2017-09-20: Sweet Home
- Log: Sweet Home
- Cast: Kaguya, Virginia Maxwell, Ambrosius, Avril Vent Fleur, Dean Stark
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: September 20th 2017
- Summary: Following up on some rumors, a group ends up assembling at the Eerie Farmhouse. Avril meets some Veruni and a mystery is discovered. Farming equipment becomes deadly.
DG: A party led by Kaguya is now entering Eerie Farmhouse. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - The Carrots... *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- One's journey to the eerie farmhouse outside Krosse starts a few blocks up the road, rather than at the farm itself. No matter what route one takes to the farm, the first problems happen a few hundred feet afield. Coming from the direction of the farm is a veritable legion of what appear to be tiny carrots, or at least, some sort of root vegetable. They walk on tiny arms and legs that split off from their tiny orange-brown bodies, with a gait that isn't quite right, bending in ways that seem like they would break a normal vegetable and dripping a paralytic toxin as they walk. Individually, they aren't much to look at -- but mind the poison! ... Just what is happening at that farm? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Night has fallen on the way to the Eerie Farmhouse here in Krosse, and it's a warm night, full of the sounds of insects. Kaguya, for her part, walks along heedless of that music, up the road the front way this time.
"I know, I know, it didn't go so well last time," she says to Ambrosius, "But maybe it was a bad day? Maybe it'll be easier this time." She pauses, and shrugs, "It probably won't be easier. But we won't have to hold back as much either. It's fine. It's not like..."
Carrots. Carrots start to approach, and Kaguya blinks to see them rushing forward, some of them skittering on all fours like something horrid with bizarre, beastly noises out of nowhere. They are hungry.
And they are coming.
"Finally, something to shoot," Kaguya says, and gets something from her sleeve, sniffs deeply from the scented bundle. Her eyes dilate, and she pulls her shotgun, still strange and obviously not gunsmoke. "Heheheheheh..."
"Maybe I'm hungry too," she says, lines up a shot, and fires. Fires. Fires. She gets closer, and her charges of hard light crash towards carrots and their toxin. She uses wide-spray shots, like scattering pellets...
And she walks forward as she does, boldly.
But the carrots are moving to attack everyone, not just Kaguya who they reach and bite.
It's still quiet, save for the sounds of battle and of the insects reaching their fever pitch out of sight.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Last time, Virginia declined the invitation by Kaguya and Asteroid to come on account of there being carrots. Virginia hates carrots. And most taproots in general, because they're crunchy and hard and not crispy and delicate like her favorite leafy-green vegetables.
But as a taproot will be orange, Virginia generally is pretty steadfast and protective of her friends, and on hearing that Kaguya and Asteroid had trouble with a vile plant at the end of this farmhouse, she's ...
...
... here, technically, but keeping a distance as the carrots scatter across the field and--
--a hand bursts out from the ground to snag one of them!! Oh no, the zombies are rising!!!
... wait no, that's not a zombie. A head of leafy greens pops out, along with the rest of Alraune, who looks marginally upset at having her bedrest be interrupted by all of these poisonous carrots. "Rauuu..."
She's about to stomp!!
"I have a granola bar if you're hungry," Virginia points out. "It's vegan."
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Wake Up Alraune! toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius had readily accepted the invitation. As much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't been particularly busy as of late. Sure, he had a few projects going, but for the most part they were things he was able to accomplish in a more hands-off fashion. This left him with a lot of time on his hands, and so he decided it might be good to get out again.
Besides, he couldn't let this place get the best of him. There must be some secret here, some truth hidden beneath the violent plants that made this place their home these days.
Thanks to his previous visit, this time he has come prepared for the challenges to come.
"Do be careful...these creeeatures...are veeenomous..." He warns, glancing toward Virginia. He wasn't familiar with her, but she apparently had some relationship to Asteroid, and as such he did not object to counting her an ally. As for the plant creature she summoned...
Well, he assumed that she would know that well enough.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
As before Ambrosius stands back, revolver in one hand and preparing healing spells in the other. He fires at any of the walking carrots that gets too close, letting the others take care of them at melee range.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Deluge toward his party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
According to the rumors swirling about the place, there's a farm here that has entirely lost touch with the outside world. Shipments haven't been received in some time, no one has been near it, no one from there has been seen.
...Some odd stories about alleged carrots...
What it put Avril in mind of what the village they had cleased roughly a week ago. Could it be that other places are also becoming inhabited by Reapers...? There had been some rumors to that effect. Since they were in the area, then, a mutual decision had been reached:
Go check it out.
Thus, this is the way that Kaguya will find herself hearing a very familiar voice--
"Dean, look, the carrots are walking."
This comment, coupled with mild bemusement on the part of the young woman, grows concerned as the marching carrots appear to be... leaking.
Leaking something corrosive, it seems.
This is approximately when Kaguya and Ambrosius open fire, and when a certain helpful plantly ally is summoned.
"...Dean, these are not normal carrots."
She reaches for an object, tucked somewhere under her wrap.
"...Shall we?"
She breaks into a run, feet pattering across the packed earth as she whips Absolute Zero out--
--literally?--
--and an arc of brilliant light is turned upon the walking veg.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Next to Avril, Dean stares at the walking dead vegetables, splattering poison as they skitter and lurch. This is weird, even for him. "Oh man," he utters as Avril observes that they're walking. "Old man Tony always told me my veggies would gobble me up if I didn't eat them first, but I never thought it was *true*!"
Reapers are also pretty darn scary, but this is just... there's something just *creepy* about these things?? Vegetables shouldn't *actually* be crawling around trying to eat you!! Regardless, when Kaguya and Ambrosius open fire on the creatures, and some... cabbage... lady... thing?? grabs some carrots from underground, Dean's ARMs flash into his hands. He recognizes Kaguya from that one time in November City, and she was friendly-ish, sort of, if you know nothing about her or her background, therefore Ambrosius, Alraune, and Virginia are all friendly too! Obviously. Although maybe not doing so great because Kaguya's looking kind of creepy right now with what she's doing with that shotgun??
"Yeah, let's do it!" he confirms to Avril, breaking into a run alongside her. Where Avril sends her beam-whip flying towards the vile vegetation, Dean sweeps down into a ground slide and attempts to clobber them en masse with his combat rods.
"--wait, venom what?" he says, registering Ambrosius's warning only after he's done so.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Carrots....
