2017-09-29: Snakes And Ladders
- Log: Snakes And Ladders
- Cast: Loren Voss, Gwen Whitlock, Lemina Ausa, Jean, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Serpent's Coils
- Date: September 29th 2017
- Summary: An expedition to evaluate the threat of the contents thereof/extract some cool loot from the Serpent's Coils is underway. The group learns exactly why the place is called the Serpent's Coils.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Serpent's Coils. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== =============<* CHALLENGE - Spamming the Search Button for Hours *>============= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The first step in entering the Serpent's Coils is to find it. This isn't easy, as it sits in a remote part of the Gunsmoke Desert. In fact, it sits in a very remote part, and the nearby cliff faces and mountains have been worn away by sand. It will take attention to detail and ingenuity to find the entrance buried under the shifting sands. Except, of course, it might also takes hours. Literally hours. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Rumors circulate in the waste, as they do. Most of the stories are obviously garbage, not even worth the breath of those who tell them. Others foretell more ominious things -- such as the Wels threat that has arisen of late.
And still others tell of more direly important things than Reapers.
Ruins, untouched, and possibly brimming with artifacts from a long-past age.
There have been whispers about a ruin that has somehow managed to remain mostly untouched in the Gunsmoke Desert. This, Loren has decided -- regretfully, unhappily so -- is potentially an enormous problem, because a large number of Drifters have also moved into the area of late, and if there's even a little bit of truth behind the story -- as the tales are beginning to suggest, absolutely is the case -- then it's just a matter of time before it's picked clean.
And in the hands of people who seem to think that wanton use of ancient destructive technology is a really good idea.
So this is exactly why he's standing out here now, sun beating down overhead, sand kicked up by what could be described as a 'gentle' sandstorm, in front of what is by all accounts a simple rock wall.
He squints, staring up at the cliff face. Glances over at his hire for this trip, a certain super courier.
"I don't suppose you have any bright ideas?" His gaze lingers on her for a moment, and then, almost as if to suggest the 'guess not', he approaches the rock wall for a closer look, pushing his glasses up his nose.
And surreptitiously expends a small burst of ether. If there really is an entrance and this isn't just some sick joke, there should be signs for it.
Somewhere.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Spamming the Search Button for Hours.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen, looking up at the cliff face, looks back at her current client with a sunny grin, and shrugs. "Well, while I've been here before, there ain't much I can offer in the way of guidance. Shiftin' sands make a mess out of things bein' easy t'find." Glancing over at Loren- specifically the freckles on his cheeks, Gwen reaches in and produces a bottle of a white cream. "Y'better put this on if you don't go somethin' on already. If y'got skin like me, you'll burn in no time with the sun bein' overhead. Though, you... probably already know that by now." She follows that with The Nod of Those with Pale Skin, aka *real* pale skin, which has none of the qualities of 'fair skin' those newspaper ads would tote their product being capable of producing.
Besides, she has freckles, which sort of negates that.
"We'll find it, no worries. Might take us a while, but if it didn't, then it would've been picked clean by now, wouldn't it? No fossils or relics to be had by anybody. So, see, this is a *good* thing. Think of all the bandits n' thieves that would've given up by now." She's surveying around as she talks, thankfully, trying to judge the angle of the sun's arc to the entrance she saw last time she was here.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Medical Kit toward her party's challenge, Spamming the Search Button for Hours.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina is literally always up to go poking around the desert for hours at a time, and even to bring her friends along. ... it's unclear why, because frankly, it usually ends in her letting out an agonizing, high-pitched keening noise and squalling about how hard it is to actually find anything on this planet.
Like now!
"Uuuuuggghhh Jean, this is mega-awful!!"
Hearing a question regarding bright ideas, though, even if it isn't directed at her, seems to get her attention back on the topic though. "Actually, I think I have a couple!" Lemina reaches into her pack, pops her reading glasses on, and sets to work. "We should start by looking for a single landmark to work from -- we have the cliff faces to a point, but it'd be easier if we stuck something in one of them, since they're so worn and all kinda look the same."
