2017-09-17: Gurdijeff Outhouse
- Log: 2017-09-17: Gurdijeff Outhouse
- Cast: Rose, Alisha Diphda, Seraph Ragnell, Yarobeleedt, Layna Manydays, Seraph Mirielle
- Where: Doomed to Obscurity
- Date: 2017-09-17
- Summary: In which Yaro fights off a sandworm to save humans. At least that's probably what it looked like to someone out there.
============================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================= The evocatively named Doomed to Obscurity is a ziggurat located within the wastelands. Sand and time have covered it up, and the front door has been jammed for decades, preventing entry by Drifters. It is said that one can force their way into the depths of the dungeon, but that isn't easy. Still, a few Drifters have allegedly managed such a task. The interior is a dangerous place. The sands have invaded much of it, barreling into hallways and making parts of it impassable. Nonetheless, there are treasures to be found inside. However, rumors abound that a colony of sandworms from the Great Aveh Desert have made their way inside this ancient place. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD2s1kx8ONQ
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Rose had heard from Ragnell that you could get jewelry in this here ziggurat. It did not take long for the merchant to grab the Seraph by the ear, demand she point it out on a map, and then demand she come along for jewel-related reasons. Alisha had been lured into the party by Rose with the promise of ancient things being inside ancient ziggurats so surely this was going to be fun for her. Sadly, it seemed Sorey was busy.
Rose also remembered that there was a pirate she wished to befriend, and pirates like booties. And so Layna found herself with a rather short notice invitation to go adventuring from Rose, saying she scouted out a place that might have a lot of ancient jewelry to uncover.
Yaro already knows what he did!!!!!
And so, one short sand buggy ride later (which may be a new experience for Alisha! luckily your driver is Eguille, not Rose, so it goes fairly smoothly), the tip of the ziggurat can be seen sticking out of the sand, inviting the Drifters to find their own way in.
"I'm so glad you learned how to drive these things," Rose thanks Eguille as she hops off the buggy, happy. "Renting these is pretty cheap and I'm starting to see why people like them over horses!"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha wasn't hard to convince. The promise of ancient things and beautiful sights is enough to get the princess to come into a ruin. She sits behind Rose, her hands clasped, green eyes bright, as she watches the assassin-slash-merchant hop off. She smiles once, before she nods her head. "They do have their appeal," the princess admits. "Though..."
She sighs. "There is something romantic about a horse." Then, she continues -- and proves, perhaps, she is a knight before she is a princess. "A hundred cavalry in a line, armor gleaming, lances ready--the banner flying, and then the way the ground thunders when the charge begins..."
She sighs fondly, before she hops out of the dune buggy right after Rose. She stretches her arms out, then turns to look over the rest.
Quite an assortment, she thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Rose, you realize me an' Lailah an' the crew we came in with, we already grabbed that treasure, right?" Ragnell had pointed out to deaf ears. There might be more treasure caches like that one, had been the argument back, and honestly Ragnell can't say Rose is wrong. It'd been relatively small for a cache, so there could well be other ones littered around in the ziggurat, scattered about so jerks like them wouldn't clean out all the treasure in one go. At least, if it were Ragnell, she'd at least consider doing it that way. And so Rose gets to tug Ragnell along by the ear to point out the location on a map, and then further along to help navigate through the ziggurat.
She's decided to let Rose find out about the sandworms the hard way.
"They *are* pretty handy," she thus remarks of the buggy, stretching out on the seat next to Alisha. She chuckles at the Princess's comment, then adds, "Can't say I'm surprised you like horses better, though, 'Lisha. A knight riding on a white buggy just doesn't have the same spark to it, huh?" Once the vehicle stops, she hops out too, stretching.
She sort of side-eyes Yaro as she does. She hasn't said anything about *him*, either.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt offers zero apologies for the narrative for what he did. The narrative will continue to insist it's a good idea to shame him for it, but that's neither here nor there...
Yarobeleedt watched Rose mysteriously talk to thin air. The gears turn in his horrid little partially melted brain - oh, she must be talking to the GUARDIANS then, and they compel her. Maybe they want some humans to come huddle around their statue? That's when he remembers overhearing some talks about the location being, supposedly, a shrine of Grudiev in times of antiquity. If she's headed this way, and is talking to what might be Guardians...
Yes. It may be worth getting sand everywhere again. (NO IT IS NOT, HE WILL CLARIFY THIS POINT SOME TIME IN THE FUTURE, HATE SAND also let's not remind him of the sandworms yet, shh, he might be actually reading this, knowing him.)
"Yes. Yes." A hooded figure of strange proportions kind of plops down from the buggy, and transitions towards hating life immediately as the form under the view of scrutiny by a wide berth of fabric collects some sand. "Is Gurdijeff ^Outhouse^. Leg's ends!! Very special. Go in go in go in." The mysterious hooded figure speaks out in strained, tortured words.
He's eager enough to tolerate their company that they go inside and find what he thinks is there right now!! Also because he has sand in his everything.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
There were a few things that got Layna's attention immediately, and talk of 'treasure' was one of them. When the invitation reached her she accepted right away, and now joins the others in the buggy. She had run into Rose a few times in the past, and while she'd seen and fought alongside Alisha before, she had yet to actually meet her personally. So this is a good opportunity for her!
There were supposedly other members of their party too, but she couldn't see them...? Well, she'd deal with that mystery later.
"Never been much one for horses, but I suppose that comes from living on the sea my whole life, aye?" Layna remarks. "But if you ask me, nothin' beats sailing on open sea. That or piloting a Gear."
Yes, the pirate was in possession of a giant robot. Someone should probably be alarmed about this.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Those whith SPIRIT SENSES may have noticed that this buggy was extra spooky with sprinkes, but it wasn't clear why. While they were driving out to the site, there was a strange dark smoke coming out the back, like a really thick bunch of exhaust. Knowing THE COMBUSTION ENGINE, it's probably totally normal. Rental buggies are notoriously awful, clearly.
When you are a Seraph, you can get around pretty easily, and Mirielle is an extra sneaky and extra spooky Seraph. There was only one problem - her hiding spots for naps or mysterious magical arrivals tended to exist on the Jumpscare Horror Spectrum - closets, under beds, and the like.
Today she had decided to hide under the peculiar cart.
TODAY WAS A BAD DAY!
Coughing, spluttering, and looking run ragged, Mirielle climbs out from under the buggy, thankful to Althena Herself for high undercarriages. Sour, dour, and filled with a dark power, she tries to salvage her appearance, wiping her face off, but just accomplishes rubbing motor oil on it.
Now she looks even more ghoulish. Thankfully, she hears a friend. "R-ragnell? Ragnelllll!" She groans.
A spooky ghost in a black dress crawled out and started moaning, face dripping in black ichor OH NO THIS EXPEDITION IS EXTRA HAUNTED!!!!!!!
DG: A party led by Rose is now entering Doomed to Obscurity. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Ascent *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The ruin's main entrance sits atop a large ziggurat, made of carved sandstone blocks. Most of the blocks are still intact, but some are in varying states of disrepair--they're cracked, broken, or waiting to slide out of place if enough weight is set on them. Watch your step! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"For someone who wants peace you sure have a thing for a fully line of calvalrymen charging!" Rose teases Alisha, grinning wide, obviously not meaning much by it. Of course, the merchant is more practical-minded, so given a chance to acquire a buggy for the Sparrowfeathers, wouldn't skip the chance. That's a big expense, though. Maybe when she manages to pawn those Gears off she'll figure something out. Then have Jay send that friend over who knows how to install A/C on vehicles.
"Stop being so pessimistic! I'm sure there's more treasure in there, as if one expedition was going to wring some ruins dry!" she even answers Ragnell, because it's true. And while Yaro might be hard to understand, the merchant points at him and continues grinning. "See, he gets it! Now's the time to head in!"
