply summon Schturdark over and over? ... honestly, I wonder how much anything scientific applies with so much sorcery around."

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

"Other golem parts..." Avril's brow creases as she considers this carefully. "...Perhaps we were simply unfortunate the last time. Diablo and Barbados were the remaining golems on exhibit, weren't they? I had gleaned that much from what people were saying about the event."

Which have each fallen into the hands of two other parties. A problem at least, when it came to learning more. "Yggdrasil... and Gebler. Have I heard those names before, I wonder..." Avril says, tilting her head to one side as she considers the information at hand.

With the door open, though, there's nowhere to go but straight ahead.

Into a room where pillars rise up from the floor.

And once again, Avril looks at the situation before her carefully, watching as the pillars rise, fall, smash into the ceiling. "Do be careful," she requests, as Riesenlied ventures skyward.

As for herself, she retrieves an octogonal object from her gown. "With a little assistance, I believe we should be able to make this jump if we time it correctly. Noeline -- ah, I see. Dean, perhaps you should accept. I should be alright."

She closes her eyes briefly. "Lucadia, if you would..." she intones.

And a moment later, she leaps for a rising pillar.

"I see," she comments, leaping to the next. "Then, you are suggesting that the movement of these pillars may be enabled by geological forces in some fashion?"

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"Great! It's open!" Dean cheers, ARMs disappearing in a flash as the door further in opens. This frees up his brain to catch on to certain questions asked, such as-- "Wait, you're a Metal Demon??" he says, gawking at Riesenlied. "You look really... human, though!" Good thing Riese isn't a *Veruni* or he'd probably start an Incident with that remark. More importantly-- "So Lolithia's still asleep, huh..." He glares at Riesenlied. "You guys better not be hurting it or anything!" That poor golem!

A pause. "I'm glad you'll be okay, though!" he adds, completely meaning it. This becomes even more apparent when Riese casually spouts off where those other two big golems are. His eyes bug out as his jaw drops. "Wow!! How do you know all that?! And more importantly, are they going to be nice to those golems?" Dean, asking the hard-hitting questions here!!

Still, they've got the rest of the Temple to get through. Dean looks again at Avril to check in on her, smiles at Emma when she puts that wine away, then heads forward. His distractability means he totally would have missed her *not* putting it away had she opted not to, though in fairness, given all the pillars in the next room rising and falling and occasionally smashing up against the ceiling up high, there's a lot to be distracted by.

"Woah," he utters. He looks around. No stairs, no elevators, just the pillars... They don't seem too thick around. He could probably hug onto them and ride them up and avoid getting squished that way, until he either gets across the room or gets high enough to find a door. He looks over at Emma, wide-eyed at her explanation, and at Noeline as she responds back to it. "Wow! That sounds really smart!" says Dean the Easily Impressed.

And, fortunately, everyone in this room is really nice, so Dean doesn't have to try to climb everything on his own. He smiles back at Noeline and accepts her hand of help, again glancing over at Avril and then nodding when he sees her using her Medium to assist. Dean's pretty spry himself, so he should make it up pretty easily with everyone else helping out.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising!.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
=========<* 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===================================================
=====================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 2 *>======================
===========< Results - The Ground is Rising the Ground is Rising! >===========
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    17 --(5)--> 22                 Pass
Sea Medium                          3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          16 --(6)--> 22                 Pass
Dragon Wings                        3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             14 --(4)--> 18                 Pass
Strife                              3   Agility Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       13 --(6)--> 19                 Pass
Punchy Gun                          3   Agility Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          13 --(6)--> 19                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            10 --(15)--> 25                Pass
Conditions: Weaken(2)
Effects: Fanfare
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Riesenlied has posed.

For just a moment, Riesenlied feels an omen of foreboding dread like her derriere is about to be bopped by a punchy gun--!!

... but fortunately, the Punchy Gun sails forward instead, clambering onto the top of the ledge and assisting the Professor up. "I--is that so...? I was... not aware, myself. But that is useful to know," she expresses with a quiet tilt of her head. "That this may be a geological phenomenon... I would not have thought of it."

She looks just a little contrite at Dean as she murmurs, "... I would not think about a thing like that." She purses her lips together. "Simple destruction only leads to ignorance. True awareness means taking the step to learn about the mistakes of the past..." she lowers her head, before-- holding her hand out for both Noeline and Dean once they get close.

Avril, meanwhile, makes for a good case for Super Mario longjumping up in a single bound. How does the Sea Medium do that?! Wow! Impressive.

DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Pressure Plate Pressure *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Hey look, it's everyone's favorite pressure plate puzzle! And what's better
 than a pressure plate puzzle? A timed one that needs to be done in a
 certain, explicit order! Better hope you have enough party members to just
 the right amount of pressure to those plates in the exact pattern this
 ancient yet bizarrely pristine temple demands of you, or else the door
 leading forward might never magically shudder its way open! Exciting!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

If Noeline is fussy about helping provide Dean a hand up - certainly she looks like she might be, all prim and picky about her looks at least - she doesn't actually show it, helping lift the blue-haired kid with a lack of effort that indicates a distinctly unusual sort of strength. "Not every Demon looks like a demon," she huffs with amusement. "Nor acts like one. There are kind Demons and outgoing Veruni who may be trapped by their duty, just as there are dangerous humans trapped by their own fear and anger. You shouldn't think of any group as a single, united whole, hm?"

Whether that advice counts as sage or not... well, Noeline seems content to leave it at that. "Certainly," she adds as she dismounts from her ARM in the next passage, dusting herself down. "It is fair to say that Riese would rather never see them have to be deployed. Better for everyone if things do not escalate that far, hm? Otherwise, whenever some sort of truce is built, there may not be a great deal left to build it over."

She turns again, helping the scientist up the rest of the way as well; she turns afterwards, letting out a breath as she surveys the room ahead. "... this is not something we reached on our last trip through the ruins," she comments thoughtfully, stepping ahead two paces to the door-- and hesitating when part of the floor rocks underneath her, sinking into place. The telltale way in which she stiffens to watch for a trap is almost comical, but when one doesn't come she just grumbles to herself. "Still such a bothersome temple. But I did feel it catch halfway," she adds with a bright comment, jostling her weight on the step again. "I believe it is like a lock tumbler - match it with enough weight, hm? ... and quickly, perhaps, while we still aren't feeling the Temple too much."

DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pressure Plate Pressure.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied lowers her head in the wake of Noeline's vouching of her, unsure whether or not it will amount to anything in the end. As much as she desires to prevent such an escalation, she knows how limited her power is in the end... and in the wake of other things like that Fell Dragon -- would others feel justified to utilise the power of such a Golem? She can't say -- or whether or not it even is the right course.

"... it--"

There's a ringing sensation again. "No-- not now--"

She holds onto her head and looks startled, holding onto her forehead and drooping down onto her knees from what seems to be a rather powerful burst of pressure. There's a gasp and a slow trembling from the Metal Demon as she works through that sensation, and stares towards the plate pressure. "... was this... did we-- were we here before?" She quietly steps towards one of the pressure plates and lays her hand down upon it -- and it sinks just enough, it seems, with just her hand upon it.

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pressure Plate Pressure.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"Don't science at me before I'm finished yelling at you," Emma answers Noeline, pertly.

But she seems to be willing to accept a hand up. As they are confronted with these lock tumblers, Emma adjusts her glasses. And then she pulls out her gun--

No, it's a green glass tablet. An ARM of some kind. It may baffle the Metal Demons, but it doesn't baffle Emma. "Hrm," she says, tapping on it.

"Now for the yelling," Emma says.

"I don't know why in the name of Sophia's sacred ta-tas you two and your comrades chose this of all moments to return to the stage of history," Emma states: "But you have both, along with your ilk, if you'll excuse my Aquivian, caused immense amounts of suffering and devastation to large numbers of people, including me, personally, who you have inconvenienced on a business and personal level in several profound ways, including setting back the development and deployment of my plan to restore Filgaia and institute world peace by at least twelve months."

