2017-08-25: Order And Freedom
- Log: Order And Freedom
- Cast: Xantia, Bart Fatima, Neriah Parringer, Elena, Emma Hetfield, Loren Voss, Arleph Ardan
- Where: Guardian Temple
- Date: August 25th 2017
- Summary: An extremely mixed group is flung together into the depths of the Guardian Temple during the bombardment and are forced to work together to survive and pass the challenges of the temple. ICly takes place August 19th.
DG: A party led by Xantia is now entering The Guardian Temple. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* The Guardian Temple *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Clash of Beasts *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Metal Beasts have forced their way into the foyer of the Temple, along with other members of the Metal Demons. For those who seek to push in deeper, there is a battlefield to be crossed. Gunsmoke ARM shots shoot across the way, scarring the ancient stone of the foyer. Spells occasionally hurl across, lightning and ice scarring the very ground that they walk on. The Metal Beasts are ill-inclined to let others pass. As you make your way through the confusion, a pack of armored hounds begins to lope after, anger visible in their steely green eyes. They leap -- fangs bared, claws raised, and the battle is joined before you can reach the door that leads deeper into the Temple. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Fright===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
How did things come to this? Xantia started off this day with intentions to explore a brand new location, fully prepared for a fun day of dungeon-delving. Next thing she knew, she ended up running straight into a battle with a Metal Demon army, only really understanding a small part of what was going on. Though really, she should be getting used to this by now. Jury's still out on whether she attracts trouble or is attracted to trouble, but some way or another, she ends up involved in quite a bit of it.
Smashing through battle lines, that was one thing, Xantia is in her element there. But when a new army arrived, and artillery fire started to rain down, she had little choice but to drop what she was doing and seek shelter in the only place nearby: the Guardian Temple itself. Even though shouting to Hiro and Lemina that she'd be right behind them, she stayed a moment longer to offer some comfort to Riesenlied, who provided them cover in their retreat. Wasting a bit too much time, by the time she got the temple, she couldn't find the ones she'd been fighting alongside anymore.
Which brings us to the present moment in time. "Hello? Lemina? Where'd you go?" Xantia's voice goes unanswered, at least by the one she was addressing. There's plenty of shrieks and roars to answer her though, as she finds more of the same type of enemies ahead that she smashed through before. Which means she's surrounded now - the same situation in front of her as behind her. But there's no fire raining from the sky in here, at least.
With little time to appreciate the building for what it is, the fiery-haired fist fighter wades right in, delivering only a single, powerful punch to any of the metal-bearing hounds that happens to get in her way. As much as she likes a good fight, this is no time to linger - there's way too many opponents and way too much chaos flying around. Even she knows that she'll only get hurt staying here for very longer, she'll just have to literally punch through and get to a hopefully safer area further in!
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
So he hadn't managed to catch up with Lily, Leon, and Fei after all. Which was... a little annoying. Bart had hoped to explain what he was looking for here, as well as to get some assistance in his search. Instead what he actually finds is an INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF METAL BEASTS ALL RUNNING AROUND LIKE CRAZY THINGS.
Really, just what was the world coming to?
"Alright, take the buggy and head back to the ship," Bart calls to the pirate who is riding shotgun next to him. "I'll signal for pickup when I'm done here. If what is looking for is here... then we'll tackle that when we come to it."
The entrance to the Temple is SWARMING with Metal Beasts at this point, having chased a good number of other Drifters into the temple over the last half hour or so. Really they are getting annoyed at the fact that they haven't gotten all that much flesh and blood of late, and the creatures are snarling, gnashing their teeth, and generally doing their best to be evil and menacing. Bart has seen big. He's seen evil. He's even seen full of teeth and ready to maim people. And there's only one way to deal with that sort of thing.
You have to take the Metal Beast by its ill-defined and probably ugly horns.
And with that, Bart goes flying off the sand buggy, tackling a Metal Beast and bearing it to the ground! "HEY UGLY!" he shouts, wrapping his whip around its neck. "EVER HEARD OF A RODEO? BECAUSE I'M EARNING MY METAL BEAST SPURS TODAY!!!"
He had taken a wiff of his Bart Brand Energizing Cologne before this, guaranteed to make any pirate ready to... ride metal beasts and use them as a crazed mount to fight other Metal Beasts? But what the others will see is a madman with an eyepatch and long blonde hair riding on top of a metal beast, generally riding around and trying to crash, slash, and otherwise do terrible things to the other monsters in the area.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Since her encounter with Ethius Hesiod, Neriah had left Lacour in a hurry, fearing the consequences of what she did. Only word of a Guardian Temple discovered in the desert had drawn her westward.
The battle had, inevitably, drawn her in, heedless of her efforts to keep her head down and get past the Metal Demons and Aveh soldiers.
Neriah's been caught up in the furious fighting near the entrance. Her back hits the wall as a Metal Beast hurls her away. Wincing, she levels the silvery pistol she calls Marilyn, firing off a few bullets with a crack and hiss of releasing steam. Oily blood flies but the pistol's not doing enough to stop them. She clicks her teeth together, eyes wide with alarm. Others are shouting around her - she recognizes a few of them, but right now all she can think about is the fact that these Metal Beasts are going to kill her, and Marilyn doesn't have enough punch to stop them.
Neriah levels her right hand. She has a glove on her left one now that matches the right, but it's this one that matters. Clenching her teeth, she braces herself. She does not want to do this - not after last time. She has barely a second to think about it.
The magically sensitive can feel it a split-second before it happens. Something surges in the air. A dreadful power entirely different from Malevolence or Metal Demons.
Neriah lets out a hiss through her teeth as a howling nest of dark unlight magic tendrils erupt down her arm and expand through the doorway to the Temple. The coils of dark magic, vibrating madly, threaten to tear through Metal Beasts as though their metallic existence were little more than water. They coil around Neriah, lashing at enemies around her.
This usually feels like it's killing her. It doesn't anymore - it just aches. She can bear it. Clenching her teeth, she holds the spell, letting that unsettling darkness strike at her metal foes.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
Moments earlier, Arleph, Rosaline and Elena had been fighting with Yarobeleedt, resulting in the Metal Demon rolling away and the three Drifters needing to lick their wounds.
A few less moments earlier, an artillery shell from a nearby Aveh ship crashes near the party and forces them inside, separating Rosaline from the other two, oh no!
Now, Elena seems absolutely out of her element. Gone the confidence that she can help and the strength to oppose the Metal Demons on principle. Gone the strength to stand straight and appear like she belongs here. She holds onto her metal scepter, backed against a wall as Metal Beasts approach and surround her.
But then, others arrive. Voices, people, not Demons. Fighters. Elena reaches into her dress, pulling a shining blue crystal out. Spurred by the shouts (especially Bart's), the Songstress raises her Mana Egg up high and radiates out a pulse of healing magic, a soothing, healing rain. If someone really knows their Ether, it doesn't entirely feel like the Crest Sorcery it's trying to look like.
"I am glad to see all of you! There is no end to these beasts, I do not think I could have held out much longer!" Arleph probably could have, but Elena not so much.
DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
When you clash the beasts, you pass or you DIE FOREVER, IN REAL LIFE.
Emma Hetfield had come here as part of a small cluster of people who were hoping to see if there was 'cool stuff' or 'interesting ARMs' in the Guardian temple, once the Drifters had cleared out what everyone had thought, incorrectly, was like 'a platoon of Metal Demons, and probably that hippie one is in charge so she can be talked down after a skirmish' and was instead 'a horrifying three way battle.'
Emma typically wears a salmon jacket and is your much older sister, pushing forty. When battle began, she withdrew coolly, towards the nearest large intact structure - the Temple!
Which was full of beasts. Beasts and a nostalgiac scent...! "Hello, Bart!" Emma shouts across an evil metal frog, which she then smites with a bolt of lightning from her weird green ARM. After THIS clears the immediate environment, she taps some more things, holds the Emulator weirdly, and pushes a button. At which point there is a steady streaking, like one of those automatic deer scarers in more humid areas, which throws strips of... yellow... something? Bakelite maybe? onto the ground before her.
By pass #4 it becomes clear that this is becoming chest-high durable cover! THE BEST KIND! Emma ducks behind it. "Ooh, it smells surprisingly good," Emma muses. "And it's squishy too."
DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart doesn't make much intelligible noise. In a more dignified setting, he would probably be considered to be bellowing his defiance to the heavens as he rides his majestic beast into battle.
Screaming because he has no control and is more prodding the thing into attacking other Metal Beasts would probably be more accurate, however.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
LAST EPISODE: an investigation into a suspicious site does not go quite as planned, now featuring carpet bombing.
No sooner had Loren departed the immediate temple grounds for somewhat safer territory, new orders had arrived.
'Lt. Ortell attempting infiltration of temple environs. Provide support for mission.'
Which had meant...
Yes. Back through the battlefield. The battlefield still being heavily bombed. That battlefield.
Refusal isn't an option.
So, there's a good reason why Thomas Blackwell, perfectly normal medical student, looks like he's been through hell the moment he darts into the temple -- it's just not what most would assume under the circumstances. Poor kid, must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Thomas pauses just inside the doorway, blue eyes searching, lips parting as if to shout out something--
--Only to clam up entirely. She's not here.
Other things are.
And other Drifters.
Including Neriah, an older woman (using some strange device), a blond girl, another red-haired girl -- vaguely familiar from one of the reports -- and an eyepatched blond man who, as Thomas dredges up on a pulse of ether only to release it with barely a vibration, leaps onto the Metal Beast that had been racing right for him (or for the exit?!).
Immediate trampling out of the picture, Thomas falls back a step, gaze flickering from person to person and instead goes for the contents of his medical kit.
He knows his limits and he'll have to get along to get along as it were. He has a good throwing arm, too -- which he'll prove by tossing some of the restorative contents of his kit across the room at various combatents, FFT Chemist style.
"Take these!"
Because the medical student is definitely not good for the front lines, looking at him.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
In a mass battle like this, you don't get to chose very much whom you retreat with. In the following moments of the joined victory with Rosaline, Elena and himself, against Yarobeleedt. This resulted in their victory, but one that didn't leave them fresh and rosy. Then things got worse. In the initial confusion, the dust kicking and the snarling of Metal Demons.
Arleph's own struggles against the convergence of death, teeth and explosions that might result in the first option is something of a blurr. A flurry of casting defensive spells, a few blasts at well-aimed locations and just a big of good ol, reliable Adrenaline is pushing him through the lines.
This is when he meets up with Elena again. As well as several other people he don't fully recognise, beyond Xantia.
"Ah! Good! I thought I'd have lost you!" The Symbologist exclaims, flicking a finger upward, then thrusting it out. A wave of ice shoots out in the direction he fired, a symbological circle appearing then vanishing below him. "Xantia! I have no idea what you are doing here, but we need to go through!"
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
==========================<* The Guardian Temple *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Clash of Beasts *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Metal Beasts have forced their way into the foyer of the Temple, along with other members of the Metal Demons. For those who seek to push in deeper, there is a battlefield to be crossed. Gunsmoke ARM shots shoot across the way, scarring the ancient stone of the foyer. Spells occasionally hurl across, lightning and ice scarring the very ground that they walk on. The Metal Beasts are ill-inclined to let others pass. As you make your way through the confusion, a pack of armored hounds begins to lope after, anger visible in their steely green eyes. They leap -- fangs bared, claws raised, and the battle is joined before you can reach the door that leads deeper into the Temple. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Fright===========================================
=====================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 1 *>====================== =======================< Results - A Clash of Beasts >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(18)--> 18 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 0 --(14)--> 14 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emma Hetfield 0 --(16)--> 16 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elena 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Mist Egg 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arleph Ardan 0 --(16)--> 16 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 0 --(14)--> 14 Fail Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bart Fatima 0 --(17)--> 17 Pass White Cologne 3 Combat Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Xantia 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Suffer Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Xantia 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> Xantia has posed.
Right as Xantia begins her assault, she hears a very familiar voice nearby, shouting a battle cry in a tone of voice that she's never heard from him before. But it belongs, unmistakably, to "...Captain Bart? Hey! Captain Bart, over here!" She sees nothing strange happening over there. Just a guy riding a Metal Beast around like a wild steer. That's normal, right? She only wishes she'd thought of that!
