2017-09-08: Krosse Purposes
- Log: Krosse Purposes
- Cast: Ambrosius, Zed, Animal, Yarobeleedt, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Krosse Cave
- Date: September 8th 2017
- Summary: A party organizes to explore the Krosse Kave. A rather unusual party, as it happens. Come for the wordplay, stay for the antics.
DG: A party led by Ambrosius is now entering Krosse Kave. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Kome Into My Parlor *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The first level of the Krosse Cave has long been picked over by Drifters, and poses no barrier to your party as you move through it. Near the end of that level, in a large, open chamber, a section of the wall has been opened, revealing another tunnel beyond. Before you can move towrd it, however, large spiders descend from the ceiling, spitting webs - and venom - in your direction. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
With a whole new land to explore, it was important that Ambrosius widen his gaze. A place such as the Krosse Cave, which had apparently bent combed over many times, may not seem like much, but that did not mean there was nothing there of interest. Particularly if one were to listen into the rumors, to hear that there was supposedly another, unexplored wing with secrets that were yet to be found.
Who knew what mysteries would lie within? It was for that reason was here now, with a party of trusted allies and Yarobeleedt, who he may or may not even be aware of the presence of.
They had cleared through the first level quickly enough. Doubtless there were many amusing shenanigans to be had, but for the sake of time we will be skipping past them.
Skipping...
Skipping...
The party finds themselves surrounded by a horde of giant spiders!
Okay, that may have been a little too much skipping. Let's rewind a bit.
As the party progresses toward the newly opened, they might notice the signs. Chitinous legs tapping against the stone walls, webs strewn about here and there...
It seems the spiders had found this place before anyone else had, and with an opening created they had started to come through into the first level. Ambrosius draws his revolver from its holster just as the first of them start to come down.
"Araaachnids..." Ambrosius mutters, aiming at the spider and firing at one of its many eyes. It hisses - wait, do spiders hiss? do they make any noise at all? well, fine, these spiders hiss - and retaliates with a shot of venom, which Ambrosius narrowly avoids.
"If you are poiiisoned...alert me immeeediately...I can deal with it..." Ambrosius warns, the beginnings of a water spell swirling around the hand that didn't hold his gun.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Deluge toward his party's challenge, Kome Into My Parlor.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed is in a new land! Zed is out exploring! Zed--
FAST FORWARD NOISES
Zed had no idea that Ambrosius could even DO that with a banana!!
But before he has the chance to mull this mysterious fact of life over, he is beset by horrbly poisonous spiders! Oh no! Zed gasps exaggeratedly at the front of the group as an arachnid drops to the floor right in front of him...!
Beat.
"Wait," he knits his brow, "Am I even vulnerable to spider venom...??"
He debates testing this.
He decides against this.
"Well, whatever! I can ask Uncle Al later!" Zed grins and chucks a handful of little explosives that quickly blossom into clouds of technicolor smoke. "I'll just have to tie one of these guys up and bring it home with me later! Nyeheheheheheh!"
DG: Zed has used his Tool Smoke Bombs toward his party's challenge, Kome Into My Parlor.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Animal dragging something heavy and looking bored.
Fast forward.
Animal eating food from his pockets.
Fast forward.
Fast forward.
Running along with the others, Animal sniffs at the air a little, and then shrugs and fingers the webbing on the cave wall sending vibrations along it that resonate through the whole chamber. "I think there are creepy crawlies in here," he warns a good ten seconds before the spiders descend in a chittering cacophony. "Yep, creepy crawlies," he confirms, and extends a hand to either side. Stretching his fingers out and then curling them slightly forward as if making them like claws.
With a battle yelp, he leaps forward onto the back of a descending spider, and starts biting on its many eyes, green goop exploding on his face as he bites on it repeatedly, and the two come to contest for positioning as the rapid leg movements of the spider come to be opposed by the super strength of the boy, and his wild flailing.
DG: Animal has used his Tool Vest of the Turtle toward his party's challenge, Kome Into My Parlor.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Aaaaaaaand there's the weird hooded figure again, who seems to trail along on almost every venture Ambrosius makes out in the big ol' wide wicked world of Filgaia as a one-two deal. Those two must be really good friends! The best of friends. (Also, want to buy a bridge?)
Yarobeleedt, if he were of the mind, would remind the narrative that he suffers more for having to deal with this crowd so discreetly. He briefly regards Animal with the same curiosity as he does latent fear of just about anything. That one seems to come with them all the time.
"Is good quest to go in." Yarobeleedt approves of Zed's line of thought, because that way he can just sit back and watch and let him get maybe-poisoned and laugh and--
A spider lightly taps Yarobeleedt on the shoulder. It might be just as much 'rar I am angry venom-spitting spider' or just 'um dude you're standing on my web, not cool, plz move'
Yarobeleedt shrieks and pulls the cocoon about himself. He stands on sloped ground, and... starts rolling.
The steel-like fabric cocoon rolls down and gets entangled in all sorts of webbing, yanking it off the cavern walls and wrapping its owner within it, which is... oddly convenient, by Yarobeleedt standards. (This technically counts as helping!! Maybe he's having a bad day.)
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Sheet Cocoon toward its party's challenge, Kome Into My Parlor.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
With an entire (familiar, mostly) territory laid out before her, the archaeologist is...
Looking to make some money, actually. Preparing for her crossing severely cut her available funds -- and it also just so happens that money vanishes the more you spend it! -- and if she's going to proceed with her project(s), then she's going to need a bit of lucre.
Which means, naturally, ruins-delving. It was pure chance that more than a few faces tagging along for this expedition are familiar ones...
And it's also pure chance that they're heading down to a location that is, actually, familiar. And so--
SKIPPING AHEAD
--Josephine Lovelace glances up, takes a step backwards, and draws the rifle from its holster across her back.
"Oh, spiders, huh?" she comments, squinting one eye shut as she takes aim at a particularly fat one descending from on high. On her shoulder, the pigeon shuffles slightly to the left, agitatedly glancing this way and that.
Penelope isn't looking at the spiders. Something has started moving behind them at a fast pace, prompting the bird to hop a further inch to the left and stare. Behind Josie.
