2017-09-16: Or You'll Be Well Done
- Log: Or You'll Be Well Done
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Cyre H. Lorentz, Asteroid the Kid, Kourin, Seraph Nimue, Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: September 16th 2017
- Summary: A rather mixed group makes an attempt at the Mountain Palace. Team Spirit happens. Fire also happens.
DG: A party led by Jacqueline Barber is now entering Mountain Palace. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Sunset Path *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Mountain Palace is found, unsurprisingly, in the mountains, specifically among the peaks overlooking a lake in the northwest of Krosse. The road leading there is not terribly well maintained, and the closer you get to the cave - no matter what time of day it is - the darker the surroundings get. Be careful - it's a long way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The mysterious ruins of an ancient civilization were always a prime location for expeditions. Who knew what kind of treasures and relics could be found there? While it wasn't as if it was a particularly obscure site, Jacqueline had heard warnings that it was on the dangerous side. And where there was danger, that meant there were likely great finds to be had.
And so, she had gathered some reliable friends together to go explore this Mountain Palace, and see what lay within. Of course, she hadn't been entirely quiet about it, so it was completely possible that there were others tagging along that she hadn't anticipated...
"Hmm...the information I got said this should lead us to the Palace..." Jacqueline says, glancing around. "It doesn't look as if anyone's traveled down this path in a while, though. Be careful, everyone. It seems as if it gets darker the further you go..."
With this warning she starts to lead her crew down the path. As she walks she reaches into her bag for a bottle of pale-green liquid and takes a sip. It should keep her light enough on her feet that she'd be able to move quickly in case of an emergency.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre is pretty reliable, if you want to rely on someone who may or may not shoves random dungeon grass into his censer in the hopes that it'll get just the right balance of effects. "This is the way, alright," Cyre says from... way up above. He's floating his way up to the palace, as he is wont to do. It gives him a good vantage to help guide the others in the trek, too. "I remember coming this way with Claude once. I think it shouldn't be long now."
Cyre's here... Mostly to follow up on that thing that he found the last time.
That was weird.
Also because there are some rare herbs here. ?Herbs are always good to find lying around.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid isn't typically considered reliable by drifters due to her creepy mannerisms and unstable personality. Asteroid the Kid has no idea what was found 'last time', maybe what was found 'last time' will be found again and then she'll know, or Cyre will know. Either way, Asteroid the Kid IS, despite her nature, useful on Digs for one reason primarily which is how she gets invited to these shindigs (or maybe she is on Jay's good side because she helped rescue Catenna).
It's the portal pistols she carries. To help navigate the path, she fires a pair of portals, hopping into one and then appearing far further down the path than she would be if she walked it--or even ran it--in that time frame. The portals are also vibrant colors and bright as heck so they help signal the path! Asteroid is also cartless. Because cart got cartstroyed.
"Is there a lot of money here? Or materials? Cart Mk3 needs a Cart Mk4 to function properly."
Cart Mk3 is a giant robot so that's going to be one huge cart.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin is the most reliable friend one can have. She is never going to let her friends down. So she's here today with her friends, to provide support.
SPirit, Spirit is the most reliable friend Kourin can have. He is the good doggo.
"I have a rope," she offers. "It might help."
DG: Kourin has used her Tool Trick Rope toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
After meeting Jay last night and being mildly irritated that she was not immediately vigorously and thoroughly indulged, Nimue has decided to creep on the potionmaker a little bit. ... granted, Nimue has never been known to be subtle, so in practice this means she's followed her a little from a steady, safe distance up to the Ocean Palace.
Maybe she just wants to see what the potionmaker gets up to. Who knows?
The long road up to the Mountain Palace, however, is proving... disagreeable. About halfway up, Nimue loses interest in trying to sneak along behind the group and declares, with a whine, "UuuUUUUGGHHH! This road is too long! Not fair! It can be craggy or long but not both!" She keeps going, but she insists, "Unfair. NOT valid."
Looks like you're stuck with her.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
As usual, the state of the situation is simple. Josie needs some cash, to fund both current -- after her chat with Shalune the other day -- and future projects. So when she'd heard that Jay was planning an expedition to a site the archaeologist had heard a few things about, she'd lept at the chance.
There was an old story after all, back in her childhood home. Opportunity is a long-haired woman, but she's bald in the back.
"Looks like it," she comments, shading her eyes as she gazes into the far distance. Penelope nuzzles her way deeper into the perch she's found at the back of Josie's neck, eyes closed as if asleep. She's been like that since they set out. "...Heard a little bit about things from Shalune," she murmurs, lowering her voice as she comes up from behind Jacqueline, slowing down only for a second as she passes the younger woman by. "You're doing fine."
More loudly as she paces ahead, Josie says, "Watch your step now! It'd be a shame if anyone fell off, heh heh..."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell can be very reliable depending on who you are. Jay is a human, and a human she has no reason to care about, so this time, she's going to be a pain in the ass. This is exponentially so given that she has Nimue here to be a bad influence on each other, and after Ragnell ran into her last night and heard about her planned antics, she laughed and decided to follow. For funsies. And also because she hasn't been to the Mountain Palace yet. Should be good times, all around.