Layna sparks her interest as she mentions having a Gear. "Really now? Would you perchance be interested in acquiring more~? I have a couple for sale, either whole or for parts!" Something to go over later. When she's not being HAUNTED.
To say Rose tumbles off her feet and onto the sand is to put it lightly. The sight of Mirielle has the merchant completely robbed of any and all cool, at least for the half a minute it lasts before she realizes it's a Seraph, not a ghost. The distinction is, mind you, pretty narrow.
"D-Don't do that! Who even does that?! Ragnell! I'm blaming YOU for this!" Why? Because it's Ragnell. "S-Sheesh, Seraphim, just... no respect for us normal folks, I swear," she grumbles, despite the fact she's hardly normal at this point. Squire and all! "You could've said you brought a friend. What's her name?" she finally manages to ask without stuttering, all the while she retrieves some rope and a hook to make climbing up the side of the ziggurat that much easier. There seems to be an entrance up there, but the way up is as time-ravaged as it gets, and you shouldn't trust the stairs with your life. What's left of them. (Not much.)
DG: Rose has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"In field exercises!" Alisha protests, with a sigh. "I wouldn't--ah, it would never be a good thing."
She sighs, but she doesn't seem particularly bothered. "No, it certainly does not," Alisha says, looking towards Ragnell. She smiles at her, before she looks back at Layna... then at Yarobeleedt. She stares at the strange hooded person for a moment. "Who, um, is that?"
She has no idea.
She turns when Mirelle appears. She hasn't seen her before. Alisha stares for a moment, before she smiles at her; it is a little strained, given the way she drips black ichor and looks rather frightening. "Ah--I'm sorry? That is Ragnell, yes. But... how did you get down there?"
She looks back to Rose, then smiles awkwardly. She tugs on the rope after Rose starts up -- and then she begins to hike up the side of the ziggurat, after their fearless leader.
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt trudges on in full ignorance of at least two of those present. He's not so sure about the terminology he's hearing - when has he ever heard of Seraphim in regards to the hated, awful, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Guardians that tie Mother down? He likes his preconceived notions of what's going on better, so he foolishly sticks with them - ever eager to show up ^Long Voweler^ and the rest, and be the one to save Mother and-- the rest of this line of thought needs no further transcription or speculation.
"Is not that!!!" Yarobeleedt irritatedly protests. "Is on age of pilgrim to Gurdijeff ^Outhouse^!" The sooner they crawl up the ziggurat the better because the sand the sand thesandthesandthesandouchouchouchouchmustresisturgetowiggleandwrithealloverthegroundandalsofindwherethespacebarwentitwasrightthereamomentagohurtshurtsithurtsohrightthatsthenameoftheguywhatguymaybeitsnotimportantohhereiswherethespacebaris
The hooded figure proves a bit slower to climb up, electing to not follow Rose's rope - no, they seem to just kind of... shimmy up bricks, somehow, as though it were no big deal, unpleasant grunts every time they help themselves up the next brick.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna chuckles to herself at the banter, though her interest is piqued when Rose mentions having some Gears for sale.
"Now, now...don't tempt me. I don't think I have the funds to buy another Gear." She comments with a grin. She certainly would if she did, though. She actually had two Gears to her name, though she let another member of her crew pilot the other one.
It is at this point that a goopy mess emerges from the bottle of the buggy. Was it a monster...? Layna tenses up slightly, but no one else appears alarmed by this.
In reality she was seeing Mirielle, but as she was currently unaware of the presence of the Seraphim, the only thing she could see was the oil. It made for a...confusing situation.
And, Rose asks what her name is?
"I don't know, never met this, uh...person." She says, unaware that Rose was asking Ragnell.
For now, she decides that it is best to focus on the task at hand, and begins making her way quickly up the steps. She doesn't want to weigh down Rose's rope too much, so she elects to ascend through a series of wind-powered jumps up the slope of the ziggurat. Hopefully the steps she reached would be able to hold her weight...
That strange, hooded figure seemed to be handling it just fine, though, so certainly she should be alright too?
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Now, Ragnell hadn't actually invited Mirielle along, but a) she would've if the opportunity had presented itself, and b) she'd definitely noticed someone was hitching a ride thanks to the extra-smokiness of the exhaust. It's not as though Ragnell is *that* familiar with how much smoke a buggy should be putting out, but she can sense a fellow Seraph's presence easily enough. Why didn't she say anything, then?
Exactly for this moment, when Mirielle staggers out with black ichor (?) on her face and Rose screaming in terror. Ragnell clutches her belly, laughing riotously. She manages to calm down by the time Rose does, though, but she's grinning something fierce. "That's fair," she says of blaming her of this. "Rose, this is Mirielle. Mirielle, this is Rose, the Shepherd's Squire I told ya 'bout. This is Alisha, also a Squire. An' that--" She points at Layna. "...is somebody. I dunno." She points next to the hooded figure. "That's Yaro-somethin'-or-other. Never remember how his name goes." As far as she's considered, it may as well be Yaro*fartnoise*. She is of course aware that he's a Metal Demon--even if his cloak had managed to fool her, she'd recognize that warped speech pattern anywhere--but since he can't see her, she's perfectly content to leave that detail unsaid for now.
Just like she's also leaving the sandworms unsaid.
Just like she's also leaving the fact that there's a secret entrance somewhere on ground level unsaid. Hey, Rose, you wanna climb up the ziggurat? It's all you.
"Anyway, Miri, how *did* you get down there?" she adds as she starts the trek up the crumbling stairs, moving lightly and nimbly from stone to stone, attempting to avoid the more crumbly-looking ones. Of course, with the sand everywhere, it can sometimes be hard to tell, so she might end up slipping anyway, but Ragnell is an agile person. Seraph. She'll be okay, probably. And hey, there's always Rose's rope if need be!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
============================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Ascent *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The ruin's main entrance sits atop a large ziggurat, made of carved sandstone blocks. Most of the blocks are still intact, but some are in varying states of disrepair--they're cracked, broken, or waiting to slide out of place if enough weight is set on them. Watch your step! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle looks positively ghoulish, covered in dirt and her face rubbed with motor oil, which she works to clear up with a black handkerchief (does she have any other color... anything???), as Ragnell... Laughs her ass off at Rose. Well! Introductions, at any rate. She curtesys as she's introduced by her fellow Seraphim, trying to smile, but her cheeks are still smudgy with oil, and her furious rubbing just sort of moves it around at this point. "This liquid is dreadful. Blood would have come right out!" She mumbles, before double-taking at Yaro-somethin'-or-other. She takes a few hurried steps to Ragnell's side, before looking back at Yarobeeldt and then, with an onze of worry... "Is he... like the refridgerator too?"
But ah! The call of adventure! The pushing forward into another place full of potentially toppling pillars of stonework. At least it's not super sunny. "I had wanted to... you know, take a nap, under something dark, because the sun was out, and..."
Yeah that's all the explanation you'll be getting today. "I just hope there's no cactuses here..." She mopes, hopping along with the group as they enter.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Ascent.
============================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Ascent *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The ruin's main entrance sits atop a large ziggurat, made of carved sandstone blocks. Most of the blocks are still intact, but some are in varying states of disrepair--they're cracked, broken, or waiting to slide out of place if enough weight is set on them. Watch your step! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=======================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 1 *>======================== ==========================< Results - Perilous Ascent >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Grappling Hook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alisha Diphda 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Rose 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Rose 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> Rose has posed.
Seems Rose will have to work harder to sell Layna on buying Gears. Shame that! ... but that's what determination is for.