"Wonder what they eat down here?" Josie comments, before pulling the trigger.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kome Into My Parlor.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Kome Into My Parlor *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The first level of the Krosse Cave has long been picked over by Drifters, and poses no barrier to your party as you move through it. Near the end of that level, in a large, open chamber, a section of the wall has been opened, revealing another tunnel beyond. Before you can move towrd it, however, large spiders descend from the ceiling, spitting webs - and venom - in your direction. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
=========================<* Krosse Kave - Round 1 *>========================== ======================< Results - Kome Into My Parlor >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Deluge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Animal 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Vest of the Turtle 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Sheet Cocoon 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Smoke Bombs 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ambrosius 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Stalwart(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius 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> Ambrosius has posed.
As it turns out, these spiders aren't exactly used to prey that fights back. They hunt by surprise, laying their web traps down and attacking when their prey couldn't escape. The opposition they prefer to deal with isn't nearly so sharp or loud, so before too long they're scuttling on back the way they came, the survivors looking much worse for wear. Fortunately, any poison that might have been inflicted is easily dealt with, either with Ambrosius's sorcery or curatives already on one's person.
"Let us contiiinue..." Ambrosius says, returning Conversator to its holster and moving on through the now-open passageway.
The spiders might try to investigate the strange cocoon thing they left behind if it doesn't manage to extricate itself, but they will doubtlessly find it unappetizing and leave it before too long.
...Besides, it was entirely possible Yarobeeledt was more venomous than they were.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Krosse Kave *>================================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Kareer Kounseling *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you round the corner, you find a pair of nervous, shaken Drifters huddled in a corner, surrounded by the bodies of monsters... and by two of their friends, now deceased. They reach for their weapons when they see you, terror rising in their eyes. If you can convince them you're not hostile, maybe... =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
As it turns out, spiders can move faster than you might expect! Even the particularly plump ones. This one sliiiides out of the way before Josie's bullet can do more but make a curious dent to be noticed by the next exploration crew to come through the cave.
But it's still collectively a win.
It's safe to say that they're not the first group to come in via the brand new fresh entry into a part of the otherwise well-explored caves.
Particularly since half of an expedition team is currently lying on the floor here, rather obviously dead, while the other half cringes in the corner.
"STAND BACK, DEMON!" one of the surviving team members cries, managing to thrust a sword the group's way while still looking as if he'd like to merge with the rocky wall somehow.
"It's okay! We're just another group of Drifters!" Josie states, spreading her arms wide (but not so wide that she can't pull the sidearm if she has to) as she glances between her teammates.
Glances between her... hm.
This might call for desperate measures. She glances at her longtime partner. ...Well, Penelope always makes her feel better.
"...Hey, Penelope!"
Penelope turns, cocks her head to one side, regarding the humans in the corner.
And takes flight, settling down somewhere in the space between her crew and the unfortunate adventurer group. And struts.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Kareer Kounseling.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius looks upon the Drifters disinterestedly. He he had a tendency to appear...rather intimidating, what with the way he practically loomed over most people. When one of them draws his sword, he almost considers drawing Conversator in response.
...But, no. He should probably at least attempt to help. These two were clearly not in their right minds, after everything they had face.
He extends a hand toward the two Drifters and a calming mist will wash over them, slowly patching their wounds and cleansing them of ailments.
"The way back...is clear...I would adviiise...taking your fallen comraaades...and fleeing..." He says, his hand disappearing into his poncho once more.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kareer Kounseling.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Following with the others, Animal pushes ahead from time to time, and tries to follow Yarobeleedt up walls, by trying to cling like they do. But ultimately, just ends up rock-climbing in a few places where he can cling to the rocks, but then ends up unable to follow any further. This leaves him looking a bit dejected, and he is genuinely unsure why he isn't able to do it too.
Seeing the secondary drifter crew, he hunches over and looks at them and their weapons, and scratches at the back of his head a little. Staring at them in thought, he tries to make sense of them and their dead team-mates. With a little nod as he comes to a decision, he purses his bottom lip. "Hey, are you guys hungry?" Animal asks when he sees the secondary drifter crew.
Hooking a thumb back over his shoulder, he says, "We killed a bunch of those spiders back there, and they had good spider-meat," as helpfully as he can.
A pause as he thinks about it.
"It's safe that way." In case they were scared of the creepy crawlies. This is said in agreement with Ambrosius.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Hah-hah! Do you see, spiders!? There is naught that you can do before the BLADE OF ZED but fall! Or squirm! Or shuffle awkwardly back up into the web-rafters!
Hm.
Perhaps the Blade of Zed is not as limiting as it could be.
Zed contemplates this as they proceed further, only to be abruptly snapped out of his reverie by--
"What!? Injured and alone in a cave where anyone of ill intent might suddenly jump out of the shadows and take everything you have left!?" Zed gasps! Then frowns. "Fear not, friends! The way behind us is clear. Except for the spiders. Be very, very careful about the spiders. They are feeling..."
"...Spidery."
"Today.
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kareer Kounseling.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The annoying hooded figure sure takes their sweet time getting out of the webbing they've entangled themselves in! The robe of completely unflattering width and not at all convincing size strides down the dark cavern walls, the true nature of its wearer's locomotion reasonably obscured as they catch up behind them.
The tendrils of frayed spider silk trail like ghostly speed lines that linger in the consciousness of one near death. They sneak up a ways behind Ambrosius and Animal, looming.
An errant glint of light from a torch reflects on the beady, inhuman eyes underneath the hood for a moment.
THIS DOESN'T HELP AT ALL. (That's how we know Yarobeleedt is okay.)
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Kareer Kounseling. DG: Animal has used his Tool Lucky Headband toward his party's challenge, Kareer Kounseling.
===============================<* Krosse Kave *>================================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Kareer Kounseling *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you round the corner, you find a pair of nervous, shaken Drifters huddled in a corner, surrounded by the bodies of monsters... and by two of their friends, now deceased. They reach for their weapons when they see you, terror rising in their eyes. If you can convince them you're not hostile, maybe... =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
==========================<* Krosse Kave - Round 2 *>=========================== ========================< Results - Kareer Kounseling >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Lucky Headband 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ambrosius 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I'LL HAVE NONE OF YOUR TRICKS, FIEND--" The warrior's sword wavers in the air as he stares down the fiends that threaten--
Well, ok, the group of four humans (?) that stand before them. And their pigeon.