"Whatever, Nimue," Ragnell, who is sprightly as a mountain goat craving that mineral, says to her as she hops from stone to stone on the winding path. "Y'know, for a Wind Seraph, you sure are bad at movin' your body. Maybe you need to retire, old woman?" This will probably be terribly embarrassing if she happens to slip on something unseen in the deepening darkness, but for now, Ragnell will happily give her friend shit.
She salutes Josie cheerfully, calling back, "You sure sound happy about that, Josie!" Cyre meanwhile remarks that this is the right way since he recognizes it, and although Ragnell doesn't say anything specifically about it, she does note that. It *is* strange how it's getting darker the closer they get, regardless of the sun's position in the sky...
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sunset Path.
============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Sunset Path *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Mountain Palace is found, unsurprisingly, in the mountains, specifically among the peaks overlooking a lake in the northwest of Krosse. The road leading there is not terribly well maintained, and the closer you get to the cave - no matter what time of day it is - the darker the surroundings get. Be careful - it's a long way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
=======================<* Mountain Palace - Round 1 *>======================== ========================< Results - The Sunset Path >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Invigoration Elixir 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kourin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Trick Rope 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Stalwart(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid sees Josephine.
FLASHBACK
Josephine shoots Asteroid in the head.
NOW
She looks back as Josephine makes a small comment about it being a shame if anyone fell off. Naturally, Asteroid takes this to mean that Josephine wants to push her off. She says, "Nhaah...." to Josephine. "Hsshhh..." She shifts her body so she's a bit further from the edge. Not if she doesn't push you off first, Josephine Lovelace, someone who shot her in the head for reasons Asteroid still doesn't really understand! It's not like she was throwing molotovs into YOUR jewelry store. More to the point, she figures now that Josephine would recognize her from the pistols.
It'll be too obvious, she thinks, to push Josephine off of here. Everybody'd be like 'how did Josephine, who is super knowledgeable about falling off the edge here, fall off the edge? It was probably that weird person with the asteroid for a head, lets throw her off too!'.
No. No, not now. She clearly looks towards Seraph Ragnell in a way that suggests that yes, she can see her, but considering the Baskar robes that might not be too unusual.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline...wasn't really sure what to think about having Nimue along. She hadn't left a very good impression on her the night before, but she also knew that turning her away would just cause herself more problems. So for now, she just had to hope the Seraph was a helpful contributor.
She does send Josie a friendly smile.
"Oh, you spoke with Shalune? Yes...I think things have been going rather well for us lately. That's no reason for me to start lying down on the job, though. Still have to keep working hard!" Jacqueline replies.
And work hard, they do. This is a party that's fairly well-versed in the traversal of unkempt mountain paths, after all, and they possess many useful tricks to aid themselves and each other as they make their way closer to the palace.
The nature of the lighting does prove rather baffling...
"I wonder if there's something inside that's causing it..." Jacqueline murmurs, as they make their way to the entrance.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Rope A Dope *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Halfway down this stone corridor are five frayed ropes rising up into the shadows in the high, vaulted ceiling. A hand-painted sign on the wall reads: PULL ME TO GET A PRIZE The prize may be rocks on the head, but there's no other way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Well, you've got to be positive about these things," is Josie's sole reply to Ragnell, coupled with a shrug. "Mmhmm, just the other day," she comments to Jay as she passes. "Good to hear it."
There's a few familiar faces here, coupled with a few unfamiliar faces.
She zeroes in one that particularly stands out, and it isn't even Asteroid's face that prompts the archaeologist to pause a moment and squint.
If there's one thing Josie knows, it's ARMs. She's seen those ARMs before. They were in the hands of one of a pair of kids engaged in...
Also, Josie shot her in the head.
"Well, well," she murmurs to Asteroid as she passes her along the path. She pauses just long enough to smile at Asteroid, brightly. "Fancy meeting you here." Maybe a little too brightly.
It's strange, by contrast, how dark it's gotten once they ascend. Josie hadn't thought they'd spent that long climbing. Huh.
A corridor greets them as they enter. It's fairly unremarkable, a straight carved passageway... with no doors or any other visible passageways out. It's not until about halfway along that a quintet of ropes greets them, along with a message on the wall. "...Pull me to get a prize?" Josie reads aloud, tilting her head to one side as if skeptical of this claim. She glances up. Glances down the hallway, at the suspicious lack of doors.
"Well, in for one Gella, in for ten, I guess."
She reaches up and pulls one of the ropes.
...Stepping aside afterwards, though it might just not be quick enough.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"HEY! Hold up!" Nimue suddenly moves up to Ragnell at maximum speed rather than just squalling and complaining, and briefly grabs her by the scruff. "NEITHER of us gets into the Katz Klub so I don't wanna hear it from you!"
Then she kinda lazily shoves her off, saying, "Aaaah, I can't stay mad at you." She moves right along to the ropes, pauses for a moment, and then elects to take a nice, contented seat in the corner of the corridor rather than moving forward.
