2017-08-25: The Power of Teamwork
- Log: The Power of Teamwork
- Cast: Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur, Rebecca Streisand (NPCed by Bel)
- Where: Guardian Temple
- Date: August 25th 2017
- Summary: With no choice but to head into the depths of the temple, Dean, Avril and Rebecca face the trials of the Guardians. A request is made of the trio, for the sake of Filgaia. ICly occurs August 19th.
DG: A party led by Dean Stark 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> Dean Stark has posed.
The attack on the Guardian Temple--though Dean hadn't known it for what it was, and still has no idea about its significance--had taken place while Dean and his friends had been checking out the nearby town on a hunch of Avril's, or perhaps a lost fragment of memory swimming through her amnesia. The Metal Demons had attacked, and Dean had gone out to fight them head-to-head while Avril and Rebecca had stayed back in case some sub-force snuck around and attacked the town, but they'd had no interest in the town, so the three had regrouped after Dean had (barely) fought off a Metal Demon. The forces of Aveh had struck then, and they'd been forced to run into the Guardian Temple to seek cover from the shells falling and exploding everywhere.
The good news: they've made it inside successfully, with no further harm and Avril's healing magic via the Sea Medium having patched Dean up nicely!
The bad news: the Metal Hounds have also made it inside successfully.
"Woah!! When did *these* guys get in here?!" Dean yells, fending off a couple that snap viciously at the group with his combat rods. "Avril, Rebecca, be careful! Looks like it's not gonna be as easy to take cover as we thought!" The Metal Beasts shove against him roughly, and with a roar, tiny as he is, Dean shoves right back. "Oh, come on!! We're just in here to get away from the bombs!! You're not gonna scare US off that easily!!"
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In the end, Avril had come along with Rebecca for one simple reason: because they could see what was happening at the temple from Milama. And Dean was there, as far as they knew alone.
Well, and the vague inkling that she Needed To Be There also didn't hurt, honestly.
It was, without a doubt, far too late to attempt to escape back through the battlefield. The little bit of peace they found to do things like treat Dean's injuries and collectively brace for the challenges to come was fleeting -- there are no enduring safe spots on this battlefield. So they had rushed inside the temple and--
Avril draws up just inside the entrance, freezing there for a split-second.
But only a split-second. If one wasn't watching her, it would look as if she hadn't paused at all. Her hand slips under her gown as she streams ahead without pause. In one fluid movement, she activates and lashes out with Absolute Zero's energy whip form. This time, no apologies, no warning is forthcoming.
"Do not hold back," she cautions her friends, taking up a brief defensive posture before delivering another graceful slash of the beam whip at the Metal Beasts. "These are dangerous foes, and they cannot be reasoned with. We must cut a way through, or distract them so we can get past!"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca didn't really need a reason to come here other than the fact that Dean was alone. She had other reasons, sure; Avril was going to go anyway, and they were trying to help this town in the first place...
But she didn't need all of those reasons.
So she runs across the battlefield, jumping over debris and grounded shrapnel as they move their way into the temple. She stood guard while Avril did the healing, worrying over in Dean's direction obviously. But here they are, in the entrance.
"Dean, be careful!" Rebecca calls as he yells at the Metal Demons, staring for a moment as she tries to see where to hit, what to do. "Avril..." Cut through. That's fine. Rebecca pulls a Medium from her things, and takes a breath, focusing through it. "We can... do that!"
She throws out a hand and a bolt of lightning crashes down into the Metal Demons, that becomes fire extending beyond and earth crashing from below as it goes. Apparently, the ley lines are very powerful in this place.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Sky Medium 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Beam Whip Mode 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Suffer Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Dean Stark 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> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean might've won his duel with Malfi earlier (barely (by the skin of his teeth)), but a pair of Metal Beasts are another matter. Try as he might to shove them back, the two of them together start to overpower him--but then Avril swings in like the Queen that she is and laser-whips one into pieces, and Rebecca brings down an elemental party down on the other, crushing it. Dean falls back on his butt, staring at the debris.
And then, pulling himself back up, he beams at his lady friends. "Wow, that was great!" he enthuses. "Especially you, Rebecca--that was some really fancy magic!" Apparently the ley lines are very powerful indeed. But then, that figures for this place... He smiles at Avril, looking her over to make sure she's unharmed, and when he does, he turns serious. "Okay. We'd better try moving further in if we wanna be safe. If we got jumped by those Metal Demon dog thingies here, I bet there'll be more later on." Which is actually pretty decent logical thinking coming from Dean. Who knows? Maybe he's getting a little smarter-- "So everybody follow me!" ON SECOND THOUGHT
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You find a large, black stone door that forms a T-intersection with this hallway. While the hallway continues ahead, to whatever awaits, you may find that the door could have something worthwhile. However, you have certainly not found the rare and lost Zeboim-era ARM-keys known as "Duplicators" here. But, the tell-tale blue lines that glow flicker, sometimes. The door does not have much give, but it has some. With a good enough push (say, with explosives), you might manage to force your way inside. The room is a small storage closet, but it has something valuable: stockpiles of Potion Berries, held within jars that have preserved them. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The beasts fall before their collective might -- and hey, Dean, holding the monsters at bay long enough for the girls to take them out is a big help! They're a bit squishier than you after all.