Who is strutting about as easily as if this were a city street and she was just looking for some breadcrumbs.
And then back at the humans (??).
Between the tall one who heals their wounds -- the other of the pair, silent next to their partner's bombast, clutches their staff close (...maybe they're the party mage?) and shrinks against the wall -- and urges them to take their dead and leave.
The wild-looking boy, who mentions spiders back the way they came and offers them some meat, while corroborating that the way is clear.
And that... swordsman. "Er," says the warrior, blade still thrust the party's way. "...The way out is clear? God be praised!"
And there, between the party of human (???) Drifters (?), beady eyes glint threateningly in the gloom.
The two ill-fortuned adventurers share a look.
And as one, they bend down, heft up the fallen, and book it right past the party for the hopeful exit to the caves.
"...Huh, wonder what that was about," Josie comments, shading her eyes as they flee.
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================================<* Krosse Kave *>==================================================== ==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Krushing Korridor *>=========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Suddenly, a trap triggers, and heavy stone barriers slam down in the path ahead and behind your party. Worse yet, the walls begin to rumble and slowly grind inward. This is a real pickle... =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Whatever that last party ran into, so far, they don't seem to encounter anything like that. Sure, maybe another spider at some point, but nothing that noteworthy. What could they have possibly died of?
As the party moves forward, there is a weighty 'click' noise and the floor beneath the lot of them depressing into a short pit. That's not so bad. They could just climb ou--
Heavy stone walls slam into the path ahead, and behind. Simply climbing out is no longer an option, as the walls churn and grind against the cavern ground forward.
The hooded figure darts ahead of them - wow, they're fast! - and raise their big weighty sleeves.
The hooded figure begins to frantically scrape at the walls with... wow, those are some kinda sharp-looking blades they're holding in their hands in there. The scraping noises are awful, and the blades in 'hand' look kinda... crooked? A little uneven? Yellow-ish? Still, they probably have the right idea.
Panic!!!! (Maybe do something! But panicking is fine too, now's a great time to do it if one is ever wishing to panic for their lives. One might not have the chance after the next minute or so. Carpe diem!)
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Krushing Korridor.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Running over to the wall that lead to the path ahead, Animal starts trying to dig his fingers into whatever gaps he can find in the wall and to try to simply lift the massive stone block by main strength alone. "Open open open!" he tells the block as his bare feet scrabble for purchase to slow the progress of the crusher, while also trying to give him enough leverage to simply lift the stone. He glances over as he starts to get his fingers into a small gap he makes at the bottom of the block and says to everyone else, "These puzzles are fun!"
And for as much cheer as there is in him at getting to lift things, he seems to genuinely enjoy it. A large smile on his face that is untainted by the touch of sweat upon his brow, or the small crack of one of his fingernails as he rips it off in trying to get a better grip on the stone.
"I'm not the one who stepped on the trap, by the way," he points out, not wanting to be blamed. Though he isn't sure he isn't the one who stepped on it. Sometimes these things were hard to tell.
DG: Animal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Krushing Korridor.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Indeed, so far, the way is quite clear--
Until something goes 'click'.
"Arrows--!?"
Josie manages about that much before the floor slides out from under her completely and she plummets (a short distance) into a pit.
"Guardians, really, what's the point of this?" she mutters, planting a hand at the small of her back as she winces. Penelope comes fluttering down from on high, having skipped the rough way down.
...Penelope might regret this, as the walls start to grind inwards.
Josie, rather mildly, tilts her head to one side. "Oh. That kind of trap."
She shrugs off her back. "Well, then, shall we--"
She stops. She thought she just saw something. "...Your fingernails sure must be sharp," she comments to Animal as she kneels to root through her pack. That loud scraping noise suggests it.
Penelope, meanwhile, flails about roughly in Yarobeleedt's direction.
Pulling the mattock out of her pack, Josie pauses just long enough to take a breath. Then, holding it in both hands, she drives an overhand swing towards one of the incoming walls. "HAAA--"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Krushing Korridor.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Best of luck, weary travellers!" Zed yells and waves over his shoulder as his new buddies speed out of the dungeon. Hopefully they're going to be okay! It'd be terrible to just get rescued and then end up being eaten by a sandworm or something because you weren't paying attention where you were walking.
...Where was he again?
Uh.
Oh, right! Here. In between two slowly advancing wall-crushers.
Hm.
What a terrible place to be.
"Wow," Zed observes as the walls grind closer. "It's like we're between a hard place... and a hard place... and four more hard places...!"
Beat.
Zed brandishes his sword.
"But there are no places harder than ZED! ENGARDE, WALL!" Zed dashes! Zed slashes! Zed dashes! Zed slashes! He... He's dashing and slashing repeatedly into a wall. Dash... cancelling!?
DG: Zed has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Krushing Korridor.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius glances toward Josephine, but he doesn't have a comment. He wasn't entirely sure, himself, but for now he decides it isn't worth being concerned about. He doubted they would end up in that position themselves.
But shortly after that thought, the party finds themselves in a pit with the walls closing in. It was a classic trap, really. Ambrosius would approve if it weren't currently being used against him.
"I imaaagine...it is to keep out those...who come uuunbidden..." Ambrosius suggests. He doesn't comment an Animal's attempt to push the blame off of himself. Frankly he isn't sure who's responsible, but at this point it was too late to care.
...Though for the record, he would say it probably wasn't him.
He extends his hand once more and water begins to swirl around it, eventually coalescing into a spinning blade which is sent into - and hopefully though - the walls that were closing in.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Krushing Korridor.
===================================================<* Krosse Kave *>==================================================== ==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Krushing Korridor *>=========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Suddenly, a trap triggers, and heavy stone barriers slam down in the path ahead and behind your party. Worse yet, the walls begin to rumble and slowly grind inward. This is a real pickle... =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
==============================================<* Krosse Kave - Round 3 *>=============================================== ============================================< Results - Krushing Korridor >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Animal 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Ambrosius 35 --(15)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Injure(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius 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> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The party - most of it - cottons to one truth the very moment they start to apply a significant amount of force as adrenaline (or alien equivalents) start to overtake rational thought.