Emma adjusts her glasses.

"I want an apology," she concludes.

Then she says, "Do you see the lettering on them? It's very faded, but the pattern is B A N A N A S."

DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Text File of Her Own Wisdom toward her party's challenge, Pressure Plate Pressure.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

Riesenlied assures Dean that she is very much anti-destruction, and offers him a hand of help too. Dean smiles and accepts it. "Whew! I'm glad to hear that. You seem nice!" He might not think that so readily if he'd ever met any other Metal Demons before (Noeline, *obviously* being a Crimson Noble, doesn't count), but after all, first impressions are important. In the same way, he gives Noeline a puzzled look when she lectures him about how races aren't all uniformly the same. "Hmm... Yeah, I guess you're right, but... I dunno, I guess I just never heard anything nice about Metal Demons before." He considers this for a moment, then nods firmly. "I must've never heard anything from anyone who'd met Riesenlied!"

After all, if she's worried about Lolithia too and doesn't want to use her for bad things, then she can't be a bad person! ...Apparently Emma doesn't agree, though, because she launches in on Riesenlied and Noeline. Dean opens his mouth, shuts it, opens it again, and then scratches his head. She spoke so smoothly and fluidly and Smartly that what she said sort of went over his head? But he *did* catch the 'I want an apology' part, and, well, if you hurt someone, it's only right to apologize, right? But then, Riese seems to be in pain, and Dean holds up his hands in an attempt to quell the argument, panic in his blue eyes. "H-hey, this isn't the time for this! You *should* get an apology, Emma, but not when Riesenlied's about to faint!" Also they need to get through this room. He focuses when Emma points out the proper order of the plates, and he turns around. "Ummm... Like this?" Jump! ...wait, were those letters right-side-up or up-side-down? At least he has his guns to hit the next letter, in case they don't have enough people to get them all personally!

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Pressure Plate Pressure.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Kind Demons, outgoing Veruni, dangerous humans...

Avril does not comment as Dean and Noeline exchange a few comments to one another, but she is listening, in the moments before she begins her ascent along the rising pillars.

Fortunately, Lucadia's power grants one with all the grace and agility of the Sea Guardian... which apparently translates on land as 'the ability to do really high jumps'.

She lands with only a soft click of her heels, following after Riesenlied and Noeline.

"If the stories that I have heard are even only partially true, the golems contain a great power," is Avril's comment, as Noeline says that she would rather see them not be used at all. "Enough to stand fast against Demon armies, or so it is said."

avril considering your current company this is a little rude

"I doubt their power is so discriminate to hurt one people and one people alone."

And she enters into a room of... pressure plates.

Which becomes quite clear as she takes a step foward and it sinks -- slightly -- downwards. "Hmm... No, I do not recall this place either," Avril says, tilting her head to one side as she considers the task before them. "...Yes. At present the sensation is still subdued." Though a glance at Riesenlied shows that she is not faring quite as well yet. "Are you alright?"

She did not, at any point, react as if she could have just stepped onto a trigger for a trap. She's still standing there in fact.

...At least it's the only plate she could have stepped on -- being the first -- so this alone should't get them into hot water with the mechanism.

"Now, which one is next..."

And as Avril is considering that, Emma gives Riesenlied and Noeline a piece of her mind. "..." Her gaze slides, in turn, between the three other women, then away, as if uncertain.

Dean intervenes. And here, Avril speaks up at last. "...Yes. Right now is not the best time for this. We cannot afford to linger here long." There may be a faint ticking sound, somewhere.

But if, as Emma says, the first one is B--

"Then A is next. Here," she says, hopping over to the next plate.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pressure Plate Pressure.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Pressure Plate Pressure *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Hey look, it's everyone's favorite pressure plate puzzle! And what's better
 than a pressure plate puzzle? A timed one that needs to be done in a
 certain, explicit order! Better hope you have enough party members to just
 the right amount of pressure to those plates in the exact pattern this
 ancient yet bizarrely pristine temple demands of you, or else the door
 leading forward might never magically shudder its way open! Exciting!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
=====================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 3 *>======================
====================< Results - Pressure Plate Pressure >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    22 --(3)--> 25                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          22 --(3)--> 25                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             18 --(7)--> 25                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       19 --(3)--> 22                 Pass
Text File of Her Own Wisdom         1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          19 --(6)--> 25                 Pass
Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge    3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            25 --(10)--> 35                Pass
Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Weaken(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Fanfare
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 10 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> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's knees are shaking, and she's sweating -- it's probably a mystery how she does that given that she probably doesn't have fluids, but... well, details. She holds onto the side of her temple as she-- reassures Dean, "No, it's... it's okay." There's a despondent-sounding sigh as she quietly rises to her feet unsteadily. She lets go of that pressure plate for a moment.

Then, as if to swallow all her pride, she turns... and then quietly bows towards Emma, gently, wings to her side.

There's a remarkable humility and humbleness to all of it. "... you're right. No matter what my part in it was, no matter my intent... it is unmistakable that I still was part of an operation that claimed the lives of so many." If she were weaker, she could just lament not having the power to prevent it all in the first place, but... it was either a choice between doing nothing at all -- and letting more people die, and doing something, however callous and shallow it must seem to those that are affected.

"Thus... I do apologise, sincerely, even if it will not bring back the deceased." Nor will the blood of her brethren shed in Old Petra bring them back, or avenge them in any way...

There's no place in trying to mince words or squabble specifics. She's ready to bear that cross, all on her own if need be.

She turns back towards the pressure plate to exert the pressure needed on it silently.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Even Noeline visibly winces at the sudden spike of sensation that fills the temple; her hand goes to her forehead as she wobbles briefly, but the faint tinge of an umbral sort of aura seems to spring up around her ever so slightly in response, steadying her mind after a moment.

Immediately, she's back at Riesenlied's side, a hand on the winged woman's shoulder in her concern; it gives her the time to solemnly listen to Emma's words, and then let out a faint, rueful little chuckle as Dean chimes in afterwards. "... the simple reason you haven't heard anything nice about Metal Demons is because, I am sorry to say, the majority of them are really not very nice," she admits with a distinct sort of candour in Dean's direction. "But that is because many of them have not had the chance to try just yet. Riesenlied is doing her best to teach them."

Her gaze travels back towards Emma, and Riesenlied's initial response - and out of nowhere, the Crimson Noble-ish also bows her head. "Adlehyde was a place I could call my home. I bled for its people to lead them to safety during the attack - and I bled, in the aftermath, in order to do my part in clearing and rebuilding it. Riesenlied, too, did everything that she could to minimize casualties, and anonymously donate supplies and medicines. ... if we had the clout to prevent the attack, I can promise you that we would have."

She pauses, and shakes her head with a sigh. "All of that said-- I apologize. I can only say that I truly wish it hadn't come to that."

The quiet moment is interrupted by a satisfying sort of 'clonk' - and the door at the far end of the room suddenly starts to rumble open, the noise kicking Lunata out of the thoughtful and quiet mood and right back into her usual smiley sort of nature. "--in the meantime!" she decides, doing her best to be bright against the Temple's own nature. "Let us continue on through this accursed place, yes? It would be nice if we could find a central generator for this sensation, or something of the sort."

<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

Emma looks down at Noeline and Riesenlied as the latter apologizes and the former at least admits to having done positive things.

Emma considers.

Then she brightens. "Good enough for now! But if you steal any of my other projects, it's on like -"

Emma trails off. She has no good conclusion to that phrase.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied quietly turns her head with a soft sigh, before she murmurs, "... thank you. I would like to hear of this plan of yours for world peace, some other time."

DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Wambo Combo *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 What's worse than falling floors and rising pillars? Both at once! Guess
 what you're dealing with? Both at once! Hurray! It's almost like a
 concentrated effort to get rid of you -- the blocky floors in this room will
 start falling away the second you step on them, while at the epicenter,
 those paneled columns will start to rise in irregular patterns to be
 ascended across as quickly as possible. It's not exactly forgiving, but then
 again, the fathomless abyss beneath you seems perhaps slightly less so.
 Maybe.
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"No, it's *not* okay! You look really sick!" Dean insists to Riesenlied. But she turns to Emma even so and professes her apologies, and Noeline chimes in... and Emma accepts! Dean brightens. Hey, that didn't go so bad after all! Riesenlied still looks in terrible shape, but Emma's nice too, so of course she wouldn't give her too much of a hard time. Then Noeline hits Dean with some hard facts, and all he can do is blink in surprise. "Oh," he says. And that's it. It's hard for him to know what to make of such a bluntly honest response.

He nods to Avril when she agrees with him, even if things still progressed regardless. "At least they got it worked out," he says with a smile. "It's good to clear out the air like this, too! Now let's see..." They make it across, and it would seem to be smooth sailing from there--except a few rooms later, the floor vanishes from under Dean's feet.

"WAUGH," he yelps before vanishing into the unforgiving darkness below. A second later, and a column shoots up, with him clinging onto the edge. "WAAAUGH," he repeats on the way up, letting go before it impacts the ceiling to jump onto a floor below.

It, too, vanishes.

"WAAAAAAAAAAUUUGH!!!" he wails. It's even funnier on the way back up again. And so, Dean... starts the trek across the room...?? If only there were some way to stop the floor, at least from falling. To freeze it in its tracks, if you will. ... ..... ........oh well!! Falling and rising and falling and rising and screaming all the while will just have to do!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Wambo Combo.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's eyes widen as she limps forward, and though she still looks distinctly pale and unhealthy, she gasps as Dean starts to fly up and down to the whims of the room. "Dean!" She looks to Avril, before nodding as she flexes her wings once more as she darts forward to try to catch the boy from Capo Bronco out of the air and at least settle on one of the more stable pillars. "Noeline, Avril, Emma, come around this way -- I think it's a bit more stable...?"

Her head is still swimming rather ungently, owing to the probing sensations of the Temple. But she knows they must press forward, or be claimed to these ancient traps, whether or not they were originally intended to be or not.

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Wings toward her party's challenge, The Wambo Combo.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline aims a chuckle in Emma's direction, graciously bowing her head. "You have my word, at least. Rather, I'd be very curious in it, same as Riesenlied; I prefer to think of myself as a bit of a historian, but I will take scientist at a pinch--" she comments, before suddenly getting cut off by a dopplering yell from the blue-haired kid that makes her eyebrows slowly go up. "He-- is a very persistent sort, isn't he?" she comments towards Avril with what might be surprise and curiosity, not to mention a somewhat impressed air. "It is one way to get across the room, I suppose."

"Be careful!" she calls up to Riese with a nod, and then before you can blink she's hopped up onto Strife's back to start winging forward through the room without touching the ground. "At least we can definitely say there's something of a theme, I suppose," she grumbles as she does so, flicking out some of her hair as she sighs. "Honestly... at some point you surely have to take into account how the actual users of this facility would manage to get through it."

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, The Wambo Combo.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

Emma studies Dean's suffering with a dispassionate gaze and a small, absent smile on her face. Then she consults her text files again.

As she does, Riesenlied guides them into less crushing places. She walks and she says as she does, "I think this is a situation where we should all be throwing little nuts with strings tied to them ahead of us. Here, I'll demonstrate!"

Emma reaches into a pocket.

She pauses.

"No nuts," she sighs. "And yes, it's really rather ridiculous how the ancients built these things into all their facilities," Emma says to Noeline. "Were you around at the time? Is this why they went extinct?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Hopping from plate to plate -- without the assistance from the Medium -- is trickier than it looks. Especially when that first N is so very far away...

"Riesenlied and Noeline are both quite kind."

It's an assessment of their character that may -- at first glance -- appear to come out of nowhere from Avril. "...They did not think twice of assisting when I became trapped in here before, even though they suffered for doing so," Avril explicates, gesturing briefly with one hand towards the two Metal Demons. "If they were cruel, or meant harm, it would have been easy to leave someone in my circumstances behind or worse, and no one would have been the wiser. Yet they did not. I believe they are sincere when they say they wish only peace for this world."

Perhaps it isn't strictly needed for this situation -- since the three women more or less settle their disagreement for the time being -- but she feels a vague obligation to speak up on behalf of people who helped to rescue her. "Yes, it is."

Between the others and what pressure they've exerted so far, at least the door clunks its way open. And then, onwards and--

"Dean!?"

Avril takes a shocked step backwards as he plummets down into the depths.

And comes rising back up. "Look out--"

And down. "..."

Silence persists for a moment. And then, as Noeline comments on his persistence, she nods faintly. "...Yes, he is. --Dean, we're coming to you!" Out comes the Medium, as she moves to gather near Riesenlied and the rest. "Sea Guardian... please, lend us your grace," Avril intones. The Medium flares with light, just once.

A little extra speed never hurt.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, The Wambo Combo.
DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Wambo Combo.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Wambo Combo *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 What's worse than falling floors and rising pillars? Both at once! Guess
 what you're dealing with? Both at once! Hurray! It's almost like a
 concentrated effort to get rid of you -- the blocky floors in this room will
 start falling away the second you step on them, while at the epicenter,
 those paneled columns will start to rise in irregular patterns to be
 ascended across as quickly as possible. It's not exactly forgiving, but then
 again, the fathomless abyss beneath you seems perhaps slightly less so.
 Maybe.
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 4 *>=======================
=========================< Results - The Wambo Combo >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    25 --(5)--> 30                 Pass
Sea Medium                          3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          25 --(6)--> 31                 Pass
Dragon Wings                        3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             25 --(5)--> 30                 Pass
Strife                              3   Agility Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       22 --(7)--> 29                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          25 --(8)--> 33                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            35 --(10)--> 45                Pass
Conditions: Bad Luck(2)
Effects: Fanfare
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 10 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> Dean Stark has posed.

Dean would totally chime in on Riese and Noeline clearly being nice people--after all, they helped him out earlier! Riese came to his rescue again just now, catching him in a princess carry out of the air on his next way back down!--but he's a little rattled right now. "Wa-wa-wa-wa..." he groans. At least he can look over to Avril and the others, all gathered together first on a more stable column, then across the room thanks to Lucadia's power. "Th-thanks, Avril... Boy, that was scary!!"

But, as Noeline observed, Dean's nothing if not resilient. Although a little wobbly on his feet at first, once he's back on solid ground, he just dusts himself off, then smiles again at the group. "Whew... I'm glad we all made it across safely!"

Also, Emma, if you think nuts on strings would have helped, then *you're* nuts! Ba-dum-ching. Regardless, all five of them have crossed safely... but who knows what fresh hell the next challenge will bring?

<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"I am not nuts; I am charmingly eccentric!" Emma proclaims. "I have a certificate."

DG: Emma Hetfield has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Kompression *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This temple really doesn't want you here. Or anyone. Take, for instance,
 this room. It's relatively simple and straightforward, with a massive, open
 entryway leading into an ascent further into the temple. Nothing more,
 nothing less, decorated by beautiful pillars and murals of bygone days. But
 the second you step into the threshold of that entry way? A stone slab will
 just -drop- from above with every intention of crushing you flat if you
 don't stop it somehow. Destroy the mechanism, stop the slab with brute
 force, it doesn't really matter -- but with its speed there's probably no
 way you're getting out completely unscathed through speedy escape alone.
 Don't get kompressed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"The idea with the nuts and strings," Emma explains to Dean as she walks forwards, further into the temple, apparently un-rejected -- but perhaps she's been rejected already, by NOAH, and is thus immune - "Is that they'll be able to show you if there are any anomalies in wind, if there's something magnetic, or a distortion in the nearby gravity."

