2017-08-27: Learning How To Fly
- Log: Learning How To Fly
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Rebecca Streisand (NPCed by Bel), Dean Stark, Animal
- Where: Kislev-Aveh Front
- Date: August 27th 2017
- Summary: Dean, Rebecca, and Avril escape the Guardian Temple -- and the battlefield, making a new friend along the way.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering The Battle Front. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Artillery Bombardment *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The vicinity of the Guardian Temple has turned into a full-blown war zone. A rush of Kislevi forces and a counter-action by Aveh forces have resulted in an enormous fight between infantry, Gears, and support vehicles. In the distance, you can make out where the enormous Kislevi-controlled Golem is sending huge gouts of energy into the ranks of Aveh's forces. This is truly worrisome, but a more immediate concern presents itself. One side has chosen this moment to begin an artillery bombardment. Shells rain down near your position, huge fireballs and blasts of shrapnel hurtling at you, posing a severe threat as you try to make your way westward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The only good news is that a shimmering circle appeared once business was completed in the sanctum, one that took everyone back to the entrance of the temple. It seems the Guardians aren't so cruel as to force them to walk back. Handy!
Less handy: the section of wall that just outright EXPLODES as the latest spray of artillery fire strikes the temple.
In the end, there's nowhere to else to go -- the temple unfortunately only a temporary respite against the bombing and shelling at best -- and out into the chaos and fire of the battlefield.
They'll have to chance it. Otherwise, their situation is likely to become terminal.
"Dean! Rebecca!"
Avril points, out into the haze and smoke, where a small patch of clear land is visible, unoccupied (for now) by war machines or troops. "Over there! If we run, we should--"
Her next words are muffled by another round of artillery fire.
But the shine from the Medium she holds up -- Sea, the receptor for a portion of the Sea Guardian's graces -- is probably as good as any words she might have been saying.
They'll need a prayer to get through this alive.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Artillery Bombardment.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca would almost rather have walked a little longer... But avoiding what's happening outside isn't going to prepare them any better for it, now that they've been through the Temple and seen what needs to happen.
Seen what the strange Guardian had to say, too. Rebecca's still troubled by that... But it goes to the back of her mind as she sees the exploding wall, feels the crush of rock and makes her way out through the haze. Clear land...
A shine. "Right, Avril!" Rebecca clears her weapon, "Come on, Dean!" She looks around and sees--ah, open obvious area where the artillery is coming from...
She fires at an angle, to try to distract, since even she isn't going to hit the other soldiers from here, letting the noise and light crash on as she runs. ...But she runs to try to help Dean along as she does, rather than leaping ahead with her speed.
This is horrible.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Pizzicato Pistol toward her party's challenge, Artillery Bombardment.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean's still not a 100% about what happened in there, but he's pretty clear on one thing: the Guardians might not be very nice, but they're in need of help. If it's really true the planet is dying, then *everyone's* in need of help! And while Dean has absolutely no idea just how fast the entire world is, that won't stop him from agreeing to help. Everyone has to live here, after all! It's only natural to come together to protect the world!
But first, they need to get out of here, because the battle isn't dying down and this temple will only last so long.
The trio emerges from the temple via a shimmering circle, just in time for artillery fire to strike the side and chunks of rock to come raining down. Dean whirls back and forth between Rebecca and Avril before ultimately jumping towards Avril to protect her--but with the Sea Medium in her hand, it seems more like she'll be protecting them.
Which is fine. Just as long as all of them are safe. That's Dean's first and foremost thought when he realizes that the fighting is still going strong, and in fact is getting more ferocious. If anything happened to his friends...
"Okay! Full speed ahead, guys!" Dean declares, because he's one to act, not think. While Rebecca shoots away debris to keep them both covered, Dean takes Avril by her free hand--if she needs it--and starts dashing until all three of them are in the clear and Avril can use the Medium's power to get them well away from this literal disaster area.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Artillery Bombardment.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
While the others had emerged in some mystical manner, Animal appears from the side of the temple in an explosion of rock and debris as he seemingly punches his way out of the side of the temple, and starts running across the field. Crazily jumping over obstacles and ducking underneath things as he just tries to get clear of the melee and now ongoing artillery shelling.
Seeing a group of drifters running away as well, he moves over closer to them and says, "There's a safe spot over there!" as he knows the Badlands well, and maybe he can guide some folks to a safe area, if they don't know this area well.
That being said, he takes off sort of with or without, and seems to be intent on just dodging away from the blasts as they rain from the sky. His wild red hair swaying to and fro as he runs madly, hopping over a cart.
Turning as he runs he looks back at the others and sees them leading one of their number by the hand, and asks, "Is that one injured?" pointing.
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Artillery Bombardment.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Artillery Bombardment *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The vicinity of the Guardian Temple has turned into a full-blown war zone. A rush of Kislevi forces and a counter-action by Aveh forces have resulted in an enormous fight between infantry, Gears, and support vehicles. In the distance, you can make out where the enormous Kislevi-controlled Golem is sending huge gouts of energy into the ranks of Aveh's forces. This is truly worrisome, but a more immediate concern presents itself. One side has chosen this moment to begin an artillery bombardment. Shells rain down near your position, huge fireballs and blasts of shrapnel hurtling at you, posing a severe threat as you try to make your way westward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 1 *>======================== ======================< Results - Artillery Bombardment >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Sea Medium 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(4)--> 4 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 0 --(6)--> 6 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Pizzicato Pistol 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Suffer Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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.
The situation is dire, as the group of friends runs out into the battlefield, gambling everything on a desperate chance.
But better an uncertain death than a certain one, and as much as it gave them some respite, the temple is starting to look like a very certain death indeed.