The walls are, as it would seem, rather thin! Animal doesn't succeed in lifting it up, but it proves a moot point as the stone walls buckle and crumble under the assault of the rest. It seems so thin that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't intended to be a pit trap for humans.
Maybe the rest of this kursed kavern is using this as a way to keep the spiders out? That'd be the day. The mechanisms that govern the walls' movement grind to a halt as breaching one end completely destroys the mechanical sequence behind it.
This doesn't stop the hooded figure from continuing to scream at a loud, noxious volume that no human should ever be cursed to have for themselves, scraping uselessly at a wall that ceases moving at all.
DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Kannon Ball? RUN! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You emerge in a large, wide-open cavern, in which an ancient wooden sailing ship appears to have somehow come to rest, impaled but largely intact atop stalagmites so ancient that the stone has actually begun to form over the vessel. Unfortunately, the ship has long since become the home of a local kobold tribe who fancy themselves pirates. You should probably move quickly through this cave. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Having triumphed over the Krushing Korridor, the team makes their way deeper into kavern. Very deeper. Too deep, perhaps. The descent leads them into a great, vaulted cavern festooned with a maze of stalactites and stalagmites. Rock formations drip pure water from on high and patches of luminescent moss fill the entire area with a soft, green glow. This must be a particularly ancient part of the kave. There's little indication that anyone has been down here for ages.
Well.
Except for the enormous galleon that's somehow gotten itself impaled on a set of stone spikes back there.
"Uhhhh," Zed observes, pointing a finger at the vessel. "What's... How did that even get here?"
You know you're in trouble when Zed of all demons calls you out on being implausible.
"How? Why? When?" Beat. There's a high-pitched whistling sound. "...What's that?"
Answer: Kannonball.
Zed yelps as it explodes amidst the rock formations just behind the group. "What! Underground ship ghosts*!? Everyone run! I'll cover you!" Cover you how, exactly?
By snatching Kannonballs out of the sky with his scarf and hurling them right back like this were some kind of SNES-era platformer.
*Actually just kobolds in really dapper pirate hats
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Kannon Ball? RUN!.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Always running. Animal is sucking on his finger a little where the nail hasn't grown back just yet, because regenerating some things just take longer than others. But once it starts to grow back, he stops sucking on it, and checks it out. It is growing a little awkwardly, but it's growing a little at least, enough that his finger isn't entirely lacking for a finger nail.
"I want one of their hats!" he yells out as he runs, trying to leap over the kannonballs as they come whistling in at high speed.
As he runs, he tries to look for an opportunity to run over to the galleon, and starts trying to flit from stalagmite to stalagmite as he crosses to the mossy ground, and then starts trying to scale their ship.
"Gimme a hat!" he yells up at the Kobolds angrily, and then starts punching the side of their boat to make hand-holds, and starts scaling the side of the ship using his hand-punched holes to climb.
For the first time most anyone has seen him, he looks like he really wants something and is bordering on anger to get it. More than tasty food, even.
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kannon Ball? RUN!.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"Fufufu. ^Silly Greenhead^. Is not difference cult," so says the hooded figure who taps their sleeves together to the sound of some light scraping. "Is there licked gallery." ...Derelict galleon. That's a translation they didn't get licked. Anyway, Yarobeleedt here appears to be a viable font of information about how vehicles end up so far down into caverns intact, so let's sit tight and listen to the long-winded but perfectly sensible explanation he has to give as Kannonballs start to crash
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Hm, okay, one follows so far.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Oh, I didn't know that.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Wow! That's amazing.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Aww, look, he's trying to cling around Zed in order to make sure he's paying attention to the lecture! What a swell educator of the history of landlocked ships in deep underground caverns.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Clutch Harness toward its party's challenge, Kannon Ball? RUN!.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius moves quickly out of the pit now that the walls have stopped closing in, not wanting to be left with that horrible, screaming hooded figure any longer. He moves in then looks up, momentarily taken aback by the sight of the ship supported atop the stalagmites.
"Ah...this desiiign...how faaascinating...I beliiieve...this desiiign dates...all the way back to..." Before he can finish his sentence, one of those kannonballs buries itself into the ground right next to him, the shockwave causing him to stumble somewhat.
Ambrosius frowns, slightly annoyed.
He begins to move, following behind Zed as he says he'll cover them. He also somewhat hoped that Animal would prove a sufficient distraction...
...But hopefully not distraction enough to keep them from shooting that horrible screaming thing.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kannon Ball? RUN!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The good news is, they escape the trap (more or less) unscathed. Currently, there is no real bad news, though Penelope seems awful twitchy (after a point where Josie casually repacks her gear and scoops the flailing pigeon up) as they descend further into the (largely) unexplored depths of the Kave.
"Hmm, limestone?" Josie wonders aloud, glancing this way and that within the cavern. "I wonder where this..." She trails off, looking in the direction Zed is pointing.
"...Maybe there's a hole somewhere?" she muses, gazing at the stranded ship in mild bemusement. "Or was." It's been there a while, as Ambrosius notes.
"Though--"
dodging now
"--it looks like--"
Something screams as it whistles far far too close at hand. "--the guns still work! Hey kid, look sharp!" she calls to Animal as she continues to attempt to pace ahead of the flying cannonballs.
"--Got something on your back though!" she calls back to Zed, daring to pause in her flight, if only briefly.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kannon Ball? RUN!.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Kannon Ball? RUN! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You emerge in a large, wide-open cavern, in which an ancient wooden sailing ship appears to have somehow come to rest, impaled but largely intact atop stalagmites so ancient that the stone has actually begun to form over the vessel. Unfortunately, the ship has long since become the home of a local kobold tribe who fancy themselves pirates. You should probably move quickly through this cave. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=========================<* Krosse Kave - Round 4 *>========================== =======================< Results - Kannon Ball? RUN! >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Animal 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Clutch Harness 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ambrosius 50 --(15)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Injure(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Animal has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Krosse Kave *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Rokk Klimbing *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The path ahead simply stops in an open cave... though you can spot another path about fifteen or twenty feet upward on the opposite wall. There are no obvious crates or barrels to move or stack, either - such an inconsiderate dungeon. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"YARO NO"
Yaro yes
"YARO I CANNOT HEAR ANYTHING STOP YELLING IN MY EAR"
Yaro does not speak your petty demon language greenhair, all will be yaro--
Zed blocks a cannonball with Yaro's hard shell.