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - The Carrots... *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- One's journey to the eerie farmhouse outside Krosse starts a few blocks up the road, rather than at the farm itself. No matter what route one takes to the farm, the first problems happen a few hundred feet afield. Coming from the direction of the farm is a veritable legion of what appear to be tiny carrots, or at least, some sort of root vegetable. They walk on tiny arms and legs that split off from their tiny orange-brown bodies, with a gait that isn't quite right, bending in ways that seem like they would break a normal vegetable and dripping a paralytic toxin as they walk. Individually, they aren't much to look at -- but mind the poison! ... Just what is happening at that farm? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 1 *>========================= ==========================< Results - The Carrots... >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Strange Potpourri 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Beam Whip Mode 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Deluge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Wake Up Alraune! 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kaguya 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kaguya 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> Kaguya has posed.
"H-huh?" Kaguya asks, sleeve up near her head. She glances at Avril in surprise. "The... Oh, great..." She's not sure how to feel about this. So she just continues what she's doing, sniff and all. And then...
"Yeah," Kaguya says to Viginia, "I'll take it. I'm pretty hungry." Bang. Bang. Bang. "Heheheheh..." Alraune pops up and Ambrosius gives advice, so Kaguya mostly just doesn't aim at their plantly friend and lets things go as it is.
But he stares at the beam whip and says, "Whoa, that's really cool!" Her eyes are... wrong, somehow, pupils too small for this level of light and obvious given her irises' soft color. It's obvious. But what it is is less obvious.
Bang. Bang.
But the whole group is fighting, so let's show a little montage of what all happens over the course of this fight. The first shot starts showing us Avril's beam whip rocketing across a group of carrots, savaging each over the course of its arc. The second shows Ambrosius shooting and shooting, right in center mass as he fires, and also a sign of him putting out a hand and mending Kaguya's wounds because...
Kaguya has a lot of bites, right through her clothes, venom shrugged off thanks to her drugs, and blows away a few at once. Dean on the other hand starts clobbering, one one go go and avoiding the venom pretty well.
...Alraune? Alraune's shot is her punching once and sending like six of them flying.
The rest scatter under their group efforts, because they destroy more than that. Each time they get a little closer.. A little closer..
And Kaguya lowers her shotgun, her eyes going back to normal. "Muh?" she asks, looking around dazedly. "Hey, when did Rauney get here?" she asks, turning to look at Avril and Dean with widened eyes. "i... wasn't sleeping! It's fine!"
She scoots closer to Ginny.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Combine *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- <This field was in the middle of reaping, it seems, when it was abandoned(?). A combine -- one which /should/ be drawn by horses, but instead is unhitched -- sits in the center of the field, unused and alone. Rust has started to form along the blades, and the metal is pitted at spots. Which makes it all the more unnerving, no doubt, when the cylinder of blades lurches to life, one side moving just slightly faster than the other for a moment, and it begins to pursue the party through the fields, tearing up the dirt itself as it moves. The metal and wood of its assembly creaks, squeals, and groans, despite having no earthly force to propel it. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck, Overzealous==============================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Silence falls, however briefly.
The charge on Absolute Zero's beam whip guts out and fades shortly thereafter. Crouching, Avril reaches out slowly for one of the torn little ambulatory carrot bodies and tentatively prods at it with a gloved finger. "..." Her lips tilt downwards in a frown as she continues to inspect what remains of a very unnatural carrot.
At length, she stands, shaking her head. "I am not certain that this is merely a monster," she states, glancing at Dean--
And at two other familiar faces. "So we have met, once again," she says to Ambrosius, her gaze flickering briefly towards Kaguya. "And I believe we met in November City quite recently. Kaguya and Ambrosius, was it not?" Finally, she turns towards Ginny. "Have we met as well? I cannot recall, but..."
It's not impossible.
Something creeeeeaks slowly in the still of the night.
Avril makes a very audible question mark of a noise.
Creeeeeeeak. Creeeak.
Something glints, moonlight catching on its surface.
Avril takes a step backwards, free hand halfway raised to chest height.
Creak.
Snap.
CRACK.
The assemblage of half-rusted blades lurches forth out of the shadows, hissing and snatching at the air at an impossible run for something so aged, let alone unmanned.
"Ah," Avril murmurs, one step backwards followed by another. The combine continues to trundle forth.
"--Lucadia--"
The Original Medium is aglow even before she pulls it from the depths of her gown with her free hand, the blessing already petitioned for and, perhaps, underway. The air distorts, the plea for her grace spun outwards however briefly. How far -- and how much, given current company -- can the Guardian's power reach?
"--We should run--"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, The Combine.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
ELSEPLACE
Jazzy lounge music plays from a grammaphone in the foreground as Skeleton lets out a tired sigh and reaches back behind its clavicle to its scapula, feeling the pain in its marrow. It plops a little compress ontop of its skull and reclines comfortably on a filled bathtub full of... well, it's probably piping hot liquid of some sort, the kind that bleaches bones and comfortably nurses poor ailing skeletons back to bleachy-white perfection.
It reaches for a book titled 'Rolling with the Bones: a Six Step Therapeutic Process', pulling out the bookmark and opening it--
--and then the book goes 'splooosh' as Skeleton disappears...
HERE
...and reappears directly in front of the menacing, rusty combine moving on its own accord, looming high over it. "!?"
Virginia shrieks in the midst of her escape, "Justjamitwithyourbones-or-something, Skeletonthankyou!!" A pause. "I think we might've met before but I'm not suuuuure!! Don't get your skirt caught!! Runrunrunrunrun!"
Don't give up, Skeleton........
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Don't Give Up Skeleton! toward her party's challenge, The Combine.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The vile vegetables are victoriously vanquished! Dean ends up clobbering the ones around him so hard that none of them manage to poison him anyway, so luck for him, it's okay that he didn't hear Ambrosius' warning in time. Once he's defeated his batch, he hops back up to his feet as the remaining carrots are thoroughly devastated by the others. As creepy as the creatures were, it was a short fight.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Combine.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"Miss Aaavril..." Ambrosius acknowledges with a nod."It is a pleasure...to see you once more..."
Her companion gets a brief glance from him, but he's never seen the boy before, so he doesn't have a name...though he gives him one in short order. He just gets a nod, but before anything else can be said, something launches ominously from the shadow.
Some kind of large, bladed machine...this looks dangerous. Rather than run away, Ambrosius tries to leap over it and into the seat. He assesses the technology involved at once, and attempts to force it to a stop.
He'll have to act quickly, though...he doesn't know if it'll be safe to remain in here for long. In its rusted and damaged state, it might be difficult to force the machine to do anything.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Combine.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Huh?" Kaguya asks Dean, "Oh no, I'm--kinda fine, I'm--" Her nose is bleeding? Kaguya immediately brings a finger up under her nose, glances down at the blood on it. "Aw, shoot..." She glances up, "Um, right... Dean. N-no I'm fine, I just--S-stuff I use in fights." She's thrown of by Dean's... Dean.