"Haha, pass," she declares, pulling out a bottle of local pumpkin wine. "That sign really ought to just read, 'PULL ME TO GET DUNKED ON.' I got nothin' but time!" She stretches out, taking a long drink straight from the bottle.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Drinks toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin doesn't do well with new people, so she just focuses on Jacqueline and Cyre. She does seem to give Asteroid a few sidelong glances. On seeing the ropes...she frowns. "This...seems like an obvious trap," she says. "Do we pull them all at once?" She's not clear on it, but she reaches up and yanks, dodging to the side quickly as well.
DG: Kourin has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Clearly this place is home to some kind of weird... darkness... thing. Maybe even the Guardian of Darkness. That'd be pretty neat, wouldn't it? Though for a place called the Mountain Palace, you'd think it'd be Dinoginos' place.
Well. Whatever.
"Are... Are you really a Seraph?" Cyre just kind of squints at Nimue and her bottle. Truly, the Lady of the Lake. She certainly drinks like a fish. "...Well, just sit there and wait I guess." He reaches into his pack and unfurls a familiar censer. But this time, he doesn't light it! Not yet, anyway. Instead, he ties one end of the chain around one of the ropes and starts pulling from further away.
The better to avoid hilarious personal injury.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline fixates the ropes as the party progresses down the corridor, a frown crossing her face. This...seemed entirely too obvious.
"I agree..." Jacqueline murmurs. Still, the way forward appeared to be barred, so unless there was a secret entrance somewhere, there really was only one way to progress.
Not that she'd play by their rules. She reaches into her bags, drawing out one of her quests. She approaches one of the ropes in question and invokes a stone pillar from the walls to act as a ceiling, just in case something unpleasant emerged. That way, she'd be able to pull it without too much concern.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Waugh!" Ragnell utters as suddenly Nimue is scruffing her by the back of her poncho/neckerchief and lecturing (?) her about their respective ages. Ragnell just sticks her tongue out at her, like any mature lady would, and replies. "Blehhh! Then don't you go givin' me shit 'bout bein' younger, either!" But Nimue lets her go, and Ragnell rebalances with a faux-haughty sniff, then a grin, then looks around at the others.
Woah! That girl's got an *asteroid* for a head! That ain't normal. Oh well, not gonna ruin Ragnell's day. She peers right back at Asteroid when Asteroid looks at her, then notes the weirdo's Baskar robes and silently goes, 'ah, that figures.'
"Could be, could be," she remarks to Jay instead on the matter of the lighting. "Won't find out 'til we head inside, though." To Josie, she merely chuckles on the matter of positivity. "True 'nough."
And so in they go, all seven of them, until they reach a certain stone corridor. Partway through it, there is a sign next to a bunch of ropes that says 'PULL ME TO GET A PRIZE.' Ragnell raises an eye brow at it, then peers up into the shadows into which the ropes reach. "Shady," she remarks, which is true on multiple levels.
So when Nimue refuses to play along, Ragnell laughs, husky and hearty. "She sure is," she tells Cyre with another grin. "Hey, Nimue, gimme some o' that, it smells good." And, without a shred of shame, she attempts to gank Nimue's pumpkin wine and have a swallow or five for herself.
...
Perhaps they can be said to be helping with the rope-pulling... in spirit??
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid says, "Who are you??" to Seraph Ragnell. "Hello I mean, you know??" She is not really good at being social with new people especially when she's actually trying to be friendly. As for unfriendliness...
Asteroid smiles broadly with her many fanged teeth back at Josephine. "Hehn hehn... you gonna ruin our fun here too, 'mom'?" She says. "Not like I expect you to understand, hehnh hehnnh..."
She looks at the ropes. She isn't inclined to pull on it either. Instead she says, "I have an idea, yess... I will not be the one getting dunked on, heh hehh hehhhn..."
She closes her eyes and summons the mighty power of Rigdobrite as guardian energy ripples through her medium tablet and--
--spits out soccer ball sized asteroid into her hands She raises it into the air, swinging a foot back. She isn't.
"HEAVEN CRUSHER!" She yells, making something up on the spot as she kicks the rock with such strength that it goes easily sailing into the darkness and past the ropes towards what they're connected to, impacting with what should be solid strength. She doesn't tell Josephine to watch out or anything since she's kind of hoping that the rocks will fall on her! Or the treasure chest, sure, since that's also fairly heavy AND WORTH IT.
Of course she might dodge but the important thing is plausible deniability since Jay's around and she knows how Jay gets about murdering or mauling people intentionally. Accidentally is fine though, she's pretty sure! Of course, she hasn't really thought this through but she figures she can pull someone back if she gotta.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Asteroid Ball toward her party's challenge, Rope A Dope.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Rope A Dope *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Halfway down this stone corridor are five frayed ropes rising up into the shadows in the high, vaulted ceiling. A hand-painted sign on the wall reads: PULL ME TO GET A PRIZE The prize may be rocks on the head, but there's no other way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
========================<* Mountain Palace - Round 2 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Rope A Dope >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Stolen Drinks 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kourin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Asteroid Ball 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Invigorating Vapors 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Jacqueline Barber 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I don't see any firebombs here, do I?" Josie replies, sweet as pie. "Just don't get in my way, kiddo. Okay~?"