This is appropriate retribution as he skedaddles off after the others.MEANWHILE, AT THE SHIP, the kobolds are suddenly very worried at the fact that there's a terrifying land dweller scaling the outside of their vessel. The one in the biggest hat squeaks something incomprehensible to human ears but perhaps not to Yaro ears, and much of the crew who aren't dodging lobbed cannonballs or firing their own instead rush to the side of the ship and begin chucking everything they have that isn't bolted down at Animal!
He gets hit by a pot! A pan! A kitchen sink!
A FANCY PIRATE HAT!!
Between Zed's counter-bombardment, Animal being a terrifying animal man and the rest of the team booking it as hard as they possibly could, everyone seems to have gotten away in one piece!
Animal gets away in 1.02 pieces, having acquired a hat worth approximately 0.02 Animals.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Snatching the pirate hat out of the air, and now bleeding from a head-wound from a kitchen sink. A wound which heals as he runs away, Animal yells out, "THANK YOU PIRATES!" in utter sincerity as he runs over to join up with the "drifters" waving his hat a few times back and forth in the air to show them his remarkable find. Pulling it down over his head, it clearly isn't meant to fit a normal person sized head, and is a bit snug, but being as it was the captain of the Kobold Ships, it does have magnificent plumage.
Urging the others onwards with his chatter about his hat, he says, "Best treasure of anywhere, so far!"
Moving away from the cavern with the pirate ship at rapid speed, the crew come up to a split in the path, with the left-hand path leading to a fallen bridge over a gap that spans off to their left a good hundred feet to the far cavern wall. The right-hand side however, has a much closer gap to span, but it will require them to scale about twenty feet of raw stone, and over a drop to boot.
Seeing the gap and the climb, Animal looks expectantly toward the Yarobeleedt, and once again prepares to try to follow the unfollowable, a look of determination on his face.
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rokk Klimbing.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius...is not exactly keen on climbing up things. It wasn't a specialty of his. He stares up at the wall...but as it seems this is the way the rest of the party wants to go, he doesn't really have much choice but to cooperate.
He invokes his Aqua Cutter again, sending it into the wall several times at strategic locations in order to form handholds that he hopes will accomodate him on his attempt to climb the wall.
Considering they're spaced optimally for his limbs, though, the other party members might have a little difficulty in making use of them...
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rokk Klimbing.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The hooded figure is quiet. It's a nice change of pace, really, after a few of those tense klose kalls. It might have something to do with the kannonball lodged in their upper bakk as they krawl up the kliff, but who kould kare to konsider? His bakk ain't krakked, so that's kool.
(gag)
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Rokk Klimbing.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
And it's away from the pirate-wannabe kobolds and their main cannons -- while a shell detonates just behind where Josie had lingered moments before -- and further into the depths of the Kave.
"Looks like you got pretty lucky, kid," Josie comments to Animal and his fine new hat, meanwhile regarding the split in their path thoughtfully.
"Well," she states, a moment's consideration later, "What's exploration without a little risk?"
Thankfully, Ambrosius's handy tool makes some... handy handholds, or Josie would be a little short-handed for climbing a wall.
As it is:
"I need a drink," she mutters, once about halfway up.
Penelope meanwhile just flies up.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rokk Klimbing.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Oh boy! Yaro's being quiet!
Oh double boy! Animal has a cool pirate hat!
Oh triple boy, A KLIMBING WALL.
"Hmm, this is kwite a shear kliff," Zed observes, tilting his head back to stare up at the climb ahead. Fortunately, Ambrosius is making some handy hand-holds along the way! These also serve well as GRAPPLING POINTS for Zed's amazing, flexile scarf. He slings himself up, and up, and up, and when he gets high enough, he drops one end of his scarf down over the side of the precipice in case anyone else needs a hand up.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Rokk Klimbing.
===============================<* Krosse Kave *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Rokk Klimbing *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The path ahead simply stops in an open cave... though you can spot another path about fifteen or twenty feet upward on the opposite wall. There are no obvious crates or barrels to move or stack, either - such an inconsiderate dungeon. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
==========================<* Krosse Kave - Round 5 *>=========================== ==========================< Results - Rokk Klimbing >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 4 --(6)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animal 3 --(9)--> 12 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 3 --(7)--> 10 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ambrosius 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius 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> Animal has posed.
Though Ambrosius and Yarobeleedt prove nearly katastrophik in their klimbing attempts, the kombined efforts of the krew koalesce to see them through. The kliff konquered, they kollect their kits and press onward. Kay.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Kantankerous Kobolds *>==================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A swarm of angry kobolds suddenly emerge from the shadows, rushing toward the party with cruse gunsmoke ARMs and knives. Others in the rear begin hurling buckets of grease at you. How odd. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
As it turns out, our heroes weren't the only ones attempting to klimb the kave. They only have a brief moment to rest themselves and start to move out before a figure drops from the ceiling in front of them.
Animal may or may not recognize it as the kobold kaptain whose hat he had acquired. The kobold points at the hat then points at himself, chattering angrily. His intentions are clear, and before long he draws his kutlass and charges at the group along with a kontingent of kobolds carrying all kinds of weaponry, from klaymores to karbines. They're definitely dangerous, but more dangerous still might be the kobolds who aren't assaulting them directly...
Many of them keep to the shadows, hurling all kinds of objects at the party. Among these objects are...buckets of grease?
Ambrosius narrowly avoids getting splashed. He backs away and looks down, and when the smell hits his nostrils something clicks in his head.
He had a feeling what the plan was here.
"Do not let them splaaash you..." He warns. He then backs away, water coalescing around his hands. Unfortunately, there was only one direction they could go from here.