Waving in his direction, she is spotted and addressed by another familiar face. "Arleph? You're here too?" A lucky break, his magic should be a lot nicer to have around when it's not her it's used against. It's quickly becoming obvious that a number of other Drifters have gotten themselves stuck in this area, so she addresses them as a whole, indicating the large, obvious doorway on the opposite side of the foyer. "Everyone! Through here!"
Chances are, that's where everybody was trying to head to anyway, since, well. Large, obvious doorway, presumably leading away from this mess. She isn't really taking stock of everyone else's individual presence just yet - that can wait until they make it to safety.
It's not quite as easy as she'd hoped. Though her fists find their targets, Xantia doesn't get through unscatched, suffering a number of cuts on her limbs to go along with the still bleeding head wound she'd suffered in the previous battle. Meanwhilem Arleph's ice blasts nicely synergize with the different kind of coldness Neriah's dark tendrils, opening a path that Bart can steer his... 'steer' through, after it effectively clears the immediate obstacles around him. Emma manages to clean up on her head, her home-made cover keeping her safe until she can follow the mad bull and the Metal Beast he's riding on.
The beasts seem to have the tactic of 'kill the healer' down however, both 'Thomas' and Elena - and Arleph due to proximity to Elena - drawing immediate aggro when they start dispending medical supplies both physical and magical. But eventually, with effort, the party does manage to reach the other end of the chaos, and will be able to form up more effectively. What lies beyond?
DG: Emma Hetfield has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Sudden Rubble Pile *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The battle still rages outside. Sometimes, it has an effect on those inside. As you walk down this hall, there is a sudden and powerful rumble that tears through the whole of the Temple. The force of it might knock you to your feet and send you sprawling. That isn't the only thing it knocks. Up ahead, part of the ceiling collapses. A huge slab of stone falls down, then shatters into dust and huge chunks of rock -- which then block the hallway up to three-quarters of the way to the ceiling. The rubble will need to be cleared away, because that is certainly a very tight fit. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma is struck in the face by a small portable vial of Aquasol. She catches it, bites off the stopper, and downs it like an energy shot, looking in that direction to give Loren - no, 'Thomas' - a beaming thumbs up!
WHERE DID SHE COME FROM
She ends up falling in echelon directly behind 'Thomas' and reaches up to pap him on the shoulder with her hand, which lingers afterwards. "Thank you for reaching out to me," she tells him, even if this wasn't his intention at all. What probably makes everything worse is that Emma manages, narrowly, to be taller than him. "I know this situation is rough, but we have to stick together, as fellow wearers of glasses. My name's Emma, though I'm sure you've seen my advertisements. What's yours?"
Then! DRIFTER VOR
The battle dims behind the group as they move along. "At least we're getting away from the battlefield," Emma says aloud. "I wish I could have taken that thing, but it was good and stuck to the floor, and it was about the size of a mattress, anyway. In fact I think it would've made a comfortable mat"
ELSEWHERE
An Aveh 150mm shell, bearing an extremely loyal and flattering cartoon of wise and loving Minister Shakhan, hits the roof.
HERE
A big ol' chunk of stone falls from the ceiling, which is thick enough to be as yet unbreached. However, the impact makes a truly horrendous noise, and actually shuts up Emma, as well as throwing dust onto her glasses, which she takes off and immediately starts clearing.
"Well, it could be worse," she half-shouts, perhaps because she's been temporarily ear-blinded.
DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
There is a brief scuffle, and then Bart dispatches the Metal Beast that he is riding with a swift boot to the head. The creature slumps over, and slides to a stop near to where Xantia is calling out to him. And Bart puts one foot up on its back and grins. "Heya Zee. Looks like you're in a spot of trouble here," he states, pulling out his whip and lashing out at several of the approaching beasts. He shouts for people to get into the temple, holding the line until the last of the group is through and he can pull the door shut.
"Frikkin' giant metal cat things," he growls, and looks around for a moment. He knew a few people here, but there were some strangers as well. Not exactly the first group he wanted to delve into the hidden secrets of the Guardians with, but you take what you could get. "Well isn't this a rag tag bunch of misfits. I dunno what you're all looking for in here but-"
BOOOOOOOMMMMMM
Something striking the temple causes part of the ceiling to give way and Bart ducks down slightly until he's sure that the roof isn't going to come down onto their heads. He looks around for a moment and grunts. "So, wouldn't be walking around in some ruins or an incredibly dark cave without the FRIKKING CEILING FALLING IN NOW WOULD IT!?" the pirate rages for a moment, dancing back and forth before he finally cracks his knuckles. "Nothing that a bit of good ol' elbow grease can't solve."
And with that, Bart demonstrates that he has been lifting by picking up a fairly good sized boulder and tossing it out of the way. "One down. ...whole bunch to go."
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah has to hold the spell for awhile. Most of the pain she's suffering is pain she's causing herself. Her shoulder tremble by the time she cuts off the spell, and she staggers back, head drooping beneath her big newsboy hat as she takes a strained breath.
When she looks up, though, pain isn't all that shows. There's something in her eyes - a spark of something brilliant beginning to spring to life.
As Xantia calls everyone onward, Neriah staggers after her, but after a few steps seems to recover her equilibrium. Sucking in a breath, she cocks her pistol and darts after the woman, lip bitten. With a glance to Emma, she nods once. "Hetfield. Yeah, I think I know who you are. I'm Neriah."
She's about to say something else, but the ceiling caves in before she can get a comment off. She squeaks with surprise as she darts backwards, pressing herself against a wall in the hopes of not getting flattened by the crumblink stone chunk. Dust plumes down the corridor, the cacophony of it leaving her ears ringing. "How're we supposed to get past that!!" she shouts louder than intended.
Then Bart shouts something. "WHAT?!" she shouts over the ringing in her ears. "Did you say we have to move the thing?!"
Reaching back, Neriah pulls a well-worn spade from the loop on her backpack and starts forward. Metal scrapes against jagged stone as she plants the shovel blade between the stone and the floor and applies her weight to it, grimacing as she struggles to gain leverage. It may not be a lot of help, but she's trying to lever that larger stone up just a few inches to make it easier for the likes of Bart to move with his much greater strength.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
Mister Ardan! You are fine!" Elena exclaims, happy to see Arleph again. She doesn't know anyone else, come to think of it - no, that's not true, she recocgnizes Neriah and that odd, off vibe coming from her that she can't place.
Oh look it's METAL BEASTS interupting that train of thought and mauling Elena for dispensing heals. She looks even worse off than before she threw the heals out, but thanks to the certainly-not-Solarian emergency kits, she's back on her feet by the time the beasts are gone.
"I... truthfully, I do not want to be here, right now," she complains to no one in particular, but it's not like they have a choice. Outside, a warzone. It's better inside, probably. And she's surrounded by people who seem to know what they're doing.
Elena hangs near the back of the group, still looking out of place. She's more quiet than usual, which anyone who knows her would tell you is a state of mind worth cultivating for her. When the way forward appears to be blocked thanks to a CAVE-IN (CEILING-IN?), complete with Elena yelping in surprising and trying not to fall, she provides an idle spellsling after a period of recovery, her Mana Egg shining and dispensing icy winds to weaken the rubble and make it easier to smash through.
"This is awful. Allowing war to desecrate a religious site..." Even if her belief belongs entirely to Granas, not the Guardians, this is still unacceptable.
DG: Elena has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There have been better days to be Loren. Between engaging one of the Quarter Knights in pitched combat, making his way across a battle field being actively bombed twice and then failing to make contact with his teammate, it is...
Not great right now, particularly when one of the remaining Metal Beasts turns its fell attention his way. He can move when it counts fortunately, sprinting towards the doorway Xantia indicates as the creature lunges for him -- and takes a chunk out of the wall instead -- and here pauses briefly, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure it's not about to come up right behind him.
Instead, there's that older-looking woman. Even the normally taciturn medical student blinks, as if to silently ask where she just came from. Reaching out to...
What? Glasses? Still in what might be stunned -- but mistakable perhaps for impressed?! -- silence, 'Thomas' looks Emma over. "Advertisements...?" he finally manages, trying to mentally thread the needle.
Before giving up, shaking his head, and gesturing towards the door. A little sharply. "Thomas Blackwell. Now move, before we all get killed--"
Not that he's sure they all won't just die horribly anyway.
Case in point: the ceiling coming down. 'Thomas' backpedals rather impressively, a cut-off oath escaping his lips. The dust settles soon after. Emma isn't the only one who has to take five and clean off their glasses.
"Yes, we could all be dead," the medical student sighs, slipping his glasses back on and moving to heft rock with the others. "I'd say desecration is the least of our worries."
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia frowns a bit at what Bart calls her, because it doesn't even come close to her actual name, which just makes her think that he might have forgotten what it is. Still, she's glad to see him, and the other people who happen to have found there way here, too. Having to fight for your life is one thing. Having to be alone, that would be many times worse. Despite the dire situation and her wounds - which were taken care of by Elena's magic in short order anyway - this is plenty to put her in high spirits again.
As the group proceeds, she realizes she knows another one among their number fairly well. "Oh, Emma!" She's glad for the confirmation of her name, which was a matter of confusion to Xantia for reasons that only make sense to Xantia. "Nice to see you again!" As if this was like casually running into one another in a normal social situation. Well, all things considered, this probably counts as a fairly typical social situation for Xantia.
'Thomas' is actually the only person here that she's never seen before. Elena and Neriah, she's seen before in passing, but is unaware of them healing her before, and being the true source of the dark energy she saw covering Yarobeleedt that one time, respectively. She also didn't know their names before now. All in all, she definitely needs to introduce herself. "I'm Xantia, if you didn't already know! Spelled with X!" Which continues to be important. After all, some people might end up calling you Z.
At least the next obstacle had the decency to wait until after the pleasantries, the shaking of the temple not really causing any issue for Xantia to maintain her balance, but resulting in the way being blocked with a number of giant boulders. Which really only lifts Xantia's spirits further, who gets that gleam in her eye that she tends to get when she's about to eat and/or smash something. She only intends the latter in this case. This is exactly why she's carrying that giant hammer on her back.
"Stand back, everybody! I'll take care of this quickly!" Removing the tool from its leather bindings, it's clear enough from the cracks it leaves on impact with the ground that the hammer must weigh an absolute ton. Still, Xantia lifts it easily enough, and with a single swing aims to smash the largest of the boulders into tiny pieces, which should be much easier to move out of the way.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Megaton Hammer toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Things goes pretty bad. He don't recognise most of the people that this particular motley crew of people. Not being quite a healer himself, he is still targeted by them. The beasts rams and makes slashes at him, forcing him to deploy some of his spells in an emergency: Elena and 'James' might get a coat of foamy water growing over their bodies, as a mean to ablate some of the wounds they might be getting. It wont heal, but at least it will stop some bleeding, including his own.
"Bloody hell." Arleph mutters, then push his hands to his ears at the thunderous sound of the artillery shell hitting the side of the temple, the Symbologist shouting out. "BLOODY HELL! CAN'T THEY AIM THIS CRAP BETTER!?" he yells at the void, his hearing still ringing from the shockwave, lifting an arm to protect himself from the dust. "Neither do I, Elena! Neeeeither do I! That's why we're working to get OUT."
The one-eyed blonde man rushes on, just as he was about to reach down for his satchel to get a bomb. Xantia also rush onward with a hammer. Okay. Maybe not right now, then. With a flick of his wrist, tightening his fists onward, Arleph unleash a small blast of energy at the rocks. It'll be easier that way, than getting in the way of the two meatheads.
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Sudden Rubble Pile *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The battle still rages outside. Sometimes, it has an effect on those inside. As you walk down this hall, there is a sudden and powerful rumble that tears through the whole of the Temple. The force of it might knock you to your feet and send you sprawling. That isn't the only thing it knocks. Up ahead, part of the ceiling collapses. A huge slab of stone falls down, then shatters into dust and huge chunks of rock -- which then block the hallway up to three-quarters of the way to the ceiling. The rubble will need to be cleared away, because that is certainly a very tight fit. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 2 *>======================= =======================< Results - A Sudden Rubble Pile >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 18 --(6)--> 24 Pass Megaton Hammer 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 14 --(10)--> 24 Fail Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 16 --(11)--> 27 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 12 --(9)--> 21 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 16 --(6)--> 22 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 14 --(6)--> 20 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 17 --(6)--> 23 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Xantia 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Overzealous(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Xantia has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 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.