But we digress.
"No, we should not stay here. This place does not seem stable, and more of those creatures could be along shortly." It makes sense -- everything's looking for SOME way to not get blown to bits in this terrible bombing. "If we go deeper into the ruins, perhaps we can find a more stable place to wait out the attack. Let's go," is Avril's final determination on the matter.
And so they head down a corridor, this section of the damaged temple more stable than the area before.
And at the end of that corridor--
"Dean, Rebecca, I see a door. Perhaps beyond here..." Avril says, approaching the oddly glowing door and...
Frowning as it doesn't open. She pushes on it. She puts her shoulder into it. "...It would seem that this will not open easily. It may take all three of us to force it open."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca glances to the side once the battle is over, "Oh... Thanks, Dean." She seems happy about the compliment anyway. "Though that wasn't all me. There's something about this place..."
Avril says something sensible, and Dean says something... not sensible. "Dean, don't run off without us!" she grumps, and hurries along, a hand on her weapon as she looks carefully to the rest of the halls. This damaged temple is beautiful, even so. But...
"Hm, a door?" she asks. She leans over to it. "...I guess if it's the way forward..."
Rebecca moves up to help Avril with the door, a shoulder at a time. "Let's just be careful about what's on the other side."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Huh. Really?" Dean looks around at the Temple at Rebecca's comment. "...hmmm, now that you mention it..." He might be dense, but he can read the leylines too, after all--uses their power as well thanks to the Sword Medium copy he has. As for his role in the fight back there, Dean's certainly not complaining! And when Avril agrees to head onwards and acts just as decisively about it, well, Dean's right there with her. Literally! ...even if Rebecca does chide him not to run off ahead.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the worst thing that awaits them down the corridor is... a door. A door that won't open, apparently. He tries the handle, but, obviously, it's locked. "Maybe I can try knocking the knob off?" he suggests, already pulling out White Fenrir from... wherever it was he was keeping it. Let's not think about that too hard. "If it doesn't work, then we can all try running into it at once!"
And with that, he raises the shovel high up above his head, waiting a moment for Rebecca and Avril to stand clear for a moment. "SILVEEEEEEER IMPAAAAAAACT!!" *CLANG*.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You find a large, black stone door that forms a T-intersection with this hallway. While the hallway continues ahead, to whatever awaits, you may find that the door could have something worthwhile. However, you have certainly not found the rare and lost Zeboim-era ARM-keys known as "Duplicators" here. But, the tell-tale blue lines that glow flicker, sometimes. The door does not have much give, but it has some. With a good enough push (say, with explosives), you might manage to force your way inside. The room is a small storage closet, but it has something valuable: stockpiles of Potion Berries, held within jars that have preserved them. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 2 *>======================= ======================< Results - Duplicator-Sealed Door >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 8 --(3)--> 11 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 6 --(3)--> 9 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 4 --(2)--> 6 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Save Point(1)|Suffer Effects: Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Dean Stark 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes, Rebecca's right. Something feels odd about this temple... As if someone were looking over my shoulder," Avril comments, tilting her head slightly to one side.
And then shaking her head before they move on. "Nevertheless, thank you, Rebecca. Outside influence or not, it was still by your hand."
Which brings the situation back to the door. The girls push and shove, but a Duplicator-locked door is meant to stay locked -- if it opened because someone shoved on it, some ancient person is in dire need of a refund.
But it's a fair assumption that some ancient person was not in any way
expecting
Dean.
Avril steps aside, tugging Rebecca gently along with her. Light glints, improbably, along the shovel's edge--!!
And the door
holds?
No.
It shudders. Cracks spider across its surface from the point of impact.
The door gives up and collapses into a heap of valuable ancient materials.
"Thank you, Dean," Avril comments, smiling. "Now, let's see what awaits us inside. Rebecca, it seems more stable in here..."