But Kaguya blinks a few tmes at Avril as she makes explanations. "N-Nah, I've got a sample I'm going to study," she says, turning away quickly. "For those I mean..."
Rudely, she eavesdrops. But now...
"Um, yeah. It's uh... Right. Kaguya. Nie t... yeah--" Creaaaak.
Kaguya freezes, and slowly starts to turn towards the source of the sound. Creak. Creak. She steps back once. "...No way," she mumurs, seeing those blades rush out. But it keeps going forward. "What the--"
'Lucadia'
Kaguya's eyes widen in shock and her heart tightens before that blessing crashes out... and Kaguya's heart is in her throat suddenly. "No. Not you--" The air distorts, and the combine is coming...
So Kaguya takes off, hearing Virginia shriek but still finding that pain in her chest that spreads. She gets to running, and she is faster than usual...
"Ambrosius, do you--" Her chest tightens up further. "Aah--" She stumbles, as she runs, having a hard time keeping her feet. Her nose is still bleeding at a trickle.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Combine.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Combine *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- <This field was in the middle of reaping, it seems, when it was abandoned(?). A combine -- one which /should/ be drawn by horses, but instead is unhitched -- sits in the center of the field, unused and alone. Rust has started to form along the blades, and the metal is pitted at spots. Which makes it all the more unnerving, no doubt, when the cylinder of blades lurches to life, one side moving just slightly faster than the other for a moment, and it begins to pursue the party through the fields, tearing up the dirt itself as it moves. The metal and wood of its assembly creaks, squeals, and groans, despite having no earthly force to propel it. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck, Overzealous==============================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 2 *>========================= ===========================< Results - The Combine >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 3 --(0)--> 3 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Sea Medium 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 5 --(0)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Don't Give Up Skeleton! 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kaguya 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Overzealous(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kaguya 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Mercilessly, the combine trundles forth, blades snapping and catching as it attempts to chew up more than the field it was made to reap. And yet, no one is at the helm -- nothing that can be felt or seen, or sensed.
Many things occur, approximately at the same time.
Out in front, Avril beckons forth the power of Lucadia, attempting to shed it forth upon those fleeing the machine's blades.
But it appears that blessings are not things that can easily be shared whatever one might will... and in the case of some people (Kaguya) a blessing can be rejected altogether.
The reaction from Kaguya has not gone without notice as Avril races through the half-harvested field, her blue eyes widening a touch as she glances sidelong at the woman running along with her. That's blood, too...
Ambrosius takes a different tactic, neatly flying over the rusted blades to land in the seat. The machinery is rusted up, so controlling it proves difficult but...
Hardly impossible.
Particularly when a skeleton appears suddenly, only to snapped up by the rogue combine.
...Don't give up, skeleton.
After that happens, it's a lot easier to bring the machine to a halt for some reason. Somehow.
Breathing hard once the machine shudders to its final stop, Avril clutches the Sea Medium to her chest. "It seems... it stopped," she manages, after a moment. "Is everyone alright...?"
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Running of the Bulls *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A heavy, cowlike animal staggers up behind the party as they move along -- but it is not alone. A dozen of the creatures, all told -- each with heavy, almost minotaur-sized horns, massive heads, and two tongues lolling out of their mouths -- take up positions, moving in an unnervingly organized column. With a guttural wail that has no business being emitted from beast or man, they charge. The party /could/ turn and fight, but there's an alternative -- a boulder atop a nearby hill, which could -- with a little effort -- be rolled down to crush, or at least disperse, the monsters(?). =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius dismounts from the rogue combine, now having gone silent.
"I am..." He replies with a nod. He had noticed the invocation of Lucadia's power before, but had not commented on it. He glances toward Kaguya momentarily, curious as to her reaction...
But he doesn't have to say anything, as he can hear a familiar sound in the distance.
"Those again..." Ambrosius mutters, as a dozen strange, cow-like monsters crest the hill. They had encountered similar creatures before...it seems they had been attracted by the noise.
"They will...charge us... Be prepaaared...to move quickly..." He warns, and draws his revolver. He aims at the combine and releases a single shot. If his aim was true it would start it up again, this time hopefully going after the cows instead. If that didn't work...well, there was a helpful boulder on the ridge up ahead they could probably use.
The cows wail and begin to charge, and with that, Ambrosius starts to run.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Running of the Bulls.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Oh," Dean says to Kaguya, but he doesn't look fully convinced. "Are you sure you should be using something that hurts you? Even if it's to win fights, you should take care of yourself..." Guess who has two thumbs and doesn't know she's dying anyway! THIS GUY.
But then the combine happens, and the group of them are made to RUN, RUN, OR THEY'LL BE WELL DONE. When Kaguya stumbles, Dean screeches to a slow, then reaches out to attempt to help her--but then Ambrosius leaps up onto the combine, and between him taking the controls and a skeleton getting mangled in the blade wheels, there's no need for that. Also he kind of trips over a rock in the dark and lands flat on his face, so let's be real, maybe he's the one who needs help.
"Whew! That was... really weird," he says as he picks himself up and stands. He smiles at Avril. "I'm okay!" Okay-ish. "How about you? Everybody?"
Pause.
"And where did that skeleton come from??" Apparently he didn't get that Virginia summoned it. Skeletons aren't usually something you summon!!
But there are more threats on the horizon, literally. Don't get turned into beef, said someone or another, and Dean stares as great big cows leer down at them with their two tongues that probably have eyeballs on them or something because that's just the kind of place this is. "Okay," he says at Ambrosius's warning. When he fires a shot at the combine in an attempt to send it hurtling towards the bovines, he begins to jog, looking over at the others to make sure they're apace before really booking it. "Okay, let's move!!"
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Running of the Bulls.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya, when Dean said what he did to her about taking care of herself, let out a hollow little laugh, glancing away. But he's not sure what to say in the moment, not really wanting to be out with it. But running...
Kaguya of course doesn't spot the widening of Avril's eyes until she happens to glance her way, and she stares for an instant, pale green eyes into blue, still bleeding. Despite her difficulty she keeps going instead. And soon... Thanks to poor skeleton... They're fine.
Kaguya is gulping down air when Acril stops, But it's asked whether everyone is all right, and Kaguya forces herself with difficulty to stand up. "I'm... Fine." She turns her head defiantly to the side. "Just fine. I... don't like running." She could explain... But she doesn't want to right now. She thinks about using her supplies...
But Ambrosius mutters, and Kaguya looks up to see the creatures coming around. "...Come on you guys," she says to the herd, not quite whining, "I don't even eat cows."