Rose is the last to climb the ziggurat, perhaps because she's still quaking for Mirielle's sudden appearance, though when she does she regroups with everyone and, amazingly, no one trips or has any accident on the way up. Yaro's climb is perhaps a bit longer than the others', but he succeeds, too! It's possible a very large bird took him for food and gave him a ride up before realizing its food was still squirming and dropped him. Or maybe he really did climb up one level at a time!
This means the interior of the ziggurat awaits, past a large broken section of the wall. It's pretty dark inside, surprising no one. "Who named this place, anyway? 'Doomed to Obscurity', really? What's next, Darkbad Place?" Don't laugh, Rose, if it was named that, it probably IS that bad.
"Well, nice to meet you, Mirielle. Guess Ragnell already introduced me to you, huh! If you haven't figured it out I'm not a... fan... of that ghostly business so if you could... you know..." Not be a spooky ghost?
There really is no nice way to ask that.
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>================================================ =========================================<* CHALLENGE - Makeshift Barricade *>========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Drifters regularly pay this ruin visits, and unfortunately for you, one of them got the bright idea to block off the way ahead with a barricade. Crates, beams, rocks, and other debris form a wall across the corridor ahead, makeshift but annoyingly stable. You'll have to get past it if you want to continue, but is it possible there's something valuable on the other side? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
There's a bit of a drop going in, but it's negligible as far as drops go when you're a Drifter. Or a Seraph. Or Yarobeleedt, who falls behind because he has himself a moment to wriggle and convulse up top before he dives on in with the rest. (Being a partial blob in the desert is all sorts of not fun. Plan vacations accordingly if you are a partial or whole blob.)
The next hurdle in the prequel to Darkbad Place... this place appears to have already collapsed? Wait, no, on second thought, someone managed to bring in precious lumber from eastern Ignas in hopes of just boarding the whole way forward shut. It's an effort that suggests that this was the work of more than one person. Maybe an Aveh or Kislev squad decided to try and close up this part of the ruin, for whatever reason? It's a real piece of work. There's no obvious weak point to poke in which it would make the whole thing collapse. Whoever put this up, does not want anyone to look beyond this point.
The hooded figure plops down a ways behind the rest. "What? Is out for lunch? No. Nonono!" This puts him in a bind if the one talking to the 'Guardians' can't go in further! He darts up to the boards in a lunge that could be described as serpentine, as he takes... picks, in hand? It's hard to tell with the sleeves, but they're holding onto something sharp. Or are sharp? It's vague.
It's nice that our strange... pilgrim... might be helping.
What's not welcome is just how high-pitched and awful to human ears the screeching is, as these pick-blade things he's holding onto gingerly scrape away at the barricade.
"Is not time for fasting! Go fast." ...But it's not time for fasting? Oh, who cares with him any more.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"B-Blood...?" Alisha asks, staring at Mirielle for a moment. Then, she nods her head. "But--yes, I am the Shepherd's Squire." She glances at Layna, then, and smiles. It's apologetic. "I do apologize. I am Alisha Diphda, Princess of Hyland."
She says it like it is to be expected.
She pulls herself up, successfully -- and feels glad that she manages, as she reaches the stop. She stops, then, and peers down into the depths. Then, she stares a moment at the back of Yarobeleedt. She really isn't sure what to make of him. She watches, mouth open, and then she sighs.
"Go fast," she hears. She steps to the barricade, then swings back her fist. The dim light gleams off her crystal steel gauntlet. Then, she slams a fist into the barricade!
DG: Alisha Diphda has used her Tool Crystal Gauntlet toward her party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It's okay, Mirielle; you'll come to realize in time that laughing at other people's expense and being kind of a jerk is just part of Ragnell's character. "*Does* look pretty nasty," she observes of the oil, taking off one of her gloves as Mirielle hurries over to her side. She reaches out a now-bare finger to poke at her smudged cheek, then rub the liquid between her fingers. "Huh," she mutters, then sniffs it. "Yup," she declares, nodding once. "That sure is gross."
Then she reaches over to Rose to attempt to casually wipe her hand off on her clothes. Successful or not, she'll put her glove back on at that point.
It's an easy enough trek up to the top of the ziggurat; no sands or stones shift on the way. Once they're at the top, though, Ragnell pauses at Mirielle. "You know, you asked that last time, too," she observes, of refridgerators and people being like them. "What exactly d'you mean by that?"
She snorts then at Rose's comment, smiling in amusement. "Darkbad Place... Hey, at least it'd be truth in advertising, am I right?" Still, there is a barricade barring their way forward. Yaro starts scraping away at it with an ear-piercing shriek, to which Ragnell's right eye twitches. As Alisha smashes a fist in, she calls, "Imma help you out--watch out for the explosion, 'Lisha."
*Tink*, goes an electric grenade as it hits the floor and rolls in under some of the boards. There will be a large lightning KABOOM an instant later, though at least Alisha's been duly warned.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
What kind of jerk blocks the way like that?
Rose watches Yaro and Alisha go to town on the barricade, and she's not got a whole lot to contribute herself! Well, at least she can get in closer and try to pull off a plank after the princess smashes the way open.
Of more interest is the ongoing conversation. "Oh yeah, blood is REAL hard to clean out of your clothes. It's not unusual people'll just throw bloodied clothes away rather than put up with cleaning them. I don't know how it works with Seraphim and their magical clothes though," she admits. "Oil's... oil's messier, somehow. It's like blood, but black, and --" is Ragnell about to eat it. Oh god - oh, she doesn't. She just smells it. Phew. Joke's on you though, Ragnell, Rose's jacket is black. She frowns but doesn't lash out.
Suddenly, grenade.
"Hey, watch out! These ruins are old, we don't want to collapse our only way in. As much as I think some of these ruins deserve nothing more." Mostly the ones with a lot of traps.
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna was starting to get the feeling that there was something strange going on here. To wit - Rose specifically said something about ghostly-business, and was talking to thin air.
Layna stares. She didn't think Rose was crazy...she had to be talking to someone, but who was that someone? Well, 'Mirielle', apparently, and there must be a 'Ragnell' around, too.
Layna glances toward Alisha when she introduces herself, and offers her a friendly grin. She was the Shepherd's Squire and a princess? Rose certainly had some interesting friends.
"Layna Manydays, Captain of the Ruby Empress. Pleasure meeting you, lass." She says, sweeping her hat off her head politely. "And, uh, Miss Mirielle. Miss Ragnell."
...She was a bit more polite than she usually would be because she couldn't actually see them.
She then follows the others inside, where they find a barricade directly in their path. Some might be deterred by this, but Layna just grins widely.
"Got some drinks, if anyone's thirsty from the climb." Layna says, drawing some bottle out from within her coat. She sets them down on a nearby pedestal and uncorks one and takes a deep swig, before reaching into her coat again and drawing out something else.
"Ah, finally. I've been looking for a chance to use this thing!" She says with a grin. From somewhere, she drew out what appeared to be some kind of drill-based ARM. She had found it in an abandoned mine a while back, and had always wanted to get a chance to use it but had never thought to bring it along before she found herself faced with a ruin. Now, though...
After the explosion of lightning goes off Layna rushes in, activating the drill and aiming to pierce right through the barrier.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle is booped on the cheek, and the sticky oil on her face is tested by Ragnell, who comes to the conclusion that the shadow Seraph had already arrived at: it's awful and the worst and everything about it terrible, and she will regret doing this forevermore.
For a Seraph, 'regret evermore' is quite the suffering, too!
The ascent is not terrible as one would have expected, going rather uneventfully, and leaving time for introductions! Her voice is clear and simple, though her SPIRIT VOICE is spooky, echoing, and the sort of thing you'd expect to hear if ghosts were real and you decided to say 'Bloody Mary' three times in a high school bathroom.