"Everyone, even if we don't want to be here now, we have to look towards the future," Emma says, clasping her hands and doing literally nothing to help. Then again she doesn't have a wrench and has noodle arms, probably, so this is perhaps defensible. "No matter how bad our pasts, and how bad the present, the future is where we'll spend the rest of our lives."
Bart wrestles big chunks; Neriah shovels friable stone and infill.
She starts talking to 'Thomas'. "Yes; I'm the inventor of the Emma Motor. It's been widely discussed in all the best newspapers. I wrote the articles myself." She raises a hand to wave cheerfully at Xantia. "How wonderful to see you! Contextually wonderful. I wish I could help more here, but you know how it is." She orbits to the other side of Thomas Blackwell when Xantia calls her shot.
Emma will in fact, if Thomas is not alert, gather him to her side to protect him from shrapnel.
At which point Arleph opens up on the stone at the same time that Xantia smashes up the largest one. This improvised recapitulation of the industrial processes that turn BEAUTIFUL ANCIENT STONE LAYERS into INCREASINGLY SMALL FRAGMENTS and eventually DUST carries itself forth, even as Emma murmur-shouts to Thomas, "Try not to breathe the dust."
Soon enough a way is forged, and while picking your way over the rubble isn't going to be fun, it's become "I don't really want to walk on the hot xeriscaped stone ground cover behind the house to pick up a dog doot" difficult, not "I need ropes, pitons, a Baskar guide, oxygen cylinders and a silently-pre-planned list of who I'll eat for food after the avalanche, and in what order" difficult.
Emma claps her hands. "Hurrah!"
The temple rumbles a little.
"Let's keep moving."
DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Hidden Switch *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The door at the end of this hallway is closed. A push won't open it, and some examination indicates that it must lift up into the wall above it. There isn't an immediately obvious way to make it do so. However, a large set of reliefs are carved into the wall around the door. They depict the Guardians in stylized form, each surrounded by elements of their domain. Perhaps, they provide a clue -- or hide the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart is used to carrying large stuff - he's had to make sure that he bones up on his ability to lift large rocks due to certain people who shall not be named (but if they were would be named Cecilia, Ida, and Emma most likely) having trouble with such a basic dungeon activity. But Bart lifts em up, tosses em aside, and the group is on their way in short order.
On the upside, the next obstical is not a collapsing ceiling, pack of monsters, or anything else fell and terrible. Instead, it is... a door.
Bart walks up and pushes it.
Nothing.
He punches it.
Still nothing.
"Okay, I give up," he declares, the surefire, always works way of dealing with locked doors having failed him. He looks around for a moment, and adds, "There's usually a hidden trick to these things, from what Ceci tells me about these damn temples. Probably a hidden switch somewhere, and once we trip it the door will open and we'll be able to get through."
He looks at the carvings for a long moment, and just shakes his head. And goes to lean on a carving of Chapapanga, the Guardian of Luck. "Well, I'm open to suggestions, if folks have any."
Really there's a good chance he's leaning on the switch, but the actual release could be more complicated. Or anywhere. The looming faces of the Guardians look down in relief from all the carvings, as if they were judging the party by their ability to locate and operate a simple switch.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"I only came because there was a cool temple. I didn't expect the Second Metal Demon War to blow up in my face," Neriah sympathizes, grimacing as she nods to Elena. Her, at least, she recognizes. Thomas too - she glances back at the medical student and pauses in her stone-levering for a moment. "So you got caught up in this too, huh.
"Hopefully it goes better than that death butterfly cave," she quips before returning to work.
Something about the place is bothering her. A vibe in the air. She looks up anxiously, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.
"Hi, Xantia. I'm Neriah," she murmurs, her tone more subdued as she shoulders her shovel again and starts after the group. In lieu of the tool, she draws Marilyn again, loading a fresh clip into the silvery pistol. For the moment, it turns out to be unnecessary; she can't shoot a door, after all.
Standing back, she watches Bart shove and whack at the door. In spite of herself, she smirks, than shakes her head. "Obviously we're supposed to wait around and starve and then follow the body wagon out," she suggests drily, fishing into her pack for a complex-looking lens - the type carried by Excavators. She adjusts the device, delicately turning a couple of rings on the outside.
Leaning forward, Neriah sets the lens over her eye and begins to peer at the statues. Her tongue dances over her lips. "Okay," she murmurs. "I think I can see something." With leather-clad fingers she touches the face of one of the sculptures - that of Celesdue.
A little shiver runs through her - like a death chill. Her chest tightens. She blinks.
"I-I can see some seams in the stone behind these reliefs," she says, her tone a bit more halting and anxious. "I think there's a hidden switch."
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"Elena!" she answers to Xantia, and in general to the party, before a few moments pass and she nods to Emma. She's not wrong. Whether they want to be here or not, they don't have much choice, and complaining about it gets them nowhere.
Elena shakes her head, slaps her cheeks a few times, and attempts to cheer herself up. She follows along a bit faster now, though finds their way barred again.
The Songstress wanders towards the stone carvings, inspecting them. She walks back and forth along the mural, curious, looking for pieces of stone that stand out or even some hidden meaning in the imagery. If she knew much about the Guardians it might be easier.
"Perhaps it is somewhere on this wall," she answers Neriah, reaching out to feel along the surface of the carvings. "But if all else fails, perhaps we could just blow the wall open," she also offers. Wasn't she whining about desecrating a religious site moments earlier?
DG: Elena has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia looks mighty pleased with the result of her smashing the crap out of boulders with a giant hammer. Because whose favorite thing wouldn't be smashing everything in sight? If that could solve every problem ever, she for one would be more than okay with this.
And wouldn't you know it, the next obstacle is something for which this is not the case, as Bart quickly demonstrates, and explains the situation. With a deep sigh, Xantia puts the hammer away. "I don't like hidden tricks," she complains. Mainly because she has no idea where to start with looking for one. If there's a switch or some kind of puzzle here, she certainly doesn't see anything that jumps out at her.
Neriah's introduction, soft-spoken as it is, gets a much louder response: "Nice to meet you, Neriah! Are you good at puzzles?" The initial offered suggestion makes her face fall. "Oh no, I don't want to starve!" Of all the ways to die, dying because you had no food to eat seems like the worst possible.
Luckily, people soon start to search for a better way. Not having much to contribute on her own, she reaches into the inner pocket of her cloak for her trusty Guide to Dungeoneering, containing all the painfully obvious information and trite phrases one could ask for! Though its wisdom may be questionable, she rarely fails to find something of value to her in there.
As is the case today, when she reaches a whole section with pictures that she never thought would actually be relevant before. "Heeeeey... these pictures on the wall, those are the Guardians!" Way to go Xantia, you figured out what everybody else here probably already knew. Well, better late than never to learn something about what the Guardians actually are...
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Guide to Dungeoneering toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
...Why is she even talking to him?
Perhaps it's the immediacy of their situation that stays the worst of 'Thomas' tongue; he instead takes a long, slow breath as he stoops to heft another rock. At least he's used to this type of suffering, enduring what someone else is saying and not be able to put in a single word edgewise.
But neither is he going to listen to this and not say anything.
"Wonderful, from an unbiased source I see," he comments as Emma explains about her motor (this is vaguely familiar, somehow, but not something he can immediately place). He straightens, wiping at his forehead with the back of a hand--
--And Emma hooks an arm around his waist and pulls him out of the way as Xantia gives the rocks everything she's got. For a moment, Emma might be reminded of attempting to wrangle a recalcitrant cat -- Thomas does not go gently into the night.
"...I'll try," he says to Emma, flatly. But at least the rocks are out of the way and they can move on ahead!
Ahead lies a door. A door that, as Thomas stands towards the back of the room, arms crossed over his chest, Bart attempts to open. By force, even.
He somehow manages to stifle a sigh.
"Obviously," he comments dryly, on Bart's observation. "Judging from these statues... hmm, there's some pattern here." Slowly, the medical student steps forward, touching a hand to his glasses as if to readjust the sit on his face... and silently expend a miniscule amount of ether. Guardian lore isn't his forte, but there are details in the rock...
"Celestial elements," he murmurs, glancing from one carving to another. "Some wear and tear here... so what if I press this," he says, reaching up for a panel displaying an odd shrimp-like being with a single eye against a sea of stars. The eye seems worn.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph is ahead on Emma on that front, lifting up his scarf to the lower end of his face when the dust starts becoming more common than it should. A large part of him is still cursing the fact that he came here. What posssessed him to go straight into a warzone like that? Alright, sure, he's alive now, he's found some people he knows and now, they are inside.
The sights of the statues inside changes his attitude immediatedly. Arleph lets out a low, whistling appreciation as he looks around the area. "Well, helloooo there." The Symbologist, mutters, subtly lifting a hand to the side of his head, tapping the side of his glasses. They still look like regular glasses, but on the otherside, they begin to look around, scanning and analysing as he peers closer to the statues.
It's a bit harder than it sounds. His computer system scans along the sides ashe takes good copious amount of notes, taking video footage for him to look at later while he moves along.
"Yeah, it appears to be, Xantia." Arleph replies to her, calmly, patiently. He knows that woman is not the sharpest tool in the box, but, hey. No reason to be cross with that. He gives Bart a look, before tapping on the side. "I think I might have something, here. There might be some pattern on it..."
He gives Loren a brief look at his own analysis, eyeing him, before tapping on the picture. "You'll also notice that there is several patterns of where some of the eyes are staring at, right here." He adds, pushing against it, at the same time.
Well, well. That is some interesting lenses, buddy.
DG: Arleph Ardan has used his Tool Optics toward his party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma looks at Neriah over her glasses. "You sound extremely depressed," Emma says. "I think that means it's time for some optimistic music."
At this point she fiddles with the Emulator until it starts playing a cheerful, upbeat song. Synthetic piccolos and grand sweeping sounds fill the air!
Kinda like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAn8FVUp090
It's also faint and coming out of the Emulator. Emma holds this up as if it will provide encouragement, or perhaps raise spirits, as she studies the puzzle. She herself goes towards the Guardian of Luck, because that's where you go to take a chance.
This puts her irritatingly near Thomas. "Do you think an unbiased media is genuinely possible - or indeed, desirable?" she asks him, probably distracting him from inspecting the murals. Her ARM continues to make cheerful and inspiring music.
DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Text File of Her Own Wisdom toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Hidden Switch *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The door at the end of this hallway is closed. A push won't open it, and some examination indicates that it must lift up into the wall above it. There isn't an immediately obvious way to make it do so. However, a large set of reliefs are carved into the wall around the door. They depict the Guardians in stylized form, each surrounded by elements of their domain. Perhaps, they provide a clue -- or hide the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 3 *>======================= ========================< Results - The Hidden Switch >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 24 --(6)--> 30 Pass Guide to Dungeoneering 1 Wits Effects: Rally and Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 24 --(6)--> 30 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 27 --(5)--> 32 Pass Text File of Her Own Wisdom 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 21 --(6)--> 27 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 22 --(4)--> 26 Pass Optics 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 20 --(6)--> 26 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 23 --(15)--> 38 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Xantia 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Overzealous(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1)|Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Xantia has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Look," Bart growls as people start making suggestions. "The pirate is here for smashing, not thinking. If you've got something you want to try, go for it! Otherwise I've got enough explosives in my pack that we'll get through sooner or later!"
Really, the idea of just blowing a complex puzzle to smithereens gives Bart a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, no matter how much damage that might do to their chances of making it through this temple in one piece.
The answer actually lies with several panes being activated at the same time. On the other hand, 'activated' is actually 'push the Guardian bas relief', and as people poke around they find that the great stone carvings slide backwards extremely easily, several clicks echoing from behind as the group pushes things around and discovers the right pattern. There was a considerable amount of flash and decoration that was meant to draw the eye into making the puzzle look like they were more complex than they actually were, a clever tick that the group none the less defeats.