There is nothing surreptitious about the way Lemina points at a point on the cliffs and abruptly makes it emit a wobbly text bubble that says 'wooooooo,' like a dollar store Halloween decoration made of light. There's a pause, before she says, "... It's easiest if I stick to stuff I've already made." WHY HAVE YOU ALREADY MADE THAT
"Anyway, it'll go mega-fast if we just mark areas we've already searched like that and just... work mega-hard!" She already had her one good idea for this. Leave her alone.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Reading Glasses toward her party's challenge, Spamming the Search Button for Hours.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean doesn't mind getting out into the desert to explore. Being on the road is her way of life... Or something like that. Right now it's at least as much to keep Lemina out of trouble because she would go either way. So it is that the Lunarian dancer walks in soft shoes across the desert, in a yellow dress with blac and white and blue overgarment, a red bandana keeping her hair tied back in a ponytail. She has two canteens, for some reason, and a pair of fans at her hips. She doesn't seem to care about her exposed skin.
The gentle sandstorm gets her glancing back and orth and then points out, "You're the one who wanted to come, Lemina." She wouldn't admittedly been content back at camp. Speaking of content, she picks up the canteen that she didn't label beer but filled with beer, and takes a drink. She's been having Lemina keep it cool. Even odds whether Lemina's noticed.
"I've got nothing," Jean says with a big shrug, looking for all the world like an ordinary dancer instead of a Drifter at all. "Nice work, Lemina!"
Jean keeps close to Lemina as they search. She knows full well how easy it is to get lost in the sand.
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spamming the Search Button for Hours.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It's been... not *too* long a while since Ragnell went ruin-spelunking with Lemina? But it's definitely been a while for Jean. In fact, she's not sure she's *ever* gone spelunking with Jean. So, when she catted back into the Vile Fiends' lives and Lemina mentioned that they were going to find buried treasure, Ragnell catted right along with them. She's been around the Serpent's Coils before, but never actually inside them, so this should be interesting!
Assuming, you know. They can find the entrance.
"It could be worse," Ragnell remarks to Lemina, tone mild as curry made for white people. "You could be us, havin' ta listen t'you." Over Lemina's head, she winks and grins at Jean. "Right?"
But someone talks about bright ideas, and Lemina starts looking for landmarks, Ragnell looks around. "Hmm? Oh, hey, Gwen, and--oh, *weeeeell*, if it isn't *this* guy again," she drawls, red eyes narrowed on Loren as a nasty smile parts her lips. "Y'know, I'd started to wonder if he'd fallen off the face o' the planet. Mm mm mm! Don't tell 'im I'm here, ladies, he can't see or hear me. Or, you know, do, that'll be fun in its own way. Anyway--"
With naught a care, Ragnell flips out the electric fan from her poncho and turns it on with a *vmmmm* of her lightning powers. Not only does the fan give *her* a refreshing breeze, but it's the seed for an air current that blows in a storm from seemingly out of nowhere--one that threatens rain and lightning, but instead only blusters about with wind. Wind that helpfully blows away the sands to potentially reveal the entrance to the Serpent's Coils.
Or maybe dump even more sand all over all of them. Helping!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Spamming the Search Button for Hours.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== =============<* CHALLENGE - Spamming the Search Button for Hours *>============= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The first step in entering the Serpent's Coils is to find it. This isn't easy, as it sits in a remote part of the Gunsmoke Desert. In fact, it sits in a very remote part, and the nearby cliff faces and mountains have been worn away by sand. It will take attention to detail and ingenuity to find the entrance buried under the shifting sands. Except, of course, it might also takes hours. Literally hours. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
========================<* Serpent's Coils - Round 1 *>========================= ===============< Results - Spamming the Search Button for Hours >=============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(11)--> 11 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(10)--> 10 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 0 --(10)--> 10 Pass Reading Glasses 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(9)--> 9 Pass Medical Kit 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
"Great. So even though you've been here before you still can't..."
It's a sign that he's actually trying to stay in her good graces -- given that he needs the backup anyway -- that he trails off with a shake of his head. He's trying, doesn't that count?
(No, it does not.)
As that weary look that Thomas -- as Gwen would know her current client, Thomas Blackwell -- suggests, yes, he does know.
He's even got the freckling to prove it.
Though he hesitates a moment, he soon reaches out to take the bottle from her.
...It's probably a good idea, honestly, given the way he's found that he burns.
And oh look, just as he thought. There are Drifters here. He sighs out a breath, shoulders slouching slightly.