They start chasing, and Kaguya takes off after Ambrosius, each step jarring her whole body. "This sucks!" she complains. As a matter of fact she is not keeping apace, and when he offers a hand up Kaguya takes it with a grip harder than someone as skinny as she is has a right to have.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Running of the Bulls.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia lets out a hoarse breath as she reaches the fence and holds onto it, out of breath and not at all concerned about the state of poor Skeleton, having been interrupted from its comfortable jazzy bath and into the path of a rogue combine...
...
and then they have bovine problems. Skeleton looks up tearfully where it's tangled up on the combine blades, and where Ambrosius' shot has rung out -- and realises there's a problem: part of the cogs is missing due to how dilapidated the machine has become.
It bites its teeth, and tearfully rips out a piece of its collarbone and plugs it in place.
Your brave sacrifice will not be forgotten, Skeleton!!
"This farm really sucks," Virginia hoarsely exclaims, as she rips out a granola bar to start chewing at it. And then hands another one to Kaguya, before she keeps running.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Don't Give Up Skeleton! toward her party's challenge, Running of the Bulls.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"It was difficult, wasn't it..." she murmurs, tilting her head to one side. "I... A skeleton?"
Apparently Avril didn't see that, either.
There is no such thing as rest for the wicked, though.
Something bellows ominously. Multiple somethings.
Avril's hands tighten around the Medium, held against her chest still. It doesn't glow, though. There is no presence, no pressure in the air.
Rather than use the Medium, she hesitates, in the end, her gaze once again tilting sidelong towards Kaguya. Was it imagined? Or...
Nevertheless, here come the bulls.
"--Two tongues?" she still can't help but uttered, as if astonished. "Cattle do not normally-- ah--"
Now, perhaps, is not the time to indulge in veterinary science.
Medium still in her arms, Avril runs for it.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Running of the Bulls.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Running of the Bulls *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A heavy, cowlike animal staggers up behind the party as they move along -- but it is not alone. A dozen of the creatures, all told -- each with heavy, almost minotaur-sized horns, massive heads, and two tongues lolling out of their mouths -- take up positions, moving in an unnervingly organized column. With a guttural wail that has no business being emitted from beast or man, they charge. The party /could/ turn and fight, but there's an alternative -- a boulder atop a nearby hill, which could -- with a little effort -- be rolled down to crush, or at least disperse, the monsters(?). =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck===========================================
=======================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 3 *>======================== ======================< Results - Running of the Bulls >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 3 --(16)--> 19 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 6 --(13)--> 19 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 5 --(16)--> 21 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 5 --(14)--> 19 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virginia Maxwell 5 --(17)--> 22 Pass Don't Give Up Skeleton! 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Kaguya 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Overzealous(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Kaguya 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> Ambrosius has posed.
The party has to run for a good amount of time. Ambrosius's shot had hit the combine's control panel, certainly...but it was missing a vital piece, knocked loose after it's sudden stop. It is only when brave Skeleton makes a noble sacrifice that the machine starts up again, chasing after the cows.
Eventually, the cows and the combine will veer off in a different direction to give the party some room to breathe, but by that time comes everyone might be feeling rather exhausted.
Eventually Ambrosius straightens up and begins to proceed. They couldn't focus on what had just happened too much...
DG: Virginia Maxwell has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Raze and Ruin *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This section of the farm was clearly once a shed of some sort, but now lies in ruins. A single lightly-armored knight's corpse is buried under part of it. Clearing the wreckage will require strong arms, powerful magic, or a good old fashioned bomb, but what's underneath might help -- even if it's just spare armor and weaponry. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Treasure============================
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Poor Skeleton, we'll always remember its noble sacrifice.
Well, all of us reading this well, which is approximately none of the characters running the heck away from mutant cows and avoiding getting trampled over. In the chaos and the cacophony, Virginia eventually lets out a groan as she rubs her forehead to say, "Is there even anything here?? I mean, farms generally just have... food and such, right? It's not like we're going to stumble into ancient artifacts here..."
A pause, as she stares down towards--
Another skeleton.
This one's dressed in armour and clearly befell some kind of tragedy involving, possibly, a rollful of barrels falling upon it, judging from how it's collapsed underneath a mountainload of planks and pitons and all kinds of iron harnessing.
"Hmm... wonder if it'll have a hint or something?" Virginia asks as she-- kind of just starts pushing at it, groaning a little. "Wonder what Astie found here..."
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Raze and Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Running is, perhaps, not Avril's finest talent.
Particularly when the ones doing the chasing are monstrous bulls. She's all-but worn out by the time the combine springs (sweeps? threshes?) its way into action, the bulls neatly herded away as this corner of the farm falls into relative silence. Hunched over a touch, she once again takes several deep breaths before turning her gaze down at the Medium she bears. In silence, she stares at it for a few moments, then tucks it away.
"...I am not certain," comes the response to Virginia, once the makeshift group has had a few moments to pull together and get their bearings. "We had come here to see if Reapers were the cause. It seems that something different is occuring, however. Those vegetables, and the cattle..."
To say nothing of the combine, Avril.
"...Oh."
She's also noticed the knight it seems.
"...Is this from one of the patrols that went missing?"
She pauses, considering Ginny's words.
"Here, let's see if we can get these barrels moved and check..."
Though she doesn't really have much in the way to offer in the way of help, to look at her arms. Nevertheless, Avril tries to push too.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Raze and Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Thanks to the noble sacrifice of skeleton, which Dean is not sure if it was actually there or if he imagined it or if it was the remains of another Drifter or... Regardless, once the combine disperses the two-tongued cattle, he slows to a halt, releasing Kaguya's hand and leaning over to catch his breath. Dean's in good shape, but... that was a lot of running to have to do all at the same time.
"Yeah--that--was really--something--else," he pants to Avril, of the cows having had two tongues. "Boy, I--'m glad we--got away... Whew!!" He sucks in a deep breath, stands up straight, and pants for a moment longer before finally settling down. As he does, Virginia notes a nearby shed with--
"Oh," Dean utters, looking down at the dead knight. Sadness steals over his blue eyes, and he looks over at Virginia and Avril. "...Yeah," he says, of finding hints. "Plus, we need to give this poor guy a proper burial." Another nod to Avril. "Yeah, I haven't seen or heard any Reapers at all. I don't think they're here!"