The Potion Berries are bound to come to good use.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Variable Gravity Well *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter the next room, you find a square-shaped room that has a pit filling the middle of it. The pit drops down ten feet, into a series of sharp spikes that would be painful to cross. Leaping over the pit -- or using some other means -- wouldn't be so hard. But, when you step forward, a complication appears. A black hole, a pinpoint of gravitational force, blinks into existence over the pit. Rocks, debris, and dust all swirl up into it and gravity causes the course of any leap to be thrown askew. Just before you could time a jump, though, the black hole vanishes... and reappears elsewhere in the room, over the pit. Crossing will not be easy. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Hesitate======================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Dean seems to get it, and Rebecca isn't sure enough of what's going on there to actually comment much more on whatever feeling this is, whatever is here. Avril says something more practical about it, and Rebecca tuns to smile at her. "Anytime. We're working as a team, right? We need to take care of each other!"
Dean's approach is... Well, it seems to work. Rebecca steps out of the way. "It's all yours," she says to Dean, and watches him work. It goes through and she laughs. "Never underestimate that," she says, and moves in to pick up things as best she can so that they can use them. "Really handy..."
But then Rebecca leads the group for a bit, without asking, as they move forward and soon into a new room, square-shaped with a pit. "Huh..." But then that pinpoint of gravitational force blinks into existence, with rocks debris and dust rushing around. Crossing...
Rebecca draws the Pizzicato Pistol, checking her ammunition. "...Okay. Let's look at how to time our jumps, and I'll keep debris off of you while you move." The barrel of her ARM glints. "Then I'll go."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Pizzicato Pistol toward her party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean grins at Rebecca. "Right, exactly!" They can do this if they work--together!! And so far, it seems to be going well. The Duplicator-locked door is no match for the power of SHOVEL!!, though even Dean is impressed when it literally goes to pieces. "All right!! That was awesome!" he enthuses. "And it's all thanks to White Fenrir!" He holds up the shovel proudly, beams at Rebecca's praise and Avril's gratitude, and puts it away. "Now let's get going!"
Though not so fast that they don't pick up several of those jars of Potion Berry jam. Mm, mm, good! And while normally Dean would shoot any manner of crates or vases to get the delicious goodies inside, these... perhaps ought to stay in their jars. Either way, once they're loaded up, they head onwards, Dean following after Rebecca when she opts to take the lead, until they reach a room with a big spike pit.
"Huh. That looks pretty nasty," he remarks, looking down at the spikes, "but I'm sure if we all put our heads togetheeeeEEEEEWAAAAAAH!!" That's him, flailing, as the pinprick black hole picks him up an inch or two off the ground before vanishing and dumping him back down. "W-woah! That was a surprise!" he utters, stunned.
But Rebecca, bless her smart heart, checks out the trap and thinks of a solution. Dean gets back up to his feet and nods. "Okay. I'm counting on you, Rebecca!" He smiles over at Avril. "Once we've got the timing down, let's jump on three, okay?" And, a moment later, once they have the black hole's pattern figured out: "One--two--!"
Dean doesn't *quite* think of how Rebecca will cross once the two of them are over. But he can probably do the same for her with Twin Fenrir once he's on the other side--right?!
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"...Yes, that's right. We're all working together." That slight smile grows a little more fond as Dean chimes in. "As long as you don't give up, wasn't it...?"
A few helpful berries and supplies later -- a pitch of the foundations followed by a short rain of dust from overhead suggests that THIS is also still not a safe place to be -- and they have little choice but to press on into the depths.
Or, well, the point where what awaits below is an absolutely staggering expanse of spikes.
"That looks dangerous," Avril comments. "Perhaps if we time our jumps -- Dean!"
Aghast for a split-second as he's lifted by a miniature black hole, relief only flickers and spreads the moment he's set down.
"Are you alright?" she asks, before her gaze slips to track the sphere as it reappears. Vanishes. Appears again.
"Its appearance is not random," she comments, after a few moments of watching. "It will appear again... there." Reaching under her wrap, she draws out a familiar octagonal device. "...Yes. As Rebecca says, we will need to proceed carefully, Dean. Once we cross, we should be able to cover her to do the same."
But first, she needs to ensure they all have the chance they need. Avril closes her eyes. "Lucadia... please, grant us your protection." Briefly, the Medium flares to life, shedding a smattering of the Sea Guardian's speed and grace upon them.
But will that be enough if the sphere catches up to them?
"Dean, let's go. Rebecca, I'm counting on you."