There is a flash of light from above the door, a small crystal lamp carved into the stone lighting as the lock disengages and the stone door moves out of the way with a loud grinding sound.
Bart looks at it for a moment and grunts. "I still think that breaking it down would have been a lot more fun," he grumbles, before looking through the door. "Looks clear - we should be able to make some good progress. Provided it doesn't throw something else horrible at us before we get to the end, at least."
And with that, the pirate slips ahead, striding into the darkness and looking for the next challenge.
DG: Elena has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Spartoi Pincer *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Even in this hallowed place, the risen corpses known as Spartoi can be found. As you round the next corner, the skeletons are already lurching forward. Their blades have not been dulled with time and gleam in the dim light here, and their eyes come aglow with a fell green light. They cease lurching and rush. In the clatter of their advance, you may not notice another clatter. Behind you, a trio of Spartoi drop down from the ceiling and land in a crouch. They, too, rush in -- and you seen find yourselves being attack from both sides! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Bad Luck=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
It is en-route to the next room, crossing a long, unusually silent hallway, that the Temple's next trial would manifest. Not in the form of artillery or Metal Demons, but in the form of an evil brought from another world.
Malevolence permeates the air, like a faint purple, black and red fog that dulls the senses and tightens its grip around your heart like a vice. To the spiritually uninclined or blind, to those of low Resonance, there is nothing but a feeling of unease, of heavy air. To the others, it's obvious something is wrong before the shadows even move.
Leaking from the battlefield outside, fueled by the deaths and suffering of countless people, this Malevolence has brought three corpses back to life. Ancient protectors of the temple, no doubt, long since dead, their sleep now disturbed. To the naked eye, simple skeletons wearing what's left of ceremonial robes and outfits. To the Resonant, vicious, glowing purple specters coiling around bones.
One brandishes a spear, thrusting in a flash.
One twirls a rotten wooden staff, flinging a fireball.
One guards his companions with a massive shield.
Elena appears uneasy, evidently able to feel the oppressive darkness in the air. Her Mana Egg shines brightly as she raises it. "Tainted ones, you will not lay a hand on my friends! Lord Granas, protect us!" And just like that, protective buffs and healing magic wash over the party another time. It's sorcery, not the hand of a divine being, but hey, close enough.
DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Malevolence? More like Malevowhat? Bart neither sees nor hears anything weird besides the fact that there's just some wandering skeletons that have decided to make an appearance. Contrary to what anyone else might be feeling, which is probably darkness or evil or something, the pirate looks REALLY REALLY HAPPY.
"Now THIS is what I'm taking about!" Bart states as he pulls out his vial of cologne. He draws the energy from it, allowing the feeling of strength to seep into his body for a moment before he pulls out his whip.
"Stupid puzzles? Bah. Falling rocks. Whatever. Give me a good scrap with a bunch of walking skeletons, monsters, or some ancient robot thing ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!" Bart calls out, snapping his whip for a moment, the grin on his face getting larger and larger by the moment.
He's been looking for a good scrap ever since they got in here.
And with that, Bart literally throws himself into the fray - probably more than a bit recklessly from the point of view of anyone else in the group! But he lays about with whip, first, and foot - not pausing for a moment as he goes onto the attack.
The fact that he's cackling madly the entire time might also be a little disturbing. Of course, for those who can see the purple miasma swirling about the room, it is interesting that none of it seems drawn to Bart as he goes crazy on the offensive.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"I like to think I am," Neriah answers Xantia with a hint of a blush. She seems uneasy; she glances over her shoulder, adjusting her lens a couple of times and peering at another of the carvings. "Yeah... yeah, I think they are the Guardians."
She looks back again, as though expecting to see something. All she sees is the room they just came from.
As Emma flicks that music on, Neriah blinks at her in surprise. She manages a crooked smile. "Ah heh. I wouldn't say depressed. But thank you. It..." Helps? "...it's a thing!"
Continuing after Elena, Neriah holds her pistol at the ready - only to suck in a startled breath as she walks into the next corridor. She can see the way the Malevolence her twists and distorts the landscape, the sullen colours of it filling her vision.
It fills more than that. As the Spartoi clatter out in front of her, with more behind, Neriah lowers her pistol slowly, sliding it back into her belt. "Even in a place like this, huh," she mutters, her voice taking on an acid note. She levels her right hand again.
The power that begins to mount is not Malevolence. Just like before, it's something else. It builds and builds; arcs of black lightning race up Neriah's arm, radiating out from her palm. This time she doesn't seem to brace herself in the same way. Her shoulders shake and her breathing rasps with pain, but she bears it.
Rippling monstrously through the Malevolence, Neriah calls forth the dread power. Unlight globs hideously around her, warping and writhing, manifesting itself into the shape of a vast, amorphous talon. The sound of it is gut-wrenching, a sub-sonic screen that rattles teeth and pressures eardrums, mounting as Neriah casts the vast talon of negative magic down the corridor to attempt to tear the Spartoi asunder.
Her eyes are wide with an unsettling intensity, head cocked to the side a few degrees more than is natural.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Excavator's Lens toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph lets out a thriumphant exclamation when the door opens, giving the other lense-wearing person a nod. He'll have to keep that man in mind for later, when they are not here, before letting out at Bart. "Breaking doors have a time and place, buddy. I'm sure we're going to have something to break here, that's likely not a few thousand years old and irreplaceable." The Symbologist makes heavy emphasis on the terms there, before moving on into the door.
Malevolence is not something that he's used to. The pungnent scent is strong to his nostrils. The Living Dead is not something new to him. He's encountered it before. It's still a shock to see this sort of power, the heavy unease in the air. Most of all, the sight of the vicious, glowing purple specters is the most shocking of all.
Neriah's own electrical power do also bring something of a brief shock to him, before he refocus on the 'glowing' skeletons. He have still no earthly clue on why this happens, beyond that this is energy of some sort, ambiant or dormant that was awaken by them. That don't matter right now. There's a lot to think about but very little time to do so in.
So Arleph resorts to a good, old stand-by. Pretend and act as he knows.
"Evidently, yes." The Symbologist lets out, lifting a finger and snaps. A circle spreads below him, pooling energy and will into his spell, his free hand gripping next to his first, then pulling at invisible strands. His circle below splits in half, straight in the middle as one large watery cutter spawns in one hand, while the other grows into an emergency shield, smacking at the incoming Fireball, while flinging the cutting blade at the wizardly skeleton.
"Focus fire!" Arleph shouts, trying to not let the oppressive air bother him too much. Not to mention the ruinous power of that lightning-slinging woman.
Extreme measures do not allow choice of companions for survival.
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Bart has the most interesting ideas on alternate ways to solve puzzles. No wonder Xantia finds him easy to get along with. But alas, by the time she puts her book away and starts to consider bringing the hammer out again, the others have already successfully completed the puzzle. "Awww... breaking it down would definitely have been more fun," she agrees with the pirate captain.
Xantia's had her flashes of spiritual awareness, showing that there might be some potential there... but outside of these, her Resonance seems to be about the same level as that of your average rock. She too only sees walking bones, and she too seems mighty pleased about this. She's really proving that in a lot of ways, she's... just like Bart.
Except Bart is actually more eager than she is, literally beating her to the punch in dealing with those in front. Lucky for her, more skeletons drop in from behind, so she quickly calls dibs: "I've got these!" Not that she'll actually object to receiving some help, but she's more than eager to rush in and start punching.
To further aid in handling this effectively, an ominous hum heralds the activation of her ARM, a red energy blade flaring to life from within the bracer she wears. As fun as smashing skeletons in with your fists until they stop moving is, it's a lot more efficient when a simple swipe of your arm is enough to slice one clean in two.
Absolutely nothing about this is disturbing to her at all. This is just good, simple fun, right?
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I'll say," is Thomas' comment as Bart assesses his own abilities. Though, now that he really looks at the pirate...
Arleph also receives a sidelong glance. Well. One blond eyebrow lifts faintly. Those are not normal glasses. Call it taking a thief to catch a thief in this case -- 'Thomas' would know.
His 'glasses' aren't really glasses either.
"...Yes, something seems to be here," he comments instead, gaze realigning to where the Symbologist taps. "What did you say your name was?"
Neither is Arleph the only person here using items they shouldn't have. In silence, Thomas' gaze drifts Emma's way.
Only to divert as she once again addresses him. Ever so slightly he glances heavenwards, as if pleading silently. "This isn't the time or the place," he replies, as it attempting to ignore her very presence* (*this is impossible).
This section of the relief clicks into place pleasantly though. As do the other sections. Thomas slowly exhales a sigh as the door opens. Maybe, even he can dare to hope that he'll get out of this one alive.
It's not precisely a thought that lasts long. Something feels... wrong. "Wait a minute," the medical student starts to say--
And the dead rise.
Not the first time he's seen this happen; the last time it was connected to Malevolence. He feels nothing, whatsoever though -- none of that spiritual pressure the others spoke of. But these thoughts and the feelings clutched to them are flung aside. "Incoming--"
This isn't a shout about incoming foes.
It's a shout about another set of medical supplies delivered in an unorthodox way, even as a sensation that he definitely does feel seems to rip through his body in a most unsavory way. Also in a familiar way. It's that... thing again. Neriah's power.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma frowns at the sight of skeletons ahead of her, and Elena invokes Granas the Lord and generally carries on. Pushing her glasses up her nose, Emma stops her music streaming in order to press several keys and unleash a sudden surge of incineratingly-hot air towards the skeletons. No, it doesn't look like fire, but that's what's brilliant about it. The heat transfers even so!
"Is that the enthusiasm of a real pirate commander!?" Emma... who is she talking to, anyway? Is she addressing some unseen audience? The demons in her head, metal or otherwise? Maybe. She shimmies a little, staying clearly in the backline as others strike, slam, and lay waste.
"Do I intimidate you?" Emma asks Thomas from directly besides him, a place where she has placed herself even as he deploys his medical pod. "I intimidate a lot of men."
DG: Emma Hetfield has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer.
============================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Spartoi Pincer *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Even in this hallowed place, the risen corpses known as Spartoi can be found. As you round the next corner, the skeletons are already lurching forward. Their blades have not been dulled with time and gleam in the dim light here, and their eyes come aglow with a fell green light. They cease lurching and rush. In the clatter of their advance, you may not notice another clatter. Behind you, a trio of Spartoi drop down from the ceiling and land in a crouch. They, too, rush in -- and you seen find yourselves being attack from both sides! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Bad Luck=========================================
=======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 4 *>======================== ===========================< Results - Spartoi Pincer >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 30 --(4)--> 34 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 30 --(1)--> 31 Pass Excavator's Lens 2 Combat Effects: Enlighten ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 32 --(1)--> 33 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 27 --(1)--> 28 Pass Mist Egg 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 26 --(3)--> 29 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 26 --(1)--> 27 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 38 --(1)--> 39 Pass White Cologne 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Xantia 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Xantia has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 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> Elena has posed.
Bart's enthusiasm is rewarded. By going right into the fray before the Spartoi have even positioned themselves, he goes right past the shield-bearing skeleton, whipping the staff right out of the sorceror's hands - its hands, too, the skeleton losing them in the exchange thanks to a nasty kick from the pirate.
Neriah brings dark powers to bear, blasting the shield-bearing skeleton back so hard that it loses its defensive instrument wholesale. The tainted soldier struggles to rise again, but animated by the malice of war itself, it perseveres!
Arleph at least shields the party from the fireball, but his blast of water finds little purchase on the spear-wielding Spartoi, who closes in on the party spear-first...!
Thankfully, Xantia picks up the slack. Thanks to Arleph's blast, the spear Spartoi is in a perfect position for Xantia to tear it asunder with a wave of her arm, and then the skeleton falls to the floor inert.
The final nail in their coffin is Emma's heat wave, which finishes off the spellcasting and shield Spartoi, already damaged as they are from the fight.