"I suppose you heard the rumors too, then?" He glances at Lemina, looking her over. "Fine. I'll check over here, and you can look over..."
This is where a long blank look might predominate for a moment.
"...Just look over there," the 'medical student' says at last, squinting at his section of rock. It seems like there might be a seam here.
And over where Lemina looks, a subtle indentation, low to the ground, though it seems to be half-buried in sand.
...A very mysterious breeze puts that to rights. At least enough that Lemina is slightly less likely to get stuck in the sand pushing at the indentation (and if she does, well, Jean is right there).
Shortly thereafter, a section of the stone wall grinds away, just in front of Loren. He glances upwards, rubbing at the back of his neck.
"Let's go in," he says, bowing to the inevitability of this team-up, it seems.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Blocked Bridge *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This room has two levels, and you enter it on the higher of them. The lower level consists of a series of canals, filled with the tell-tale slimes that infest this dungeon. Stairwells lead up to the second level -- and across from you, on the other side, there is a door. A gap makes reaching the door hard, but there are several huge stone blocks. If you move them quickly, you can make a bridge across that gap and block the slimes from reaching you. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Once the group heads through the stone wall and passes the foyer and initial hallways, they all enter a room that is basically a bridge over a lower section of the room that's filled with two things: canals, and slimes. Lots and lots of slimes. Slimes that, upon everyone's entrance, bob up and down over towards the stairwell that leads towards said group. Given that many of these slimes were previously piled on top of each other, and seem unusually frisky, maybe the group should get across to the door on the other side of the bridge before they make it up?
Oh also the floor isn't actually all in one piece. Thankfully, there are plenty of blocks lying around, ripe for the pushing, so that they can fill in the floor and make it to the door. It's just a question of who finishes first... as it were.
"Huh. I always thought slimes reproduced asexually," Ragnell comments, peering at the jiggle party below. She pulls out one of her hand-crafted magic grenades from her poncho. "I'mma scatter those motherfuckers," and it's probably best not to think too hard on the implications of that joke, "so y'all hurry up with those blocks so we can get the hella outta here, a'ight?"
Then she pulls the pin and chucks the grenade right towards where the slimes are thickest. Lightning will explode a moment later, potentially giving the others a crucial moment to get the blocks lined up towards the door.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Blocked Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"RUDE," Lemina declares to Ragnell, scootching toward Jean as she cools off Jean's canteen again and giving Loren a quick, "Yep." She has not noticed what's in the canteen, mostly because she's too busy focusing on it being hot and everyone being lost and things being awful. You know. Standard stuff.
As they actually head into the dungeon and find... canals full of slimes, Lemina makes a face. "... Sssseriously?" she asks, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Just -- come onnnnn..." When Ragnell mentions scattering them, though, Lemina gets her second bright idea. Holding her hands out, she says, "Once you scatter them, I'll freeze them out to either side! Everyone else should have more time to move the blocks around!"
Lemina has zero intention of doing any block-moving work herself. What a lazy, awful Lemina.
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Inside, it's at least cooler than the sun-scorched desert outside. Loren pauses a moment, gaze sweeping around the floor beneath him. If any other Drifters passed this way, he should be able to tell.
And thus determine an approximate answer to the age-old question: exactly how much of a theoretical artifact leak are they figuring here... assuming this ruin is old enough to be a problem that way.
Which it probably is, based on how his luck trends.
There's a soft squishing sound. With some care, Loren approaches the lip of the canal here.
"..."
Well, that's a lot of slimes. His gaze shifts next to the broken-up pathway, to the blocks. Too far to jump, which leaves only one direct solution. "We'll need to move these--"
And it's very likely that a lot of slimes suddenly burst up onto the air. Thanks to an explosion and all.
"--What was that!?"
As the 'medical student' falls back into a semi-defensive stance in apparent surprise, it probably underlines Ragnell's earlier comment. He really can't see her.
The explosion doesn't repeat, at least. Not immediately, anyway.
Instead, something rather interesting happens.
1) that blonde girl seems to address someone who isn't here.
2) ...an interesting display of technique, that earns Lemina a stare that lingers a touch long.
Something seems off.
At some length, he offers up a, "Fine, then." Shaking his head as if irritated, 'Thomas' approaches one of the blocks with trepidation and, to outside observation, puts his back into it...