For the time being Ambrosius focuses on dealing with the grease pools they were throwing down, leaving the actual combat to Animal, Zed, Josephine, and of course Filgaia's greatest warrior, Yarobeleedt.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Deluge toward his party's challenge, Kantankerous Kobolds.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
At the top, the hooded figure really stretches themselves out. Waves their sleeves. Really, really stretches their... legs? Together? Like one leg? The kannonball krashes down behind them, a kakophonous but kantankerous sigh (that sounds too loud to be one, though, must one force the k's for sake of kontinuit-- konfound it all).
Yarobeleedt does the expected moments before any true danger expresses itself, starting to hide in the sheet kokoon when... wait. Wait. The hood peeks out from underneath, watching as ^Long Voweler^ goes about making a kritical tactical play in order to defuse one of the cey parts of the coblod... argh.
In order to defuse one of the key parts of the kobold offensive. The robed figure seethes. With another screech, Yarobeleedt finds not a wellspring of kourage, but of pure unadultered spite, and begins... trying to scrub the kocoon against a small spot of grease that is inconsequential and irrelevant to kountering this konquest...?
"Fufufu." Yarobeleedt sneers, krouching juuuust out of harm's immediate path while the rest deal with it.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Sheet Cocoon toward its party's challenge, Kantankerous Kobolds.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Pointing back at the kaptain, Animal exclaims, "You gave it to me, fair and square! I left your boat alone," he pauses, "Cave ship!" Not about to have his fairly won hat taken from him, he charges directly for the captain and leaps a good healthy height in the air, and has to lift an arm to block a cut from the cutlass at the last second. His arm bleeding, he continues to engage in close combat with the captain, their fates intertwined as they engage in fisticuffs.
Clearly, right from the outset of their match, Animal is outskilled, but what he lacks in skill he makes up for by being way stronger than the strongest kobold would ever be, and that, many times over.
Being so near to the captain has the added benefit of making it so that he doesn't have to look out for the grease too much, because the other kobolds are wary about hitting the captain with it. In the following exchange, Animal emerges victorious. But he ends up paying for the one hit he ends up landing on the kobold with several deep cuts across the exposed parts of his abdomen and legs.
When he finally hits however, he sends the kobold flying with a sickening crunch. Like a skwashed bug.
Regenerating his wounds, he goes to try to help the others mop up the remaining kobolds, using them and throwing them around, as they aren't nearly as skilled as the captain.
"I'm the captain now!" he yells at the remaining kobolds.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Oof," Josie proclaims, once she krests the edge. ...Look, it's just katching okay.
Maybe she's getting too old for this.
...Naaah.
In any kase, there isn't much time to katch a breath. "Looks like we've got company," the archaeologist kalls out, sliding her rifle free from its holster. Penelope -- only able to rest herself for but a moment's time -- takes flight once more.
And before she kan so much as take aim at the kobolds, she's aware of some suspicious liquid getting sloshed about.
"Oh hell," Josie mutters, narrowing her eyes. "On it! I'm going for the one on the left!" By which she means the left-most liquid-slosher kobold.
Right between the eyes?!
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kantankerous Kobolds. DG: Animal has used his Tool Vest of the Turtle toward his party's challenge, Kantankerous Kobolds.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
That was a nice, brisk climb! Zed grins as he beholds the fruits of his labor, staring out over the great cliff face with his scarf billowing in the breeze. Ah, what joy, this thing called triumph. It's almost enough to make Zed tea--*KLONK*
Zed pitches forward! A wrench rebounds off his head! He teeters over the edge, arms flailing! And then... slowly pivots back upright. "Hey!" Zed yells over his shoulder, "Who did that!? That was ru--"
It's... It's...!
"You guys! Wow, do I have a bone to pick with you ghflbrlb--" Someone throws a dishrag at his face! "STOP INTERRUPTING MFF--" It's a turkey leg this time.
"Oh that's IT!" Zed winds up and throws something of his own! Three somethings. The world fills with smoke. He darts in, arms encircling around where Yaro's cannonball (and possibly still Yaro himself) happen to be. "You keep throwing things at me, and I'll keep throwing things at you! ENGARDE!"
Zed winds up... and goes Kobold bowling.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Smoke Bombs toward his party's challenge, Kantankerous Kobolds.
==============================<* Krosse Kave *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Kantankerous Kobolds *>==================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A swarm of angry kobolds suddenly emerge from the shadows, rushing toward the party with cruse gunsmoke ARMs and knives. Others in the rear begin hurling buckets of grease at you. How odd. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
=========================<* Krosse Kave - Round 6 *>========================== ======================< Results - Kantankerous Kobolds >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 17 --(0)--> 17 Pass Deluge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Animal 12 --(0)--> 12 Pass Vest of the Turtle 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 17 --(0)--> 17 Pass Sheet Cocoon 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Smoke Bombs 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ambrosius 85 --(5)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Stalwart(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ambrosius 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> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"Y," quoth the Yarobeleedt, as his sleeves stretch to breaking point (of both fabric and suspension of disbelief alike) as he flies through the air like an angry bird.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
The party konquers the kobold horde handily. Animal faces down the kaptain and defeats him, earning his hat and title through rite of mortal k-
This narration is suddenly drowned out by the sound of the battle going on in the background, and certainly not for legal reasons.
Regardless, Josephine manages to land her shot perfectly, preventing one of the kobolds from kontributing to the greasy mess that was starting to build up around them. Ambrosius did what he could for that, but there were more kobolds than there were Ambrosiuses. Ambrosii?
And then Zed hurls that kannonball at the kobolds, causing them to scatter as the true hero appears on the scene.
With everything said and done, the kobolds start to scatter...
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================================<* Krosse Kave *>==================================================== ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Kan-Trip Kantrip *>=========================================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The path ahead opens into a large chamber overlooking stony stalagmites. A single stone bridge spans the treacherous ground toward a passage leading further into the cave. As you enter, however, ancient Symbols light up on the bridge, causing it to suddenly shimmer and become slick as glass - watch your step! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Suffer=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The hooded figure krashes far ahead into the chamber after. As everyone inspects what's left over of the scattered kobolds, it looks there's a number of unlit torches and flint. It would seem the real plan was to grease them up and then kombust them into flame, at first. It's a good thing that kombo has been kanceled.