Bullets crack out across the little bit of space they have to themselves here as Rebecca adds her own fire to the fight -- the only good news so far is that no one is deliberately targetting them. The attempt at adding a little confusion to the fight seems to be a gambit that works, as the some of the fire directed at their general area eases off.
One lucky bullet even punctures an incoming shell, forcing it to detonate well clear of their location.
Summoning the grace and speed of the Sea Guardian, even if only briefly, takes focus and time. Luckily Dean is there to take Avril's hand and lead her on, particularly as shells detonate, shedding their shrapnel, very close indeed. Otherwise, she might have been...
Standing, still, where that shell just landed?!
She chances a glance over her shoulder as she tucks the Medium back safely away, first to stare at the hole where she had once been standing and secondly to look over at--
"Oh!?"
Blue eyes blink at Animal's question. "No, I am fine," the young woman professes, shaking her head. "Are you also escaping? --Here!"
Without further ado, she reaches out one delicate hand towards Animal, as if the thought occured to her that she should take him along as well.
"Dean, Rebecca-- he should come with us."
There's something about this situation that seems familiar.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Barricade Breaking *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A barricade erected by infantry blocks your path ahead. Built between two outcroppings of rock, it would be hard to go around -- and even though it was placed in quickly, it is quite sturdy. Huge beams of steel and spikes make it hard to move. It could be dangerous, too; the chance of cutting yourself on those spikes is a real threat. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Bad Luck===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
That Dean thinks to maybe go to help her is something Rebecca appreciates, but she finds herself protective in turn of Avri,--of both of them really. She runs, and in time spots... wild red hair, a boy hopping over a cart.
"She's fine," Rebecca confims to Animal, takes a breath. "I'm Rebecca. This is Avril," gesture, and "Dean. Come on, come with us!" she agrees. "We can all do better f we stick together."
To a point, anyway. She runs ahead regardless, worried about how Avril was ust standing there, but this direction seems promising... Right up until they make it to this barricade, and Rebecca stops short. "...Even climbing this thing is going to be tricky..."
She looks to the others, for a moment, worried. "Should we go around? Or..."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Barricade Breaking.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Suddenly, a total stranger appears! A total stranger who declares that there's a safe spot over in that direction. "That way, guys!" Dean declares, instantly believing Animal. Avril underscores that by, once she's finished her spot of concentration, noticing Animal and then inviting him along. Dean smiles and nods as if there'd never been any doubt. "Yeah! We can't just leave someone behind in a place like this!"
Then, once Rebecca does introductions, he reaches his other hand out to her. He doesn't even look back at the spot where they once were, where the artillery shell just landed. "Let's get out of here, fast!!"
Thankfully, due to Avril's use of her Medium allowing them to super-jump away, they're soon away from the worst of the shelling--but this barricade is too tall even for that. Dean frowns at it and all the spikes--and then pulls out his trusty shovel. "If we can't go over, then let's go under!" he declares. "I'll dig us a tunnel so we can crawl underneath! Those spikes look pretty nasty, after all."
Well, he *does* love digging holes, and while the barricade is sturdy, it doesn't look too thick. Maybe, if they all help dig, it'll work out?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Barricade Breaking.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's like Rebecca to worry, but to be honest, that's one of the things Avril finds refreshing about her.
For now, it seems, the armies fighting here continue to not notice the four young folks attempting to cross the battlefield, but that doesn't mean that the pitched fighting doesn't cause them problems besides the artillery.
There's the more mundane markings of battle, such as the barricades.
"Oh dear," Avril comments, a slight frown on her lips as she spots the same thing Rebecca does. "I don't think we could climb over this," she says, sliding her hands free. "And if do we go around..." And she glances between the two young men in silence, as if making an equally silent suggestion that one of them, well...
Do something?
Like dig a hole. "Here, allow me to help," Avril says, stooping to lift some of the rocks and other debris free as Dean works.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Barricade Breaking.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Running up to the barricade, Animal first glances one way and then the other and only after a long moment of trying to decide if he should suggest a different path to that place of safety does he approach the pile and start ripping beams and other large objects out of the barricade and start throwing them away over his shoulder. He apparently has no problem lifting large objects, and occasionally looks over his shoulder to see what sort of pile he is making, but otherwise seems to accept their explanations at face value.
"I'm Animal," he mentions as he digs and backtracks a few feet to grab up one of the beams he'd thrown earlier. As he starts shoves the beam into the gap he has made, and starts to wedge it open, using the beam as support. He starts throwing stuff out of the gap, helping Dean to build their make-shift tunnel through the debris. He actually digs down into the dirt to a certain point and dislodges a huge boulder which he carries out of the tunnel and sets beside it.
In his rapid passage in and out of the debris-tunnel he occasionally cuts himself. When he lacerates himself on a spike, he just pauses and eats while watching the distant shelling. His body swiftly regenerating, his wounds closing on their own.
"Did you guys see the invisible animal guys in the temple?" he asks, referring to the Temple of the Guardian.
DG: Animal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Barricade Breaking.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Barricade Breaking *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A barricade erected by infantry blocks your path ahead. Built between two outcroppings of rock, it would be hard to go around -- and even though it was placed in quickly, it is quite sturdy. Huge beams of steel and spikes make it hard to move. It could be dangerous, too; the chance of cutting yourself on those spikes is a real threat. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Bad Luck===========================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 2 *>======================== ========================< Results - Barricade Breaking >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 4 --(16)--> 20 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 4 --(14)--> 18 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 6 --(12)--> 18 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 3 --(14)--> 17 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(5)--> 25 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Slow(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca doesn't think so much right now about how her worrying comes off; she's too busy worrying to worry about worrying. ...But what doesn't concern her is believing Animal here and now; she's curious about him, but they aren't going to leave him behind. So they make to get out of here...