Either way, once the others start shoving, Dean fetches his trusty shovel, WHITE FENRIR, successor to BLACK FENRIR, and gets shovelin' to help pull this corpse out of here--and also bury it up properly once they're done searching for clues. He works quickly and efficiently, having spent quite a bit of his life digging for Golem parts.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Raze and Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Super sucks," Kaguya agrees breathlessly with Virginia, reaching out and taking the granola bar with her free hand, clinging it close. While Kaguya spots Avril's glance, and immediately slides her gaze away, stiffening instead of saying anything. She lets it go. Instead they run, and by the time they're catching their breath, Kaguya is... having a hard time catching her breath, sniffling once. There's dried blood on her upper lip now, which is an improvement, up around her nostril, and a few drops down on her clothes now. "There's... Something here," Kaguya says. "I'm sure of it. I need to..." Huff. "Check this place out."
Because it's in Krosse, where Atida's home is, she needs to know.
"Reapers?" she winces, "Don't joke about reapers." But the body... Kaguya jumps a little as she sees it and winces, clearly regretting it. "Aw, come on, tha's nasty..." A pause. "Astie came? Hrm..." She sighs, and pulls her ARM, taking a green cartridge from her vest and loading it into her weapon with a cla-CLACK audible. "You..."
She pauses, and looks up at Dean. "You want to bury him?" She says that softly, and glances to Ambrosius before, "Sure. I'll... try not to hurt him any more than I have to."
A beat, "Heads up, Kean. I'm gonna fire parallel to it to avoid harming the body to get some of what's on top." She aims...
And fires, with a deafening BANG that echoes into the night, sending waves of concussive energy into the pile.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Raze and Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Noted necromancer(??) Virginia, summoning skeletons and all, gives Dean and Avril a bit of a blank look to ask: "What's a Reaper?"
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius takes a moment to catch his breath before continuing on. Eventually, they stumble upon the remains of a shed - and the remains of a knight beneath that. Ambrosius takes a moment to stare down at it quietly, before glancing toward Kaguya and nodding.
If they wished to bury the knight, then he would assist them.
He elects not to invoke his Aqua Cutter, as that might cause too much collateral damage, and instead moves in to start shifting things aside by hand. It will be slow, unpleasant work, but it needs to be done.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Raze and Ruin.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Raze and Ruin *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This section of the farm was clearly once a shed of some sort, but now lies in ruins. A single lightly-armored knight's corpse is buried under part of it. Clearing the wreckage will require strong arms, powerful magic, or a good old fashioned bomb, but what's underneath might help -- even if it's just spare armor and weaponry. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Treasure============================
=======================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 4 *>======================== =========================< Results - Raze and Ruin >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virginia Maxwell 22 --(0)--> 22 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Kaguya 40 --(25)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Treasure(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Stalwart(1)|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Kaguya 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.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
It is said that you should wear black to a funeral. But at the same time, perhaps White Fenrir is responsible for burials, where Black Fenrir is responsible for... ... uhh, I'm not really sure where this metaphor is going anymore...
Everyone starts shifting the rubble, but it's Dean with the powerful shovel and with Kaguya's shots that clear most of the debris -- and Ginny gets distracted partway through anyway, so helpful!
There isn't much left of the knight, but there's some miscellaneous supplies in his pouch that wasn't visible before -- herbs, potions, that kind of thing.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Harvest - Bean Trellis *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What feels like an eternity's worth of bean trellises stands in front of the investigators. On its own, this might provoke some mild comment or another, but what draws the eye most is the design of the trellises themselves; the sticks are thrown up haphazardly, as if threatening to stab anyone who draws close. Sometimes the beanstalks seem to move, and the trellises move with them -- sharp and vicious, threatening to outright stab those who draw near. Some of them look like they've drawn a little blood already. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Burying the dead..." Avril murmurs, mid-attempted push. A distant cast takes over her expression, as if she's remembering something that happened, not that long ago, in a town far from here now.
Graveyards are where the dead sleep. But the Veruni, apparently, have a different custom. That man had wondered if she were Veruni.
"...Does someone miss this person, too?"
Avril takes a step back, then, slowly, kneels by the fallen knight. Everyone must have someone who misses them.
...Someone else might offer prayers. She knows of none. All she can do is hope for a kinder someday.
"A Reaper is... a monster," she answers at last. "Something that was a human being once, it seems. I know little else of them, save that there are rumors they are appearing throughout Western Ignas."
In the end, there's little that can be found to identify the knight -- little at all but a few stray pieces of equipment. Once grimmer business is taken care of, Avril at last rises to her feet.
"Did you... see something move?" This is addressed to Ambrosius, as it happens the closest of her companions at hand.
Over there, not far from what was once a shack. They can be seen, leaves shimmering faintly under the light of the moon.
Beans. So many beans.
And their trellises, too. Which are moving.
"Are these like the carrots, then?" Avril wonders aloud, taking a hesitant step backwards.
...Is this what caused the knight to be crushed?
"We may need to push past them. Hmm..."
In the semi-darkness, Avril's gaze sweeps the ground, quickly turning up one of the slightly-dented barrels. "Here, perhaps if we push this into them--"
With effort, she attempts to set it upright and a'rolling along. Is this bowling?
It's not how you usually harvest beans, at least.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Hmm," Virginia sounds just a little dismayed, placing her hands to her waist. She looks like she's almost bothered by something, before-- she groans very softly and shakes her head. "Monsters, huh..."
It almost sounds sober and distracted for Ginny, before she pauses and stares towards the ... the... bean trellises. "Ugh--"
She whips out the Tindercrest. "I'm getting pretty sick of this -- wonder if fire will work?" She concentrates, and a gout of fire just spills out of it in a wide cone.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Certainly, the Veruni had a different custom. Cremation followed by a burial at sea, a hold-over from their time in space.
Even if Ambrosius somehow knew Avril was thinking about that, however, he wouldn't volunteer the information, nor does he offer a prayer.
He stands aside quietly, though a glance is offered in Avril's direction when she observe something moving.
...And sure enough, they weren't alone here. His eyes narrow slightly as the beans and their trellises move towards them. Avril has the idea to use the debris against him, and he nods in agreement.
Rather than rolling it, though...he picks one up and hurls it into a group of them. He definitely seemed to have a lot of armstrength to him.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"I... wasn't joking?" Dean says, blinking at Kaguya while making a bit of a face. "Why would you think I was?" To Virginia, he explains, "Reapers are these creepy, horrible monsters that eat people. They used to be people themselves. Whenever you see one, there's always a ton more nearby, and they're attracted to noise and fire, so you wanna be real quiet if you run into one." He nods to Avril when she pitches in about where they've been showing up. "Me and Avril came here because we thought maybe Reapers got to this farm, but..." He frowns. "I guess not."