...Doubly so, koming up to this... khamber? That doesn't even work. That's not the same sound.
Right.
Yarobeleedt slowly rises, and does not dare look down as they see the simple, easy-to-kross bridge. They slith-- walk, this is clearly a figure that walks and not at all krawls-- akross...
Magical symbols light up in komplex, intrikate patterns, and the rokk shimmers and transforms in a blast of searing heat from rough-hewn rokk into a slikk, mirror-like krystal.
The figure screeches as they klutch it - especially notable bekause it sure sounds like they're stabbing it, as the prized steel sheet falls from their grasp and paints the area preceding it in its kollected grease.
...
Yarobeleedt realizes, for the first time in a long time, this is an akkident that works entirely in his favor, and khukles to himself as he klimbs all kokky and smug. He will get there first before ^Long Voweler^ and ^Silly Greenhead^. He kould likk it now...
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Clutch Harness toward its party's challenge, Kan-Trip Kantrip.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Let none klaim that Zed is ^slow.^ It's the opposite. Zed is fast! Not as fast as Lady Harken, but still pretty darn fast.
It may not be the best idea to be sprinting across a rickety bridge that's as slick and slippery as greased glass, but Zed makes it work! Zed makes it work.
...Because he's not actually even bothering with 'running.'
He's using his scarf to grapple onto the nearest stalactites, dragging him forward at incredible speeds...!
Watch out, Yaro. Perhaps... PERHAPS YOU WILL NOT BE THE FIRST ONE THERE AFTER ALL!!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Kan-Trip Kantrip.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Klutching the last of his wounds as they heal, Animal chases after Yarobeleedt, only to end up sliding along the bridge while sawmilling his arms to keep stable. Smelling the grease as he slides, h remarks, "That's grease from making bacon," matter-of-factly. Being the nose that knows, he sniffs a few more times, and nods again, each time seeming more sure of his assessment. "I wonder if they were going to eat us," he puzzles.
Continuing across the bridge he watches the others, trying to be helpful. Because though he isn't a strange squirrely wall-crawler like some folks, he is rather agile.
"I bet we'd have been delicious with all that grease," he decides. "I wonder if they have any more grease, I could take it home." As he thinks about it, he starts to list things he can cook with a good amount of grease. "Birds are best with grease, and you put seasoning, which you can get for like, two pieces of metal out of a place like this! And then you let them get all crackle-y, and then you eat em when they're still hot."
DG: Animal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kan-Trip Kantrip.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It would seem they were quite fortunate -- the kobolds are felled, their dastardly plan to set the dungeon-delving crew (and Yarobeleedt) aflame thwarted. Josie stares down at one of the pieces of flint, frowns at it.
Kicks it away.
Sailing in from the choice perch she found herself, Penelope chooses that precise moment to return, alighting -- and then fussing -- on Josie's shoulder.
Casually as anyone, she steps onto that great stone arch of a bridge, only to pause.
"Hey, do you see someth--" is about as far as Josie gets.
Symbols flash.
Dark eyes go wide, taking in the Symbols as the ground transmutates into a sheet of glass right underfoot.
Well, okay, she has one choice word remaining as she scrambles to merger a mixture of keeping her balance, getting across the bridge, and not falling onto the spikes below. "F--"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kan-Trip Kantrip.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius brings the poncho around him again once more. To him that fight was...fairly tedious. It might've gone quicker if he'd help fight them directly, but he considered it more important to thwart their plans - which it seemed he had guessed correctly.
He proceeds further into the cave, where they come across a bridge. Josie points something out...or is about to, when suddenly the bridge becomes a lot more difficult to traverse.
Ambrosius frowns. This...was not his specialty. He can try to make it across, perhaps with jets of water to assist, but they weren't exactly easy to aim. There was a good chance of him going too far in one direction, and he would prefer to avoid that.
He moves slowly and carefully, though he glances toward Animal as he...starts talking about cooking birds...? Present company excluded, Ambrosius wonders.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kan-Trip Kantrip.
===================================================<* Krosse Kave *>==================================================== ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Kan-Trip Kantrip *>=========================================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The path ahead opens into a large chamber overlooking stony stalagmites. A single stone bridge spans the treacherous ground toward a passage leading further into the cave. As you enter, however, ancient Symbols light up on the bridge, causing it to suddenly shimmer and become slick as glass - watch your step! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Suffer=========================================
==============================================<* Krosse Kave - Round 7 *>=============================================== =============================================< Results - Kan-Trip Kantrip >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 17 --(0)--> 17 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Animal 12 --(0)--> 12 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 17 --(0)--> 17 Pass Clutch Harness 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Ambrosius 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ambrosius has successfully explored Krosse Kave!
===================================================<* Krosse Kave *>==================================================== ==============================================<* CHALLENGE - Kool Whip *>=============================================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- You find yourselves in an ancient armoury; there are several different kinds of swords and six suits of chain mail armour racked around the area, each coated in some sort of flaky wax, presumably to protect them from corroding. On a pedestal, however, is a coiled leather bullwhip with a gleaming blue jewel set into the handle; the weapon seems to have Symbologically enchanted to strike with the power of ice! There is only one, though, so have fun with that. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
It is close, but Yarobeleedt's power of spite sees him ahead of Zed's slingshotting!! Petty victory is in his sight! The greasy beginning of the bridge is a challenge for those who have to traverse it, but everyone's collective determination and/or greed allows them to navigate the slick bridge in spite of Yarobeleedt's machinations.
As Yarobeleedt comes within inches of klaiming ultimate viktory, he stops and looks behind himself.
His greasy sekurity blank-- I mean sheet kokoon. His treasured shield against all the skary sights of the world (virtually all of them). They might not kome bakk this way.
He shudders. He whines. He grows konflikted.
Yarobeleedt leaps back, darting back the way he kame and damn near bowling over Animal and Josephine as he leaps klear of Ambrosius to klutch the blanket.
In doing so, he greases himself up while Zed gets FIRST DIBS on the sight ahead - a great armory, full of swords and six suits of chain mail armour on fancy rakks. They're koated in something that somehow prevents oxidation from okkuring.