Three! Leap!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Variable Gravity Well *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter the next room, you find a square-shaped room that has a pit filling the middle of it. The pit drops down ten feet, into a series of sharp spikes that would be painful to cross. Leaping over the pit -- or using some other means -- wouldn't be so hard. But, when you step forward, a complication appears. A black hole, a pinpoint of gravitational force, blinks into existence over the pit. Rocks, debris, and dust all swirl up into it and gravity causes the course of any leap to be thrown askew. Just before you could time a jump, though, the black hole vanishes... and reappears elsewhere in the room, over the pit. Crossing will not be easy. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Hesitate======================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 3 *>======================= ======================< Results - Variable Gravity Well >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 11 --(6)--> 17 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 9 --(8)--> 17 Pass Pizzicato Pistol 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 6 --(6)--> 12 Pass Sea Medium 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overwhelm|Suffer Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Dean Stark 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> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca smiles at both as they talk about teamwork, though she proves a little bit distracted; she's thinking ahead to what's next, sure that Dean is going to be himself as usual and thus need a little help. Buuut here they are--
"Dean!" Rebecca says as he's taken off his feet, but then settles when they agree to her plan, make their own comments. Avril seems to know where it comes from... "Yeah," Rebecca repeats, "I'd appreciate the cover on the way over. But for you two, leave it to me! I can make these shots anyday."
She is faster, thanks to that magic, they all are. In the end, Dean has the most trouble with not being tugged off-course, and has to exert a lot of energy to keep moving, but they all make it through, punctuated by gunshots and the eerie sound of the black hole opening and closing.
Eventually they're on the other side, Rebecca last. "Whew. Dean, you've got to be more careful..." A pause, "And thanks, Avril. I think we're ready." Just in case, she reloads before they open the next door.
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Sand Box *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you walk down the hallway, one of your number feels a slight give -- and then the tell-tale click of a pressure plate being stepped on. A loud crash sounds from ten feet behind you -- and then a second loud crash in front of you. Two stone walls come crashing down, blocking off the exit ahead and the exit behind. This, alone, would be concerning. But then you hear a rumble. Two vents on either side of the wall open up, and sand begins to pour into the room. It isn't long at all before it is ankle deep and rising quickly. You will need to find some way through -- be it to smash down the wall or the stop the flow of sand -- before you are buried alive in this Temple. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Yeah, I'm okay! That just startled me," Dean reassures Avril. It was actually pretty scary for a sec, but now that he knows what's doing it and how to deal with it, he's not scared at all anymore! It's just one more obstacle to get through. ...Weren't they only in here to get cover and wait out the battle? When did he get so into pressing forward? It probably doesn't help that the last room, which would have been a good place for temporary shelter, had gotten a little dust showering...
Either way, Avril uses the power of Jump to increase their jump-power, and Rebecca covers them. Dean nearly slips at the last second thanks to having trouble with not getting pulled in by that black hole thing, but thankfully with his friends covering him, he manages all right in the end, and so do his friends.
"Hey, it's not my fault," he argues, but without any heat or vehemence. "I definitely don't wanna stick around *here*, so let's move in a little more!"
Famous last words. They're down a few corridors when--*click*--something gives way at Dean's feet. He looks down, blinking wide, and then there's a pair of loud crashes, first behind them, then in front of them. ...And then the sand starts pouring in.
"W-woah, what the heck?!" he yelps, looking back and forth in alarm at the trap. All the same, in a flash, he calls Twin Fenrir to hand. "We gotta stop the sand somehow! I'm gonna try shooting into where the sand's pouring out of, but if either of you see anything that looks like a, a counter-button or whatever, let me know! We gotta get out of here, and quick!"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, The Sand Box.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
They might have come here to get some shelter, but...
Maybe it's fitting that this group comes here with a mundane purpose and ends up pushing their way on ahead regardless of what they actually set out to do. Just sitting down and waiting probably isn't in their collective wheelhouse, even if it would be the prudent course.
That, and who knows where is actually stable here?
Besides, when life gives you lemons...
"I knew you could do it," Avril says to Rebecca, once she finally rejoins them. Casting just one glance back at the black hole, she levers a stare that could freeze fire at it before moving on ahead after Dean. "Yes, let's. That thing seems dangerous to me. And something is... there's something in this temple. I can feel it..."
Though who says that just because something beckons that it's friendly?
Sand pours into the tiny room. Quickly, at that. It's already just about waist-height, and if they dawdle too much, this will be precisely where their journey ends.
Nevertheless, though the severity of the situation rests heavily in Avril's gaze, as it sweeps hither and yon in search of some trigger or switch or something that will stop the sand from burying them alive, neither is it panicked. Just as ever, she's methodical, with all the haste the situation demands.
Blue eyes widen faintly.
Avril points. "There! Do you see that?"
It's obscured partially by the overhang of the vent dumping sand, but there it is -- a brilliant round red thing, high on the wall.
It'll take some precise shooting. If this is indeed a switch.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sand Box.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Not even sensible Rebecca wanted to sit at the entrance and wait for whatever else is in here to come out for them--or for the soldiers and Demons outside to come in for them. Besides... something in her heart presses her ownward, and it's not just that Dean and Avril keep going.