"It's very good to meet you all! This is going much better than my last adventure... And this temple is much more homey... A few cobwebs and maybe a creaky door and bare tree or two, and it would be perfect, don't you all agree?" She wonders, casting her hand forward as a large SHADOW SKULL appears to take a bite out of the woodwork. It's no grenade, but it IS much SPOOKIER than a grenade.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Makeshift Barricade.
===============================================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>================================================ =========================================<* CHALLENGE - Makeshift Barricade *>========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Drifters regularly pay this ruin visits, and unfortunately for you, one of them got the bright idea to block off the way ahead with a barricade. Crates, beams, rocks, and other debris form a wall across the corridor ahead, makeshift but annoyingly stable. You'll have to get past it if you want to continue, but is it possible there's something valuable on the other side? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
==========================================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 2 *>=========================================== ===========================================< Results - Makeshift Barricade >============================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rose 6 --(4)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 5 --(6)--> 11 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 4 --(5)--> 9 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 4 --(5)--> 9 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alisha Diphda 6 --(3)--> 9 Pass Crystal Gauntlet 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 6 --(4)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Rose
DG: The party led by Rose has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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. [OOC] Yarobeleedt says, "yays, hoorays!" [OOC] Yarobeleedt says, "ahem~" [OOC] Alisha Diphda says, "Nice!" [OOC] Layna Manydays says, "Going pretty well so far!" [OOC] Rose says, "Wow even my noodle arms worked this one out." [OOC] Rose says, "RIP the formatting though" [OOC] Rose says, "one day Dupes will figure out why it breaks" [OOC] Alisha Diphda says, "Awww yes." [OOC] Alisha Diphda says, "I can take next too." [OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "Sounds good!" (New BB Message (10/8) posted to '(IC) Guild Bulletin' by Linvidia Diargento: AD: World Sutlers)
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
As they all combine their might and insight and also meet and greet, Yarobeleedt fantasizes. Yes. The statue must be beyond here! That must be the reason for the barricade. He thinks gingerly of how Mother will be pleased with him when she awakens and discovers he's done up a statue so hard that all of them crumbled about him by proxy! All this, plus the cover of sound by his terrible scraping noises, ensures he fails to notice...
GRENADE PLUS SKULL PLUS POWER DRILL PLUS helpful careful prying PLUS REVERBERATING FORCE FROM AWESOME CRYSTAL POWER GLOVE (it's so bad)
The barricade straight-up explodes into a fine pile of scattered garbage, the hooded figure shrieking as they briefly disappear into the rising smoke and dust that come from the displaced barricade. How much lumber? How much metal? How many rocks? This barricade was not put together in haste, and yet, it takes everyone less than a minute to completely do away with it. There's a little more clearing to be done to make it safe to walk over any of it (at which point someone probably accidentally brushes away a stunned, slightly blackened Yarobeleedt), but it's not much added effort.
There was a barricade here for a reason. What could it be?
...
Someone other than Yarobeleedt answer that.
[OOC] Yarobeleedt says, "who's next?"
[OOC] Alisha Diphda gots it!
DG: Alisha Diphda has drawn a new Challenge. ==========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>===========================
==========================================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 2 *>=========================================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Excessively Cryptic Notes *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You've run into a set of notes left by another adventurer. Unfortunately for you, they're in cramped shorthand, and make use of an elaborate system of symbols and codewords. If you decipher it, you could learn more about this part of the ruin. Then again, it's almost too convenient a find, is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust================================================== <Public> Linvidia Diargento says, "Tell me how it goes!" <Public> Jacqueline Barber says, "We'll definitely let you know, if we run it!" <Public> Heal Berry says, "You have gained the aid of the Lunies, Linvidia" <Public> Heal Berry says, "Use this dread power wisely" <Ask-Staff> Lemina Ausa says, "Did the followup submission for my Dig with the dungeon/info I forgot get there" <Ask-Staff> Lemina Ausa says, "I guess I should have asked that on Matilda"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"I shall do so," Alisha says to Ragnell, with a smile and a nod. She pulls back after the grenade -- letting it do its work. Then, she looks at Layna, and she realizes: "Ah! I hadn't seen the Seraphim for some time, when I first came to know them. Rest assured, they are there."
She smiles, politely, before she nods and looks back at the barrier. It goes down, in a blast of garbage, smoke, and debris. She jumps back at the shriek of the cloaked figure, before she sighs. Then, Alisha starts forward. The team finds their way down a small, winding passage... and into a small foyer, where the hallway widens.
An old, weathered wooden table is here -- and dried out, but far less old notes. Alisha leans down, looking the notes over. "Ah--oh, no. This is written in some sort of code! Or... perhaps bad handwriting. Ah, I wonder--"
She pulls the Celestial Record out, and sets to flipping through it. "Maybe this will have a suggestion."
DG: Alisha Diphda has used her Tool Celestial Record toward her party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Mirielle continues to be spoopy. Rose shudders. This, right here, would have convinced her Seraphim WERE in fact just ghosts, if it had happened but a bit earlier in the timeline. Alas, what could have been. Instead she thinks Seraphim just enjoy torturing her. The truth is probably in the middle.
They proceed forward, and Rose helps Yaro up, if he'll have the hand, not discriminating against his appearance. She's surrounded by ghosts, she can deal with an unusual looking person as long as he doesn't try to eat her. You know, small victories.
Seeing Layna's confusion, though, makes her wonder...
"Hey Alisha, you think if we work together we can let her see those two? Like if I grab one of her hands and you grab the other, maybe we can do that thing Sorey did for me?" That's an excellent question. Together, they might stand a chance of making it happen!
Though for now, there's a weird message left behind. Rose leans down to take a look, far too used to bad handwriting thanks to her daytime job. "Looks like it was scribbled in a hurry to me. Directions, maybe, or some kind of warning? It says something about spikes, I think?" She's not sure.
DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes. [OOC] Rose says, "unrelated but funny: http://www.abyssalchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/safe_image-5.jpg" [OOC] Rose says, "Talesofcosmeticitems.jpg" [OOC] Layna Manydays says, "Perfect." [OOC] White Knight Leo says, "I still love the one that gives Sorey sunglasses" [OOC] Rose says, "how about everyone having them https://i.imgur.com/HXxOLAy.jpg"
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
It takes a bit of effort to help Yarobeleedt up. For one, the body seems... kind of heavy. For two, Rose may not quite be able to put her finger on it, but his arm doesn't seem all that... firm? It's like if she could pull hard enough, it might be like yanking off a piece of delicious taffy.
He recoils suddenly as he starts back up with a little yelp, as though the idea of being touched by Rose were something frightening. He seems a bit taller than observed at that point, as his mass slowly settles.
"...N-N-No issue! Go go go. One head, one head." Ahead. His tone of voice is even weirder - is this how his, um, people say thank you? What is he, anyway? (Audience, shh, don't spoil it.)
As they all go ahead, he starts tapping his sleeves together with a 'tink' noise, as though giddy. Yes. Must be here. It must be, it must be, they will lead him to it, and... he darts ahead, whirling about the other side of the table, as Alisha goes over the message... and others chime in, unsure.
He's mystified why they'd be confused. At least one - maybe two, now? - are talking to the Guardians, right?! They should tell them where to go! Yarobeleedt continues to be blissfully ignorant in the nature of the two Seraphim flitting about and doing their thing, as his mind is already set on one specific goal.
Finding the presumed location of the statue of Grudiev.
"Look like Gurdijeff toe?!" Yarobeleedt weighs in on the piece of paper as he rests sleeves against the table. The ends are pointed straight down, so there's no window into view of their hands. Same for the hood, it points down in such a way that the darkness shades out the inhuman features.
Mirielle can see it, though. Those beady eyes that don't quite seem to focus, but instead roll about. It's very unsettling... and also kind of silly.