Emma steps into the room, looking over her shoulder. "Anyway - hm?" Emma then looks upwards.

"Uh oh," she says as displaced wind rustles her hair. She has no time to do more than that. No time to dodge, she thinks - only time... To consider it!

DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kompression.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Perhaps a mechanical nut or bolt would have more use... rather than a -- um, groundnut?" Riesenlied suggests, though she genuinely doesn't know what kind of nut Emma may be referring to. Her eyes as she feels the wind herself, and stares towards the beautiful slabs and murals with a quiet suckling of breath. "Ah--"

She stares up towards the slab and her eyes widen further. There's another wince as Riese starts to hold onto her head again. "You refuse us that much...? Why--"

There's no time to reason with the temple, just... ... she glances towards the room and floats up towards one of the railings, seeking to jam her sword through it and disrupt some of the mechanisms that are making the slab move down. "Hurry!"

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kompression.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"Okay?" says Dean, who doesn't realize that he's been victimized by a meta-borne misunderstanding. Curse that tricksy narrator!! Still, he's learning something new and actually pretty interesting, so it's not like it's a bad thing. "Huh! I never knew that!"

He steps into a doorway. There is a loud KA-CHUNK. He looks up as a slab begins to fall VERY fast towards them.

"WHITE FENRIR! ARIIIIIIIISE!!" he yells, whipping out the successor to his trusty shovel, Black Fenrir, and RAMS it up into the slab as if he might somehow dig *through* solid stone that's rushing at fatal speed towards him and his friends while the others act with speed in their own ways. Maybe he'll get lucky and it'll strike the slab *just right* to shatter it. Dean's a pretty lucky guy, overall!

"I won't let you hurt my friends!!" he adds dramatically, pouring all his strength into keeping the lot of them from getting squished. What's this Temple got to be such a jerk for, anyway?!

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Kompression.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"Not to my knowledge, at the very least," Noeline comments towards Emma with an amused huff, shaking her head. "To be honest, most ruins on Filgaia do seem to rather significantly predate us. I am not the oldest around, that said--" but she cuts herself off, her hand flicking upwards to send her two little ARMs up against the descending slab; their engines can't hope to beat gravity, but they can at least hope to slow its descent further; for her part, improbably, Noeline braces - as if intending to catch the block on the way down. Just how much strength can a girl just out of her teenage years have?!

"My working hypothesis--" she calls urgently over the din, "--is that humans are and forever will be fond of acting in a terribly bizarre fashion!"

DG: Noeline has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kompression.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Thankfully, Dean is rescued and (mostly) unscathed at that. Other than shaving a couple years off his lifespan, at least.

She lingers, just outside the radius of that room's trap, and asks him: "Are you alright? I was worried there." She glances sidelong at him briefly. Then her gaze flicks ahead, towards the door ahead. "...Thank goodness Riesenlied was so quick."

But it might be too soon to breath easy.

Something goes 'click' in the worst possible way.

And Avril flinches backwards, drawing her arms in towards her torso. "Why... ..." She breathes out, once. "...The feeling has... intensified. The place will do anything, so long as I... we..."

The ceiling is still falling. Unfolding herself from that rigid stance slowly -- in spite of the immediacy of their situation -- Avril draws the 'hilt' of Absolute Zero from below her gown. The blade appears in a flash.

"...It won't break," she says, bracing the 'hilt' with her left hand as she raises it towards the plunging ceiling. "It will hold."

Whether she will if the ceiling crushes them is another matter though.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kompression.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Kompression *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This temple really doesn't want you here. Or anyone. Take, for instance,
 this room. It's relatively simple and straightforward, with a massive, open
 entryway leading into an ascent further into the temple. Nothing more,
 nothing less, decorated by beautiful pillars and murals of bygone days. But
 the second you step into the threshold of that entry way? A stone slab will
 just -drop- from above with every intention of crushing you flat if you
 don't stop it somehow. Destroy the mechanism, stop the slab with brute
 force, it doesn't really matter -- but with its speed there's probably no
 way you're getting out completely unscathed through speedy escape alone.
 Don't get kompressed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 5 *>=======================
===========================< Results - Kompression >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    30 --(14)--> 44                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          31 --(14)--> 45                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             30 --(11)--> 41                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       29 --(15)--> 44                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          33 --(9)--> 42                 Pass
Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL     2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            45 --(0)--> 45                 Fail
Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Collapse
Effects: Fanfare|Stalwart(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"Oh no, it isn't coming fast enough - oh no!" Emma says.

There is a recording of five tomatoes being hit by a dropped pavement slab.

G A M E O V E R

"UGH I HATE THIS LEVEL!"

"Why don't you just grind more, sweetie?"

"It's not a fight! My level doesn't matter!"

"Have you considered getting good?"

"MOOOOOOOOOOOM, don't call me a noob!"

"But you are a noob, sweetie. You're mommy's precious little nooblet." <3 "Here, let me see the controller, I think I see where it is."

"NO I WANNA DO IT."

"If you break this TV, no more games for a month."

"Ok you try."

RELOADING.......

Between the shovel and the strength of Noeline, as well as Avril's use of her weapon, the slab is stopped... teeters... but then Riesenlied executes a frame-perfect power slash and the mechanism jams!

Emma, who had ducked down low, crab-walks to the far side of the room. "You may be onto something, Moeline, with your theory about bizarrerie." That was not a typo.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied sighs in relief for a moment, and then quietly sweeps to stare at what seems like nothing for a moment as sparkles and fluffy feathers surround her for a moment. "Thank you for not getting us all killed...~" Kyun--!

A pause.

"I'm not sure why... but I felt the urge to do that..."

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Consult Your Blue Book *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Oh hey look. It's a bunch of floating, blue books. Isn't that odd? What are
 floating books doing here? Is this a library? Maybe they have useful
 information on the temple in them. Maybe you should check it out-- OH GOD
 THEY'RE SHOOTING WATER MAGIC AT YOU WITH CONFOUNDING AND BAMBOOZLINGLY
 POWERFUL SORCERY THIS ISN'T HOW LIBRARIES ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

The ceiling plummets--

And Avril has the vague, odd sense of a terrible awful fate having been miraculously avoided as they manage to hold it fast, just long enough for the mechanism to be devastated.

The ceiling does hang ominously low, though. As if at any second it could lurch back to life!

"...We should hurry," she says, blade vanishing in a burst of light. Ducking, she hurries forward across the room towards the distant door.

She gets about two paces past the doorway when a stream of water -- conjured from a book that spins lazily, the hazy outline of a magic circle forming about it -- slams her right into the wall.

Dazed, Avril picks herself up, shaking her head. "--Be careful! We have enemies!" she calls out.

And then pulls the trigger on Absolute Zero. Light erupts from the ARM.

"We must get past these things--"

This time, there are no apologies as Avril lunges forward at her attacker -- and oh yes, there are a number of these things hovering in the air, several more preparing further spells -- and with one overhand practiced swing, aims to lance right through it with the laser whip her ARM has become.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, Consult Your Blue Book.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied has a quiet and unsettled breath as she nods to Avril and they break through--

--to come to the other side, where her eyes widen as the pendant at her neck starts to shimmer with a warped purple light. It warns of danger, of a portent of harm -- and the Blue Books immediately come without much more fanfare or ado. She nods as she concentrates, holding that pendant -- the Dragon's Tear -- up...

...and a bright burst of light erupts where minutiae of her start to dissipate into the environment, surrounding the battlefield with something approaching a suffusing, calming glow. Her voice begins to echo through the thoughts of her companions as she creates something that passes for an empathic field, enhancing their senses and soothing their anxieties.

"Noeline, please cover Avril with Trouble and take the left flank. Dean, could you please take the right with your ARMs?" She has no idea what Emma can do.

Poor Riese thinks Dean would actually *shoot* the ARM in combat... clearly, she doesn't yet know.

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Consult Your Blue Book.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

Emma produces her ARM and points it towards a creature.