"...Thanks, Avril," Rebecca says, a little more on the backfoot than someone migt epect out of her. "Someting... It really does feel like there's something special about here, doesn't it? Even I can feel it." And not just Avril.
"Dean," she starts, as he says it's not his fault, but then.. the sand. "Oh, crap!" Rebecca says, obviously disturbed by the sand up to her ankles, starting to try to free herself. "Right, um..." She looks around, starting to step forward to findsomething, when Avril points. "Avril!?" There... The round red thing. Rebecca pulls her ARM.
"I can't quite see it with all the sand, but..." She pulls it and starts shooting.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sand Box.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Sand Box *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you walk down the hallway, one of your number feels a slight give -- and then the tell-tale click of a pressure plate being stepped on. A loud crash sounds from ten feet behind you -- and then a second loud crash in front of you. Two stone walls come crashing down, blocking off the exit ahead and the exit behind. This, alone, would be concerning. But then you hear a rumble. Two vents on either side of the wall open up, and sand begins to pour into the room. It isn't long at all before it is ankle deep and rising quickly. You will need to find some way through -- be it to smash down the wall or the stop the flow of sand -- before you are buried alive in this Temple. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 4 *>======================= ===========================< Results - The Sand Box >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 17 --(13)--> 30 Pass Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 17 --(14)--> 31 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 12 --(13)--> 25 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Suffer|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Dean Stark 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> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean sobers at that, nodding to Avril and Rebecca both. "Yeah... It's kind of--more of a feeling than anything else? Like something's inside, waiting for us to catch up... Or something like that?" He rubs a finger under his nose. "It's kinda hard to describe." Perhaps that alone is why he keeps defaulting to moving forward--though it helps that none of the rooms they've found so far have really been properly safe, either. Though it's also true that whatever lies ahead might not necessarily be friendly.
But walls crash down, and sands pour it. Dean opens fire inside the gushing sand vents, to no avail, but thankfully Avril keeps a cool head and points out a big red button on the wall. Rebecca opens fire on it, but it seems to have no effect--until Dean turns around and sees-- "Hey, there's a second one on the other side, too!! Rebecca, let's shoot them both at the same time! One, two, and--!"
Each of them open fire at once, and once both buttons are pressed, the sands stop pouring in. A good thing, because it was already up to their chests--it was awful hard for Dean to turn around to even see that other button, let alone aim for it. Hell, without Avril, he never would've even thought to try to look.
Either way, with the trap successfully deactivated, there's a moment where they can simply take a breath; then the walls pull away and grates open at their feet to drain the sand. Before long, enough of it has poured away that they can move on.
Even if they *are* covered in sand. In all the worst places, too!!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes, it's rather like that," Avril agrees, nodding slowly as Dean and Rebecca attempt to describe what they feel. "A presence, something that invites us deeper into what remains of this temple, challenging us to prove our worth. As the fish strives to ascend a waterfall and return to the place where it was born, so too must we show our strength to whatever dwells her," she says, waxing slightly poetic for a moment.
"...It isn't malign. It's watching us."
But 'not bad' doesn't mean 'is good'.
Right now, though, the matter of the sand pouring in is far more of an issue than whatever rests at the heart of the temple.
"That didn't work? Then--"
Avril turns, buried up to her chest in sand. Dean sees it before she does, even if her mind was already operating along that track. "Another one! --Yes, both of you, shoot them now!"
There's a refreshing-sounding click. And the sand begins to sffhh away.
Uncovering a low door. They'll need to duck through it.
Sand continues to fall. It pours down in a waterfall all around them, filling a basin: a river of sand. Avril hesitates, casting one hand out as if to stay her friends as her gaze flits this way and that.
"We shall need to jump from tile to tile," she states, narrowing her eyes in determination.
And once more -- this time preluded by an absolute shower of (regrettable) sand from under her wrap and gown -- she produces her Medium.
"Rebecca, do you see those red orbs?" She doesn't point, but a glance will reveal them clearly. "Aim for those. I think they may also control the speed of the sand." Just like in the room before, maybe.
"...Lucadia," Avril intones somberly, lifting the Medium with all due reverence.
And after that, it's just going to be them, their skill, and their luck.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Mm... But if it isn't bad... does that mean we want to see it...?" Rebecca isn't sure, "We're going farther anyway, I guess. Just... Don't run off ahead or anything, all right?"
But n the room here Rebecca can't get the job done until--ah, a second. It's hard for Rebecca even to breathe, but she fires in tandem with Dean and, working together, they get it. ...Even if sand is going to be falling off of her for a while now. Sand, in shorts?