Thanks to Elena and Loren's healing, the party is better off now than when the fight started to boot! Things are looking much better than earlier. The icing on the cake: the Malevolence seems to have withdrawn, seeping into the ground or perhaps back outside, attracted by further conflict and strife.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Arrow Crossfire *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next chamber is a long, narrow hallway. You would be well-advised to run, because the entire area just past the door is a pressure plate -- and pressure plates line the whole floor. When you step on each, the numerous staggered holes in the wall begin firing arrows across the hall. It will take careful but quick movement to evade them all -- especially because some are positioned high, to hit someone who tries to jump over the lower ones. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Slow===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
How does she keep doing that?
It was definitely not expected, from the way that the medical student (recent graduate of military school, combat medicine track) glances over at her. Neither is the comment, it seems, since his attention there lingers. He visibly struggles for a moment.
"...What?" 'Thomas' finally says, the very picture of startled bafflement as pitched combat unfolds around them. "Are you really..." He closes his eyes, sighs, shakes his head. "...Nevermind. I don't have the time for this."
Even the vague sense of something not being quite right fades as the skeletons fall. His gaze lingering on Neriah for a moment more, Thomas heads off with the rest of the group down the rest of this narrow hallway.
It won't be long before something goes clickity under someone's foot.
In this unlucky case, despite being towards the middle, 'Thomas' is the first one who steps on a pressure plate, but by no means will he be the last -- it's just a matter of time for everyone to step on a pressure plate!
An arrow flies past, narrowly missing the medical student as he takes a step back... and steps on another pressure plate.
Was this whole hall littered with pressure plates!?
Short answer: yes.
Another arrow zips by. The ratcheting sound from within the wall ALSO DOESN'T SOUND VERY GREAT.
Yes, it's reloading. Did you think not standing on a plate would stop the arrows? Because there's certainly a whole lot of arrows as this trap kicks into high gear.
"Run!" is Thomas' suggestion as he makes a break for it.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The difference this time, at least given what Thomas has seen, is that last time - months ago - it was all Neriah could do to not die when she called up whatever her power is.
Here, she seems to do so with some effort, but not with any screaming or tears.
The magical coil retracts itself into Neriah; she jerks unnaturally, then lurches forward, stumbling and catching her breath. Something didn't like that - she can feel her skin crawling and her heart beginning to race. But she forces herself to look beyond it. Lifting her head, she narrows her eyes and moistens her lips with a slow pass of her tongue, her fingers tensing and relaxing within her gloves. As the Malevolence begins to fade, though, the girl sags visibly, slumping against the wall and pressing a hand to her forehead.
Her chest hurts much more now. "...Let's just hurry," she manages. As she proceeds forward, she looks back over her shoulder.
Something's watching her. She can tell that much.
And then an arrow whips past her face, about an inch away. Neriah widens her eyes with shock.
"Damn," she gasps, breaking into a wild, lurching sprint down the corridor. Her heels keep on hitting pressure plates. Arrows hiss and dart and fly around her; she struggles to keep ahead of them, lunging and tottering and hopping back and forth in the hopes of not becoming a pincushion. "Shit shit shit, I hate arrows!" she curses irrationally.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
Talk about awkward, now that Elena can pay attention to her fellow party members. Do Loren and Emma know each other? And what's what unusual chill between the two that could freeze water?
Maybe more importantly, what's that power Neriah keeps using? It's wrong, that's for sure, but you'll excuse Elena for not knowing the difference between the different kinds of wrong yet. It's still quite concerning. Something worth talking to her about privately at some better time?
For example, a time when they are not having to break through a hallway made entirely of arrow traps and pressure plates. Elena yelps loudly and begins running, although it's quickly evident she isn't swift on her feet and runs like someone who's never had to do much of it before.
"Why are there traps in a religious temple?!" she yells, cementing her disdain for the Guardians. Lord Granas would NEVER do this!!
DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"Guardians are assholes!" Neriah shouts back at Elena as she does an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle over a bunch of arrows.
Okay, she just kind of trips.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
"Haha, nothing like a good bash to loosen up the limbs and get the blood pumping!" Bart comments with a grin as the last of the skeletons go down. It's not a bad scrap, and he can't say it was too difficult. All out of his energy cologne, sadly - he'll just have to hope there isn't too much more fighting.
A little would be nice, though.
The path ahead doesn't seem all that bad... and then the whistling snap of arrows being launched down the hall is more than enough warning for Bart. He's seen these sorts of traps before, and they can be a pain if you're not ready for them.
Thankfully Bart has dealt with these before, and the only proper solution is to WHIP THE HELL OUT OF IT.
Of course there's other things that you need to do as well. Like dodge, and Bart lashes out with his whip in a wide arc, even as he ducks low to the ground. His goal is to try and deflect as many of the arrows as possible, even as he advances forward. "Emma, keep behind me! I'll try and deal with these things!" he calls out.
Let the less athletic types use him for cover. Bart's (fairly) sure he can navigate this mess without too much trouble.
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
The battle went... well, relatively well, actually. Arleph was almost skewered, but fortunately this was no solo battle. Once it is done, the Symbologist returns a look over at Loren. Try to not stare too much. He knows that you knows, and you know that he knows. He's not sure on the man's actual circumstances, but he's pretty sure that's not going to end up well for himself.
"Doctor Ardan." Arlephb replies simply, adjusting his hat, then tightening his gloves with a snap. "You?"
They move one. He remains perturbed by the vision of weird, heavy energy around the corpses, the whole feeling around that just push on his soul.
Then there is the click, of a pressure plate. Below his boot. Arleph looks down, then up.
An arrow zip past his hat, Arleph grabbing it while muttering out a bunch of words that could've been curses in a language, if it was coherent enough to be heard.
"MOVE IT, MOVE IT!" He shouts, dashing on. No time to cast a spell! "BECAUSE THEY'RE A MARVEL OF ANCIENT TECHNOLGOY!"
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Why, do you have an appointment?" Emma asks Thomas as they keep walking. "We could just take a few minutes to chat. I have a packet of biscuits and I always carry a little tea in a muslin bag, so it'd be quite civilized. Are you avoiding the question? Are you trying to deny your budding feelings, or is it purely a matter of professional -"
Thwip!
Emma freezes, saying as she does, "Pressure plates! My ancient foe." Her eyes narrow behind her glasses as she reaches into her blazer, pulls out what looks for all the world like a gun with a boxing glove on the barrel, takes aim and then
POOMP!
SHOOTS the weighted glove forwards, trailing a long thin rope, past 'Thomas' and hopefully snagging onto something. She then shifts forwards and crouches cautiously near Bart, explaining to him, "Just say the word and I'll activate the power winch. It should be enough to carry you too, unless you've been going too hard on the 'Captain's Biscuit' lately, or brought along your lead brick collection!"
DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Punchy Gun toward her party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia's energy blade only sticks around for as long as the skeletons do, the girl smiling brightly in satisfaction afterwards, no worse for wear after that ordeal thanks to the presence of healers in the party. It's so nice to just being able to focus on smashing things.
What's up ahead though is far less nice. As soon as the first arrow flies, she realizes what's going on here. "Oh no, not again!" This is solidly Xantia's least favorite trap, at this point. It just never goes well for her, somehow. This may have something to do with the fact that she doesn't really have any better way of dealing with it than rushing through and hoping for the best. She's not a slow runner, at least, but she's never been able to cross an entire Hall Of Arrows while dodging everything cleanly. Also, it's not something you can smash, making it even less fun of an undertaking.
Nevertheless, what can you do but give it your best shot? At Thomas's cue of 'run', she does just that, doing her best to dodge the arrows that are already flying while setting off a great many additional pressure plates along the way. How was anybody supposed to ever walk through these places normally, anyway? "Arrows are stupid!!" is her insightful contribution to the party's series of complaints as she runs as fast as her legs can carry her.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Arrow Crossfire.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Arrow Crossfire *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next chamber is a long, narrow hallway. You would be well-advised to run, because the entire area just past the door is a pressure plate -- and pressure plates line the whole floor. When you step on each, the numerous staggered holes in the wall begin firing arrows across the hall. It will take careful but quick movement to evade them all -- especially because some are positioned high, to hit someone who tries to jump over the lower ones. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Slow===============================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 5 *>======================= =========================< Results - Arrow Crossfire >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 34 --(21)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 31 --(17)--> 48 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 33 --(18)--> 51 Pass Punchy Gun 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 28 --(18)--> 46 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 29 --(24)--> 53 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 27 --(17)--> 44 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 39 --(22)--> 61 Fail Bart's Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Xantia 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Xantia 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> Loren Voss has posed.
"Thomas Blackwell, medical student," he responds, briefly looking Ardan over. Another meddling doctor?
Well that's good! Neriah's learning to control the... whatever that was. It's a concern, even if it doesn't over-occupy his thoughts under the circumstances. The brief moment here also means that he has a moment to reflect on a few of the others here, such as Elena. ...Granas clergy, he can see that now that he looks her over. Quite an interesting assortment--
His lips press thin as Emma...
Well, he certainly gives her a long, hard stare.
"I'll pass," he says, finally.
Just before he treads on a pressure plate.
For the bulk of the group, perhaps there have been better days by the time they finally, finally reach the end of the hallway. Arrows can be a little bit nasty.
For his part, 'Thomas' -- after he's seen to his own injuries -- dutifully begins to pass out what remains of his medical kit. "I have some bandages," he offers, pointedly not looking Emma's way.
Luckily, there's nothing 'untoward' about the contents of this kit -- fortunately better at thinking forward than thinking in the moment, the medical officer has made sure that only mundane supplies are included. Better to potentially fail than to risk his entire nation.
DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Shifting Tiles *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter this room, you are immediately greeted by the sound of rushing sand. A flowing river of the stuff moves through the center of the room, and it moves far too quickly to wade into -- not to mention that no one can be sure how deep it is. However, something else moves through the sand: huge tiles of obsidian, which float across it, and are wide and sturdy enough to hold a person. Crossing will require leaping from tile to tile, even as it moves underfoot, until you get to the other side. You certainly want to reach the other side. There, a huge doorway awaits. Three relief statues of the Guardians of Water, Fire, and Wind are sculpted around it, beckoning you forth. You suspect few of the other groups of Drifters have found these trial rooms, so deep under the ground. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"Granas, I think I got one where arrows should not be," Neriah groans as she reaches back to check to make sure there are no arrows stuck in her backside. There aren't, but one grazed the top of her thigh. She got through shockingly alright.
With a look back, she winces, realizing most of the others had a rougher time of it. She doesn't have too much more time to dwell on it, though. Something is nagging at her. It feels like something's watching - disapprovingly - and it's not Thomas the medical student.
Neriah's chest hurts. She presses a hand there as she proceeds through the arched doorway ahead.
As the room beyond comes into view, the girl gasps, staring at the vast doorway on the other end - framed by the statues of the three Guardians, Moor Gault, Schturdark and Fengalon. "Oh wow," she breathes as she touches her hand to her collar - and yet, her chest tightens just a little more, for some reason.
Between the group and the door, a massive sand cascade pours. Shards of obsidian are swept along by the sand, each at a slightly different speed - all of them big enough to carry a person or four. Wincing, Neriah looks back towards the others, then gets a running start and attempts to leap to one of the obsidian platforms.
"Why would anyone put this in a temple," she shouts indignantly, to try and cover how uncertain and uncomfortable she's getting.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"I do not know, but it is not funny!" Elena answers Neriah, while still clutching the arm she pulled an arrow out of. Sure, she healed it, but it still hurts! She's happy enough she didn't take one to the head, but she'd rather have taken none at all.
She adjusts her dress, a bit torn in places, and then watches the platforms long enough to try to get their pacing right. She seems like she should really not attempt this, given her prior performances with running and not falling.
"Surely there is a better way to cross!" Oh, to have wings and be able to fly.
If no one can offer any alternatives, she'll suck it up and get ready to jump. Hopefully, someone's ready to catch her when she inevitably fails.
DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Okay, so the arrow trap was not fun. Bart staggers a few times, showing some cuts from close calls from the arrows - but it was more the sheer amount of time it took to slash through that trap than the fact that he had been injured a few times that annoys him. But he keeps forward, and finally they have made it to the other side.
Which then leads into something that really takes his breath away.
"HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK!?!" Bart roars as he looks at the river of flowing and all the blocks moving through it. "EVEN IN THE CRAZIEST PARTS OF THE DESERT, SAND DOES NOT DO THIS!?! IS THIS JUST SOME GUARDIAN NONSENSE OR IS THERE AN ACTUAL RATIONAL EXPLANATION FOR THIS!?!"
The very sight of the puzzle just... irritates him. But Bart pulls out his whip, and gets ready to make a run across this rather crazy trap.
He's getting close. One way or another, he'll find out if what he is looking for is here or not. Just a bit further...
DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma's hand, which has an arrow scratch over the back, is immediately thrust into Thomas's field of vision.
Emma looks expectantly at him, even as her Punchy Gun whirrs merrily as the little Emma Motor in it retracts and re-tensions the launch spring cable.
- 3
"Well," Emma then says as she comes up closer, replying thus to Bart: "there actually is some logic to the idea of 'sand currents.' Under conditions of pressure and water absorption sand is able to operate as a thick 'fluid,' more like 'mud' than the water we're more familiar with. Even so, the motion would be slower - more like a swift earthquake or mudslide than the currents in the ocean. By extension, however, their destructive power would be much greater."
Emma aims for the roof with her Punchy Gun as she continues. "I don't know if I can explain the Guardians with any sort of scientific certainty, but notice how the Guardians of Water, Wind and Fire are there. Wind can stimulate air currents, which are themselves like a more attenuated form of the currents in the ocean. Temperature differentials can also create such flowing, which is why your potatoes bob around in the stew pot. Finally, water would allow the control of this sand to make an optimal fluidized bed."
Emma takes a step or two back. "I wouldn't be shocked if there's a statue of the Earth Guardian buried in these sands. Buried alive...!"
Emma then goes to swing across the entire gap, or at least skip some of the more aggravating jumpy puzzle parts.
DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Punchy Gun toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The Hall of Arrows proves as effective as ever. If there's a way to get through one of these unscathed, Xantia sure hasn't found it yet. She really needs a better plan, given how fond ancient civilizations seemed to be of these. All in all, she did better than expected, suffering mostly grazes from where she barely dodged in time to avoid getting struck solidly. There's just a lot of small injuries, which adds up.
Oh, and there's the little matter of an arrow stuck in her her shoulder. Xantia understandibly looks like she's having a miserable time as she pulls that one free, but for all the pain she should be in, she leaves it at the simple complaint of, "That was awful." Bandages and healing magic help with the injuries, but her mood has definitely dropped sharply after things stopped being possible to solve with brute force. And even she doesn't have boundless energy.
The others ask very good, valid questions about the next room over. Why is this here, how does this work, isn't there some other way to cross? But no answers are forthcoming. She instead adds her own question: "I guess we probably need to get to that door, huh?" Not something that anybody is likely to deny, unfortunately. Sigh.
At least she's not required to figure out the logic here. All she has to do is jump across. Which would have been a lot easier before that last energy-demanding trap. But she'll give it her best shot, nonetheless. No way but forward, at this point.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart just grumbles something about stupid sand currents, followed by an explative and wishing he had a sand torpedo to deal with this whole sand river thing...
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
The run was pretty horrible. A few hits Arleph, some are deflected by a passive invisible stream around his head, scraping him. The rest of his body is not so well protected, the symbologist stumbling out of the alley of death, falling on a knee. "Ah... ahhn... good... good... who knew... it all still worked correctly." He grunts, reaching for an arrow dug deep into his side, before snapping it off. He's going to have to look at that later, but by the sensation, it don't feel too bad.
There is, however, an arrow comically stuck in his hat. He don't seem to notice it as he put it back on.
The new sight, however, makes some of the pain go away. He's awe struck for a few moments, watching the sand move and flow like this. "If you give me a few hour, some tools and some scanners, I can find out for you." Arleph pants, as he push back to his feet, snapping and ripping away an arrow, thanksfully not biting into his flesh, to the ground. "I would very much like to know myself, but if I was a betting man, I'm pretty sure they generate that sand."
Once the immediate danger is over, he takes the moment to nod at 'Thomas'. Probably not his full name, or real name. That's fine. It's A Name, all the same. He adjusts his hat, looking at the improvised party for a moment before staring at the platforming.
He never was good at platforming, even in video games.
He slams a fist into the other's palm, muttering a few words. His closed fist gathers a bright blue sheen that he pinches with his other, then pull. A full, long whip draws out as he takes a deep breath. Well, here goes!
Arleph takes a dash, run, then leaps to one of the platform, swinging his 'watery' whip. It's small comfort, but hell, that'll do for courage.
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There is nothing, nothing as terrible as a meddling older woman. This, Loren feels acutely in the moment.
The next doorway opens into...
"Oh, wonderful," Thomas sighs, his gaze tracking the length of the speedily moving river. "Whoever built this place needed reassessment," he mutters, returning his medical supplies from whence they came.
He glances at Elena. "If you can think of a better way, I'm all ears. Though it looks like we're going to have to do this the difficult way. Naturally." His shoulders rise and fall in a sigh.
"There's likely some mechanism propelling the sand and forcing it to achieve its current fluid state. It's... well, yes," he finishes, as Emma explains the mechanics behind sand and how it can 'flow'. His attention shifts elsewhere. Three of the four elemental Guardians. They're commonly worshipped and are the most well-known of the Guardians -- Cultural covered the basics of what he would likely need to know, all in the span of a few weeks. Fortunately, he recognizes these three. "...One of them is missing," he notes.
...The earth guardian. Of course, sand...
This is his element, as it were.
He reaches out, minutely, stretching his awareness into the flow.. One hand lifts to his glasses as he -- pausing and looking for all the world as if he's staring at the sand flow -- attempts to introduce just a little bit of friction, enough to hopefully slow the river just a touch. Precision is something he's good at, even if brute force is where you're lacking.
But then, you don't master healing ether if you can't be precise with it. You only get to make a mistake fixing internal organs once.
And then, there's really nothing left to do but attempt to jump it and hope not to fall in.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
============================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Shifting Tiles *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter this room, you are immediately greeted by the sound of rushing sand. A flowing river of the stuff moves through the center of the room, and it moves far too quickly to wade into -- not to mention that no one can be sure how deep it is. However, something else moves through the sand: huge tiles of obsidian, which float across it, and are wide and sturdy enough to hold a person. Crossing will require leaping from tile to tile, even as it moves underfoot, until you get to the other side. You certainly want to reach the other side. There, a huge doorway awaits. Three relief statues of the Guardians of Water, Fire, and Wind are sculpted around it, beckoning you forth. You suspect few of the other groups of Drifters have found these trial rooms, so deep under the ground. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
=======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 6 *>======================= ========================< Results - The Shifting Tiles >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 55 --(16)--> 71 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 48 --(14)--> 62 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 51 --(8)--> 59 Pass Punchy Gun 3 Agility Effects: Rally --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 46 --(7)--> 53 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 53 --(11)--> 64 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 44 --(11)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 61 --(8)--> 69 Pass Bart's Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Xantia 80 --(5)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Xantia has passed 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> Neriah Parringer has posed.
It's no easy task; Bart and Emma have it easier, though, with the ability to just skip over parts of the puzzle. And it's fortunate that they do, too, because falling into the sand would be a disaster. It's moving too fast and seems to be too deep to be survivable. Nevertheless, tools only get the group so far; the rest of the way is all obnoxious timed jumps. At the far end of the room, the three Guardian statues stare stonily, waiting for the seven to brave the sandstream.
Somehow, though, they do it. It takes a lot of time, sweat and effort, but the team finally clambers up to that doorway on the other side of the sand stream, where the three Guardian statues stand staring in wait.
Neriah, sweating and breathing hard, presses her hand to her chest as she stares up at the statues. A sense of dread begins to build. She does not want to go in there.
DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Impossible Task *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The deepest rooms of the Guardian Temple are also the largest. This cavernous chamber stretches out, and each of the walls has extensive murals painted by hands deft and light -- hands that have produced art so sublime, with such finesse, that one might wonder if human hands could master them. The murals show the Guardians in abstract splendor; without revealing their form, and yet with such care that one cannot doubt the form that they have chosen. Three tiles, each a gleaming silver, stand in the center of the room. Around them are twenty-four statues on round pedestals. Each shows an abstract concept related to each of the twenty-five Guardians: a sword, a sun dial, a flame, a wave, and so on. As you enter, the three tiles flash. The ghostly images of three Guardians appear: the enormous, tortoise-like form of Schturkdark, the four-winged dragon form of Moor Gault, and the winged tiger of Fengalon. Each rears up and looks upon you. Schturdark speaks first: "We call upon your wisdom to break the past." Moor Gault speaks next: "We ask that you show the understanding that ever escaped your ancestors." Fengalon finishes: "We ask that you show us that you know mankind's place in the cosmos." They fade away, but a twenty-fifth statue appears on the central tile: one of a featureless, stylized human. It looks almost childish. Each statue can be moved -- including the human statue -- to show where you think you might fit in the cosmos. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless, Madness===============================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
The Sanctum of the Guardians is a vast hall, ringing with a stillness that belies the chaos that has engulfed the temple from outside. This deep within the structure, the din of war cannot be perceived - instead only the slow passing of ages, the faint whisper of wind, and the sounds of the party are all that make themselves evident.
Set in the center of the room are twenty five statues, each of them carved to represent one of the Guardians that protect Filgaia.
And then two of them flash - the first a strange, sixed limbed beetle - and a ghostly image rises above the statue, resolving in the shape of Stare Roe, the Guardian of Light. Shining eyes take in the group, and an echoing voice sounds in the hall.
"Walkers of this dying world - you stand in the light of judgement."
Another statue flashes, and a humanoid horned figure rises above it, an aura of darkness surrounding its body. Leitea Salk, the Guardian of Darkness speaks next.
"The shadow of the past hangs heavily upon you. You stand before us - our last hope."
"But the hope we placed in you has failed us before. What makes you different?"
"This world teeters on the edge of extinction. We have fought to preserve it - for those both good and ill."
The two Guardians rise into the air, their gazes taking in the whole of the party. As if they can sense the diverse origins, the differing powers that touch many of the members of this group. And yet for their differing backgrounds and natures, they all cannot survive without Filgaia to nurture them.
"Followers of Matchless Freedom."
"Followers of Absolute Order."
The two Guardians speak as one, their voices a challenge - demanding explanation. Justification.
"What hope does this world have left? How are you any different from those who burned this world time and again?"
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
Bart's response is... less than understanding of the Guardian's doubts.
"Like hell I'm here to justify anything to the lot of you!" the pirate shouts. He clenches one fist, and holds it up before him as if he were actively threatening two of the most powerful spirits on the planet. "Ceci might think that you lot are the saviors of our planet, but I'm not buying it. We..." And Bart pauses, and looks around for a moment, realizing that he might not speak for the rest of the group here. He amends his previous tirade to be a bit more specific. "I don't have to justify anything to you! I don't know what you're judging us for, or whatever 'sins of the past' you might be wanting to heap on our shoulders, but I'm having none of us! You can speak to everyone else - find them worthy or not, I don't give a damn."
And with that, Bart digs into his jacket for a moment, pulling out a small device that has something set inside of it.
He busies himself walking the edge of the room, checking the device every few feet and resolutely ignoring what is going on with the rest of the group.
Let them speak to the Guardians. He is having none of it.
DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
The Guardians. It's really them.
Elena frowns at being questioned by absent gods.
"We are different because we have the light of Lord Granas to guide us!" she explains, not paying mind to the very obvious fact the past generions also had that and it didn't help much. "Because with history in hand we can avoid repeating it! We can honor the sacrifice Lord Granas made for Filgaia so that we, his children, might continue to live and grow, until one day he can return and be proud of us!"
This isn't a justification. It's church preaching, to a T.
"We are the ones who fight for Filgaia now, not you! What right have you to judge us?! Your temple and trials have tried to kill us as often as the Metal Demons outside, what makes YOU different from them?!"
Oh. Oh no.
Well now you know which party member ISN'T getting any favors from the Guardians anytime soon.
DG: Elena has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma is faced, despite everything, with the Guardians. They're real! she thinks - speaking to her - she has so many questions, so many thoughts, about half a dozen fiddly little edge cases she reasoned out on carriage rides and while waiting for her sandwich which would, each and every one, answer some strange edge-case thought that lingers inside of her green-topped head.