She downloads its data.

This does nothing until just about when Riesenlied has probably written off Emma as a geek when another button is pressed and FWOOSH, COUNTERWATERCANNON, SUCK IT BOOK HASH TAG READING IS FOR NERDS

DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Consult Your Blue Book.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

'I meant to do that!' Dean's voice seems to echo as, all of a sudden, they have another go at the puzzle, thanks to... Someone Out There. The mechanism holds up for a devastating few seconds, and Dean is more than eager to follow Avril and everyone's leads as they hurry on across. "Whew! That was a close one!" he utters as he puts his shovel away, peering back at the mechanism. "My arms nearly fell clean off...!" Noeline's no doubt even worse off, having attempted to hold it up with her bare hands.

Unfortunately, there's no time to ask if anyone's all right. All of a sudden, a bunch of books start flapping in the air. "Oh, huh! That's kinda weird," he says, just before they start shooting WATER SPELLS EVERYWHERE AAAAAAHHH

"WAUGH!!" he wails again, drenched. Twin Fenrir flash back into his hands, and he's about to open fire at whatever's closest when Riesenlied suggests orders. "Okay! Leave it to me!" he says, this time aiming for the books at the right and... running up to them so he can hit them with the combat rods jutting out from the handles of his guns. GO DEAN!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Consult Your Blue Book.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"On it already--" replies Noeline confidently, an arm already up as if to flick the other of her twin ARMS forward; it beeps confidently, the panels on the front of it unfolding outwards to reveal the focusing lens inside of it. For just a moment, it seems to hang in the air as it sucks in little white motes - then the spherical device has bombarded the left side of the cluster of enemies with surprising accuracy, and where it misses one book the tome finds itself split in half by a vividly crimson scythe that Noeline appears to have produced out of nowhere.

It's only a moment later, as Trouble continues to fire, that Noeline stops dead and actually looks at what Riese is doing, actually registers the woman's voice in her head rather than elsewhere. "--what-- did you--..." she blurts after a moment, for once honestly and earnestly surprised - and then she's shaken it away, because there are evidently bigger things to concentrate on right in this moment.

More than anything, she emphasizes speed, rushing the books down; after all, she's already got a decent handle on what these things can do, and the majority of the answer is 'fire spells at people'.

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Consult Your Blue Book.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Consult Your Blue Book *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Oh hey look. It's a bunch of floating, blue books. Isn't that odd? What are
 floating books doing here? Is this a library? Maybe they have useful
 information on the temple in them. Maybe you should check it out-- OH GOD
 THEY'RE SHOOTING WATER MAGIC AT YOU WITH CONFOUNDING AND BAMBOOZLINGLY
 POWERFUL SORCERY THIS ISN'T HOW LIBRARIES ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 6 *>=======================
======================< Results - Consult Your Blue Book >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    44 --(2)--> 46                 Pass
Beam Whip Mode                      2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          45 --(2)--> 47                 Pass
Dragon's Tear                       3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             41 --(5)--> 46                 Fail
Trouble                             2   Combat  Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       44 --(4)--> 48                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          42 --(5)--> 47                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            45 --(15)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Stupify(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)|Fanfare|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Trouble zips in, moments after a burst of calming light -- a counterpoint to the growing sense of opression lurking in the depths of this dungeon -- providing much-needed cover on Avril's left. Indeed, here comes another one of those books!

And as Trouble does its thing, there goes one of those books.

"Thank you," Avril replies, in the space between her whip shredding cleanly through the hovering book she targetted and the halfstep backwards she takes -- on the rebound, as it were. Blue eyes slide towards the next target in melee range. It hovers menacingly, spinning wildly as it prepares to come in hard, and in melee and she prepares to defend against this decisive strike--

A blast of water knocks it away, plastering it against the wall. Weakened, it's no match for the combat rods of Dean's ARM.

The remainder will be easy pickings for the Metal Demons. In the end there's little left but curling wisps of paper that flutter down.

Avril disengages the beam whip. "...The pressure has increased," she comments, glancing away. "We should hurry. It... it's as if it's trying to push me away with more force than before."

DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Star-Spangled Security *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Many sights can be found in the Temple of Rejection that simply weren't
 there before, if the people of Gounon are to be believed. The temple's
 security systems are one of them, as many and varied as they are. Once long
 dormant, the thing now thrums with life, and one of these security systems
 includes a series of altars that project glowing, holographic displays of...
 globes? spheres? orbs? either way, each are colored either red, white or
 blue, much like the crystals at the entrance, and all can have those colors
 changed by some clever interaction with the altars. To proceed further,
 you'll have to match the colors of a frankly dizzying array of altars up in
 the proper order. There's no clues. Just the temples overwhelming hatred for
 new guests. Lucky. You.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied nods with a perhaps futile nod in the end, when all's said and done -- they just need to hurry and... ...

...

And run onto a rather baffling array of security systems, blasting their eyes with colourful displays or orbs coloured red, white and blue. Sacre bleu! Riesenlied shakes her head as she mutters, "Ah-- more of these... I'm afraid," she comments with some ruefulness. She steps towards one of the altars and places her hand upon it with a squint, trying to ignore the echoes reverberating at the back of her head as her wings wiggle back into place. She's starting to feel quite exhausted.

"Miss Avril, over there? And-- Miss Emma, I believe the terminal to your right will have a corresponding terminal to disengage..." she suggests, though it's all going by a frankly hazy memory that is likely not going to be particularly helpful.

She smiles wanly to Noeline to say, "I'll explain later. But I... managed to create this for myself. To aid."

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Star-Spangled Security.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

For a moment, Noeline regards Riesenlied as if uncertain - but then tilts her head ever so slightly in acceptance, trusting the winged commander that much. "... alright. --as far as this goes - I do remember this contraption, though everything we've seen thus far suggests that the code has likely changed," she adds, the initially soft tone jumping upwards in verve as she addresses the room at large. "If you have something in the chambers of those remarkable arms to alter temperature, I think I recall that also being a potential factor. At range, even better."

She steps briskly up to one of the altars, letting out a quiet breath. "I believe it was-- blue here, then red, then white - in something of a spiral pattern, the first time around. Though I suspect it also had something to do with our path through the area..." she trails off, kind of in her own little world for a while.

DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Star-Spangled Security.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"Hmmm - you're no greenhorn when it comes to the complicated security methods of the ancient past, Riesenlied," Emma muses as she sidles over to a terminal. She seems still perky but now she's wet and it's not doing her makeup any favors so she looks kind of unsettling. How much of that :3-faced charm is due to artfully applied liner...?

A lot.

Emma pulls up her Emulator again and cues something up. A merry and encouraging song. "This is based on an ancient culture hero of the past," Emma explains as she starts tapping at the terminal.

"When Neptune von Aria throws his mighty shield," Emma says along with a tinny song that seems to come from her green pane of glass, probably through demonic arts:

"All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield! When it's time for a fight, and a duel is due, then the red, and the white, and the blue will come through, when Neptune von Aria throws his mighty shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii"

Emma coughs abruptly.

"I hope I'm not catching cold..."

DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Text File of Her Own Wisdom toward her party's challenge, Star-Spangled Security.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"OW OW OW THE BOOK IS EATING MY HEAD," Dean yelps as one of the flying books goes CHOMP all the way down to his ears. He smacks it off with one of his twin pistols, and fortunately that other one was already defeated by his combat rods, but... wow, that wasn't great!! "I think even I'm starting to feel it now!" he says. "Avril, if it gets too bad, just let us know, okay? We can stop and rest for a minute if we have to!"

But it looks like that's not happening for now. The others want to hurry on, understandably so, and they reach a series of altars with orbs colored red, white, or blue. How patriotic! ...what, patriotic to whom? Dean doesn't really know. He also has no idea how these lights are supposed to go. He could shoot them, but... what way are they supposed to be shot? He doesn't know!! And the others' comments don't help.