"Is Gurdijeff ^Outhouse^. Easy easy. All is Gurdijeff!" That's his working theory, which sounds more like pleading, because he wants it to be. When he rears his sleeves back, there are some etches on the table and a faint acrid smell.
<Ask-Staff> Sheriff Star says, "Yep! I am about to start on it."
[OOC] Rose says, "- nope, that's it, I found the only one I'll ever need ever again: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VS3C_EBSAPo/maxresdefault.jpg"
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes. <Ask-Staff> Lemina Ausa says, "Thank you!"
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Seraphim, huh...?" Layna replies, folding her arms in front of her. Was that what was going on here? She had thought that was just a myth...but here were two people who she expected to be sensible, talking about and to them.
"Well, don't see that everyday, aye...?" She comments mostly to herself, then chuckles when she realizes the joke. She puts away the drill and finishes off her drink before moving forward, where Alisha seems to have located a notebook of some kind. Layna wanders over to take a look...
But the notes seem to be practically illegible. Layna squints at it a moment, then removes her telescope from her waist and zooms in to get a better look. Maybe it was some kind of code? Or...maybe this person just had really bad handwriting.
She pauses, though, looking up at Alisha and Rose. There was a way for people to see them...?
"Well, I'm always up for trying anything once." She says. Who knows, it might be interesting!
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes. [OOC] Layna Manydays says, "...That one is amazing, yes."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Who *doesn't* know how to clean blood outta their clothes?" Ragnell says, nonchalant and dismissive. "If you knew how to clean that black shit out, that'd be *way* more useful, Rose." She pauses, though, as Layna goes out of her way to introduce herself to the two Seraphim, then smiles crookedly. "Huh! Well, ain't that somethin'. Nice meetin' you too, Layna." ...She'll let someone else convey the counter-greetings for her.
Either way, they manage to bust the barricade open, but... nothing in particular on the other side. Besides a winding passage, and a small foyer, and some kind of table with notes on top... Ragnell peers over her shoulder to squint at the code. "Huh. An' you two could *try*," she says over her shoulder to Rose and Alisha. "Wouldn't hurt any, I should think."
She pulls out her personal fan then, giving herself a breath of fresh air as she examines the notes. "Hmmm... I'm thinkin' you might be right, Rose. See, those squiggles right there--" she points helpfully, "--match here an' here, an' there's somethin' 'bout the way they're drawn that says 'danger' t' me."
She peers then at Yarobeleedt. Hmm. Most of the time she can't really make heads or tails or what he's saying, but... "Gurdijeff, Gurdijeff... Who exactly, or what, is that supposed to be?" she murmurs. Gurdijeff Outhouse. Well, Yaro's a Metal Demon... Is Gurdijeff a Metal Demon too? No, that doesn't make sense... Maybe a Veruni? ... ...no, that doesn't really make sense, either. He's calling this place the Gurdijeff Outhouse, right?
Honestly, this is even more of a puzzle than the notes.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle is all about giant shadow skulls and the like, it's nothing personal, Rose!
"You know, Ragnell, she's the first person to react 'appropriately' to the shadows. And so... THIS MAKES HER THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE ROOM!
Well, ok, not really. "I have found the bombs on this world are quite powerful and worthy of respect. I can see why many Drifters favor them. I don't really understand them... But I do see why many trust them! Too... loud and bright for my tastes."
The cryptic notes are ones that cause Mirielle much interest, but not for the normal reasons. "G... g-what? It's... maybe it is that! It's probably that. You are all much more expert on these places than I. Perhaps... But... No, is it?"
Mirielle goes about peering around the paper, turning it over with a finger. "Is there some... hidden clue? There's usually a hidden clue! Always a hidden clue! You see, otherwise, it wouldn't be here, so we just have to... find it?"
She's so helpful.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Excessively Cryptic Notes. ===========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================
==========================================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 2 *>=========================================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Excessively Cryptic Notes *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You've run into a set of notes left by another adventurer. Unfortunately for you, they're in cramped shorthand, and make use of an elaborate system of symbols and codewords. If you decipher it, you could learn more about this part of the ruin. Then again, it's almost too convenient a find, is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust================================================== ======================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 3 *>=======================
==========================================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 2 *>=========================================== ====================< Results - Excessively Cryptic Notes >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 11 --(5)--> 16 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 9 --(4)--> 13 Pass Captain's Telescope 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 9 --(6)--> 15 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alisha Diphda 9 --(3)--> 12 Pass Celestial Record 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rose 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rose 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> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Oh--that may work," Alisha says, with a look to Rose. "Perhaps we should try that."
She looks down. Her nose wrinkles at 'Gurdijeff.' Who or what is that? She frowns, before she takes up the ideas offered. They have to flip it the right way, as Mirielle indicated. Some close study -- and looking at it with a telescope -- reveals the way the notes make sense. Then, it's easy to find: a button in the wall.
Alisha leaves pressing it to someone else. When they do, there is a faint click. The door lifts, then, unveiling a secret path in the recess!
DG: Seraph Mirielle has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>=========================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Tunnel Maze *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You've stumbled across a large, dense network of sandworm burrows, tunnels in the rock and sand that could lead to otherwise-inaccessible parts of the ruin. Unfortunately, they're pitch-black, and confusing to navigate--not to mention the danger posed by running into a sandworm. Can you make it through in one piece? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
It turns out the map was upside down. But what... was it a map to? Clearly there were instructions left here, for the group to find and follow... in their own special way. It involved some devices many people don't NORMALLY use to divine the secrets of the written word... But the path beneath that is revealed is clearly one that would have been nightmarish to follow without it.
At the bottom, in very fine print, is a hastily scrawled note that requires the use of a telescope to find!
'Watch Out For The Sandworms - Guard Jeff'. Perhaps Yaro... has the SUPER senses.
As the group continues on, darkness consumes the party, and the ground gives way to a soft, sandy earth. Burrows small and large appear, and with any sort of light, you'd see the 'doorways' become circular, and more... borehole-like.
But that should be fine. Mirielle holds up a small crystal, which seems to eat the darkness tugging at the corners of the room. "Ooh, this is nice. Isn't it nice? Maybe some nice skeletons in the corner and... oh, look, there they are!"
She points into the darkness. If one looks? Skeletons.
Tread carefully!
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Containment Crystal toward her party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Alisha deciphers the notes enough to find a secret passageway, which then leads into tunnels carved into the soft earth. "Hmmmm," she murmurs, raising her eyebrows. And then there's the note that Mirielle found, too... May as well mention it now: "By th' way, there's sandworms in this ziggurat. So, uh, don't no one get too stompy, a'ight?"
Though at least there's always Yaro to be a convenient sandworm snack if it comes down to it. It's practically what he's made for!
Regardless, the group travels in further, with Mirielle casting a light from a crystal to point out a skeleton. "Tsk, tsk. Sucks to be that guy," she remarks. "Hmmm, let's see. I don't think there's any hope o' these tunnels havin' any kinda reason to 'em, but you figure the bigger they get, the bigger the sandworm, an' there was one right before we found us some treasure, so..."
Ragnell then attempts to follow some of the tunnels as they get bigger. Hey, if they find a sandworm, maybe it'll lead them to treasure again!
Though, honestly, she'd personally rather find some secrets of this place. Including why Yaro keeps insisting on calling it the Gurdijeff Outhouse.
"Anyway, Miri, Rose is just a scaredycat," she remarks belated to Mirielle, of Rose having the ~proper~ reaction to shadows. "Though I got no problem if you think that means she's got the right attitude." She grins wolfishly at the Squire. "Maybe a few more scares like that'll do her good, huh~?"