But they all get to work, some of them digging graves, some of them moving rubble. Once people have picked up the supplies from the pouch, Dean gets the knight buried with Ambrosius's help. Giving him a smile of gratitude, he pats the earth down on the grave with the shovel. "I wish we had something to make a grave marker with," he remarks. But then again--there's a whole lot of rubble right there, isn't there? Dean considers it, then fetches a plank of wood, carves the letters R I P down its length with a pocket knife, and then stabs it into the soft earth at the head of the grave.
"There," he declares, putting away his shovel and dusting off his hands. "Rest in peace, knight fella. Oh, and it's Dean, actually!" he corrects Kaguya helpfully, if belatedly. Since she called him Dean earlier, he figures she either misspoke or misremembered. They only just introduced themselves to each other, so it's understandable!
Eventually, they have to move on. Avril ntes something moving, and Dean looks towards a bunch of... trellises? That are moving? One might think it's the wind, except it's not very windy tonight.
"This is seriously weirding me out," he says, eyeballing them. "They're everywhere, though. Maybe we just need to make a path through them. Avril, if you get that barrel rolling through them, I'll dig up the ones that fall over. ...Or burn! Or burn," he adds, looking over at Virginia when she just sets a bunch of them on fire. Either way, he pulls out his shovel again, and once he gets the all clear, starts clearing a path through the nasty waves of beans. They feel like they're trying to scratch him, to pull him into the depths of the trellises... Dean does his best to ignore them and focus on his work.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Huh?" Kaguya asks, and says, "No, I didn't think you were joking. I was just surprised, that's all. That you want to go to the trouble for somebody you don't know. ...It's nice." Pause. "...Not that I really care, or anything."
Kaguya hears Avril's murmur, and says nothing to it. She focuses on her work, instead. Until that question. ...Does someone miss this person too?
It's still dark, still noisy in the way of insects. But Kaguya turns away again. "...Maybe someone does," she says without looking at Avril. "I'd like to think... people miss the dead, in general."
A breeze blows through, and Kaguya shivers. She has no prayers either, nothing to offer like that. Reapers... "Not the kind of reaper I thought," she says quietly.
She can't really help much with the body but she's quiet as they do the burial. She doesn't know a lot about human burials, so she watches with morbid interest, half wanting to walk away.
"Dean?" she asks, blinking at him, talking in sort of a daze. "Are you sure? I thought it was Lean." Pause. "I mean I guess you'd know."
"See something?" she asks, and looks up. "I... Huh. Kinda yeah..." Avril starts pushing, and Virginia gets out her Tindercrest, but Kaguya instead pulls out her ARM and cla-CLACK again. "I can push..."
She steps out and lifts the TK-38K. She aims... and suddenly there is the vibration in the air, the bang and the cone of these rounds. Then... She doesn't help after that. She's not getting near them. Instead she coughs once, and looks up again.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Harvest - Bean Trellis *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What feels like an eternity's worth of bean trellises stands in front of the investigators. On its own, this might provoke some mild comment or another, but what draws the eye most is the design of the trellises themselves; the sticks are thrown up haphazardly, as if threatening to stab anyone who draws close. Sometimes the beanstalks seem to move, and the trellises move with them -- sharp and vicious, threatening to outright stab those who draw near. Some of them look like they've drawn a little blood already. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 5 *>========================= ======================< Results - Harvest - Bean Trellis >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 22 --(0)--> 22 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kaguya 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Stalwart(1)|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kaguya has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"...I think so. Think of the purpose of a grave, or a memorial stone. It seems we long to be near even those who are no longer in this world," Avril responds, after a moment of quiet on her part. Is that foolish? Or is it...
In any regard, she nods as Dean provides some more immediately -- at least, if any of their current companions make a wrong turn somewhere and happen into a Reaper-infested town -- vital information. "Yes. Please, be careful if you encounter them. There were very many of them."
Sometimes, fire is the right answer. The beans are promptly set alight and the fire quickly spreads at that.
The barrel Ambrosius hefts only adds fuel to the, uh, fire. The beanstalks squirm as they toast. It'll be a piece of cake to dig up the survivors and add vital nutrients back into the soil.
Avril only just about manages to get the barrel upright on her own. Brute strength, it seems, is not her forte. It kicks along towards the beans a few feet, before stuttering to a stop. Luckily, Kaguya's rounds follow up behind it--
--maybe a little too hard. Or maybe it was just that old of a barrel. It explodes from the impact. Shards go flying, but plus side, some of them go flying into the beans.
The ones that are on fire.
Definite upside of setting things on fire: the farmhouse can be seen dead ahead.
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- At long last, there's a clear path to the porch, and subsequently, the entrance to the main farmhouse. There's just one problem, of course: *click click* *click click* It's locked. It's EXTREMELY locked. Once again, the greatest archnemesis of any investigator is... door... =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Hesitate============================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean Stark says, "It's not Lean, it's Dean! C'mon, quit kidding around!" Dean says with a half-laugh to Kaguya. Somehow, she reminds him of old man Tony. Maybe they both have old souls? He does pause at Kaguya's explanation of being surprised, and that it's nice, not that she cares. Dean tries to understand this, but sadly fails. "Well, it's everybody's problem?" he hazards. "Anybody could get attacked by a Reaper out here, and there are whole villages of people getting terrorized by them. It's just the right thing to do!"
Avril remarks on the purpose of a grave. Dean scratches his hair; this, too, goes over his head. "I dunno about all of that. Maybe you're right," he says. "I just think it's sad to die alone in the middle of nowhere. That knight must've had friends and family somewhere..." He sobers. "If I died like that in the middle of our journey, I'd like to think someone would stop to dig a grave for me." Not that he intends on dying, or that he doubts that Rebecca or Avril would dig a grave for him if it came to that. But since the topic has been broached...
Regardless, the bean fields go up in flames, and Abrosius tramples them with a barrel, Dean digs up those that remain, and Kaguya... well, Kaguya is eager, let's just put it like that. Once they're past the fields, the farmhouse is dead ahead. Dean brightens, then picks up the pace, soon bringing him up the porch and to the front door. "Oh hey, I think that's the main building! Maybe we'll find out what's going on here if we head in--" Rattle rattle. "In--" Rattle rattle rattle. "Inside?" Rattlerattlerattlerattle. But despite all of Dean's best efforts, the front door remains stubbornly locked. "Aw man! It's locked!" he complains, as if it weren't already obvious. "I feel a little bad, but we'll just have to break it off." He steps back, gets out his shovel, lifts it over his head, and--
CLANG
...If that doesn't take the lock off on its own, perhaps it'll weaken it enough to let someone else yank it off."
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL toward his party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Fortunately, Virginia doesn't know of the deadly and dangerous implication of Dean, of all people, telling you to quit kidding around. H-hmmm.