"Okay, it's supposed to go in a spiral... They're set up in a square shape though, how're you supposed to get a spiral out of that? And who's Neptune von Aria?? WHICH PART IS SUPPOSED TO BE BLUE???" That might be steam coming out of his ears...

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Star-Spangled Security.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

"Thank you, Dean, but I believe I can continue on for now. ...If we hurry, perhaps we can outpace this temple." Though the look in her eyes, the way her one arm briefly crosses her abdomen, both paint a different story. Slight, but still different.

It's getting to her. Locked away, pressed deep into the earth and hidden...

The room they step into next is awash in light.

"This seems familiar," Avril comments, a faint worried frown on her lips. "The code was similar to the lock on the gate the last time, but..."

Since that changed, has this also changed as well? How devious, a system that can update its own security on the fly even hundreds or thousands of years after it was created.

But nevertheless, she approaches the terminal that Riesenlied indicates. "Yes, this one appears to be active. Now, let me see what I can do..."

Her hand hovers over the screen at first.

And then a few quick taps follow. She must be good at picking up on things like this, it should only be the second time in her life she's seen this system.

"Blue, red, white. That part seems to be accepted, Noeline. Oh, but there are more inputs now... the code continues. Then, perhaps reverse follows...?"

She pauses, listening to the song from Emma's device. She tilts her head. "Or, red, white, and blue next. Let's try that."

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Star-Spangled Security.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Star-Spangled Security *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Many sights can be found in the Temple of Rejection that simply weren't
 there before, if the people of Gounon are to be believed. The temple's
 security systems are one of them, as many and varied as they are. Once long
 dormant, the thing now thrums with life, and one of these security systems
 includes a series of altars that project glowing, holographic displays of...
 globes? spheres? orbs? either way, each are colored either red, white or
 blue, much like the crystals at the entrance, and all can have those colors
 changed by some clever interaction with the altars. To proceed further,
 you'll have to match the colors of a frankly dizzying array of altars up in
 the proper order. There's no clues. Just the temples overwhelming hatred for
 new guests. Lucky. You.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=====================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 7 *>======================
=====================< Results - Star-Spangled Security >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    46 --(5)--> 51                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          47 --(7)--> 54                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             46 --(7)--> 53                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       48 --(7)--> 55                 Pass
Text File of Her Own Wisdom         1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          47 --(7)--> 54                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            60 --(5)--> 65                 Fail
Conditions: Collapse|Stupify(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Fanfare
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 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> Riesenlied has posed.

Blue, white, red, red, white, blue, blue blue blue red red red white white blue red white blue-- ugh! Just how are these terminals supposed to go? How is a password system based on just three colours supposed to be particularly secure anyway?! The mind boggles. Perhaps Noeline's theory of eccentricity does have some measure after all -- but in particular, as everyone chips in to decipher the long string of security codes... ...

...

The door opens with a resounding success -- at the same time an alarm rings as a suspiciously blue Scutum automaton guarding the temple flings its metallic shield, which lands dangerously close to Riesenlied's head and busts the terminal she's working on.

"I--I think we'd better run before Neptune von Aria here destroys us with his shield!" She does just that.

DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
========<* CHALLENGE - The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling! *>========
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The joys of having an ancient building on high alert at all times is the
 simple fact that you get to see so many methods that the ancients used to
 kill unwary intruders -- and they are many, and varied. Take, for instance,
 the floor beneath you. And how it's currently collapsing in on itself the
 very second you step on one of the many blocks, into a yawning, gaping
 chasm. How did they come up with such a method of execution? How do the
 blocks know how to fall? How are they always back again, whenever you leave
 the room and reenter it? How-- oh woops that block's falling to certain doom
 beneath you better start running go go go go go
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"--I'm inclined to agree!" blurts Noeline at the first impact of the automaton's shield against the wall; if she sounds a little frazzled, she could surely be forgiven as she darts in front of Riesenlied to block a burst of laser fire on top of everything else, her scythe spinning with a thrum of air for a moment before she simply returns the favour, flinging it forward into the encroaching enemies.

After a moment, she manages to spare a bare glance at the path that lies ahead; something about it twigs at her suspicion, and seems terribly off - but that's true for everything in this place, and Noeline successfully manages to second guess her uncertainty into certainty because, well, it's not like there's a lot of time to think right at this moment.

"Go! I'll cover you--" she calls as she steps onto the first block - only for it to wobble uncertainly, and only good reflexes send her pitching to one side in a diving roll as she cuts herself off. "--new plan! Simply go, and quickly!"

DG: Noeline has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling!.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied yelps as she hurries along, glad for Noeline covering her as she hurries towards the next chamber as she tries to stretch her wings out to gain flight--

Before her eyes widen as she falters, blood spluttering from the arch of her wingspan as she winces and gasps, finding herself too overexerted to do much more in the way of flying. No time to lament it, though, she just seizes the opportunity to leap across and hurry past without much more complaint.

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling!.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

The door opens, but...

They Have A Problem.

Avril flinches as a shield suddenly crashes into Riesenlied's screen, and hurriedly makes for the now open door. "There's more--" she utters, before plunging on ahead and

THEY HAVE A PROBLEM.

One block underfoot begins to vanish even as she steps on it. The next is even now looking as if it's about to fall.

If Avril hesitates, it's only for a split second.

Her gaze snaps sidelong at Riesenlied, whose wings have failed her. In a flash, her hand snakes to grab the Metal Demon's wrist. "We'll run together!" she declares, hopping over the gap before her and racing across the falling flooring.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Falling the Ground is
Falling!.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"Good plan," Emma replies to Riesenlied, moving forwards when suddenly she finds that she doesn't have any ground under her feet. She opts to deal with THIS problem by bringing her weapon out again -

Aiming it once more at Riesenlied's butt -

PAST it -

And firing it! She remains still as this happens, so for a moment she seems to be plummeting to her death, but the Punchy Gun's boxing fist wraps around a protruberance on the far end of the room and starts to winch Emma back upwards gradually.

Pretty gradually.

"This is so bad for my arm," Emma complains lightly.

DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Punchy Gun toward her party's challenge, The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling!.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"NOT AGAAAAAAAAIN," Dean wails as the floor vanishes from beneath him. Boy it REALLY WOULD be helpful if he could PUT THIS FLOOR ON ICE, wink wink, NUDGE NUDGE. Fortunately, even as he wails, he's dashing forward, barely faster than the floor can disappear, because really at this point he kind of expects this nonsense by now. Still, it does get the heart pumping!! He looks over at the others as he goes, and seeing Riese fall and Avril hold out her hand to her, Dean does likewise. "We're all getting out of here--together!!" he declares. Good thing Noeline's got their backs--and Emma's got her shooty gun thingie!!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling!.
==========================<* Temple of Rejection *>===========================
========<* CHALLENGE - The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling! *>========
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The joys of having an ancient building on high alert at all times is the
 simple fact that you get to see so many methods that the ancients used to
 kill unwary intruders -- and they are many, and varied. Take, for instance,
 the floor beneath you. And how it's currently collapsing in on itself the
 very second you step on one of the many blocks, into a yawning, gaping
 chasm. How did they come up with such a method of execution? How do the
 blocks know how to fall? How are they always back again, whenever you leave
 the room and reenter it? How-- oh woops that block's falling to certain doom
 beneath you better start running go go go go go
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=====================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 8 *>======================
==========< Results - The Ground is Falling the Ground is Falling! >==========
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    51 --(13)--> 64                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          54 --(11)--> 65                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             53 --(5)--> 58                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       55 --(5)--> 60                 Pass
Punchy Gun                          3   Agility Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          54 --(5)--> 59                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            65 --(15)--> 80                Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)
Effects: Fanfare
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Noeline has posed.

Sucking in a deep breath, Noeline spies solid ground ahead - and at the very least, the falling blocks have stymied their automaton pursuers. Silver linings, she reminds herself in an upbeat manner. Silver linings.