Various tactics are had, ranging from good old 'pull and attempt not to be under it at the time' to 'create an impromptu ceiling' to 'burn possibly dubiously sourced incense' to 'not even bother and let the chumps do the work'.
The last of which earns a tilted smile from Josie and a comment of, "If you've got some, I hope you're sharing."
With each pull of the rope, something goes 'kachunk' deep inside the mountain halls.
Well. No, that's not all of the tactics in play.
Josie's first warning sign -- well other than that yell and the spiritual-level vibration that follows -- that something is terribly amiss is the fact that Penelope ABRUPTLY wakes up and takes flight in a flurry of feathers. ...Right back out of the dungeon entrance, in fact.
And Asteroid kicks that rock sky-high into the pitch-black of the hallway's vaulted ceiling. Josie's gaze follows it until it vanishes.
The whole place seems to shudder as the rock rattles around up above like a wayward pinball.
And then the prize comes down. All of it.
(The prize is apparently rocks.)
When the dust settles -- with only the quick or the durable likely among the spared from the devastation -- there's an almost cheerful 'click' from the end of the hallway. A door has opened!
...Maybe the whole floor was a pressure plate.
Josie is not one of the lucky few. She dusts herself off as she rises from the rubble, wincing. "Well, that could have gone better..."
And she looks at Asteroid. Pointedly. She's got her eye on you now.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Slime Pools *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Little bubbling pools of red slime begin oozing their way across the floor toward your party, their liquid forms bubbling as they go. Prepare for their soft, goopy, disturbingly moist fury. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid leaps backwards in time, pulling Cyre back with her (he's the farthest back and thus the one she can most easily reach). This keeps her from getting crushed by rocks though she ends up droping Cyre shortly after because she's kind of a rough person. She doesn't seem to mind the deluge of rocks falling down for some reason.
Of course, then it all happens and she actually feels a little guilty about it as Josephine gives her that look but she reminds herself that Josephine also shot her in the head so really thinking about it, she's being nice by ONLY dropping rocks at her direction. She could have dropped bullets! Through a gun! Into her skull! Of course, then she reminds herself that shooting her in the head really just kind of stunned her for a while so it wasn't like she was REALLY shot in the head, so she feels bad again, but then she reminds herself that it's not like Josie KNEW that would happen, so she feels better again.
She rubs the top of her head as she vascillates between guilt and joy as she moves onward.
"I guess the prize was rocks, we should be more careful..." She says, firmly nodding.
And past that--SLIME!!!! Some of it drops on Asteroid's head because the world is karmic and she shrieks and bats it off, revealing it to be red slime.
And it has friends! Asteroid tries kicking the one closest to her repeatedly iwth her foot with mixed success.
BURBLE BURBLE BURBLE BURBLE!!
"What an inconceivable situatinonnnn...!!!" She shouts.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Yep! I'm probably older than this place," Nimue says, brightly. "Plus Ragnell over there's known me for like eight hundred years! Can confirm, one hundred percent real Seraph." Ragnell elects to confirm by taking her wine, which gets her to make a face -- but draws her attention away instead, and toward Asteroid. Oh, she has a rock for a head. Neat!
Rocks fall. Nimue hates it, mostly because it results in her bottle of wine getting busted open by one. She lets out another high-pitched whine, but pops quickly back to her feet. The door is open, at least!
It is at this point that Nimue finally gets an excuse to debut her actual (metaphorical) bag of tricks, as slime drips onto Asteroid and then congeals into individual slime-creature masses. She pulls forth her staff, with its unusual, cup-like head, and murmurs, "Oh mighty goddess Althena, grant me the power to show these creatures --"
Then she cuts herself off, reaches into her pack, and pulls out a grenade. The pin clatters to the floor as she tosses it up into the air, catches it in the cup of her staff, and then whips it at a slime. "Sorry, don't have the juice for much of that anymore! Explosion time!"
Kaboom.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Upside: Cyre is not crushed by falling rocks.
Downside: Cyre is instead crushed by a falling Asteroid.
One might argue that he did not in fact escape having a rock dumped on his head. It's just that the rock that DID hit him was a little less terrestrial and a little more... Spacey.
One way or another, he gets a pretty firm bump on his noggin, whether by earth rock or by space rock. "Ow!" Cyre grunts, rubbing at the bruise blooming across his forehead, "Ugh, damn, that kind of..." He glances out from around Asteroid and frowns.
Ah.
So there were rocks here too.
Hm.
A moment later, Asteroid is off of him. A moment after that, JUSTICE IS PROVEN TO EXIST IN THE MOST OBJECTIVE WAY POSSIBLE.
Asteroid... gets slimed.
"Huh," Cyre cants his head as MAGIC LASERS begin to scythe out from an array of magic circles that materialize just over his shoulders. Wind probably wouldn't be much help against literal puddles of goo. "Red slimes. Weird. You should probably avoid being eaten by those. I'm told they digest whatever they envelop?"
Beat.
Wait. So Nimue isn't just a lush, she's an... ANCIENT LUSH!?