"Okay, I'll help!" Rebecca says, without a shovel of her own. Avril comments some of what Rebecca is thinking, and then she's moving up to Avril and doing the same, moving debris behind Dean and Animal though it's... harder to move Animal's debris. "Nice to meet you Animal," she huffs, as they work. "Oh are you oka--" ...His wound heals. Rebecca blinks. "Wow..."
But work they do, and it's sweaty, dirty work. Unfortunately they hit rock not too far down, which means the tunnel is a tight fit, and they all get across dirty. But, get across they do. Scratches and grime, but safely through.
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Caught in the Crossfire *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your westward flight is interrupted -- because as you run into this section of the battlefield, you find yourself moving between a line of Kislevi and Aveh infantry. Armed with gunsmoke ARMs, the two are firing on each other, sending bursts of gunfire into their ranks. They are behind trenches hastily dug, but you aren't so lucky. While they aren't aiming for you, bullets come whizzing by your head, threatening to shoot you down. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Hi Animal!" Dean says. "Nice to meet you! Wish it were at a better time, though..." After all, crossing a battlefield is not a good time for anything, including meeting new people. When Animal starts ripping beams and casually tossing them over his shoulder, though, his jaw drops. "Woah! You're really strong!" he declares, impressed. "Okay! Let's do this--!!"
And together they all dig. They do the best they can, but considering they hit rock a foot or two down, it's as much as they can manage just to get to the other side. Once they make it, Dean wipes the sweat from his brow, then looks at the others. "Is everyone okay? Animal, d'you--woah!" He'd been about to suggest they heal his wounds, when the newcomer's wounds heal all by themselves. "That's so cool!!"
Unfortunately, there's nothing they can really do about the grime everyone accumulated--it's not like there's a shower handy nearby--so all they can do is move forward. And when they do, they soon come across a pair of lines of infantry, set up behind trenches approximately thirty feet across from each other. The good news is that they're too busy shooting each other to notice Dean 'n' Pals! The bad news is that the only way forward is through the bullets.
"Well, we're already dirty," Dean says. "Let's crawl our way forward! Rebecca, can you give us some cover fire, just in case? You're a better shot than me!"
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Caught in the Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Looking no more dirty than he had going in to the tunnel, Animal is just about as filthy as he usually is on the other side. But all the same, he does primp himself a little once he is standing again and sends up a cloud of dust that surrounds him until they start moving again. His hands covered in dirt, he nods at the others and starts running again once the others are ready. For all his work on the tunnel, he doesn't seem to get tired.
Running through the hail of bullets and such, he for the most part tries to cover the others, and help them move quickly if they lag behind. Only when he looks back to urge them on, doe she notice that Dean has started crawling and sort of 'ohs' as he realizes that might be the safer way to do things and starts worming his way across the battlefield.
"Come on!" he urges the others along as he moves along, using his chin to pull himself and contorting his body. Clearly playing a game with himself more than actually trying to move swiftly, or to dodge enemy bullets. All the same he is a swift moving boy, because of the whole tireless super strength thing he seems to have going for him.
"Do you guys have magic? Everyone has magic but me, you guys should use your magics and stuff!" he suggests.
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Caught in the Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh, that's impressive," Avril says, eyes widening faintly as Animal quite casually hefts and throws quite heavy-looking beams. "Perhaps if you and Dean were to work together, you would be able to tear down these barricades...?" She appears to consider this, then reconsider this. "...But that would be likely to draw attention. Digging a hole seems best." Whereupon she goes to move some more rocks out of the way.
"Your wound healed on its own," Avril comments, watching curiously as a nick seemingly seals up right then and there, with little sign that anything like a spell was involved. "Is that usual?" She glances briefly over at Rebecca and Dean, questing for the answer in their expressions.
"Hmm."
It's hard work, moving these rocks... and the crawl through the tunnel they excavate is about the exact opposite of fun or easy. But, they're alive and relatively unscathed if incredibly dirty, and that's what matters.
"Animals..." Avril shakes her head as she crawls free. "Oh, I see. One of the Guardians spoke to us, but we did not see anything," she answers his quesiton. "Did you receive a visitation as well? They have requested our assistance in protecting their statues, it seems..."
And she stands, just in time to realize that a firefight is taking place here.
Avril drops back down, kneeling in the muck. "Magic...? Do you mean, the Guardians' power? I..." At a critical juncture, Avril hestitates.
And she rises, in a crouch, a posture halfway between the points Dean and Animal have opted for. Speed, but without leaving Dean or Rebecca behind. "We should hurry--"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Caught in the Crossfire.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
It's all really impressive.. but Rebecca has a look of complaint looking down at how dirty she is after that tunnel, shaking her head. "Ugh. I we're lucky it'll make us harder to spot I guess...?"
"Right!" Rebecca answers Dean, "I'm on it. Just a little longer to go!" she hopes. It is very much a hope. Animal must be a useful party member though. "The Guardians had a lot to say," Rebecca points out, and starts watching for the glint of gunbarrels. "I've got my own kind of magic."