She frowns. "That's not... great," she says. But... The low door they find is one that Rebecca darts through, and listens to Avril in her determination. The orbs...
"Worth a try!" she agrees, and feels faster, stronger. Rebecca reloads her weapon. "If we can slow the sand... It's just jumping. But be really careful."
Aim--fire. Just like a million other times.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Pizzicato Pistol toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Wow," Dean breathes, staring wide-eyed at Avril, openly impressed. "You can *tell* all that?" A smile follows. "Well, if it's a challenge they're sending us, we've just gotta give it everything we've got!" Weren't you guys only coming in here to take refuge?? Apparently that no longer matters to Dean. "We'll give 'em a great show! Right, Rebecca?" But she just chides them not to run off ahead. Dean frowns, rubbing his nose. "I know, I know!" (He doesn't know.)
The sand is terrible--Dean takes a moment to take off his boots one by one and dump out the sand that fell into them--but they at least can move on. Though... it looks like the sand is falling down into... a river of sand? But Avril points out a red orb, and Rebecca opens fire. "You be careful too!" Dean tells Rebecca, which might be a bit of a load. Either way, once Avril's ready and primed up with Lucadia's power, he'll jump with her from obsidian platform to platform until they make it over to the other side. "Haaaahhhh--!!"
If need be, he'll go back to help Rebecca too--but if the platforms slow down that much, she probably won't need it.
DG: Dean Stark 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 5 *>======================= ========================< Results - The Shifting Tiles >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 30 --(11)--> 41 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 31 --(14)--> 45 Pass Pizzicato Pistol 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(13)--> 38 Pass Sea Medium 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 80 --(5)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Reckless(1)|Suffer|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Dean Stark 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes. If they want us to prove our worth, then we will show them of what we are capable," Avril affirms, sealing the deal with a slow nod.
Maybe they came in here out of pure necessity, but -- isn't chasing after this feeling in a way like the path they set out after so many months ago? Somewhere in the depths, they'll receive answers.
It just might not be for the questions they asked.
"We'll be as careful as possible, and you will as well. Once you are ready, Rebecca." She nods, as if to indicate that Rebecca should proceed.
A blessing settles around them. Shots ring out. And they jump, as many times as it takes. In the end, they see their way across, facing the door and the Guardian statues that stand beside it.
They only progress by working together.
As always.
For forever.
And here, Avril hesitates. Drawing a hand up to chest height, she wavers for a moment, as if troubled by something. Her brow creases.
And then, she shakes her head, silver locks briefly aflutter.
"We're here. We should not tarry."
Regardless of this feeling, this misgiving, she presses on.
DG: Rebecca Streisand 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> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Careful as she might prefer to be, Rebecca can't argue giving this challenge whatever they have. They've come far enough already from their perch just inside, trying to escape the shelling and battle. ...Nevertheless... They need to at least stay together.
Nice show or not. She sighs, at the 'I know'. "Dean.." A shake of her head. "...Sure, we'll show them what we can!"
But ehre they are with the platforms, with the orbs. Despite the irony, she smiles over at Dean with a little wave of her hand, "I'll be careful!"
On Avril's cue, Rebecca fires. They progress, working togeher, as always, and Rebecca is again the last to make it over, but that gives her a view of Avril's hesitation. What is it she's thinking...?
What matters more than that is that Rebecca steps up beside her and smiles. "Right. We'll go together." She puts on her reassuring voice, too.
And go in they do, with this strange room full of statues. Rebecca looks around in surprise at them... And then that feeling of presence strengthens. Before she can say anything other than to look around in surprise--
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Yeah! We did it!" Dean cheers once the three of them have successfully crossed. "That was easy!" He grins at Avril and especially Rebecca when they both chime in on his enthusiasm--but he pauses when Avril seems worried, even distant, before opening the last door. "Avril? Are you okay? If you're tired, we can take a break for a moment... We *have* gotten down pretty far already, and this room seems, uh... Not *as* dangerous as some of the others?"
But no. Onwards they move, so Dean nods decisively. Of course they'll go together. And so they enter the room with the statues, and he too looks around in surprise, until...!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
YOU.
The voice rolls out, redolent with the weight and pressure of the earth. Around the trio, the chamber -- statues, floors, walls -- vanishes, wiped out without a trace. Nothing but blackness, the dull pulse of red.
In the heart of the earth, magma, the lifeblood of the land pulses. Pressure. Uplift.
YOU WOMAN. YOU DARE SHOW YOURSELF BEFORE US? NOW, IN THIS TIME? AS FILGAIA FALTERS?
"You... know me," Avril voices. The speech of the Guardian Dinoginos -- unseen, save in voice and force of presence alone -- isn't so much heard as felt, a localized earthquake.