And wait, what's that? A koiled leather bullwhip, with a pretty blue jewel set into the handle, kold to the touch... and some weird squiggly marks in subtle arrangements Zed kouldn't rekognize (exkept that it looks bitkh-- SERIOUSLY READ THAT ALOUD, THAT DOESN'T WORK).
As Ambrosius slowly and steadily klears it well behind the rest, Yarobeleedt lovingly klutches his greasy blanket klose and attempts to kross the bridge.
...He immediately slips and falls down the khasm, too slikk in grease to keep hold with a final ekoing skream. OK, you know what, we're going to take that one. Khasm. Fine. They kan have the word 'khasm.'
...
For everyone else... old treasure, ripe for the taking.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Behind everyone else, Ambrosius strolls into the armor. He gives the whip a glance, but doesn't pay too much attention to it. It was primitive compared to what he was dealing with, and right now, more important to him was...
"Ah...this armor...these swords...these teeechniques have not seen use...in quite some time..." Ambrosius observed, looking them over carefully.
"These are...quite vaaaluable historic pieces..." He would definitely want to take some of it home for closer study sometime.
"Thank you...everyone...your assiiistance was...greatly appreeeciated..." He says with a thankful nod toward the others.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
Nearly kolliding with Yaro makes Animal look crossly at the climber, but he doesn't protest much, just continues the last few dozen feet across the slick bridge. Still talking about how to cook things with grease, "And then if you put pieces of other things in with it, they end up all tasty too. Grease is just about the best thing for cooking." He says as he looks over the armory of the kave with a long nod, and checks the bottoms of his blackened feet for any last bit grease or magic.
They seem to be clear.
Turning his attention to the rest of the room, he is automatically drawn to the Kool Whip, which he picks up and says, "Hey, it's a rope! And it's cold! I can use it to climb things!" and proceeds to wrap it around his waist like a belt, tying it off. "It'll be nice in the desert too."
Looking at the stuff Ambrosius is looking at, he asks, "What's so special about them? Are they nice?" He picks up a sword and strikes a few poses with it, and only nearly lops off one of his arms, only the the once.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie doesn't really keep her footing, as it happens.
The floor is slick underfoot, and she's picked up some grease from those damn kobolds from earlier.
But the good news is, she doesn't fall over. And she can... sort of steer.
So rather than falling over and sliding off into the spikes, or sliding off the edge into the spikes, or any number of untimely (ok, painful) fates, the archaeologist instead goes gliding on ahead over the bridge.
Penelope hangs on. A single white feather is lost in Josie's wake.
A handy pillar presents itself. Josie grabs it onehanded and neatly avoids flipping herself into the well.
A breath follows.
"Well, that could have been worse! Everyone's still good, right?"
Could have been worse, in the sense that she could have glided right into the armory, it seems. Walking in behind the rest, she glances this way and that before approaching one of the swords and hefting it experimentally. "...Not too bad. Ancient, could fetch... hm," she muses aloud.
"Hm?" Turning her head as Animal approaches the pedestal and claims the prize, she... briefly tilts her head, only to shrug. "Cold rope, huh? Well, knock yourself out, kid."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed is... Gone!?
Well, yeah. Someone had to go into the pit to retrieve Yaro, after all.
...Some of the weapons are missing though, by the time anyone thinks to look.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Oh yeah, what happened to Yarobeleedt? Did he get run through by a spike? Fall down into lava?
As Zed katches up, they're back on that wooden ship again. Oh, nice, they were direktly above that sektion. A few pirate kobolds surround the sprawled-out Yarobeleedt.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The surrounding kobolds sit down to hear well-spun tales about their underground ship, kourtesy of the expert. It's a pleasant evening for all involved!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"They are...rare...vaaaluable...historiiic artifaaacts...made using teeechniques that have...not been seen...in some time..." Ambrosius replies. With that he takes a suit of armor and one of the swords. The sword disappears into his poncho, while the armor is carried under one arm. Fortunately he had more than enough strength for that.
And with that, he begins to set off, looking for a more convenient exit to this place.
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
"Ohh.."
When Ambrosius leaves, leaving him alone with Josephine in the Kave. Animal looks over at the woman with the bird and seems to be eyeing the bird, the smell of grease still fresh on his mind. He gets over it after a moment though and says, "I just want one sword, so I can use it to put meat on, and turn it over a fire, or to cut meat off of big stuff," he explains by way of saying he'll take just the one sword which he slings over a shoulder.
A pause then.
"But if you can get me some food, I'll carry anything else you need out of here, just pile it on me, I can carry it!" he tells her and starts to eye the sword-belts as a means to strap it all together and make it all possible to be carried by a single being with the requisite strength.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Just like that, Josie and Animal are left to fend for themselves in the depths of Krosse Kave.
Well, not really.
What actually happens is that Animal makes Josie an offer. Carry out more (most? all of?) of the assorted armory in exchange for...
"Sure," Josephine says.
And only after a moment or two -- wherein Penelope pointedly shuffles closer to Josie's neck, eyeing Animal carefully -- thinks to ask, "How much food are we talking here?"
<Pose Tracker> Animal has posed.
"Oh, like, this much," Animal holds his hands apart. It's like a full-sized turkey would fit in his hands. And even as he explains that, he starts to gather up the chainmail and drapes it over his shoulders, one layer at a time, until he glistens like a great steel behemoth, and shuffles along with the sound of accompanied chain clinking. Picking up some of the sword belts then, he starts to loop them over the top of his head, and struggles with more and more of them as he just adds more and more protrusions to his walking steel porcupine exterior.
While his movements seem heavily restricted by the layers of armor he has draped over his neck, and across his torso, he doesn't seem too buckled by the weight.
"I've been learning about money, and I think this stuff is worth that, but if you don't want to," he says, trying to manipulate her in the most obvious way possible, his eyes getting wide.
Like this is a trick.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Big eater, huh?" Josie comments, once again looking Animal over.
Penelope squirms her way into Josie's scarf, squinting her eyes closed.
As for Josephine, she appears to consider this deal, lifting her free right hand to her chin. "Hmmm..."
And ultimately, the archaeologist shrugs, as if to say, 'what the hell'. "Sure, why not. You got it."
It'll still beat hauling this out herself, she figures.