...takes a breath, focuses his ether, and drives a jolt of vibrational stress into the stone, hopefully enough to jar it into the gap.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Blocked Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Yeep," Gwen intones cheerfully. "But it's not like the place can walk away. So even if we gotta search, we just have t'search this area." At least Loren's efforts to be nice aren't going to waste- Gwen seems pretty upbeat about the whole venture. At least, as upbeat as one can be, knowing just how hard it is to find a spot.
The weary look does produce a wince from the courier, but it's soon revealed to be one of empathy. "Augh. It's the worst! People don't know how good they got it." That is... well, everyone that can deal with sun. ... Which is probably fewer than Gwen realizes.
"Oh hey." Gwen's head snaps up at the arrival of the three Drifters, and, with a laugh, raises her hand to wave at them. "Oh hey! Fancy seein' you guys here." It takes a moment for Gwen to think to look back towards 'Thomas', judging his expression to see if he can see Ragnell or not. "These are friends of mine. It'd be a good idea for them to come along if they're here for the ruins. This place gets dangerous. Also, the stuff we might find could use some extra hands to haul it out." Which begs the question: why did she agree to come here by herself with Loren? "Hey, this is Thomas Blackwell, my client. He wanted to investigate the ruins here."
Probably the same reason she wasn't took upset when the entrance didn't show up just yet.
Entering in with Loren and the new party additions, Gwen's face falls at the slimes. "It'd make sense," Gwen says, to what just may be open air as far as Loren in concerned, until she follows with a comment of, "if they were asexual, I mean. They're like bacteria and stuff like that in a lotta ways, right?"
The fact that Gwen knows such a word may be pretty strange in itself.
"Hey, Mr. Blackwell, lemme help you with that!" the courier says as Loren goes to move a stone. She promptly stops when the stone moves, then whistles. "Got some muscle, I see! I'll take care of the other one, then!"
The reason that she immediately thought that Loren simply was just very capable will probably become very clear as Gwen simply pushes and grunts against the stone, an effort that normally wouldn't produce much from someone like her. Except, it does, once Gwen applies the right angle and effort to the task, the angle being something that uses more of her right arm. "We'll, get this... done!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Armored Fist toward her party's challenge, Blocked Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean doesn't object to Ragnell's presence in the least. They haven't gone Digging together, but that just makes it more of an opportunity to be friends. Though... Ragnell is a little mean and Jean laughs and rolls her eyes. "Ragnell," she says, "Be nice."
A beat, "For now anyway." She likes a good teasing of Lemina, after all. And at first she entirely misses Thomas's trouble with Ragnell. She's busy noticing other things about him, other potential troubles, and shaking them off unsuccesfully. Getting here...
Jean looks around the room. "I don't want to think about how slimes reproduce," Jean says, with a little face that looks like the sound 'yuck.' She kind of ignores everything else to all occasions, except for just... one... thing.
Jean looks right at Loren while he's staring at Lemina. She holds that stare for a long few moments, possibly until he looks away. It's hard to read what it was, especially from her demeanor.
It moves on shortly after though, and with Lemina chilling it again, Jean picks up her second canteen and has a long drink of bear. "Mm!" Very refreshing.
"It's nice to see you Gwen!" Jean says with a happy wave, the party girl in full swing. Lowering the canteen after she caps t, she steps forward, and hops down next to Loren. She turns her head his way and grins. "And nice to meet you. What's your name? I don't bother with formality much. I'm Jean."
And 'Jean', ordinary dancer, sets her feet and starts pushing along with him, making the job easier than it was before despite her not looking like the lifting type.
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Bridge.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Blocked Bridge *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This room has two levels, and you enter it on the higher of them. The lower level consists of a series of canals, filled with the tell-tale slimes that infest this dungeon. Stairwells lead up to the second level -- and across from you, on the other side, there is a door. A gap makes reaching the door hard, but there are several huge stone blocks. If you move them quickly, you can make a bridge across that gap and block the slimes from reaching you. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
========================<* Serpent's Coils - Round 2 *>========================= ==========================< Results - Blocked Bridge >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 11 --(0)--> 11 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 10 --(0)--> 10 Fail Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 10 --(0)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 9 --(0)--> 9 Pass Armored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Overzealous(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
He sure can't, as Gwen will note, likely quickly. This could be a problem.