WHAT A WORLD
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"This was...honestly exactly what I thought would happen." Jacqueline mutters, once she brushes herself off. Her earth pillar had caused them to lose momentum so it wasn't as painful as it could have been, but it was still an unpleasant experience. It was also distracting enough that she hadn't noticed what Asteroid did, so...success?
And up ahead, if rocks weren't bad enough, they had some slimes to deal with! These things could be incredibly annoying or just a minor speed-bump, depending on the situation and surroundings. Fortunately, Jacqueline came prepared.
She reaches into her bag, drawing out a bottle of foul-smelling black liquid. She hurls it into the midst of the slimes and the liquid splashes all over them. While slimes didn't really have the senses to be repelled by the liquid, she had made modifications that caused it to not play nicely with their physiology. This would hopefully leave them open just long enough for the others to deal with them, but...
...Nimue had grenades? That was concerning...
"That seems like the sort of thing you should avoid in general..." She comments, with a glance toward Cyre.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Rocks fall. Nobody *dies*, but Ragnell gets one smashing almost on top of her, which knocks the pumpkin wine out of her hand as she dodges out of the way of getting crushed. Both she and Nimue whine about it. She does, however, nod to Cyre along with Nimue's assertions. "It's true, I have," she says, shrugging.
The group advances forward (ADVANCE FORWARD), only for red slimes to attack the group. Nimue shitposts her way into her attack, and Ragnell snorts as she takes a hope back, drawing her twin pistols. Slimes generally are weak to magic, but her guns shoot lightning bolts, so it's not a huge deal either way. Then again, Nimue opts to chuck a grenade at them with her net-staff, so she begins channeling a Seraphic arte. Or two, or three. Chaining spells for fun and profit!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin is interested in the notion that some of their companions are holy Seraphim. She's also cripplingly shy, so she doesn't ask about that. Instead, slimy red things show up and she decides to focus on fighting them. A small blue sphere of clay comes out and is hurled, creating a frosty field while Kourin works her own brand of magic, casting lances of ice at the slimy menaces.
DG: Kourin has used her Tool Rimebomb toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Probably," she answers Jay, shrugging. "But sometimes you just have to go through, you know?"
Even if it's certifiably the dumb option.
Penelope will be fine. The pigeon has a good sense of self-preservation though and probably isn't coming back in here.
Josie hears the two -- Ragnell and Nimue -- talking, especially since the alcohol doesn't seem to be making its way around to her. ...Seraphs, huh? ...That old?
Not a twinge crosses her expression. She just deposits it away from later use. Such as, when they havne't just had the ceiling dropped on their heads. Or the rock trap, either/or.
"Oh, it looks like slimes," Josie comments, one hand resting on her hip as one neatly drops onto Asteroid's head. What a shame. What a pity. Pulling a flask out from her pocket, the archaeologist unscrews the cap. Sniffs the contents. Takes a long pull.
The flask is returned from whence it came. "That's better," Josie comments, finally drawing her rifle. "Now--"
Squeezing one eye shut, she takes careful aim -- fortunately at the one not on Asteroid -- and opens fire.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Slime Pools.
============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Slime Pools *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Little bubbling pools of red slime begin oozing their way across the floor toward your party, their liquid forms bubbling as they go. Prepare for their soft, goopy, disturbingly moist fury. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
=======================<* Mountain Palace - Round 3 *>======================== ==========================< Results - Slime Pools >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kourin 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rimebomb 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Slow(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Yeah those are some dead slimes. Even Asteroid remembers herself eventually and starts meteorspamming them, but everybody kicks slime butt. Metaphoricaly. Slimes don't have butts, usually. Josephine guns one down (thankfully not the one on Asteroid) and Kourin freezes a bunch which seems super effective, leaving them easy prey for Ragnell's spells and Nimue's grenades. Jay's repellent proves to be a dangerous chemical romance and the slime sshrivels up like salt on a snail. Cyre's lasers finish 'em off.
"Woah! Are you really aliens??" Asteroid's yellow eyes widen. "Can I see your grenades?? Maybe I can improve them! My spaceships mk 2 through 7 all exploded so I know a lot about exploding things! Do you still have your spaceship????? I want to study it if you have a spaceship!"
She may nerd out at Nimue forever if nothing is done.
DG: Seraph Nimue has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Pit Traps Are The Pits *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The floor of this corridor suddenly tilts downward - 15 degrees, then 20 - threatening to send your group tumbling along it and down to a lower level of the dungeon. Unfortunately, some helpful person has laid a bunch of vicious-looking spikes out at the bottom of the pit. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Vault============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Huh?" Nimue responds to Asteroid, with a blink. "I just got these in November City. You can probably get them from any ARMsmeister. They aren't, like, super magic Seraph grenades or anything. They're just some stuff I walked off with! Get less excited!"
She does not confirm or deny her alien status. She walks on, sticking behind the group rather than forging bravely ahead --
-- which proves to be a good idea as the floor takes on an abrupt tilt once everyone moves on a little. Nimue, at the back, is able to grab oh so bravely for the place where the floor is still flat. Others may not be so lucky.
"NOOOOOO I HATE IT," she declares, loudly. She hasn't even noticed the spikes yet!