At that, she starts firing as she sees barrels, nonlethally but to clear them some movement as she runs along after, relying on instinct for herself.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Pizzicato Pistol toward her party's challenge, Caught in the Crossfire.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Caught in the Crossfire *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your westward flight is interrupted -- because as you run into this section of the battlefield, you find yourself moving between a line of Kislevi and Aveh infantry. Armed with gunsmoke ARMs, the two are firing on each other, sending bursts of gunfire into their ranks. They are behind trenches hastily dug, but you aren't so lucky. While they aren't aiming for you, bullets come whizzing by your head, threatening to shoot you down. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 3 *>======================== =====================< Results - Caught in the Crossfire >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(6)--> 26 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 18 --(6)--> 24 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 18 --(6)--> 24 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 17 --(6)--> 23 Pass Pizzicato Pistol 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(15)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Injure(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"We have *some* magic?" Dean says to Animal as the lot of them start to crawl across the battlefield. "But it's not really magic that would help with stopping bullets..." Maybe if he had the Mountain Medium, that'd be another thing, but even so. Then Avril and Rebecca interpret the animals in the temple as the Guardians, and-- "Oh!! That's what you meant! Sorry, I didn't get it," Dean admits. "We didn't really *see* them? It was weird, though."
Avril has more to say about the subject, and Dean leaves her to it; there's a lot of bullets whizzing overhead, and wow, this is actually pretty stressful. That won't stop him any, especially with Rebecca shooting some barrels to distract the soldiers and give them some clear space. Dean takes advantage by getting up into a crouch like Avril and waving the group forward. "Go go go go go!!"
And fortunately, by the time the soldiers get back to trying to kill each other, the four of them have made it safetly to the other side. Dean clutches his chest and breathes out a heavy sigh, then grins at his companions. "All right, we made it! Let's keep moving forward!"
DG: Animal has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Obscured Path *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your path is taking you the long way around a huge, sheer cliff face. However, you might notice that a winding switchback cuts through it. You might be able to take a shortcut -- or, perhaps, that will lead only to a dead-end and a bottleneck in this dangerous firefight. A decision, whether to take it or not, must be made quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
About the guardians: Animal nods his head at their explanations, but goes on to say, "You should have seen them. I was in this mist, and there were giant animals that are normally invisible, and they were like, 'you shouldn't exist' and I was like, 'I totally should!' and then they gave me a rock, which was sorta weird, because you can't even get food with a rock, so I'm not sure what to do with it," he explains as he finishes crawling across the battlefield with the others.
Leading the way to a degree, since he seems to only really have a general idea of which way to lead them, being a native of the Badlands, and they're getting close to the Badlands. Animal leads them to the cliff-face in question and sort of stands there scratching at his headband trying to make a decision.
"I think it's right," he says, and then sniffs at the air and nods a little, "Yeah, I think it's to the right."
All the while, more gunshots and artillery fire lands in the middle distance. Near enough to be hazardous, but not so near as to require that they immediately dive for cover.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Lucky Headband toward his party's challenge, Obscured Path.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"'You shouldn't exist'...?" Avril echoes, briefly furrowing her brow. "Is that what they said...?" Blue eyes skim off sidelong, as if in somewhat preoccupied distressed thought. "..." Her lips press thinly. "...I see."
A moment or two later, she adds, "Then you have also received a Medium from the Guardians."
Perhaps he's familiar with this place -- it's at best the same vague deja vu she has about most places she's been to here -- because he sure seems like he knows where she's going. Avril, with her friends, follows Animal's lead, up to the small breather they receive once they clear the quite plainly very hot zone of the battlefield they've left behind and emerge near a cliff-face.
For now, there's quiet.
For now.
"Have you been here before?" she asks, tilting her head slightly to the left as Animal sniffs at the air and suggests they head right. Her gaze lingers on the path as she pauses, as if considering the way forward. "Hmm... the left path appears to have some recent shoeprints... I wonder if they could be from the soldiers or from other people fleeing the battle?"
Nearby gunfire, perhaps from the battle they left behind moving this way, might force the issue if they don't choose soon.
"To the right, then?"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Path.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca lets Dean handle the initial explanation, because Rebecca is focused ong etting them all through intact as best she can. When they're on the other side Dean says they made it and that makes Rebecca look around just in case before nodding once. "Right. Good running everyone!"
But Animal... explains... Huh. Invisible, shouln't... Rebecca frowns. "That's not great..."
But she doesn't now why someone would say that. Instead she nods, "The rock is probably that. You could... Maybe use it to hunt? Without just having to hit something with it, I mean. That's not a good idea."
But the cliff face, the quiet... Rebecca looks around. "To the right sounds good--let's get out of here fast!"
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Path.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"You could go hunting with a rock!" Dean suggests to Animal. Granted that *he's* never gone hunting, but other members of his village have, so it couldn't be too hard, right? "That's weird that they said you shouldn't exist, though." He frowns. "The Guardians can be pretty rude, huh?"
Still, just because they're rude doesn't make it okay to ignore them, especially since something as important as the world is at stake. Still, Avril, Animal... Do they just have something against people with A-names??
(Yes Dean. Clearly that's it.)
The group soon reaches the cliff-face with the switchback. Dean rubs his chin, staring at it, not quite understanding why they aren't immediately moving for the switchback. Then Animal sniffs the air and declares they go right. That'd be good enough for him, but then Avril notices some footprints, too, and Dean nods along with Rebecca. "Yeah, that sounds good to me. We don't wanna stick around close enough for that gunfire to get any closer," he says, looking around. "In fact--you think if soldiers heard gunfire around here, they'd try to stay away, too?" Twin Fenrir flash into his hands. "It can't hurt to try, anyway!"
And so he fires off a couple of rounds into the air towards their left, hoping to spook off anyone who would want to come over this way--or at least make them think twice. Hopefully it actually works out, and they can move onwards to the right unimpeded.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"You could go hunting with a rock!" Dean suggests to Animal. Granted that *he's* never gone hunting, but other members of his village have, so it couldn't be too hard, right? "That's weird that they said you shouldn't exist, though." He frowns. "The Guardians can be pretty rude, huh?"