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Normal people!" Rose answers Ragnell, crossing her arms. "You know, the kind of people who don't deal with blood a lot. I feel sorry for a Drifter who doesn't know how to clean it though." As for oil... "Lots of soap and brushing as far as I've figured out. If you work with oil a lot you're better off just having work clothes and regular clothes instead of trying to clean up. That's what I've heard from Gear mechanics I asked, anyway." Sorry Ragnell, she doesn't know yet.
A look towards Layna and she conveys: "Ragnell says hi. When we're out of here, we'll see if we can let you see them! It'll only work as long as we're there but it's a start!" If they can make it work. Rose is hopeful though.
Seems that, through some clever play, they even found themselves a way down into some creepy tunnels! Oh look Rose is uncomfortable again, what a surprise. She follows, watching her footing carefully.
"I'm NOT a scaredycat, I'm just not used to you guys and your... ways, it's not the same thing!" Rose backs back at Ragnell, which, unfortunately, echoes through the tunnels ominously. Maybe yelling here isn't a good idea.
DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Gh--skeletons!" Alisha hisses. "This looks... ah... disconcerting," she murmurs softly. She shakes her head. Her eyes shift, to look at Ragnell, and then she sighs. Nothing to be too scared of, she tells herself. She opens her Celestial Record to the end, where there are some blank pages. At some point, she started taking notes.
It helps that pencils are much more common on Filgaia. When she can write without needing ink and quill, it means she can write more easily as she moves. Her pencil scratches a few notes in.
"Rose isn't scared," she says, idly. "She is just... jumpy?"
Sorry, Rose.
Her nose wrinkles as she walks, sketching away. "I'll try to draw a map, as we walk."
DG: Alisha Diphda has used her Tool Celestial Record toward her party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
SAND AGAIN
Yarobeleedt hesitates to follow. He is caught between rocks and a soft grainy place. Whoever or whatever is contacting them, he's convinced they're drawing them closer to the statue he imagines to be here! It will save so much time and so much work. But he will be beating so many of them to it! Like ^Dull Blades^ (Epsilon) and ^Metal Beast^ (Gamma). He can almost see it, now. He's fantasizing about how, exactly, he will dispatch the statue before they know what's truly going on--
And almost gets left behind.
Usually he'd just crawl and dig right into the earth around him, but that doesn't fix the 'keeping the scary but stupid humans' in sight problem, and also... something else about this place... that he doesn't want to remember.
When he loosk back, there's... an eerie quality to the tunnels that make him shiver to his rotten little metal horror core. He starts to scrape the contents of his sleeves with one another, at an even - mechanically perfect - rhythm.
"So next. It is very... very next..." Yarobeleedt says. "Soon soon. Is sequential. Must!" All he has to do is follow the yelling of the NOT-a-scaredycat, and also not scream when he gets sand in his himself. (Let's just leave it as 'his himself.')
He probably accomplishes only one of these two things. Which one is an exercise best left to the reader.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Sandworms, huh...? I ran into one in the desert before. We managed to fight it off then, but it might be harder in an enclosed space like this..." Layna murmurs with a frown. They'd have to tread carefully, then.
Something happens, then, and the darkness seems to be drawn in by...something. There's skeletons here! How pleasant.
Walking or doing anything at all carefully wasn't really a specialty of hers, but she does so anyway. She didn't want to fight a sandworm in a place like this.
She glances toward Rose when she addresses her. So, one of them said 'hi', huh?
"Well, here's hoping it works so I can say 'hi' back, aye?" She replies, the turns her attention back to the situation at hand.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tunnel Maze.
==========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>=========================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Tunnel Maze *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You've stumbled across a large, dense network of sandworm burrows, tunnels in the rock and sand that could lead to otherwise-inaccessible parts of the ruin. Unfortunately, they're pitch-black, and confusing to navigate--not to mention the danger posed by running into a sandworm. Can you make it through in one piece? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=====================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 4 *>====================== ==========================< Results - Tunnel Maze >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rose 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 16 --(5)--> 21 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 13 --(3)--> 16 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 15 --(3)--> 18 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alisha Diphda 12 --(3)--> 15 Pass Celestial Record 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 15 --(6)--> 21 Pass Containment Crystal 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rose 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Rose 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> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
The party carries on through the ostensibly sandworm-infested tunnels thanks to the helpful eyes of the vigilant party members, and what every single good player of Etrian knows to do: Draw a dang map. Saved from the travails of the right hand rule, and blessed by highly geometric room-shapes and Yarobeeldt's helpful wall-marking which helps differentiate the paths and create a good navigation system, Alisha manages to get a good handle on the layout of the otherwise labyrinthian and dark place filled with skeletons (Always in the same corner of the room, in the same pose, clutching the same discolored rock... like someone went to the Skeleton Store and bought a bunch of You-Build-'Em Brand Instant Dungeon Accents, Skeleton Collection and just... left them laying around right out of the packaging. Lazy. Sloppy, really!).
Rose claims she's aggressively normal, and isn't used to spooky ghosts. As a spooky ghost, Mirielle favors this with a confused squint. "But... We are normal. There's a bunch of us! You want to know what isn't normal? Boxes that cool food. And giant... glass orbs with metal in them that cast light! Those aren't normal. You explain, Ragnell."
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Ride the Worm *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Trembling earth and falling rock herald the arrival of a massive sandworm. It doesn't so much as slow down, and it starts slithering down the corridor as though it were just another burrow. The hallway isn't wide enough for you to get past, and the worm is moving quickly--to get past, you're going to need to hitch a ride. But can you do it without being injured by this colossal desert predator? =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Soap and lot of scrubbing. Well, if you get down to it, that's how you get rid of blood, too... "That reminds me," Ragnell says to Rose. "Did ya figure out what's in that barrel me an' Lailah got ya? We didn't have a clue." Ragnell, it might help if you tell Rose where you got it from in the first place? She snorts and laughs at Alisha's attempt to defend Rose. "Right. Sorry, you're jus' jumpy, Rose. Jumpy an' screamy and all that."
Meanwhile, Alisha draws a map, which ends up saving all of them, taking them closer to the center. Or wherever it is they're going. "Yeahhh, as far as we're concerned, you humans are the abnormal ones," Ragnell drawls to Rose, half-shrugging. She pauses when Mirielle urges her to explain about... fridges and light bulbs. "Uhhh. Well..." She scratches her face. "That's jus' technological advancement, though? Sure, it's not what we're used to, an' I s'pose you could make an argument that it's against nature, but, like... so are stone buildin's an' clothes an' lamps an' jarred preserves? Fridges an' light bulbs are just the next step. Or next several steps, I guess. Once you get used to 'em, they won't seem weird anymore."
...Maybe the weird one was Ragnell all along. Not having much further to say to Layna or Yaro since neither of them can hear her anyway (though she does note both of them *more or less* keeping up--Yaro is squiggling somethin' fierce over there), she keeps heading through the larger tunnels... and wouldn't you know it, the ground starts shaking and earth starts crumbling and a sandworm starts tunneling through.
"Here it comes!!" she calls. "Stick to the walls! Grab a' hold while it passes by! Chances are good it'll round about an' try to attack, so get ready for a fight!" She pulls another grenade and pitches it further down the tunnel--the lightning explosion hopefully will prompt the sandworm to slow down to make it easier for everyone to catch a ride, whether by exploding in its face or collapsing some of the tunnel so it has to re-burrow through. Either way, she'll grab hold of one of its many disgusting folds of skin as it passes by. Hopefully it won't grind her or the others *too* hard against the walls of said tunnel...
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The giant sandworm has a screechy voice today. It seems to be babbling in a language almost coherent to the human (and Seraphim) ear. Its lips are adorned with a cloth similar to that weird fellow who's been following them about Gurdijeff or whatever.