As Emma bolts past them all via the rope on her Punchy Gun, Noeline forces a burst of speed; her scythe winks out behind her as she simply lets it go and makes it dissipate into motes of light, and with an effort she's simply got an arm each around Riesenlied and Avril - oh my - in order to propel them forwards and towards the edge of what appears to be solid, not-about-to-drop stone.

The three of them hit it at something of a roll, as behind them Dean's scurrying proves to be extremely effective in clearing as much space as possible; Noeline heaves out a sigh, and immediately touches at Riesenlied's wings in concern. "This place-- really, it does need a great deal of preparation, does it not?" she sighs out.

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

"N-no kidding!" Dean gasps in between catching his breath.

DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
====================<* 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.

 Twilight Venom: ht tp://tinyurl .com/ycbggmyh
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

Still--for now, they're all in one piece, and the rooms up ahead are blessedly empty. They traverse several hallways with nothing worse than a chill breeze blocking their way until finally they make it to a strangely large and empty room. "Huh," Dean says, looking up and around. "This room seems weirdly familiar? I could swear I've seen rooms like this on TV. You know, right before people fight a big monster--"

'GWOOOOARRRRRRRGGGH,' screeches a giant moth, beating its venomous wings as it swoops down from above. Twilight Venom, and not some kind of TV monster, swoops over the group once--and then circles around above for another pass, this time beating its wings so hard that poison pollen begins to fly down towards the group!

"No way!" Dean declares, dashing over a leyline thrumming with yellow, earthy power. Drawing upon it and channeling it through his Medium, a copy of Sword, he lifts his ARMS to send the boulders smashing towards airborne monstrosity in hopes of grounding it, or *Crushing* it as the case may be, and letting the others get a good crack at it. "Let's bring you down to earth!!" he adds, because Dean is not really that good at puns.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is 420 years old, and has seen many unusual sights and flora and fauna that the average dweller in Filgaia has naught a chance to have ever heard of in their entire short lives. She's travelled high and low, seen obscure sights, and yet, even she, the ancient being, is forced to ask--

"What is a 'TV'...?"

She yelps just as she looks towards the monster to say, "This again...!" She looks to Avril, then draws her sword, knowing that her wings aren't going to be of much use at this point in time. "Great job, Dean!" she exclaims as she rushes the creature following Dean's boulder crush to ground it -- her bladework isn't fancy, but it is effective as she attempts to subdue the creature.

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Much of the humour has left Noeline's voice at this point, replaced by a rather urgent note in her voice as she holds her hand out; Trouble swings around her arm in a tight circle, using the Crimson Noble's aim as its own as Noeline peppers the creature with shots.

"--you as well, hm?" she huffs to herself; Dean is not exactly the most obvious of shamans, after all, but the Medium within her can't help but resonate with the spell as it's cast; she uses the impact as a change to close in for a strike, that crimson scythe somehow blinking back into her hand all over again as she sweeps a pair of large crescent slices through it.

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"It's completely wretched. I'd say I feel very rejected but I don't want to make light of Avril's situation." Then she turns her head to look into the giant empty room past them and oh, Emma thinks, that's a relief, it's just a giant evil moth.

My life is rather peculiar, isn't it, she muses. It's a wistful thought. Less wistful is the Melancholy Ray that fires from her Emulator, towards that moth.

DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

The floor vanishes out from underneath her and Riesenlied's feet, the next block already beginning to fade away. She can't reach--

"Ah--"

Out of nowhere -- to Avril's perspective -- Noeline swoops in from behind, scooping the both of them around the waist in her arms. "Thank you--"

They all go tumbling, but it's at least tumbling on stable ground. Rising to her feet, Avril brushes herself off, glances in the room ahead and...

Already has take out her ARM. "Be careful," she urges Dean, even as he steps in and something screams piercingly from above.

It's returned.

"It uses poison! We should take care. --Dean, try to immobilize-- oh, I see," Avril comments more mildly, since he's already doing just that.

The beam whip flares to life. Treading forward, Avril advances on the moth.

The air sizzles as she, without advance warning, lays into their foe returned.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, This is No Mothra Boy.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
====================<* 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.

 Twilight Venom: ht tp://tinyurl. com/ycbggmyh
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 9 *>=======================
======================< Results - This is No Mothra Boy >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    64 --(6)--> 70                 Pass
Beam Whip Mode                      2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          65 --(8)--> 73                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             58 --(3)--> 61                 Pass
Trouble                             2   Combat  Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       60 --(12)--> 72                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          59 --(13)--> 72                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            80 --(0)--> 80                 Pass
Conditions: Injure(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)|Fanfare|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

Wow, something Dean knows that someone else doesn't! "A TV's this little box, OK? And it gets these radio wave things and turns them into pictures and sound that you can watch!" Dean explains to Riesenlied, eager and pleased to be able to explain what Rebecca once explained to him years ago. "Rebecca told me they do broadcasts from Layla Belle!" He might be saying that wrong. "That's where Nightburn works! He's the top Golem Hunter! I wanna be just like him!"

He'd happily go into more detail, too, except Twilight Venom wants a TV appearance! ...no, not really. Dean's Earth Crush only clips the moth monster-- "I'm on it!" he calls to Avril, and a hearty "Thanks!" to Riese -- but with Riese joining in to help, between the two of them, it's enough to let Avril sear into it with her beam sword and Emma shoot it with a Melancholy Ray and Noeline scythe it.

The giant moth screeches again, this time in pain; it's quick to retreat in the face of this onslaught, perhaps deciding that living is the best option. Perhaps this is why Avril and Riese keep seeing it. "Yeah! We did it!" Dean calls, Twin Fenrir vanishing from his grasp. He turns to grin to the others. "Whew! I feel like we've only got a little ways left to go. What's next?"

===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Alternative Routes *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The path beyond leads to the outside, hundreds of hundreds of feet above
 solid ground. The sanctum of the temple is just above -- but it'll take
 navigating the winding labyrinth of the sanctuary's outdoor halls, scaling
 its perilous walls, and attempting to snag the floating, flying grapple
 hooks that dot this place to get there. There's no elevator, no stairs, no
 clever contraptions. Whatever possesses this temple doesn't want you going
 any further. So... time to do things the old-fashioned way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Just to the side of the moth's arena is a small archway that Avril can't recall having seen before. No other door appears to exist, though, despite how she glances hither and yon in search of the door she could have sworn they had soldiered on through over a month and a half prior.

"...We should try this way," she suggests, with nothing else to offer. "But... I cannot recall having gone through this door previously. Is this also a result of the rejection? Are doors too now closed to us that were open before?"

Perhaps the temple remembers.

And the sense that it's trying to push them out will only grow once they go through that door.

Because outside that door is a ledge.

There are some oddly floating grappling hooks.

There is a wall, continuing straight up.

And there is the wall, continuing straight down. The wind rips past.

They can probably see Rebecca from here, actually.

"...Oh."

Avril inches along outside the wall, palms flat against it.

"I think..."

Is there a platform up there?

Carefully she twists about, faces the wall.

"It seems we have nowhere to go but upwads."

The good news: age has pitted the stone and there are some places to grip. It might be a feeble sort of good news though.

Avril starts climbing.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alternative Routes.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks quite perplexed as she expresses, "I--I see. I have never... had the opportunity to travel there, in no small part because the Control Zones are quite aggressive, but... perhaps soon..." she does sound like she wants to experience it.

"I-- ah..."

She looks up towards the daunting climb that they have to do. It might be better to just give up here, yet...

"I feel like I feel something calling to me... up there..."

She winces as she experimentally tries her wings again, then requests of Noeline, "Please be ready to catch me if I am to fall..."

She dips upwards with focus, stretching her wings even as they bleed as she soars ahead to try to at least help bring some platforms down to meet the group, carrying the hooks down with her.