Still, just because they're rude doesn't make it okay to ignore them, especially since something as important as the world is at stake. Still, Avril, Animal... Do they just have something against people with A-names??
(Yes Dean. Clearly that's it.)
The group soon reaches the cliff-face with the switchback. Dean rubs his chin, staring at it, not quite understanding why they aren't immediately moving for the switchback. Then Animal sniffs the air and declares they go right. That'd be good enough for him, but then Avril notices some footprints, too, and Dean nods along with Rebecca. "Yeah, that sounds good to me. We don't wanna stick around close enough for that gunfire to get any closer," he says, looking around. "In fact--you think if soldiers heard gunfire around here, they'd try to stay away, too?" Twin Fenrir flash into his hands. "It can't hurt to try, anyway!"
And so he fires off a couple of rounds into the air towards their left, hoping to spook off anyone who would want to come over this way--or at least make them think twice about it. Hopefully it actually works out, and they can move onwards to the right unimpeded.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Obscured Path.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Obscured Path *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your path is taking you the long way around a huge, sheer cliff face. However, you might notice that a winding switchback cuts through it. You might be able to take a shortcut -- or, perhaps, that will lead only to a dead-end and a bottleneck in this dangerous firefight. A decision, whether to take it or not, must be made quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 4 *>======================== ==========================< Results - Obscured Path >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 26 --(10)--> 36 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 24 --(20)--> 44 Fail Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 24 --(11)--> 35 Pass Lucky Headband 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 23 --(27)--> 50 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
While Animal apparently leads them along to the next challenge by taking them to the right, following his general senses and nose. The random gunfire off to the left has drawn the attention of soldiers.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Garlyle Commando *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Aveh's ally in the war has not left it out. As you make your way across the battlefield, a series of fireballs comes raining dwon from above. You find yourself caught in a pincer attack by a team of Garlyle commandos. Their black uniforms are crisp -- and their aim is sharp, as gunfire peppers down around you. Several leap in after, short swords drawn, and ready to strike you down! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Dean peppers shots up into the air, hoping to cause soldiers to think twice before coming this way.
It's a nice idea.
It just doesn't work out.
There are multiple reasons this could have played out badly, but in this case, it's an absolutely stunning burst of extremely bad luck:
His shots slice up through the fog...
And moments later, fireballs rain down on the group.
They may be forced to scatter, though they're unlikely to get far as the black-clad commandos parachute down from the sky just moments later. A pair of them draw their swords as they close to melee, while others provide support via the ever-popular 'hail of bullets' method.
Twisting out of the way as one of the sword-using soldiers closes in on her, Avril draws from beneath her gown in a flash an item that looks briefly like a sword hilt -- before it is a sword. "Rebecca! Dean! Animal! We have no choice!" she calls out, neatly parrying the incoming strike. With some effort, steel screaming against steel (??) she pushes the commando back, seizing the split-second moment to transfigure her weapon once again with a twist of the wrist and pull of the trigger.
Light erupts from the hilt. A beam weapon--
She lashes out the beam whip at the soldier engaging her, expression set firm and gaze hard.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, Garlyle Commando.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
It's unwise, but Rebecca takes her attention off of Dean for a minute. She's trying to figure out more about Animal, trying to check out Avril's general state, trying to dust herself off a little with all this grime sticking to her hands. She does a lot of things, except--
It can't hurt to try.
"Wait--!"
Animal is leading them, and Dean fires. Suddenly here's fire raining down and Rebecca darts down for the ground away from them. "DEAN!" Rebecca shouts, and scrambles to get back up to her feet. Avril says they have no choice, but--
"Dean, what made you think it was a good idea to fire more bullets when we were moving quietly!? Do you really stop to think about anything before you act or do you just do whatever you feel like!?"
She pulls a stone from her things and lifts it up, "And you--" She glares at the soldier hacking at her and then glows, as the Sky Medium's power crackles from above--
And turns into lightning for their opponents, blasting from her position and going through soldiers.
"AND ANOTHER THING!"
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, Garlyle Commando.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
It turns out that, when soldiers hear gunfire, they actually tend to turn *towards* it because they figure that's where the action is. Oops?
So it's a total shock to Dean when his bullets are answered with fireballs. "Wh--" he utters, just before the parachuting soldiers come into view. He boggles, even as he dodges to avoid getting roasted alive. Rebecca yells. "I-I thought it'd make them steer clear!!" he protests, bewildered. "Who'd wanna go *towards* where they might get shot?! It's a battlefield, it's just full of people trying to kill each other!"
But the soldiers land, and Dean, Twin Fenrir still in hand, answers a couple coming at him with swords with his combat rods. "Argh, fine!! We'll just have to knock these guys out and hurry on ahead!" he calls.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Garlyle Commando.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Leaping out of the way of the raining fire, Animal rubs at his head a bit more, and then shakes it a few times as he stares up at the sky and watches the descending fellows with their parachutes and reaches down, grabbing a rock. Lifting the small sharp rock, he throws it with considerable force at the descending commandos, and manages to perforate one of their parachutes, causing the trooper to fall from the heavens with a mighty WOMPH as he hits the ground. "STOP THROWING FIRE AT ME!" he yells at them.
And then the commandos land amongst the drifters, and Animal launches himself at the nearest one. Taking a painful cut across the torso in the process, though his vest seems to eat a lot of the damage. This puts him in reach of the commando, who he picks up over his head and lobs at the second nearest commando, and the fight continues as he proceeds to take cuts, and throw the commandos around like they're weightless.