She adjusts her glasses. They gleam.
Emma consults her Emulator now. She has to check what she wrote down. She is feeling an uncharacteristic and rare faltering of the steel-hard iron gun of confidence inside of her, which so often fires off ridiculous things from her mouth.
She scrolls past twenty inquiries and then scrapes a thumbnail over one of them, involving a strange question about the nature of non-linear duplicatory influence of the retroactive past through prediction of future actions because she realized that the solution was, as always: free choice.
"The answer to your question," Emma says, "is that I have a plan."
"There are many arguments and causes on to what has led Filgaia to this perilous, parlous state," Emma says, holding the Emulator in the crook of her arm. "Military action. Gears. People failing to heed to the tenets of one of four major religious groups. People marrying Beastmen. Not eating the shells of shrimps. It's a complicated question, but I have been able to make a survey of modern history and the trends of the recorded past and I have found that one of the problems is that nobody has a plan which they are willing to effectuate and put into operation."
"But," Emma says, "with several key technological breakthroughs or rediscoveries, these barriers can fall apart. Borders will become meaningless, things of regional pride and strength but not jealous lines on a map that decide whether life or death reigns. Humanity and our related clades will find a new common cause. Because we have a unifying enemy, though we don't know us. All nations and villages, all creeds and kins, have a foe now -"
Emma raises a finger to the heavens. "The decay of the world!"
Emma coughs then, slightly. "Please forgive my comrades," she continues to the two Guardians. "We're in a war zone and your temple has tried repeatedly to kill or mangle us, which I think is mostly a breakdown in your pedagogical measures. Anyway, I'd like the both of you to assist me in this project. I call it 'World Peace.'"
DG: Emma Hetfield has used her Tool Text File of Her Own Wisdom toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't have the greatest time with this jumping puzzle. She may not flat out fail her jumps, that part is fine. She just continually misjudges how the tiles will shift and ends up making a lot of necessary moves before she finally makes it across, exhausting herself far more than necessary. She just lets out a deep breath once she finally makes it to the other side, not commenting on the matter one way or the other. That wasn't just tiring, it was embarassing how she took longer than everyone else to finally get there. She realizes she's not that smart compared to most, but still.
And thus, the party arrives in the final chamber. Confronted by two Guardians of opposing forces, joined in asking difficult questions, sounding more as if making a demand of some sort.
Xantia is struck silent. She doesn't have any particular respect or lack thereof where it comes to the Guardians. She just doesn't know a lot about them, in general. But unlike some, the question doesn't offend her. It seems like something worth thinking about. Which isn't her forte.
So she does what comes natural. She grabs her guidebook, frantically looking for something that may be of help in answering this question. But as she turns the pages, something in her gut is telling her that this isn't what she should be doing.
Frowning deeply, Xantia slowly closes the book in her hand, returning it whence it came. "...this feels wrong," she says to no one in particular, before realizing she should probably clarify to the others: "I don't mean your answers. The question."
She looks up to the Guardians, feeling like she should be awed, but failing to actually feel any awe. She doesn't look upon them as greater beings. She looks at them like she would any regular person, and speaks to them in the same way.
"I don't think there's any way I can answer that. I barely know anything about myself, let alone the whole world. I have no idea how different I am. But... I don't think that's something I should judge myself, anyway. I'm just going to do what I think is right. Others can decide how different that makes me. But, I do know one thing..." Raising her voice, and making a fist, she declares with a confident smile, "It's impossible to fail, as long as you don't give up!"
She still ended up quoting her guidebook with that last sentence, but this is something that she believes, wholeheartedly.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Guide to Dungeoneering toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
The less Arleph have to think about the jumping puzzle, the better it will be for him. He thought that he was in a great shape.
That evidently do not include his jumping abilities.
Panting, his gloves scrapped, the sight of the inner Sanctum of the Guardians is an incredible sight. Adrenaline, his old friend, flows in as he stands up, looking around. His eyes widens, feeling the weight of age tha tlies in theses halls. So this is the representation of the aftermentioned 'Guardians' that seems so prevalent in the local mythology... And apparently sorcery, that he saw one or two being summoned. "Oh my." Arleph says, lifting a hand to his glasses subtly to tap at the side, scanning and looking around. "This is... quite a find! This is a strong find! Who knew that this mythology was growing so dee--"
Voices. Lights. Statues flashes with the booming echoes of the judgement of beings higher than them. Arleph's heart rises as he watches with facination the bettles growing into shape, rising, followed by the horned figure. They all have words, they all have things to say, questions to ask. The Symbologist stands there, his mouth hanging open, clearly stunned at the happenings.
There's a slight buzz coming from Arleph's glasses, thanksfully lost in all the booming voice, the sounds and the grinding outside. Looks like the just had an error trying to scan for Symbology.
The last question from the twin guardians do snap him out of his reverie, Arleph looking upward, his eyes burning bright.
"Well, I'll be, I... some actual bona fide metonymy -- if you'll forgive my slang-- higher beings, guardian of this ecosystem and this planet... All forming a panthenon, a hand against the tide to keep the world whole! I could have not even begin to imagine to meet some in person! I've only read about them! I mean, you! This is tremendous! I have never seen anything like this in the past!" Arleph's excitement grows, looking up at the statue that challenged them, Arleph tapping at his glasses again to shut down the sound. This alone is worth crashing on this damn planet. This alone is incredible wisdom just waiting to be discovered!
And they are calling them out on how they are different.
"That's quite correct!" Arleph cheerfully exclaims after Emma. "In my travels, I have seen a lot of Filgaia's current decay. Inexplicable dessertification, various part of the ecosystem failing without much of a reason, but I have also seen there have been many attempts at repairing the damage in the place, or perhaps that it was created in a shape, and now it is cannot sustain itself. Water also seems to have been funneled somewhere and there seems to be simply... a problem with the microbiological fauna in it. However, there HAVE been work, OTHERS worked hard in the past to make what there is here already, that is plainly evident. There are many variable that remains unknown to me. But if you speak on the more philosophical level, Guardians, of what sort of hope this world have, then the answer is quite simple."
The Symbologist adjusts his glasses, his uncharateristical glee falling to a more serious mood. "The ones who are now are not the ones that came before. What else is there to do but give it a try for anybody that lives on this soil? With education, care and researching the actual issues, it can be resolved. Humans, no, creatures of ambition, thoughtlessness and greed can and will exist as long indivudal sentience exists, but it is this very same individual sentience that brings such progress, as well. Ignorance is the biggest foe, here, and acting in said ignorance."
Arleph crosses his arms. "Of course, there's that mess with the Metal Demon that probably didn't help Void knows what else. They're clearly not from this ecosystem and that's actively bothersome." He lifts a gloved finger.
"To answer the question most succinctly: there is a common cause, people's mind can be changed, realise what they do and a course can be made. That is one step. The other... well, figuring out what the ones that walked before us here, have done would be a great step."
DG: Arleph Ardan has used his Tool Optics toward his party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah really, really does not want to go through that door. She's the last of the party to do it.
The statues draw her eye first. Starting forward, she inspects them - but as the pair of statues flicker and those ghostly effigies rise out of them, the girl in the newsboy hat can do little more than open her mouth half an inch and let it hang for lack of words.
But there are feelings. Her heart thuds erratically against her ribs. Clicking her teeth together, she presses her hand there, her breathing growing faster and more strained. Perhaps the Guardians aren't saying anything to her specifically, nor perhaps even specifically targeting her, but something throbs - a pain she's felt before.
Neriah has no idea what to actually say. At a loss for words, she presses her hand to herself more firmly, trying to ignore the old ache. She can't. A low hiss slips out of her before she dulls it down to a quiet growl. Drawing to a halt, she looks up at one of the statues, then another.
It's a statue of a lich-like Guardian - one that seems to embody death itself. in her mind, like a memory, time rewinds itself. the face of a man, his eyes alight with venom. a number etched there. a one.
"I recognize you," she murmurs to the statue of Ge Ramtos, her voice tight and accusational.
Then she lowers her head and closes her right hand. She can feel the pain shooting through there in a way it hasn't since that fateful evening, when a friend with a mysterious power walked into her dreams and told her she could be what she wanted to be.
"So that's why it feels the same," she murmurs, her voice hollow and very low.
Her right fist trembles. She can feel blood welling between her skin and her glove, the familiar pain that always comes when it's time to call on her magic. Squeezing her eyes closed, she bites to the inside of her cheek, unable to stop the torrent of angry thoughts burning through her mind - memories of dreams, of butterfly laughter. Things made clear. "Why should I justify anything to so-called gods who torture me just for existing," she hisses through her teeth as tears begin to well at the corners of her eyes. "I see you in my dreams and now I understand who it is. Why this place feels the same. So I don't want your hope or your pity. Just leave me alone."
She cuts herself off, but in the dark places of her heart, through the furnace of white-hot anguish and hate being stoked within her psyche, Neriah wishes more than anything that the pain were gone so she could feel strong enough to test whether or not her talents could make a god suffer.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Everything is perfectly understandable and logical. It's just a matter of working out the exact mechanisms behind event and phenomena. The world ultimately operates as a reasonable whole. Even strange things like 'Malevolence' have an explanation, somewhere.
That, up until this precise moment in time has essentially been Loren's operating principle for approaching the world around him.
The pressure of the Guardians makes themselves known. Standing there stock-still from the moment space seemingly distorts, as figures make themselves known, up until the point that the beings begin speak, Loren stares blankly, stuggling to make sense of this.
"A hallucination...?"
This... can't really be happening. He wants to reject this experience entirely, his whole psyche recoils from it. But reality has a way of making itself heard. He can feel this, hear this. This is in fact really happening.
Slowly, the medic takes a breath. Righting himself. Reasserting himself. Remember who you are.
What makes them different, the beings that exert such a terrible force across this chamber demand. Well, that's an easy answer, if one he can't voice among this lot. But the difference between himself -- one that seems ever firmer the more he thinks on it, remembers what he has been taught from birth, every ounce of history he has learned -- and these others is staggering. The silence of the alleged 'medical student' maintains, his attention turning between the others as they speak their pieces.
World peace.
The benevolence of a god.
Determination.
Refusal.
Isolation.
Knowledge.
He's righted himself and he knows where he stands, as he should.
"To answer your question simply," 'Thomas' says, looking up at the negative space of Leitea Salk and forcing himself to stare into that void, "Guidance. Wisdom, I suppose. We have have history on our side. We have seen what has come before, as she said, and we know how to avoid these errors again." By whatever means are needed to bring the sinful ones to heel. "I suppose you could also call it knowledge," he says, glancing towards Arleph. "But only through the guidance we have learned we need do we have a chance of repairing this world. That's what differentiates us."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Impossible Task *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The deepest rooms of the Guardian Temple are also the largest. This cavernous chamber stretches out, and each of the walls has extensive murals painted by hands deft and light -- hands that have produced art so sublime, with such finesse, that one might wonder if human hands could master them. The murals show the Guardians in abstract splendor; without revealing their form, and yet with such care that one cannot doubt the form that they have chosen. Three tiles, each a gleaming silver, stand in the center of the room. Around them are twenty-four statues on round pedestals. Each shows an abstract concept related to each of the twenty-five Guardians: a sword, a sun dial, a flame, a wave, and so on. As you enter, the three tiles flash. The ghostly images of three Guardians appear: the enormous, tortoise-like form of Schturkdark, the four-winged dragon form of Moor Gault, and the winged tiger of Fengalon. Each rears up and looks upon you. Schturdark speaks first: "We call upon your wisdom to break the past." Moor Gault speaks next: "We ask that you show the understanding that ever escaped your ancestors." Fengalon finishes: "We ask that you show us that you know mankind's place in the cosmos." They fade away, but a twenty-fifth statue appears on the central tile: one of a featureless, stylized human. It looks almost childish. Each statue can be moved -- including the human statue -- to show where you think you might fit in the cosmos. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless, Madness===============================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 7 *>======================= =======================< Results - The Impossible Task >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 71 --(100)--> 171 Fail Guide to Dungeoneering 1 Wits Effects: Rally and Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 62 --(100)--> 162 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emma Hetfield 59 --(100)--> 159 Pass Text File of Her Own Wisdom 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 53 --(100)--> 153 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 64 --(100)--> 164 Pass Optics 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 55 --(100)--> 155 Fail Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bart Fatima 69 --(100)--> 169 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Xantia 85 --(10)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Madness|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1)|Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Xantia is too exhausted to continue! DG: Neriah Parringer is too exhausted to continue! DG: Emma Hetfield is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elena is too exhausted to continue! DG: Arleph Ardan is too exhausted to continue! DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Bart Fatima is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Xantia has been fully Exhausted by The Guardian Temple! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Guardians' Burden *>===================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Try as you might, the Temple of the Guardians is made of sterner stuff than you were prepared for. As the last of the fight goes out of you, and as things look their most grim, there is a shimmer of light before you. Soft blue light erupts upward, and then a twisting, turning sea serpent floats there. Its scales are in purple, with fins of gold and blue. It looks down at you with soft eyes. "You have been pushed to your very limits... and you have failed our trial." Lucadia, the Guardian of the Sea, sounds sad about this fact. "And yet... these are times in which we cannot be as exacting as my brethren would wish. The Metal Demons seek to destroy our statues." The serpent shakes her head. "They cannot. You are not the hope we sought. But you are the only hope we have. Go with our blessing -- and with our burden -- so that we do not lose our precious Filgaia." The ghostly image of the Guardian vanishes. However, a collection of stone tablets -- one for each of you -- appears where she vanished, and are yours for the taking. OOC: You have acquired the Stone Medium for one of the Elemental, Terrestrial, or Celestial Guardians. You can pick which you receive. If your character is not a Zoa Priest or a Shaman, their use of a Medium will be limited. Please refer to recent +bbposts for information. Thank you for playing at Dream Chasers MUSH! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.