Subduction. Erosion.
Displeasure.
Avril slowly takes a step backwards, as if cringing away under the weight.
I KNOW YOU WELL, INDEED. BY WHAT RIGHT DO YOU NOW COME BEFORE US? YOUR PRIDE? OR HAVE YOU REALIZED IT AT LAST AND COME TO MAKE YOUR APOLOGIES?
"...I don't remember," Avril says simply, shaking her head, at an utter loss before the Guardian's ire.
Slowdown. Cooling.
Stopping.
The sensation akin to an irritated sigh.
SO YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN. VERY WELL.
That could be the equivalent of a bitter laugh, if a mountain could laugh.
AS YOU HAVE TRAVERSED OUR TRIALS, AND AS YOU NOW STAND BEFORE US... ONE FINAL QUESTION REMAINS TO PROVE YOURSELVES WORTHY. ALL OF YOU. NOW. DEMONSTRATE TO ME, DINOGINOS, THAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF BREAKING THE CHAINS OF THE PAST.
BY WHAT RIGHT SHOULD WE NOW MAKE YOU OUR ONLY HOPE?
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Silence ensues from Avril's section of the chamber -- what was once a chamber. Loosely, she folds her hands before her gown, her expression intent, serious.
"...I remember nothing but one name. Whatever I have done..." Her expression is briefly intent. Seeking.
She shakes her head.
"In all my travels to this day when I stand before you, I have learned only one thing, to add to my one name."
"...The people of this world are kind. However harsh it might be, wherever I have been, I have found kindness. ...Must a world with kind people in it be judged by the weight of its past?"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
They move on, and Rebecca stands with Dean and Avril as the voice rolls out, and roll it does. The pressure, it's enough that Rebecca has to look around, get a sense for where she is in this dark place. Pressure.. Pressure...
The 'ground' such as it is seems to rumble under her feet, and Rebecca by instint steps closer to Avril, as she is spoken to in this way, at this displeasure an then... irritation. Forgotten...?
"You know her?" Rebecca says, "Why not tell her...?" She hesitates. There is some kind of animosity here, and the Guardian--is it a Guardian? That's what her heart tells her--has so much to say. But not...
She puts a hand on Avril's shoulder when she approaches. "...I don't know about all that," she adds. "But I know we won't give up on what we do." She looks ove to Dean. "...None of us will."
"So I don't know about these chains, but we'll keep moving forward. Right, Dean?"
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
You?
A voice replaces the room with darkness and a pulse of red. It's a weird feeling--like he's standing but not standing. Dean jerks back, but there are bigger things to worry about, literally. He blinks around at the voice sounds... cross? With Avril? But it knows her? But it doesn't like her?? Does not compute!! How could anyone not like Avril?! But then it starts talking about things Dean really doesn't understand after Avril admits to having amnesia.
To Dinoginos... that's the Mountain Guardian, right? He *thinks*. He was never too interested in anything that wasn't golems, but he knows that Guardian, at least... He always liked how it emblemized protection. But now it asks: why should they be its hope?
"Uhhhhhh," he utters. He looks over to Avril as she responds, and he smiles and nods in agreement. "Yeah! I don't know what Avril was like before she lost her memories, but she's a good person now." He steps forward in front of his two friends. "That's what you should be judging her by: what she's doing *now*!"
Rebecca brings up a good point, of if Dinoginos knows Avril, why not tell her? And that makes sense to Dean, too. But there's also the question posed... Still, Rebecca knows what's up. "Right!" Dean replies, nodding decisively at her. "Avril's our friend. We promised we'd help her find Johnny Appleseed. And we're not gonna stop until we do that!"
He turns back to face (face?) the booming voice. "I'm not sure I get what you're talking about, or why you called to us. We just came in here to take cover from the fighting going on outside. But I've always lived my life helping people in need, and I'm not about to stop that anytime soon. If that's the 'hope' you're talking about, then I'll fight to the very end to bring hope to everyone I meet!" Twin Fenrir flash into his hands, and he holds them up, crossed before his face. "I swear by these ARMs!!"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge 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 6 *>======================= =======================< Results - The Impossible Task >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 41 --(100)--> 141 Fail Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 45 --(100)--> 145 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 38 --(100)--> 138 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Dean Stark 85 --(10)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Madness|Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Suffer|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Dean Stark is too exhausted to continue! DG: Rebecca Streisand is too exhausted to continue! DG: Avril Vent Fleur 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 Dean Stark 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
SOME THINGS ARE BEST LEFT BURIED.
Thus is apparently the answer Rebecca receives when she quite reasonably asks why Dinoginos wouldn't just tell her what's going on.
"..." Avril breathes.