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin pulls out her rope, her magic trick rope, and uses it to help those who are slightly less agile than she is. She hopes nobody ends up on the spikes.
DG: Kourin has used her Tool Trick Rope toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Good work, everyone. That was handled...quite handily!" Jacqueline says with a smile. She starts to make her way forward, but, perhaps as punishment for her joke, the floor suddenly started to tilt.
The pit at the bottle...looked rather unpleasant.
She reaches into her bags, drawing out that bottle of green liquid again and taking another sip. She breaks into a run and leaps, drawing a Crest from her bag and invoking it.
Her main goal here was to block off the spike pit with an earth pillar, but if she had enough time she'd attempt to catch some of the others with more earth pillars, as well, before they could fall too painfully.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre just kind of... Gives Nimue a flat stare.
This... Is this really one of those sacred spirits of the moon?
Seriously?
Like, he's not on candid camera or anything, is he? This girl's just kind of a... Massive, whiny ditz.
Cyre looks over toward Jacqueline and then Ragnell for confirmation. He sort of points in Nimue's direction. Is this girl for real? Really? Damn.
Well.
"I'm going to head over," Cyre says, grasping one end of Kourin's rope and unfurls his parachute to begin floating across the gap. This way, the rest will have a way across that DOESN'T risk... as much horrible pokey death.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The red slimes are hella defeated. Ragnell smugs it up for a moment, holstering her guns, and then looks over at Asteroid when she geeks out at Nimue. Having not had the time earlier to respond due to the fight, she first waits for Nimue, is not disappointed, laughs, and tells Asteroid, "Better luck next time," with a pat on the shoulder. She winks at her and adds, "The name's Ragnell, by the by."
She, too, says nothing about being an alien or having a spaceship. This might be an even bigger tease than if she'd just blown her off entirely. Which will get Asteroid's goat more?? Find out! Next time, on THE FLOOR IS FALLING. NO REALLY, THE FLOOR IS FALLING. Ragnell jerks to one side, startled by the sudden slant. Rather than fight gravity, which is a losing battle, as the floor continues to slant more and more downwards, she charges down the falling floor--and then attempts to *leap* across the spike pit at the bottom to safety. There's also Kourin's rope if push comes to shove, because Ragnell has no desire to get skewered tonight.
And yes, Cyre. Nimue is totally for real.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Well, that's that; no muss no fuss. Josie reholsters her gun, eyeing Asteroid lazily before moving on ahead, towards the front of their expedition crew.
Perhaps this was a mistake, though, as the floor tilts underfoot perilously--
More than tilts.
"--Fengalon's balls--" Josie utters, sighting the spikes oh-so-helpfully laid out in an arrangement below. At least the last pit trap she fell into didn't have spikes!
Just crushing walls.
With little to grab onto -- and less than most people have to grab onto something with -- Josie is left with no choice to leap for it, springing off her section of floor as it attempts to dump her on down below. For a moment she flies.
Hopefully something's there to catch her -- pillars, rope -- because that's one hell of a way to land below if she fails to cross the gap.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Excuse you" Cyre yells down at Josephine's HORRIBLE CURSE. "Don't take Fengalon's balls' name in vain! That's extremely rude!"
(It might not be. He might just be fucking with her)
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid sticks her tongue out at Josephine. It's pretty long. She is the epitome of maturity and grace. When Ragnell tells her 'better luck next time', it's not about the grenades she's thinking about. Does she know? SHE SEEMS CLEVER? Or maybe she just seems clever because she acts too cool for school? Possible! But maybe she IS too cool for school in which case she noticed! Still, she's an alien 'Seraph' from the moon and all that so that's pretty cool. "Huh! Cool. They call me Asteroid the Kid! I work for Dark Mistress Ginny." What.
More importantly, rather, she has her portal guns. She fires one into the ground ahead of her and then another at the ceiling slightly behind her, so she can just fall through, pop back out, and then land on the slope again. This might mean that she's in this loop for a while before she can steady her balance but more importantly, it means that she doesn't tumble into a pile of death spikes. That's pretty important.
"Ughhh." SWOOP. "Just normal grenades?" SWOOP. "Well I still could use grenades." SWOOP. "Since I have like no money." SWOOP.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Fengalon's got big balls~" Asteroid says. SWOOP. "Fengalon's got big balls~" SWOOP. "Fengalon's got the biggest balls of them all~"
This is definitely just fucking with Cyre.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Pit Traps Are The Pits.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Pit Traps Are The Pits *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The floor of this corridor suddenly tilts downward - 15 degrees, then 20 - threatening to send your group tumbling along it and down to a lower level of the dungeon. Unfortunately, some helpful person has laid a bunch of vicious-looking spikes out at the bottom of the pit. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Vault============================================
========================<* Mountain Palace - Round 4 *>========================= ======================< Results - Pit Traps Are The Pits >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Invigoration Elixir 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 6 --(0)--> 6 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kourin 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Trick Rope 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 4 --(0)--> 4 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 4 --(0)--> 4 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Jacqueline Barber 50 --(30)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Slow(1)|Suffer(1)|Vault(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT HE DOES," Cyre yells as he floats over to safety. "And don't any of you forget it!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Jay makes a nice, neat set of pillars. Honestly, this solves the problem for everyone... except Nimue, who -- having totally failed to bother to look below her -- is scrambling for dear life up top, still thinking there's a problem. Cyre parachutes nearly over, and everyone else manages to either leap ahead, take a portal, or hop across the pillars.