"No, no, I'm not saying it's wrong..." Virginia answers with one eye squinted. An uncomfortable pause. "Well, let's not die here, then. We'll carry his memory onward, maybe even finish what it is he came here to do?"
She heads on towards the door and-- stares...
"... I'm honestly tired enough that I can't think of a more elegant solution than--"
The Tindercrest glows again, and that lock is seriously increasing in heat by the second.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"..."
Dean might not really think he's going to die, but...
Nevertheless, Avril stares down at her hands in silence, an expression on her face for which the word 'pensive' doesn't even begin to descibe.
If he died on this journey...
She doesn't come to a conclusion of what she would do.
In the meantime, the field burns.
Up ahead is the farmhouse. Perhaps here, they will find the source of whatever lurks at the center of this mystery. Fields still glowing behind them -- don't worry, they're just dying embers so fire spreading is thankfully at a minimum risk -- they approach the farmhouse.
Avril being Avril, as Dean attempts the door to find it's locked, takes a peek in one of the windows.
"It seems dark inside," she comments, returning to his side as he finally up and takes the shovel to the door.
She reaches over a moment later to give the door a push.
...Luckily before the door is set on fire.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius doesn't have much to offer on the purpose of a grave. It's...kind of a macabre subject, to be honest, and isn't really something he thought much about. Something he preferred not to think about.
Instead he turns, deciding to head towards the farmhouse once all the beans are dealt with. And there, they find...a door. It's not nearly so heavily locked as the one they encountered last time, but it still appears to bar their progress. When Virginia decides to heat things up he wisely decides to step back.
He raises a hand toward the door as water begins to swirl and converge around it. Eventually it coalesces into a dangerously sharp whirling blade that is sent flying into - and hopefully through - the door.
With any luck, it'd slice the thing to bits.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Huh? Sorry," Kaguya says. She doesn't... look especially like she's kidding, tilting her head at him laughing. "Is it funny?" A shrug, "...Dean." She has a little trouble with the name this time, as if if's somehow foreign to her. "Kay."
"Mm," Kaguya says. "Yeah..." A sigh. "Where I come from we don't really... do, graves. But I kinda get the appeal." A glance to Ambrosius, and a look away. It's sort of shameful, after all.
She... tried to make this work, but didn't manage to. She adds, "I didn't mean you were being nice about the Reaper part." Duh.
Dean mentions... dying alone in the middle of nowhere, and Kaguya pauses suddenly, stiff, and sniffles loudly. "Y-Yeah," Kaguya says, "That would... That would be... Really awful, wouldn't it?" She looks away quickly, and maybe this is part of what gives her trouble. She follows along to the farmhouse, and everyone is already working ahead at it. Kaguya looks wretchedly up at the door and hears the others working, sees all the fire...
Kaguya walks up into the area but stays out of the way, turning away from everyone and hunching her shoulders. "Really... terrible..."
Rather than helping, Kaguya digs a handkerchief out--from the same pocket she's shoved the granola bar into--and tries not to make it obvious that she's crying.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- At long last, there's a clear path to the porch, and subsequently, the entrance to the main farmhouse. There's just one problem, of course: *click click* *click click* It's locked. It's EXTREMELY locked. Once again, the greatest archnemesis of any investigator is... door... =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Hesitate============================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 6 *>========================= ======================< Results - Breaking and Entering >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Black Fenrir - THAT DAMN SHOVEL 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 22 --(0)--> 22 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kaguya 85 --(5)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Stalwart(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kaguya has passed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Right!" Dean nods decisively towards Virginia. "That's the best we can do now, anyway." He pauses when he notes Avril staring down at her hands. There's something about her expression... "Sorry, did I freak you out?" he asks, because while Dean can be oblivious to other people's feelings, even he gets that hearing a friend talking about their potential death would freak someone out. He gives Avril his brightest, warmest smile, then reassures her, "Don't worry! I'm not going to die or anything! I'm just saying, *if* that happened one day! You and Rebecca and all our friends will be right with me, so I'll be okay!"
Kaguya doesn't do graves? Dean gives her a curious look--he'd do the same with Ambrosius if he'd weighed in, but he's been pretty quiet this whole time--but before he can ask what they do instead where she comes from, or what she meant he was being nice about if she didn't mean the Reaper stuff, when she suddenly starts sniffling. Cue panic as Dean realizes he made her cry. "A-ah, it's, uh--I-I'm sorry! I'll drop it!" he says quickly. With that, he'll drop the topic as promised--between Avril and Kaguya, he really doesn't want to upset anyone. Fortunately, the approach to the farmhouse provides an excellent distraction. Dean leaves Kaguya to cry in peace, though he looks at her every so often in open worry. Meanwhile, it is indeed quite dark inside the farmhouse, as Avril observed. That's fine, though. Between Virginia heating up the lock, Ambrosius using his ice cutters, and Dean slamming his shovel on the doorknob, the three of them easily get it unlocked, to the point that by the time Avril gives her gentle push, the door falls to literal pieces.
A beat.
"Let's head on in, then," Dean says, putting his shovel away, expression now serious. "We ought to settle this as soon as we can."
DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Cut Out My Heart *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The vines that normally block access through the walls and interior doors of the main room, for the moment, have receded into the corner of the room. Only a small portion of the strange(?) organism(??) presently manifests in the main room; a massive fruit pulses on it like a heart, and viny tendrils protect... something, in one of the corners of the farmhouse. Better start ripping and tearing. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Bad Luck==============================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya glances now and then over at Dean, not having responded to his apology, wiping away at her eyes. It's a good distraction, the farmhouse, and eventually Kaguya--after a few smaller sniffles--makes one big one and stands up straight. She doesn't say a thing about the fac that she's just been crying, instead turning with puffy eyes towards the door as i's freed up. "Yeah," she says, "Let's."
It is still dark here, moreso inside the main room of the farmhouse, menacing somehow as the walls keep out most of the sounds of the outside. Te moonlight does not penetrate into this place either... but the dim allows a few things to be seen.
Some sort of... thing, manifests in the main room, with amassive fruit pulsing onto it, tendrils potecting... Something. But what is it? What could it be? It's horrible even to look upon.
Kaguya grits her teeth. "...Okay then. I can worry about taking samples later..." She gets out a few of her special cartridges all at once, taking one at a time into her gun before the others step in. "Time to pulp this thing."
BANG. The walls shake. She starts reloading.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia frowns just a little bit, before-- throwing her arms around Kaguya for a moment, and she isn't sure whether it's some part of her that's... the Hellion that just wants to lash out at everyone or... something buried deep within. Someone who misses father. Someone who doesn't want to die alone either. "Hey, it's fine... c'mon, I won't let something like that happen."