But for right now, when she addresses him directly and comments -- before he even so much as takes a step inside, "I doubt we have any choice." They'd come whether he wanted them to or not. "Still, I suppose you have a point. There's safety in numbers." Even if there's also a certain safety when running solo, depending. He readjusts his glasses. "There's no telling what could be in here."
At which point he finally looks at the others. "Nice to meet you, I suppose. I heard some rumors about this place, and thought I'd take a look. And you?"
Though given the apparently reproducing slimes--
"Ugh."
--they might have other thoughts on their mind.
"--What?" His concentration is briefly disrupted. "No... it's fine. I've-- got this one."
This might be a problem, down the line.
Before he can so much as shoo her away as well, some more help arrives. "I said..."
He pauses for a moment, as if preoccupied. Which he is. "...It's Thomas."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"As always," Ragnell drawls back at Lemina when she huffily declares her rude. She laughs, too, at Jean chiding her good-naturedly to be nice. "You know you love it when I'm mean~." To Gwen, she gives a salute of greeting, and when Gwen in turn introduces her client, Ragnell peers at him. "'Thomas Blackwell,' huh?" she says lightly. "Mm, mm, mm. Well, how about that."
How, too, about slimes!! Lemina does her best to follow Ragnell up by icing the slimes--but she might have made better use of her magic by icing up the bridge and making it easier for those who remain to push around the blocks. Gwen tries her best with her armored... arm, but Loren is merely a medical student, and Jean is more about agility than brute force. Even with their combined efforts, the slimes--who were only partially, not fully, scattered by lightning and ice, begin to wobble excitedly up the stairs and closer, closer, cloooooserrrrrr, mmmmm, ohhhhh, CLOOOOSEERRRRRRR--
The last of the blocks go *whump*, just in time for the group to make a mad dash for the door. They squeeze through, barely, and land in a graceless pile as the door shuts behind them, locking out the slimes in their wake. The slimes, meanwhile, borble both mournfully and excitedly, and if there were a specialist in slime language, one would tell that they're saying the slime equivalent of, "Call me~"
All the same, they're through. One way or another.
DG: Lemina Ausa has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - The Spinning Clock Hands *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter this circular room, you find a gap that fills the entire room. There are several doorways across the wall. Two long, narrow platforms move around a pole in the center of the room: huge clock hands, ever turning, that could be used to navigate to the doors. However, each clock hand is narrow and will take balance to stay on -- and they move fast. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
After some of Lemina's least favorite activity, running, Lemina gives Loren -- sorry, 'Thomas' -- a bit of a look. It's becoming obvious that the 'medical student' can't see Ragnell... but far be it from Lemina to ruin Ragnell's potential fun. She does not offer any assistance whatsoever, instead just sprinting along.
She instead takes this slightly harried opportunity to say hi to Gwen, giving her a small wave and a, "Yep! Thought I'd take a peek at some different rumors! ... kinda tired of ghost towns..." She shivers. It's time to move on almost immediately.
She chills Jean's drink again; this time, she gets a little closer, and gets a whiff of it. ... she adds it to the list of things she's not going to comment on. Instead, she turns her gaze outward, toward... the slowly moving platforms in front of them. "... Hhhhuh," she murmurs. "It's like... clockwork?" She turns to Jean, saying, "Actually exploring those doors... is prooobably on you. Give each of 'em a try and see if they're locked! I'll be right behind you at top speed!"
Lemina is fully prepared, as is the custom, to run in sandals.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Chiro Sandals toward her party's challenge, The Spinning Clock Hands.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That was unpleasant.
All bets are off -- Loren's probably at the bottom of that particular heap, and as such, probably is the one trailing towards the back once the group picks themselves up, dusts off, and moves on.
Already, things are off to a great start.
...Make that 'absolutely wonderful', he decides sourly, staring at the apparatus as it swings around the insides of the next chamber here.
"...Who builds these things?" he wonders aloud, briefly pressing a hand against his forehead.
He glances about, searching for an alternate, saner way foreward.
"...Oh, of course not," he mutters, before finally taking that reluctant step onto a clock hand as it sweeps close enough to him.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Spinning Clock Hands.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Yeah," Jean says with a sudden laugh, "I do love it when you're a little mean." Not even arguing. ...But why it's so funny is not something that is probably clear to most of the others.