Nimue continues to waste her own energy and everyone else's time for a while; when she finally loses her grip, she lands... on one of Jay's pillars. She looks down. Looks up at Jay. Looks down again. Looks up at Jay again.
"Oh."
She then hops neatly up to rendezvous with the rest of the group and continue forward as if that wasn't embarrassing at all.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Asteroid the Kid, who works for Dark Mistress Ginny. Ragnell pauses at this, staring at the Baskar priestess for a moment. Then she nods, chill as can be, as if everything's totally all right. "Cool cool," she says. "How's that goin' for ya?"
Josie, Cyre, and Asteroid start yelling at each other about Fengalon's balls. Ragnell snorts and laughs and lets them. After all, there's Nimue right over there, just now realizing that things are safe and she can just hop right down, and then doing so like a cat licking itself after a clumsy fall, and Ragnell just grins at her.
"Laaaaaaaaaaaame," she drawls, red eyes sparkling.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Ten-point landing? Well, maybe more like 7.5 points, but passing is passing.
Almost absently, Josie glances back over her shoulder, as if belatedly noting Cyre's shout in response to her... choice of words.
Her lips part in a brief grin. "I'll swear by any body part I choose~" she replies, looking Cyre over as he lands safely.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"It's pretty great." Asteroid says. "We have lots of fun together and have adventures. Usually the adventures are violent and full of suffering." And now that she thinks about it, isn't she usually the one who ends up suffering the most here? ".......But it's, like, that's what friendship is right?"
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Fire Lizards *>========================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These lizards are about ten feet long, and hop back and forth from foot to foot. The lizards are on fire. The lizards eat fire. The lizards breathe fire. If you are extremely unlucky, you will discover whether they also poop fire. (the answer is yes) =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell considers Asteroid for a moment longer, pressing her hands together over her mouth as if in prayer. She glances over at Nimue, eyebrows raised.
"....Yeah, that's about right," she says.
A gurgling sounds from the other side of the room at that moment. It looks like, when everyone made it down to the lower floor, they drew the attention of some unsavory monsters, which now slink through the opposite door. They're lizards. They're big, and they like to hop back and forth, and they are full of fire. Two of them belch out flames towards the Seraphim and Asteroid, while another charges bodily at Jay and Kourin (while on fire), and a fourth approaches Jay and Kourin, tilts its head at them curiously, turns around, lifts its tail, and--
oh god the fire is coming out of its butt THE FIRE IS COMING OUT OF ITS BUTT
Ragnell, for her part, has already started opening fire on the two fire lizards harassing her, Nimue, and Asteroid, terminating in a charged blast fired towards the ceiling. "Squall Shot!!" she shouts, just before the blast rains back down, literally, in a torrent of rain and lightning, down on the creatures's heads.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin, seeing a charging lizard, quickly hurls a rimebomb. Then she...summons ice.
Lots of ice.
An ice golem. No...not just an ice golem. A glacial golem.
Glaciers have a LOT of ice.
It is gonna smash some fire lizards. Maybe even melt on them. Maybe quench them.
Kourin likes hot food, not hot lizards.
DG: Kourin has used her Tool Rimebomb toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Ugh! Not lame! Just distracted! Ugh! Shut up!" Ragnell does not quite get a senseless stick-based drubbing. But Nimue clearly wants to.
... almost immediately, she's ambushed by fire lizards. Did you know that fire is generally considered to trump wind, on Lunar?
Continuing her proud tradition of catting it up, Nimue leaps six feet straight into the air and clings to a semi-loose brick in the ceiling. With one hand, she swings her staff -- let's be honest, lacrosse stick -- over and over in wide arcs, declaring:
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I hate it!"
Again.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Look, I don't mind if you swear by His balls, just make sure to do it in a situation that actually calls for it." Like... Like.
"Oh," Cyre says as ten-foot-tall fire lizards creep out from the shadows. "Fengalon's tremendous fuzzy balls."
Yeah, this is an appropriate situation.
This time, though, he's actually NOT conjuring a tremendous windstorm. Instead, he unleashes another of those laser arrays. The world grows significantly brighter as no less than seven prismatic beams fire simultaneously. Arcs of high intensity light rake explosively across the ruined floor to try to hem these creatures in before they can get too close...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Fortunately, everyone seemed to make it down alright...except for Nimue, who Jacqueline managed to catch safely. When Nimue looks at her, Jacqueline offers her a smile. She doesn't say anything, but she isn't sure whether Nimue will consider that better or worse.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have much time to consider the situation before a bunch of flaming lizards emerge with violent intentions. Jacqueline backpedals as Kourin stalls them with a rimebomb before summoning a glacial golem to smash them, then draws out another bottle of black liquid. She hurls it into the midst of the lizards before drawing out another Crest, aiming to assist Kourin by dropping lightning down on the head of the lizard that had charged them.