Huh, speaking of which, where did they go? That's a mystery.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha slows, as she hears the rumbling. Her eyes widen -- and it's good that Ragnell calls out. She moves as instructed, back against the wall. She sees it passing -- and she gasps. It's huge. It's far larger than anything she has seen before. She looks to the side.
Where... did the hooded man go?
She doesn't have time to consider. "Grab on!" she cries. She reaches out, and her gauntled hand wraps around one of the spikes on the chitinous hide of the worm. Alisha turns, then, holding a hand out. She'll try to put that upper body strength to work, and carry at least someone with her.
DG: Alisha Diphda has used her Tool Crystal Gauntlet toward her party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Well, if that wasn't an inviting sound, Layna didn't know what was. She can't hear Ragnell's advice, but she does pretty well anyway - she backpedals to a safe location so that she isn't crushed by it's passing, then leaps toward it, aiming to grab on and climb to a safe location.
Once she's there, she reaches into her coat. She was going to pull out that drill again, right? Make herself a handhold? ...No, actually, she pulls out another bottle of alcohol. She takes a swift, but the rest is conserved for yet another reason.
ry carefully, considering she's still attached to a giant burrowing beast, Layna converts the rest of her bottle into a makeshift molotov cocktail, just in case they did actually have to fight it.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Well, if that wasn't an inviting sound, Layna didn't know what was. She can't hear Ragnell's advice, but she does pretty well anyway - she backpedals to a safe location so that she isn't crushed by it's passing, then leaps toward it, aiming to grab on and climb to a safe location.
Once she's there, she reaches into her coat. She was going to pull out that drill again, right? Make herself a handhold? ...No, actually, she pulls out another bottle of alcohol. She takes a swift, but the rest is conserved for yet another reason.
Very carefully, considering she's still attached to a giant burrowing beast, Layna converts the rest of her bottle into a makeshift molotov cocktail, just in case they did actually have to fight it.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I know there's a bunch of you but it's still hard to get used to it, okay?!" Rose says, before looking at Alisha and frowning ever slightly. "Now you're just being mean, princess." She doesn't sound sad or angry, so it's still fine.
Though as for the rest of Mirielle's claim... "Well, sure, that stuff isn't normal either for us. I discovered air conditioning just last week and I was amazed! ... still less abnormal than what you Seraphim can do." Maybe she's a bit biased.
To Ragnell, she nods! "Yes! Actually, that's fuel. Some Gears can use it, but it's usually used for things like that sand buggy I rented to get us here! It's pretty valuable, but it's also super flammable! It can also be poured on people and set on fire, JUST SAYING," she threatens, probably not very seriously.
Suddenly, sandworm.
No more time to argue.
Alisha seems to have a plan. Rose does not.
So when Alisha says 'grab on', Rose GRABS ON. To Alisha. Amidst the noise and chaos, she opines: "I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE PAID ATTENTION TO THAT WARNING, PRINCESS."
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
"Soap and water... Wait, you use that to get blood out? I just ask it nicely! Blood and I get along great." Mirielle offers, cheerily, with a tiny little smile. She's probably not serious. Probably.
The wonders of modern convenience are explained to her, and the relativity of normalcy is explained to Rose, but something MUCH more important comes up. Something big!
Something screechy and angry. Mirielle snaps to the wall just as Ragnell shouts, before flailing her hands to latch on, shadowy skeleton hands scrabbling from her sleeves to 'help' her. "IS THIS MODERN CONVENIENCE TOO?" Mirielle shouts down the worm, noticing Layna taking a fortifying swig of alcohol. You know, that sounds nice. If only Mirielle had a nice, perhaps clear container holding liquid with her. But that...
Was last adventure. RIP, Water Bottle.
"WHY ARE WE RIDING THIS LARGE CREATURE??!?"
That's silly, why wouldn't they? There was a QTE and everything! STOP QUESTIONING THE DUNGEON CONTRIVANCES, SERAPH, WE GET IT, YOU SPOOK.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ride the Worm.
===========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Ride the Worm *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Trembling earth and falling rock herald the arrival of a massive sandworm. It doesn't so much as slow down, and it starts slithering down the corridor as though it were just another burrow. The hallway isn't wide enough for you to get past, and the worm is moving quickly--to get past, you're going to need to hitch a ride. But can you do it without being injured by this colossal desert predator? =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
======================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 5 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Ride the Worm >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 20 --(3)--> 23 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 21 --(3)--> 24 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 16 --(3)--> 19 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 18 --(5)--> 23 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alisha Diphda 15 --(3)--> 18 Pass Crystal Gauntlet 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 21 --(4)--> 25 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rose 85 --(5)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Wound(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rose 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. DG: Rose has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Fight the Worm *>========================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The sandworm reaches the end of its tunnel, and promptly turns, rearing up and the spreading the fan-like tendrils on the sides of its maw. It's a bigger specimen, with crushing coils, mandibles the size of swords, and spittle that can eat through solid rock. You are particularly convenient prey items. Have fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Huh. So Ragnell's suppositions that Yaro will make find sandworm bait were correct. Thank you, fair Yarobeleedt; your sacrifice will not be forgotten!
"Huh! So it was fuel, huh," Ragnell says thoughtfully. "In other words, we handed you somethin' real valuable, huh? Meanin' you owe us for the good turn!" She shows her teeth to Rose in a wide, 'friendly' grin. "Mm, mm, mm~ Seems like I've been doin' you a lot o' good turns lately, Rose~ An' here you are intimatin' you're gonna set me on fire. Of all the ingratitude!" This probably isn't very convincing considering she sounds like she's about to break into laughter. Mirielle talking about how she and blood get along great doesn't help.
But then the sandworm happens. It helps that everyone else latches on without questioning Ragnell's directives, or at least in Mirielle's case, not until after she's already grabbed hold of the enormous creatures. "BECAUSE LAST TIME I RAN INTO ONE O' THESE, IT TOOK US STRAIGHT TO TREASURE!" she yells back. "NOW HOLD ONTO YER ASSES, 'CUZ IT'S GONNA TURN 'ROUND AND TRY TO EAT US NEXT!"
Sure enough, that's exactly what the sandworm does once it reaches the end of the tunnel, which fortunately is also a large, round clearing, wide enough for all of them to hop down and move into combat mode. Ragnell falls into a roll, then comes up to her feet, twin pistols in hand. She raises one of them towards the ceiling, charging a shot, then firing with a shout of "Squall Shot!"--the next instant, the charged power hurtles down towards the monster in the form of a localized thunderstorm, sheets of rain and lightning falling down upon it.
The sandworm, for its part, rolls around against the earth, waves its blind head back and forth, extends its hideous tendrils, and ROOOOOOOOARS in rage at the sudden downpour before diving at the group.
It still has a mysteriously screamy cloaked slug moustache for some reason. Oh well!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"It is going to WHAT?" Alisha yells back to Ragnell, even as she holds on tight -- both to the spike and to Rose, who she keeps an arm around so she doesn't fall off. (Certainly, that is the only reason.) She stares, and then it does just that. She lets go then, of both Rose and her spike, to fall into a roll. The princess rolls backward, then comes up into a three-point stance. Her lance drops down into her hand.
She lunges forward afterward. The shots of storm power from Ragnell fire true, and then the princess runs in. She leaps, long but low, and stretches her spear out in front of her.
Light glints up the blade.
"Skewering Spear!" she cries. She stabs, then lands, feet scraping on the ground. She pivots, though, and swings the spear around in a slash at its armored hide.
DG: Alisha Diphda has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Once there's enough room for a proper fight Layna jumps off, makeshift molotov held tightly in hand. She lights it quickly, and when it roars she hurls it into its mouth. Maybe that would make it think twice before opening its mouth again.