The young teenager seems to have zero skill at fighting, but he makes up for it by being really strong and pretty quick on his feet. He also continues to heal almost all of his wounds spontaneously.
About half way through the battle he pauses to reach into a pocket and pulls out a wad of cooked meat with seasoning on it, and starts chewing on it. "For healing," he explains. To a commando. Because they look at him in disgust.
Animal then bites the commando on the face.
It's a good fight.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Vest of the Turtle toward his party's challenge, Garlyle Commando.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Garlyle Commando *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Aveh's ally in the war has not left it out. As you make your way across the battlefield, a series of fireballs comes raining dwon from above. You find yourself caught in a pincer attack by a team of Garlyle commandos. Their black uniforms are crisp -- and their aim is sharp, as gunfire peppers down around you. Several leap in after, short swords drawn, and ready to strike you down! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 5 *>======================== =========================< Results - Garlyle Commando >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 36 --(4)--> 40 Pass Beam Whip Mode 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 44 --(7)--> 51 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 35 --(3)--> 38 Pass Vest of the Turtle 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 50 --(2)--> 52 Pass Sky Medium 3 Combat Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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.
In a way, the commando team probably wasn't expecting this level of reprisal from the group of kids (?) they just ambushed. They were probably expecting this one to be easy -- just some Drifters who got their hands on some ARMs and wandered somewhere they shouldn't. They might not have even killed them if they'd won.
As it stands, a few things happen in quick succession:
Lightning blasts, guided by the Sky Medium, lays low a number of the gunner support members as Dean provides some much needed cover for Rebecca, delivering some much-needed nuking of the ranged attackers. Meanwhile, melee runs into its own problems as an apparently scruffy but otherwise normal-looking young man recovers instantaneously from the wounds they deliver -- gun and sword alike -- and then rushes one of them to bite them on the face.
This is exactly as unexpected and disconcerting and debilitating for the commando in question as one might expect.
Then there's the laser whip weapon issue. They definitely weren't expecting that.
Avril gazes down at the disabled Garlyle commandos as the dust settles, her ARM's charge dispersing and the beam vanishing.
"...It was to the right, wasn't it?" she asks, after a moment's silent and sober consideration of what rests at her feet. "...We should hurry. The other soldiers might have heard."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Artillery Flare *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you make your way westward, you find an Aveh soldier who has been shot dead. He has a pair of large tubes, which have the word "ARTILLERY" printed on the side. These tubes hold flares, used to signal artillery emplacements and indicate where they should open fire. Careful use of these could cause Aveh's artillery to hit a point you desire -- to clear the way, perhaps. Of course, doing so improperly could draw fire... or attention from Aveh's soldiers. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure, Injure, Stupify================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca keeps shouting through the whole fight, punctuated by Dean calling back to her and her shouting back, "Soldiers would! Going back to hurting each other is their job!" Which is kind of a horrible job to have but it's very pragmatic. They can knock them out sure...
And Rebecca does aim to stun, not to kill. She's not a soldier herself, doesn't see a need to go that hard, though she winces at Animal's fighting. She... doesn't wince at Avril's laser whip, but she does think about it. Hurry..
"Y-Yeah," she says, "Let's hurry." Rebecca looks around and moves ahead through the passage, as she steps, and steps... and here they are outside it. A dead soldier, with large tubes. Flares? Yes, they must be flares.
"Um..." She considers, and shakes her head. "Poor guy. Alone out here. But maybe..." She kneels down beside the flares, "What if we can use these...?"
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Artillery Flare.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The commando Avril defeated isn't dead, as her friends would have noticed, but...
Those are some heavy wounds she inflicted, even pulling her blows. At least they can be certain that they won't be followed as they hurry up the path.
What meets them there is a dead soldier. And flares.
Once again, Avril is silent, as if in contemplation -- this time of the truly fallen. "Is this the nature of war..." she murmurs, then shakes her head, stepping towards the flares.
"These are artillery flares."
How does she know this?
"They are meant to direct the fire of the heavy weapons. Do you recall the shells that struck the temple? If we use these properly, we may be able to clear a path for ourselves."
She falls silent, gazing for a moment into the distances, listening to the shouts and cries of those fighting.
"Dean. What would you like to do?"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Artillery Flare.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Ungh!" is Dean's eloquent response to Rebecca Streisand's counter, which is to say, he has no response for that. For his part, he does his best to knock out the soldiers--or at least hold them in place so Avril, Rebecca, and Animal can do that. Nobody died... right? Animal bit a few of those guys really hard, and Avril's beam sword is pretty...
Fortunately, Dean has just enough time to check--they're hurt bad, but they're still alive. If they wake up in time, they should be able to heal each other. Even so, he murmurs an apology as he glances worriedly over his shoulder, then moves with the others through the passage to the right until they reach the other side and find...
"Oh," he utters. He kneels down in front of the dead soldier, frowning in open commisseration and regret. "This... really is a war, huh... I wish this never happened. There's no point in all this fighting...!"
But Rebecca suggests they make use of the flares. Dean stares at her, not comprehending. It doesn't quite clear when Avril calls them artillery flares, but her explanation makes it clearer. "Hmm... We already got the attention of a bunch of soldiers," he says. "I'd rather avoid a fight like that for now. We could always save them for later, I guess? But if we wanna use these to distract the soldiers and get them to go *away* from us..." He looks at Rebecca. "If we set them up, though--I could always use my ARMs to shoot and see where pointing them would hit?" Bullets go in a straight line, right? At least this time he's checking in with her first.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Artillery Flare.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Running along after they've gotten past the commandos, leaving them in whatever state they were left in, Animal is wiping some of their blood from his chin and bouncing on his toes as he bounds with energy. "How were they flying?" he asks of the others, thinking back to the commandos. "I want to fly too," he tells them.