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alternative Routes.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

"That's very impressive," Emma tells Dean as the moth is handled with some dispatch. "Most people I know have to have the idea of radio explained to them, though to be fair I've been barely able to make a vacuum tube with my primitive facilities. ALTHOUGH..."

Emma gazes at her Emulator. Hm.

She then pulls out her Punchy Gun, pulls the trigger, and it sails up about five feet before landing sadly on the ground while unspooling cable behind it in an increasingly sad montage. Frowning, Emma looks at it, then up to Riesenlied. "If you're sure..."

She uses the boxing fist/cable combo as a grappling line, later.

DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alternative Routes.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"... of course," says Noeline after the moment, a fond smile on her face that she can't deny; she hesitates briefly as if to gather her own strength, then puffs out a deep, long breath as she faces the climb. "Well, then. Once more for the road, I suppose," she decides, and the way she nimbly hops up a couple of rocks even when tired - and in heels - is rather at odds with the way she looks in general.

"Even Trouble and Strife are rather tired out for the day. I dare say we are due a very long period of relaxing in Gounon after this, and something ridiculously sweet to soothe myself with," she grumbles loudly - but for all that she's whining, her eyes remain locked on Riesenlied as the Metal Demon stresses her wings further, concern written across her face.

DG: Noeline has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alternative Routes.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

What's next? A night-sheer climb up. It's a good thing Dean isn't afraid of heights. That being said, when he has to creak his neck baaaaaaaaaaaaaack to look at the sanctum above... "Oh hey, grappling hooks!" he says, ever the optimist. "Maybe this won't be so hard!" He looks over at Avril, who claims she didn't see this door before, who wonders if maybe the temple remembers and is trying to shove them in new and interestingly dangerous directions. "It's okay!" he reassures her. "We can make it up if we all work together! We've just gonna try our best!"

All the way at the bottom, Rebecca paces back and forth. What's taking them all so long? She knew she should've gone in with them! Maybe she ought to--hey, is that movement up above? ... ..... ........ "DEAN? AVRIL?" she bellows, voice lost to the winds. "PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE GOING TO CLIMB A SHEER TOWER WALL!!"

"That's right!" Dean says above, nodding in ignorance of his friend's screaming. "We've just gotta try our best! What's the point of giving up now?!" And with that, having done his best to encourage everyone else, Dean follows after the others to climb up this long and dangerous wall. He makes sure to stay under Avril, just as Noeline does Riesenlied, so he can catch *her* if *she* falls. ...Wait, but who'll catch Emma? Or Noeline? Or for that matter, Dean?? Are *any* of them even using any equipment to make it easier, or have they run out???

Far below, Rebecca smears her hands down her face while shrieking voicelessly.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Alternative Routes.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Alternative Routes *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The path beyond leads to the outside, hundreds of hundreds of feet above
 solid ground. The sanctum of the temple is just above -- but it'll take
 navigating the winding labyrinth of the sanctuary's outdoor halls, scaling
 its perilous walls, and attempting to snag the floating, flying grapple
 hooks that dot this place to get there. There's no elevator, no stairs, no
 clever contraptions. Whatever possesses this temple doesn't want you going
 any further. So... time to do things the old-fashioned way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
======================<* Temple of Rejection - Round 10 *>======================
========================< Results - Alternative Routes >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    70 --(100)--> 170              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          73 --(100)--> 173              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             61 --(100)--> 161              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Hetfield                       72 --(100)--> 172              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          72 --(100)--> 172              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            80 --(5)--> 85                 Fail
Conditions: Suffer|Wound(1)
Effects: Fanfare
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Avril Vent Fleur is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Riesenlied is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Noeline is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Emma Hetfield is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Dean Stark 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 Avril Vent Fleur has been fully Exhausted by Temple of Rejection!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
===========================<* Temple of Rejection *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Whole Old World *>=======================
|Type: Landmark    |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You see it, as the final security measures of the temple grow to be too much
 and you're forced to beat a hasty retreat. On the way to a secret passageway
 that will ferry you to the outside world, you come across a massive chamber
 with but one decoration: a large, holographic globe of what seems like it
 ought to be Filgaia, but with many, marked differences in the structure of
 the continents that would take someone familiar with contemporary Filgaian
 geography to notice. So much less fragmented. So much more whole. A look at
 the world before devastation. A glimpse of what once was, long, long ago,
 before you need to flee.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

Poor Rebecca. There's little she can do but watch as her friends -- and their allies for this expedition! -- ascend an almost sheer wall, only the little pockmarks-passing-as-handholds really keeping them from just sliding down it to begin with.

Isn't there a saying, though, 'nothing is impossible as long as you don't give up?'

They make it up onto the ledge, high above, though it's exhausting going. Avril slumps to her knees, the pushback of the dangers, the climb, and the increasingly forceful sense that they are being Rejected jamming up against her senses getting for now the best of her. She lifts her head.

And points, into the doorway within this highest part of the temple.

"Look!"

There, spinning slowly, is a glowing sphere. It surely can be none other than Filgaia. The landforms are...

Someone, someone other than Avril, might notice that something is most certainly Off about this map. There are landmasses that shouldn't be there, pieces of the planet that are more complete-looking than a modern map might show.

Geologic age wouldn't account for these changes. It couldn't.

And then, just then, an alarm screams out. The doorway is awash with laser beams, criss-crossing the entrance and preventing passage.

And then just to drive the point home, a heavy door slams down with finality.

They're cut out. Rejected.

Slowly, Avril lowers her hand.

"...Dean, I don't think we can go on."

And she means that both literally and figuratively.

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

They make it up, finally, painstakingly, with Rebecca dancing back and forth on her tiptoes every time a particularly strong wind bows. But they *do* make it up, to a globe spinning beautifully, of landmasses whole and complete... Dean, who knows fuck-all about geology as well as most other things, just peers at it with pure wonder. "Wowww," he breathes. "Is that Filgaia? It's beautiful!"

But he doesn't get the chance to admire the globe for long. Lasers crisscross, a door slams down--there's no way forward, to find any of the other clues. Dean jerks up, seeing all this happen while they were distracted by the globe.. and he nods at Avril. "It's okay. We can always try again later!" he reassures her. "Besides--this globe thing is really interesting too, don't you think? It's a great map!"

It WAS a great map, anyway. But Dean wouldn't know the difference. That said, there are several much more knowledgable people present... Perhaps one of them will think to take pictures.

For now, there's nothing for it: they've got to head back. Fortunately, in this room, there's a stairwell down, leading into a chamber with a device that will teleport them back to the entrance. Convenient! ...Why didn't this dumb Temple just do that from the start if it wanted them out so bad?!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's an exhausted noise from Riesenlied as she-- well, to be fair, she doesn't exactly fall, but she... doesn't get very far either. She winds up collapsing near the ledge Avril gets to, and pulls herself up to where Dean's pulled up beside her.

"... it's--" she pauses. "It's... what is that landmass there? It's different from the--"

The alarm starts to ring and echo with danger and lasers, and she gasps as she stumbles back and winces. "... if you-- do make another attempt to decipher the secrets of this temple... please, call upon me, Miss Avril."

She sighs quietly as she follows, relieved for the teleporter that brings them out of there.

Much cuddling is needed after this tonight.

<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.

Emma is running at this point; in heels, yet. When she sees the holo globe, which other people helpfully give her a heads-up on - thanks, Dean! - she holds up her Emulator as she runs past it.

So a woman who is pushing 40 is holding up a piece of green glass at a globe of light while jogging in heels.

That's the wasteland for you.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

At least Noeline is there to provide; she even helps to haul Riesenlied over the edge, breathless and mildly battered, and heaves out a heavy breath as she slumps to the ground. Her respite only lasts a moment, of course, with the blare of alarms making themselves known - but she stares for just a moment at the map, doing her best to remember it for later in the space of time before they wink out of the Temple altogether.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

And it goes without saying:

Once they descend, Rebecca will probably personally murder them all.

Or, well, Avril and Dean at least.

Or maybe just Dean.