Of course, while it was fiery and unpleasant, she doubted it'd be enough to kill it...so she reaches behind herself, drawing out the bladed gauntlets and rushing towards it, jumping over tendrils. She needed to climb up it and punch it in its...
...Did this thing actually have eyes? Well, she needed to find something to punch, or she wouldn't be of much use here. If it came down to it, she could just use the drill...
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Ragnell primes the party for the sudden yet inevitable <s>betrayal</s>turnabout of the worm, giving Mirielle ample time to detach her spooky skeleton hands (and her normal hands!) from the back of the sandworm and tumblefloatland on the bored-out ground, near the back of the overall Party Formation. "Now, this is an entirely different state than that dreadful sun-scorched temple. It's nice and shaded here, underground. There were skeletons, and a monster, and cryptic messages, it was perfect. Perfect except for you. You're not scary, or spooky, or forboding... you're just loud. You don't have eyes that shine through the darkness, or a call that chills to the bone. You don't make noises that echo through the tunnels..."
"Everything about you needs to change. Also, you ate that poor man!" She adds, as an afterthought, pulling out her shady obsidian-looking knife that glows ominously. Shadows lengthen around it, and the corners of the room become fuzzy, filled with eyes and teeth. Black shadowstuff drips from the cieling and the knife alike, dripping into little poufs of liquid blackness and smoke.
"Let's do a makeover. You can trust me, giant monster. I'm the thing that goes bump in the night."
The makeover is terriffic spookviolence.
"Oh, ah, sorry, miss Rose. You may want to close your eyes!" Mirielle warns FAR TOO LATE in the middle of the spidery legs and bony hands and raven wing feathers all trying to viciously stabmurder the sandworm. Just, an entire bucket of cliches.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Extremely Shady Knife toward her party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"NO THIS ISN'T CONVENIENCE, IT'S JUST A BIG MONSTER!" Rose confirms for Mirielle. This did not need to be confirmed.
And sure enough, the beast eventually stops, and the party rockets off it. Rose... does not. She's a trained assassin, after all.
Her knives are already out, and they plunge into the thick skin of the beast before its abrupt stop can hurl her off. "I'm good, don't worry!" she yells towards Mirielle, what with being asked to close her eyes, as she suddenly puts weight on her knives and... well.
Tries to force herself down.
This might open the sandworm's side up. Hopefully.
DG: Rose has used her Tool Brad's Knives toward her party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The fine slug-stache wriggles violently as it is subject by proximity to storms, errant light from a skewering spear, molotov fire, a spoooooky makeover, and also deafening acidic sandworm tantruming (some extra splashes of acid might come his way if Rose cuts deep enough, but man, that would be mean, wouldn't it). At that point, he has enough - a shiny metallic fabric encases him from... somewhere... and he disappears within the maw of the giant beast.
At minimum, it'll see his physical body and very life survive. His pride and dignity, what little of it ever actually exists, will not follow him out the backside.
The metallic cocoon, somehow so resistant to even the rock-eating acids it spews out, could also conceivably choke it to death... but that would be too convenient.
The screamy voice disappears within the sandworm under a prolonged, screechy, positively furious 'GURDIJEFFFFFFFF.'
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Sheet Cocoon toward its party's challenge, Fight the Worm.
===========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Fight the Worm *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The sandworm reaches the end of its tunnel, and promptly turns, rearing up and the spreading the fan-like tendrils on the sides of its maw. It's a bigger specimen, with crushing coils, mandibles the size of swords, and spittle that can eat through solid rock. You are particularly convenient prey items. Have fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
======================<* Doomed to Obscurity - Round 6 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Fight the Worm >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 23 --(100)--> 123 Pass Brad's Knives 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 24 --(100)--> 124 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 19 --(100)--> 119 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 23 --(100)--> 123 Fail Sheet Cocoon 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alisha Diphda 18 --(100)--> 118 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 25 --(100)--> 125 Fail Extremely Shady Knife 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rose 90 --(10)--> 100 Fail Conditions: Tire(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Rose is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Layna Manydays is too exhausted to continue! DG: Yarobeleedt is too exhausted to continue! DG: Alisha Diphda is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Mirielle is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Rose has successfully explored Doomed to Obscurity!
===========================<* Doomed to Obscurity *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Hidden Cache *>========================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Sometimes, bandits and other desperate souls have been known to hide caches in the ruin. You've run across one such cache, an ordinary-looking crate that looks like it's been out in the desert heat for quite a while. Inside is a stockpile of gella in small coins, a gunsmoke revolver, and an assortment of jewelry. Was it stolen? If so, people might want it back. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"DON'T EVEN PRETEND YOU DIDN'T HEAR ME, 'LISHA!" Ragnell shouts back. She does, at least, get to see Alisha clutching Rose before the two of them fall off and roll to a halt--Alisha and Ragnell, that is, since Rose sticks on and gives the sandworm the ol' stabby stabby while Alisha follows up with a spear technique--and grin about it for a moment. Mirielle summons a whole lot of spooky nonsense (those are some artes), while Layna attempts to punch it (no, Layna, sadly the sandworm doesn't have eyes) and Yaro just kind of... disappears down the sandworm's gullet after wrapping himself in some kind of metal cocoon. Ragnell grimaces, wondering how she's going to break the news to Riesenlied.
On the other hand... maybe it's not her problem?
What IS her problem is the sandworm, who takes on the various stabby, fiery, magical attacks and writhes violently, slamming those not quick enough into the walls of the chamber. It makes more angry sounds--but it seems like the combined assault, while not successfully killing it, has convinced it that this is not a meal worth eating. It dives into another tunnel and buries its way out... possibly releasing its foul bowels, and thus Yaro, along the way.
...
At least Yaro is good at burrowing, too...?
Either way, soon the earth stops shaking. Ragnell peels herself up from the wall, groaning--and what do you know; in the wake of the sandworm's departure, another treasure cache has been revealed on the other side of the chamber. A great big treasure chest glints, and upon opening, there are guns, money, and lots of beautiful jewelry... Is it stolen? Does it matter? Anyone who would've hidden treasure like this *here* is probably long gone.
But that's Ragnell's way of thinking.
"You're welcome, Rose!" she calls cheerfully, indicating the chest over yonder. "Miri, y'all right over there? 'Lisha looks like she needs to sit down an' take a breather for a few..." Layna she doesn't remark to since she can't hear her anyway, and Yaro... Yaro's sacrifice will never be forgotten.
(*tearglint*)
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
One of the piles of... deposit... just out of the corner of everyone's eyes quivers every so often.
Might just be the trick of the eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
<poem>Layna punches at everything she can reach, but honestly, she's not doing a whole lot of good here. Her molotov was the most helpful out of everything she had done, but after that...
Well, eventually she figures the best thing to do would be to jump off and start looking for an exit. And what do you know, while she's looking for one the sandworm escapes and knocks loose a treasure cache.
She has to assume that one of the Seraphim found it first, from the way it kind of opens on it's own.
"So you've got a taste for treasure too, aye? Wouldn't've thought it." She comments with a grin. Of course, she can't actually hear the Seraph, or even know which one it is, but she leaves the comment there and goes to the most important thing - the loot.
As a pirate, Layna didn't really care who had owned it first. They had found it, therefore, it rightfully belonged to them now. She sorts through the loot, nodded in approval before something catches her eye.
"Well, what's this now...?" She says, pulling out a revolver. She didn't really have too great of an eye for these things, but from her point of view it looked like a fine piece of work...but it was unloaded, and there wasn't any ammo to go along with it. Additionally, it looked like it might need some maintenance...
...But she knew people who knew their way around ARMs, so it wasn't like she didn't have anyone to ask about it.
"Think I'm gonna keep this one for myself." She says, noding in approval.