Looking around at the artillery, and the artillery flares he listens to Avril's explanation and tries to puzzle out how this works.
"But if the 'heavy weapons' go where the flares are, why aren't the heavy weapons landing on the flares now?" he asks, looking frightened and wide eyed, and backs away from where Avril had said the 'flares' are.
Hiding behind some other equipment, he watches and rubs at his lucky headband, trying to make sense of things without being too near to the others and their flares.
"Maybe you should throw them away from us!?" he says, trying to be helpful, and scampers a bit further.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Lucky Headband toward his party's challenge, Artillery Flare.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Artillery Flare *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you make your way westward, you find an Aveh soldier who has been shot dead. He has a pair of large tubes, which have the word "ARTILLERY" printed on the side. These tubes hold flares, used to signal artillery emplacements and indicate where they should open fire. Careful use of these could cause Aveh's artillery to hit a point you desire -- to clear the way, perhaps. Of course, doing so improperly could draw fire... or attention from Aveh's soldiers. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure, Injure, Stupify================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 6 *>======================== =========================< Results - Artillery Flare >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(9)--> 49 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 51 --(11)--> 62 Pass Twin Fenrir - Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 38 --(13)--> 51 Fail Lucky Headband 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 52 --(15)--> 67 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 70 --(15)--> 85 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Stupify(2)|Treasure(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"It only happens if the flare is lit," Rebecca explains gently to Animal. She doesn't explain anything gently to Dean right now because she's been yelling at him, but also because... Here with the body...
"I don't know," Rebecca says quietly. "I guess they would say there's a point, or they wouldn't be doing it. But I wonder why...?" A sigh. "What makes them..."
She shakes her head, listening to the shouts, and looks to Dean. "As long as you don't fire," Rebecca says. If you start shooting first, they'll know someone hostile is here, so we won't get the chance to use the flares. "I think... a distraction. Let's be careful."
And so careful they are; eventually they settle on locales, and soon a brilliant flare bursts up into the sky...!
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shattered Landship *>==================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The Golem Sado has dominated the battlefield in the distance. A fully armed and operation Golem is a terror to behold, and the violet, snake-like machine towers over the battlefield. Gears lay scattered and shattered around it, and periodically, a beam of energy lances across the ground and burns something from existence. That happens now, as a land battleship from Aveh hurls through the air. It has been blasted through and burnt -- and it smashes into the very ground before you. It shatters apart into so much debris, and makes a huge mountain of fiery wreckage. You cannot possibly clear it. But you must climb, hack, and cut your way through -- because on the other side is a final escape from the battlefield. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Rebecca makes the call: use the flares, but don't use bullets to guide them. Dean makes a dubious face, but considering how the last time he tried to use the Standard Cartridge went, he's not going to argue. Instead, he nods to Animal. "Yeah, Rebecca's right! It's okay if they're not lit. And flares kind of... after you light them, they fly up into the sky and explode? So it'll be okay, they won't explode anywhere near us!" As for how those soldiers from earlier 'flew'... Dean really doesn't know that. He only happens to know the base concept of flares by chance, due to it coming up in a story about golems; it was just the artillery flares part that tripped him up.
But the flare rises high up in the sky, then expodes, hopefully distracting the enemy forces!
It doesn't *quite* distract them. Instead, off in the distance, a massive golem Sado tuuuurns...
"Woah, it's a golem!!" Dean gushes, eyes sparkling. "Did it beat up all those other gears by itself? That's so cool!! I wonder if--"
PSHEWWWWWWWWWW. The golem Sado fires a massive beam across the ground, towards where the artillery flare went off. There not actually being anything there, it passes by, well and safely away from the group of Drifters--and instead strikes a landship nearby, reducing it to flaming rubble in one strike. Dean witnesses this with a mouth and eyes wide open.
"...that was AWESOME!! WOOHOOOOO!! YEAAAHHH, HAHAHAHA!!" he cheers, jumping up and down. It does not occur to him that there were people inside these machines. After all--all he can see is the (awesome) cold, metal exterior.
Once someone (probably Rebecca) reminds him of the situation they're in, though, Dean sobers. "Okay... that's a really--really big wreckage. I don't think we can go around it without risking getting caught up in more fights. But I'm sure we could dig our way through! With the help of--" He pulls it out with a TADAA!! "--my trusty shovel!!"
...
In any case, they're just going to have to strong-arm their way through. At least Dean has no lack of enthusiasm.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, The Shattered Landship.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Seeing the giant golem on the far side of the field, Animal stares in awe, which makes his startlement at the crashing ship all the more pronounced. He immediately goes wide-eyed, but at least some of his fear leaves him, and he is able to get moving again as he isn't thinking about the death-trap that is the flares and their presence.
"We didn't make that crash, did we?" he asks, thinking their flares may have done it.
Seeing as how they need to get past the crashed ship, he immediately starts grabbing and throwing big pieces again, seemingly doing the exact same thing the last time they'd come across a pile of stuff that needed going through or over.
"We can do this! Just like before!" he says to Dean in good cheer and lobs some poor schmuck's armoire over his head and back where they'd been standing earlier.
"But next time, I want to learn how to fly, so I can just go over the stuff," he points out.
DG: Animal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Shattered Landship.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes. As long as they aren't lit, they will not explode," Avril explains. "If they are fired off, the place where they explode guides the soldiers firing the artillery."
Thus, if they really wanted to, they could make their situation quite easy... but could they really contemplate deliberately firing a flare at people?
Of course not.