She stares kind of flatly towards the vines inside and gazes towards it, before groaning with a bit of a sigh as she pats Kaguya on the shoulder and says, "Right behind you."
She concentrates, and more flame rushes out from her fingertips.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius's attention is drawn to Kaguya at...that sound. Was she...crying? He wants to try and reassure her somehow, but that's never really been a specialty of his. Fortunately, Virginia is there to do so instead, and as such she gets a subtle nod of approval from him before proceeding on.
That thing that lies past the door...it was somewhat different than what they encountered last time, but almost as horrific.
He conjures another Aqua Cutter and sends it flying, aiming to cut through everything in its path...
...Though he does try at least to leave enough intact for Kaguya to studay.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In spite of herself, in spite of how she feels right now, even contemplating such an event...
Avril still turns up a smile towards Dean. "...It's alright. I know. It wouldn't be like you to give up so easily."
Though, is that a happy smile, really? For a moment, she feels as if something precious is about to tumble carelessly from her fingers. Loss.
She knew that once, a terrible loss.
But the feeling is there and gone again in a heartbeat.
And the door finally opens at a touch.
Revealing...
Avril exhales a slow breath, her gaze lingering here and there on the pulsating walls.
"Whatever happened here?"
Probably a question on everyone's minds right now.
Absolute Zero appears in a flash. Rather than engage a charge, though, there is instead a slight twist of the wrist.
The blade manifests.
Her lips press thin. No time for further questions. At any moment, this could turn from dormantly malevolent to actively so...
She lays in with the blade alone.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
If Rebecca were here, she'd probably catch the nuance of Avril's smile. However, it's just Dean, and seeing Avril's smile reassures him that things have been made right. He still feels terrible about making Kaguya cry, but apologizing more will probably just put her on the spot, and Virginia's comforting her. Maybe Dean will give her something nice later to make up for it. ...even though he has no idea just why she's so upset.
The group of them enter, and ... this is beyond creepy. Dean gawks at the vines crawling around the walls and the huge strawberry-like fruit at the center. It's like walking into the chest of a giant, except it's all plants... "That's what I'd like to know," he murmurs to Avril. Somehow, it feels like if they're too loud, they'll bring the attention of something horrible and malevolent down on their heads. PRobably a silly though. Yes, probably.
For now, he gets in there and starts yanking and pulling on those vines, clearing them out as the others hack and slice and burn and shoot.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Cut Out My Heart *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The vines that normally block access through the walls and interior doors of the main room, for the moment, have receded into the corner of the room. Only a small portion of the strange(?) organism(??) presently manifests in the main room; a massive fruit pulses on it like a heart, and viny tendrils protect... something, in one of the corners of the farmhouse. Better start ripping and tearing. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Bad Luck==============================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 7 *>========================= =========================< Results - Cut Out My Heart >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 22 --(0)--> 22 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kaguya 90 --(25)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Collapse|Hesitate(1)|Madness|Overzealous(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Kaguya has successfully explored Eerie Farmhouse!
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Will Then Justice Be Engraved? *>================ |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The roots and vines recede -- and temporarily provide a path to another room in the house. Inside this room are several perfectly uniform sets of arms and armor, strewn about, with no obvious origin point. The original owners are nowhere to be found. Most of them match the uniforms and armaments of the local guard of Krosse. Two sets instead match the typical stylings of Aveh soldiers, and one more unique set sits in the far corner. The army of Krosse will likely pay well for their equipment to be returned, and the rest... well... sometimes an investigator will find something nice! (If you have a mundane piece of gear you'd be excited to have, feel free to pose it in the unique set and take it! Better on a living, present investigator than a missing, unknown one, right?) =Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Suddenly Virginia is hugging her, and Kaguya doesn't know whether it's her or some part of her or anything but it's just nice and she sniffles more quietly once, nods a few times. "R-right. You won't, huh...?"
That can help her for now anyway, and Kaguya leans into Virginia before she pulls back and takes a quick breath to get to work. "Mm-hm. Let's go."
It might but Kaguya on the spot to point out she was crying--she particularly avoids looking at Ambrosius for too long, as if ashamed. But they all work, in short order.
The blade alone of Avril is not enough to cut away these tendrils, and neither is yanking and pulling or even Kaguya's shots. But all together, they work well to support Ambrosius's magic and Virginia's sheer fire.
Those things, they all get through, and Kaguya puts away her shotgun as she kneels down to take a sample of the creature that isn't burnt... and then stands. "There's a door..."
She goes through the door, opens, it and blinks. "Huh? Why are there all these--" She notices that many of them are exactly the same. She stares, and stops talking.
...She doesn't ask again why they're there. Instead she steps around, looking.. and then walks to the corner, on her way. "Lots of these... New ones? These are fresh..." She pauses, and looks to an exotic weapon; a pair of tonfa. ...She collects them in one hand. "This is... creepy..."
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia has a smile that just seems a bit too genuine for a Hellion, which internally unsettles her. Something's been off about her ever since the Temple, but she doesn't know what. Like she's not quite sure anymore. It's bothersome.
She looks towards Avril and Dean, and then Ambrosius again as she lets out a breath. "... it's..." she frowns deeply as she looks up towards the plant. "Don't tell me..."
She pauses further, and then says, "... I don't want to dwell on that possibility."
She walks deeper in and glances towards the uniforms to say, "Better us than no one, I guess... at least let them know what happened..." A pause. "Maya can talk shop with Aveh without raising eyebrows, so you can leave those ones to me..."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean's super weirded out by all the uniforms inside the tiny room, too. However, he recognizes the uniform of the local Krosse authority. "Avril, look," he says, pointing it out. "We should take those things back to the guard, explain what we found... So they know what happened to the investigation team." Although, they don't really know, do they? There's that one dead knight, but all of these pieces of armor are intact, and while scattered, also neat. If something bad happened to them, why is the equipment in such good condition?
...Those are questions for someone smarter than Dean. For now, he'll start to gather it up with Avril's help, and leave the Aveh stuff to Virginia. "Yeah," he says to her. "I dunno what happened here, but... I can't just ignore it, either."
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
When it's all cleared, Ambrosius retracts his arm back into his poncho, then drifts along with the others into the next room, where they find...
Many, many sets of armor, from various locations. There's no sign of the ones who had been wearing them. There's just...the equipment, and nothing else. What happened here...? Something had to have brought them into this room...unless this was where they disappeared.
Perhaps it was best not to dwell on these things.
He does not interact with the equipment, instead standing aside and out of the way unless his assistance is required for anything. He does keep a careful eye on Kaguya, though, gauging her condition.