Then shakes her head. "It's alright, Rebecca. I will reclaim my memories, one way or another." She straightens, fixing the unseen presence of the Mountain Guardian with a stare that could freeze magma. "Whether you tell me or not."
Like the shifting of the earth, the Guardian's presence seems almost amused.
Judge us by our actions.
Judge us by our now.
Judge us by our perseverence.
The light, the dull black-red glow that must beat from the depths of the earth, fades. Reality reintrudes, statues followed by walls and floor reappearing in a sweep.
Pressure eases. The earth settles.
If a mountain could laugh, this time as if intrigued. As if by a stone one has seen before, but for an instant gleaming.
IT MATTERS NOT YOUR KIN OR KITH, IT SEEMS. ALL OF YOU ARE EVER THE SAME, TIME AND TIME AGAIN.
Thus rolls out the judgement of the Mountain Guardian.
WHATEVER YOU HAVE DONE, WHATEVER YOU WILL DO, IT IN THE END MATTERS NOT. FILGAIA IS DYING. SURELY YOU HAVE SEEN IT? THE TIME OF OUR ENEMY DRAWS NIGH. AND HERE YOU STAND, OUR LAST AND ONLY HOPE. WHAT IRONY.
Again there's the impression of a laugh. Or of a mountain, shifting ever so slightly.
Stone tablets materialize, one after another, in array across the floor before the three friends.
THE POWER IS YOURS IF YOU WILL TAKE IT. WHATEVER YOU WILL DO NOW WITH IT, I WONDER? HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE, KNOW THAT OUR FILGAIA'S FATE RESTS IN YOUR HANDS. OUR STATUES MUST NOT SHATTER...
At last, the presence stills. Silent.
Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Best?" Rebecca doesn't know what the Mountain Guardian means, but she can imagine reasons to say something like that. Dislike, or... It doesn't matter. She still doesn't like it. Rebecca looks over to Avril as he answers, and her expression shifts a little, nodding. "Right. You will. I believe that too."
A more cautious girl just tends to think, is all.
But Dean thinks too, has a lot to say. She's our friend, he says, and he explains the situation, and that... Well, Rebecca can't help but smile a little at him, despite the serious sitution. It's so like him.
The earth settles. They're the same. This makes her look up and around again, stepping forward with her hands at her sides, palms down, frowning. "You..."
But Filgaia is dying. SHe loses some of that anxiety in favor of another. After all, this seems true. This is danger. So whatever questions she might have...
"...We'll do the best we can," Rebecca says to the air, once the presence has faded, and moves to the tablets, looking down at them. "These..."
She looks back to her friends for another moment. "I guess we were supposed to come down here after all." She picks one up.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
All humans are the time, Dinoginos deems, and Dean utters a wounded, "Hey," because he's young and dumb and doesn't see how his fresh, bold take on life could possible be more of the same. He does frown, worried at the Mountain Guardian's statement that Filgaia is dying. He... actually hadn't really noticed that. He'd always just... assumed that's how things were, so that's how they were supposed to be.
Doesn't this mean, then, that the Guardians need help? That they're reaching out because they're hurting? Yet they're also laughing, and he gets the sense that they're laughing *at* them rather than *with* them. It's a funny and unpleasant feeling.
Still, Dean's not one to refuse someone help just because they're a little rude. "I still don't really get it," he admits, "but if you need our help," 'my' help, "you've got it."
And then the Guardian's presence is gone.
His ARMs flash out of existence, and he turns to face Rebecca and Avril. "Yeah, I guess so," he agrees, still sounding puzzled. "I'm not exactly sure what they wanted us to do, though... Is it really true that Filgaia's dying?" This is directed towards Rebecca, whom he assumes would know. For the meantime, he steps towards the Medium that catches his eye--that of Moor Gault, though he won't know that until later.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Filgaia is dying.
It appears to hit Avril like a shock. She straightens, her eyes widening. Dying. That's right, it wasn't...
Always?
There was...
something. A feeling.
Guilt?
Again.
"..." she breathes out, in the space where the Mountain Guardian departs.
"...Both of you..." she finally says, glancing at and then away from the both of her friends.
"...You're really kind people. You came on this journey to help someone you only just met, and even now..."
Though it could be argued that they would wisely want to save the planet they now live upon.
In spite of her current emotional state, in spite of what's transpired, she smiles.
"But please..."
She takes a few steps forward, kneeling carefully to pluck one of the tablets from the floor.
"Be certain about this, Rebecca. Dean. It's a feeling I have. If you take this duty on, you must see this through to the very end."
The single snowflake on the tablet she's chosen identifies it as one particular guardian's in particular.
Aru Solatu, Guardian of Ice.