Instead, they'll use the flare as a distraction and move--
"Ah..." Avril breathes, sighting something on the horizon moments before Dean notices. "That's a golem... Is that one of the exhibition--"
She cuts herself off. No, it isn't. And then something happens that makes her fail to follow up on that thought out loud.
The Golem Sado fires its beam weaponry. Halfway drawing an arm up, as if she could deflect the mighty landship hurled their way, her long hair is set aflutter in the explosion that follows. Fire licks across the field before them as chaos quiets and stills.
"...It may be possible," she answers Animal, at length.
Avril draws her ARM, summoning forth Absolute Zero's blade form.
She glances at her companions -- Dean, Rebecca, Animal.
"...Dean is right. We cannot risk going around, and many of our routes have been cut off. However..."
She pauses, gesturing forward with her blade. "We may be able to go through. Everyone, please do your best."
Absolute Zero is made of sturdy stuff. As she races towards the wreckage, even steel will be hard-pressed to so much as dent its blade.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shattered Landship.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca jumps in fright at the gigantic golem's beam, not at all touched by wonder of it. Dean witnesses the whole thing and cheers, while Rebecca rushes to him and takes his arm. "Dean! Dean!" She looks... Really, really worried, despite how cool he finds it. "...We have to get out of here," she reminds him, and looks up to the gigantic mechanical monster again. This thing...
THey weren't going to fire a flare t people. But this? This is strange. She forces herself to stand upright again as they look to what they're doing--what they need to do. "R-right, Animal," Rebecca says, drawing in a breath and changing her stance. "...I'll use the Mediums as much as I can, and then I'll go in with my hands," Rebecca says, and starts moving to back Dean up. Dean, Avril, and Animal, all three.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Shattered Landship.
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shattered Landship *>==================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The Golem Sado has dominated the battlefield in the distance. A fully armed and operation Golem is a terror to behold, and the violet, snake-like machine towers over the battlefield. Gears lay scattered and shattered around it, and periodically, a beam of energy lances across the ground and burns something from existence. That happens now, as a land battleship from Aveh hurls through the air. It has been blasted through and burnt -- and it smashes into the very ground before you. It shatters apart into so much debris, and makes a huge mountain of fiery wreckage. You cannot possibly clear it. But you must climb, hack, and cut your way through -- because on the other side is a final escape from the battlefield. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
========================<* The Battle Front - Round 7 *>======================== ======================< Results - The Shattered Landship >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 49 --(6)--> 55 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 62 --(4)--> 66 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 51 --(8)--> 59 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 67 --(4)--> 71 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Stupify(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has successfully explored The Battle Front!
=============================<* The Battle Front *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - The Lucky Find *>======================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you tear your way through the battleship, you come to a room that has not been shattered. The hangar is damaged and burnt, but a small number of Gears sit here. They are largely unharmed -- though unarmed, and they will need some repairs before they could be used in combat. However, the engines are active, and you could use these to force your way out. OOC: Congratulations! You may each do some +request work to repair these Gears and make them serviceable for a fight, if you wish. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
And just as Dean is gushing over how Cool and Awesome and Amazing that golem is, Rebecca runs up to Dean and grabs him by the arm, practically shaking him. "Wh-what?!" he utters--and then Animal asks if they caused that crash, and he sobers. "Oh. Did we?" He grimaces. "I hope not..." It's not great that the crash happened either way, and the more he thinks about it, the more he feels back that he was gushing over that golem... He looks back over in Sado's direction as well as the shattered gears scattered in its wake, and looking at it again in a new light, as a weapon of war that's crushed many a golem-like machine, makes him terribly sad.
...But there's no way they could save Sado here and now. As much as it galls Dean to have to leave it behind, he clenches his fists. His friends have got to come first, as Rebecca and Animal reminded him. "We'll do something about this," he whispers to himself, staring at the golem with fierce, sad eyes. "I just don't know what, yet."
But Rebecca reminds him that they have to get out of here, and Dean re-focuses on the task at hand and suggests they dig their way across. He nods to Avril, Rebecca, and Animal and turn. "Man, I wanna learn how to fly," he remarks to Animal, before all four of them get to work. And eventually, when they make it through the junk heap, they eventually make it to a hangar. Since opening it up means a clear shot to the other side, Dean nods to the others, then opens the unlocked door...
And inside are Gears. A decent number of Gears, and while they do need repairs before they could be used in a fight, they're more than good enough to make their way across the last of the battlefield.
Eyes alight with all the stars of the galaxy, Dean starts making a high-pitched noise of excitement.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"..." Avril breathes out, gaze flitting over to Dean almost guiltily. "...There was no way of knowing," she says, before looking away again, her hands crossing before herself in an agitated fashion. "This battlefield... perhaps the ship was already in its sights."
But neither can she rule it out entirely.
...Is this what the Guardians meant, too? When they spoke of the people of this world never changing. "..."
But in the here and now, they have to escape. There's something they need to do, and to get there, they need to get beyond this battlefield.
She thrusts Absolute Zero forward, seeking to saw and break whatever stands in her way as they carve a path directly through the ship.
And there, as they rush through broken hallways and clear debris and cut through the guts of the ship, there the path leads them into the hangar. Avril stops.
"They're Gears. I see, the ship was carrying these..."
Her gaze slides between all three of her companions.
"Maybe you will learn how to fly soon..." Avril murmurs to Dean, gazing up at the Gears.
Flight. Why does looking at these machines make her think of flight?
"We should use these. I think..." Avril closes her eyes, as if in thought, however briefly. "I think I know how."
At least enough to get them operational and moving, as far as they will take them from the battle that still rages on.