The repellent is pretty flammable so they might run into a slight problem there, but hopefully they would deal with the lizards quickly enough...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"And a sudden pit trap isn't~? My," Josie comments with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'd hate to see what you usually run into--"
It would seem they have company. Worse: they have company and not much space to operate in. "Damn, where'd these come in from?" she mutters, taking a step back towards the wall at her back.
Josie goes for her gun--
Josie stops. Watches the lizards in total silence. Blinks once or twice.
...Reaches into her pocket, pulls out her flask, and downs the last of it in one go.
"Right," she says at last.
Before finally drawing, and taking as steady an aim as is possible on the head of the hopping lizard furthest from her.
"Keep 'em back and give 'em all you got--"
And she opens fire.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid doesn't have strong combat instincts. She has feral combat instincts but that's a completely different thing that isn't particularly helpful when dealing with actual beasts. Still, she is attentive enough to start throwing meteors down from above. They aren't on FIRE or anything though they are rocks from space. This doesn't stop the fire lizard from unleashing a wave of fire on her which ignites her clothes and causes Asteroid to throw herself into the ground and roll around it rapidly to try and put out the fires which interrupts a fairr chunk of potential spellcasting.
"Nghahaaaah--it's hot! This sucks! I'm burning! Hsss!!" She rolls around until the fire goes uot and then lies there unhelpfully but at least she did throw some spacerocks down before the lizards broke her concentration check. She's with Nimue on this one.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fire Lizards.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Fire Lizards *>========================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These lizards are about ten feet long, and hop back and forth from foot to foot. The lizards are on fire. The lizards eat fire. The lizards breathe fire. If you are extremely unlucky, you will discover whether they also poop fire. (the answer is yes) =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
========================<* Mountain Palace - Round 5 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Fire Lizards >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 3 --(100)--> 103 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(100)--> 105 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 6 --(100)--> 106 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kourin 6 --(100)--> 106 Pass Rimebomb 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 4 --(100)--> 104 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 4 --(100)--> 104 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 6 --(100)--> 106 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Jacqueline Barber 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Maim Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: Josephine Lovelace is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Nimue is too exhausted to continue! DG: Kourin is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Asteroid the Kid is too exhausted to continue! DG: Cyre H. Lorentz is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has been fully Exhausted by Mountain Palace! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=============================<* Mountain Palace *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - RUN RUN RUN *>========================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- OR YOU'LL BE WELL DONE =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Nimue can want all she wants! If she doesn't do it, it's like it never happened. Because it never *did* happen. Ragnell laughs at her regardless. She at least doesn't laugh at her when she leaps up towards the ceiling like a cat while screaming and pitching grenades, while Asteroid rolls around after throwing meteors at the lizards. Kourin throws a rimebomb and summons an ice golem to chuck itself towards the monsters, and Jay brings down a bolt of lightning on the creature's head, while Josie takes a long drink and then opens fire on her lizard as Cyre fires rainbow lasers at the creature's butt.
Long story short: it doesn't work out. The fire lizards do take some damage, but the group is just not able to summon up quite enough force to deal with them, especially as it becomes evident that not only do they poop fire, they will then *eat* that fire poop to heal damage.
It's really just better for everyone if they run the hell away now, and quite frankly, after seeing a lizard eat its own fiery poop, Ragnell's quite happy to do so, all while yelling at Nimue to, "GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue clings to the ceiling for a little while longer, swinging frantically -- but before long, she too is behind Ragnell, running and screaming. It's the worst!
She does not comment on any of this. None of this will air. This never happened. Apocrypha.
Her ass remains extremely in gear all the way out.
<Pose Tracker> Kourin has posed.
Kourin regretfully sens her heroically melting golem to act as a delaying tactic as she turns, and, calling to Spirit, retreats expeditiously with her allies and friends.
She knows that sometimes you have to...
Let it go.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
This isn't working, Josie realizes, after plugging one of the lizards in the head with a bullet sure isn't taking.
And they're still coming, setting fire to everything.
At least Penelope isn't here.
"Don't know about you guys but I'm getting out!" Josie loosely thumbs over her shoulder with her free (bad) hand. "Lose 'em in the pit and hit the road!"
She turns, then, holsters her rifle and
books it.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Unfortunately, Jacqueline was really better at support than actually dealing damage. She and Kourin are able to take a good chunk out of the lizard that they had been attacking, but it's hard to outpace their...unpleasant regenerative capabilities.
Ragnell sounds the call to retreat, and Jacqueline...well, she figures she might have the right idea. They might be able to deal with the creatures eventually, but by the time they're down who knows how much of a beating they'd have taken in the process.
So she starts to backpedal, and once she's certain every member of the party is behind her she seals off the chamber the lizards are in with a series of earth pillars.
They'll melt through the stone eventually, but by that point they'd be long gone.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
As it turns out, portal guns are also pretty good for running away. "PORTAL ESCAPE!" Asteroid says, popping out farther and just YUCKING it out of the area at full speed. she's not getting captured and put into fire lizard jail, NOT THIS TIME!