There is a vast shimmering sound in the room... and then the lights seem to go out, leaving everything cast in darkness. There is a moment of absolute silence, a void of sound so great that it leaves the illusion of a vast, formless ringing out. The silence that heralds the end.
The Guardians do not reappear - but their voices remain, even as light returns to the room. The statues remain quiet and inert, leaving the whispering voices of the Guardians of Light and Dark to resound in the empty room.
"The path here was laid down by humans who sought to test those who would stand before us. It is foolish to expect those who abide with such a limited span to understand the endless stream of history."
"The shadow of the past swallows comprehension - even those who seek to understand it are limited by their perspective. The veil has been drawn tightly across their eyes."
"And yet some of them try. Can we dismiss good intentions offered sincerely? We stand on the precipice."
"And thus we have no choice. To turn aside is to cede the battle to the enemy. To cede Filgaia to those who would destroy all life upon it."
"And so we ask of you mortals - you may not respect us. But are you willing to stand by and let the world be consumed by the darkness the Metal Demons will unleash? The end approaches swiftly - a terrible fate unavoidable by any who stand upon this world. To oppose that fate we would offer you a fragment of our power."
"Use it if you will. But we ask you to remain true to yourselves - even if you will not join our cause. Do not let the end come upon you without struggle. Fight - for those who cannot. For those you love. For yourselves if nothing else."
A single pillar of light lances down from the ceiling, illuminating a place that was, somehow, not visible before. In the center of the room, a collection of stone tablets appears -- a collection of Stone Mediums, ready to be claimed by those who are bold enough to take them.
The voices fall quiet, leaving the party in contemplation of their encounter with these deific beings.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
For all Elena was happy to spout flames at the Guardians, they... didn't bite back. They didn't take the bait. Their response was actually quite sensible, and now Elena is a bit perplexed about this entire situation.
Maybe, also, she feels a bit bad for being so judgmental?
Just a bit.
She reaches over to pick up the first Medium she can reach, which just turns out to be one of Noua Shax. She inspects it, not really understanding what it is she's holding. She pockets it without thought, figuring that she'll study the matter later. Right now, she would like to leave very much.
"... perhaps... we should have asked them how to get out, if they are so knowledgeable," she finally says, frowning.
She didn't think her contribution to the conversation was anywhere near as helpful as Emma's and Arleph's, and can actually be found looking at them inbetween looking around for the room for an exit. They certainly had strong feelings about the state of Filgaia, and far more knowledge than her on the matter!
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The fact that she isn't struck down instantly actually surprises Neriah. She still hurts, but even more surprising is the fact that the little pedestal in the centre of the room has seven Mediums on it. After all those times she'd slip into a nightmare and see that death Guardian hovering there among all the other horrific things, they're still expecting her to take their thing and do their dirty work.
"Fuck me. You asinine single-issue activists," she bites out into the open air, as if the Guardians could still hear her.
The others cluster around the little podium and claim their Mediums. Neriah hangs back, glowering bitterly and nursing that pain in her chest. By the time the group gets done doing what they need to do, Neriah's no longer in the room. She's headed for the first door she could find, not waiting around for the rest of the group.
A Medium with a little flame emblem on it is left sitting on the podium.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Guidance. Or someone else might name it more accurately: control.
But is that reason enough for the spirits that stand before him, that seem to -- however he might square his shoulders and properly bear his birthright -- have hooked out his true essence and stared into it?
Perhaps he is found wanting in the end.
But nevertheless, Loren does not look away. Where would he look to?
They vanish. There is nothing but silence. As if a statue, Loren stands there.
To cede the battle to...
A terrible fate...
"Wait. What fate? What enemy?"
It is for him an honest question. Who are they fighting, and why? At least in his nation's conflict he knows their foes by name and deed. Here...
Fight, for those you love. He straightens, as if he has just experienced a shock.
Light streams downwards. Loren's blue-eyed gaze sweeps the tiles laid out before him.
One, an image on a mountain etched upon it, draws his attention. Slowly, with deliberation, he approaches it, kneels down before it to touch it.
...Did he feel something from it just now? As if it were right, impossibly. "...This is ridiculous," he says, picking up the tablet all the same.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
The answers are given out. Arleph stands, crossing his arms upward. There is a lot of anger and resentment from the people here. Arleph takes some time from going to the podium, listening to the reply. So because there's no one else, huh.
That's about one of the thing he said, yes. That was said a lot, actually.
Arleph hangs back for a moment, stopping from stepping forward to give Neriah a glance. He can still feel that energy she used earlier. Another mystery, another strange thing to muse about. On the way, the Symbologist taps 'Thomas' on the shoulder a few time, shaking his head.
"This ain't no hallucination, Thomas. There's no electric interferences, no gas, illusiory interferences. We're witnessing a pure global-scale genius loci-- nah, I don't think that's appropriate a term. Whatever. Just remember that wisdom's good, but caring about what it does is just as important, yeah?"
Arleph do work over to the pedestal, taking at one of the tablets. He spend quite some time just looking over the tablet, facinated. A finger move over the sides, scrapping it and tapping it. "Facinating. Utterly facinating... An actual mean of communication to the Guardians themselves. Are they linked to it? Is the scribbling a representation of them? Is it PART of them?" Arleph mutters to himself outloud, picking the one that, he feels, is calling out to him. His voice falls into muttering, half in common Filgaia, half into other gibberish language as he observes it.
He can't wait to get to sit down and give this a deeper, longer look. Experimentation and interrogation awaits!
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"To be fair to them," Emma says as she approaches the stand, "that is an issue on which we can all share interest." She reaches out, then, to snag a Lightning Medium - the rune stone sits in her hand and she examines it again, quite closely.
"I certainly didn't expect THIS..."
Oh she's right next to 'Thomas' again. "Isn't it? But I think those were really the Guardians! Though I could speculate on the possibilities - are you familiar with the concept of a 'Hologram'?"
Emma then moves to put an arm over his shoulder. "You're quite the clever young man! I'd enjoy some deeper, in depth discussions. Perhaps with a light salad and entree and a bottle of -" She trails off and looks at Arleph then. "You know, I'm impressed at your erudition. Are you a student of the ARM?"
She slides a business card into 'Thomas's' pocket one way or another. It has a pre-written personalized message: 'look me up! <3' The address is in Adelhyde, so the card was probably printed a while ago.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
There's no way that Xantia is going to fully understand all of what the Guardians say in response. But she gets the gist of it. The gist being that they basically agree with her, since they don't seem about to give up. Good on them!
But also... offering a fragment of power? Xantia has no idea what that means, but she's not about to say no to, well, pretty much anything that's offered to her. She goes over to the collection of tablets without hesitation. Though at this time the one she selects feels entirely random, perhaps in time the hand of destiny might be revealed in her picking up a medium of Noua Shax. As taking the medium in her hand does not go without incident, in her case. As she gazes upon the leonine figure on the tablet, a powerful, prideful voice booms in her mind.
"Foolish child. Your actions are without reason, your motivations borne from ignorance. You know not what you commit yourself to. Look within yourself, and recall. Were we truly the first to place the burden of hope upon you?"
Xantia freezes, then one hand flies to the side of her head. A flash of memory... words once spoken to her, returned to her in an instant. Though the sound of the voice remains hazy and indistinct, the words themselves are crystal clear.
"Your task is not an easy one. But you must never lose sight of it. Never forget your mission, your destiny, your place in the world. You are Filgaia's hope... my child."
Xantia drops to her knees, filled with an abrupt sorrow with the realization that she did forget. She forgot everything. This voice, the way it addressed her. Could it have been...
"Fa... ther...?"
The inexplicable feelings of sadness quickly transition into desperation, Xantia gripping the tablet in her hands tightly. "Was it you? Did you show me this? If you know something, then tell me, tell me everything!"
No answer. Which is the wrong answer, in Xantia's current state of mind. Desperation immediately transitions into frustration, and anger. "Why?! Why just this? Are you making fun of me?!"
Silence. With no more answers forthcoming, Xantia slowly rises to her feet. And then abruptly runs from the room, not responding to anyone who might try to get her attention. She can't deal with this right now. So she won't. She'll find something else to occupy her mind, for the time being.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I'm... aware of that," 'Thomas' replies to Arleph, touching a hand to his glasses. "..."
Caring about what one does? Does it really? Ever so slightly, he shakes his head. Once a skeptic, forever a skeptic.
Technically, yes, Loren is quite familiar with the concept of a hologram.
But 'Thomas' wouldn't be.
"...No," he says, after a moment's hesitation.
And then she just
leans onto him.
'Thomas' once again does an appreciable impression of a cat that is being hugged as he attempts to lean away. "I... er," he starts, his entire body gone rigid as he attempts to find some avenue of escape. "I have a prior engagement..."
he needs an adult. ...a different adult.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph lets out a laugh. Emma's reaction at the young man are pretty funny to him. He shakes his head at the question. "Ah, no, ma'am. I'm Doctor Ardan, in Symbology." He says, hoisting the tablet medium under an arm, carefully slinging it to keep it still. "That is, my PhD is in that field. This sort of thing is my field, as if it were. Energies, beings like this."
The Symbologist looks at 'Thomas', touching his glass. Yes, of course, he knows. This guy don't seem dumb.
Then Emma leans against the younger man. Arleph laughs again, shaking his head. "I doubt this was an illusion either. This was rather geniune." he taps his medium. "We may have this as proof.--"
Arleph stops, blinking rapidly looking in Xantia's direction, before she runs off. did she say... 'father'? Arleph shakes his head.
"Annnnd... we may have an example of intermingling with humans! Good lord, we're going Classical, here."
He rubs his hands together. "Let's get out of here while we still can, shall we?"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Oh, do you? Is she waiting for you?" Emma immediately tells her apparent prey, making no effort in the process to stop leaning on him.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
"Oi." Arleph says, rubbing his eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"...Yes?" 'Thomas' hazards. Will it make her give him back some much-needed personal space?
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"Uh, just so you all know, the battle's still going on out there," Neriah calls out.
She's doubled back, apparently; she's standing in the doorway she'd exited through a few minutes earlier, leaning through with one hand on the edge of it.
Her jacket is covered in sand and a few scorch marks, which she's in the process of trying to brush off with her other hand, not all that successfully. She curls her lips and looks back over her shoulder. "It's different soldiers this time but you're definitely gonna have to dodge a few shells to get out of here," she mutters.