And then there's the matter of Thomas. "Nice to meet you, Thomas," Jean says to him, looking at him as he has just said he's got it and starting to get an impression of what he's like. Still...
They make the effort. Jean ignores the borble because she's heard that phrase equivalent so many times that she has a conditioned response to want to throw up.
When Lemina chills her drink, Jean smiles. "Thanks!" It's a broad expression and also brief. "Ghost towns..." Jean doesn't like that plan, but shakes it off quickly." Exploring though...
"Yeah," Jean agrees with Lemina, "I think it's best if I go on ahead." She picks up her canteen and has another drink. This one briefer. Then she eyes ahead, shaking her arms out as she looks straight forward. Who builds these things...?
"Who knows?" Jean says. Then she steps forward. Loren steps onto the clock hand, but Jean pulls her fans to use as stabilizing points or for throwing as she has to. She'll find out if she has to by hopping on the other hand when it's given and balancing on it perfectly, running up and down into each door to do as they need. She runs on the balls of her feet somehow because she is that graceful.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, The Spinning Clock Hands.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell's grin only gets wider at Jean's confession. "So she admits it~" she crows. Later on, when people are further into the ruins, she adds, "Ghost towns never have *actual* ghosts, anyway, just the monsters that ate everyne that's supposed to be in town." Which is definitely better, thanks, Ragnell.
Ragnell pulls herself out of said puzzle, nearly stepping on Loren's hand in the process, which certainly would've been a mysterius pain to explain.
"Ancient ones, lookin' specifically to torture you, explicitly you," Ragnell commnts with sarcastic wit once they reach the inner part of the clock room. For Ragnell's part, she's pretty nimble, so one one hand sweeps towards her position, she simply jumps up to attempt to land on it as neatly as she would any brainy challenge.
Mind you, those hands are still fast, and there's a bunch of them trying at the same time, though...
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Spinning Clock Hands.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina pauses for a moment. Looks to Ragnell. Looks to Jean.
She proceeds to cover her face vigorously to avoid showing the keen embarrassment with which she is presently grappling.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"There's a lotta ghost towns in the Badlands, that's fer sure. Be careful with em'. You could scare up some nasty critters if you ain't careful." Gwen pauses the appropriate amount of time for spectulation to begin before adding, "Like coyotes n' the like!" She chuckles. But yeah, glad to have you guys along on this too! Would've been tough with just me and Mr.-" Gwen bashfully rubs the back of her head as she's reminded about Loren's first name. "Right, Thomas. Sorry, I've gotten so used to just callin' clients by their surnames." Especially if they look like they're from prestigious, learned, or money'ed backgrounds, as Thomas certainly does. Well, the learned one, at least. "To some clients, their last names are their most prized possession. Gotta make sure everyone knows where they came from."
This, she says, while a pile of slimes are eagerly coming at them for a chance to be all nice and friendly with them.
She does get a little worried when they get closer, of course.
And she's also worried when she finds herself smushed underneath Lemina, Jean, and (probably not) Ragnell. "... W-well, we managed that!"
Her cheer doesn't last long. In fact, it only lasts as long as it takes for the courier to notice the clockface. "Oh nooooooo..." Gwen cries, in exasperation. "How am I gonna get across that mess?"
Very quickly, it seems, as the other adventurers make their way across, leaving Gwen the last to make her mad dash across, yelling all the while.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Spinning Clock Hands.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - The Spinning Clock Hands *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When you enter this circular room, you find a gap that fills the entire room. There are several doorways across the wall. Two long, narrow platforms move around a pole in the center of the room: huge clock hands, ever turning, that could be used to navigate to the doors. However, each clock hand is narrow and will take balance to stay on -- and they move fast. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
========================<* Serpent's Coils - Round 3 *>========================= =====================< Results - The Spinning Clock Hands >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 11 --(7)--> 18 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 10 --(4)--> 14 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 10 --(3)--> 13 Pass Chiro Sandals 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 9 --(8)--> 17 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Overwhelm|Overzealous(1)|Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina remains with her face buried in her dumb little hands until it's time to run.
On which note: Jean just kind of casually sprints across, and basically gets to try doors at her leisure. This is good, mostly because Loren and Gwen have such a shaky foothold on the clock hands to begin with that it's very rapidly apparent that they really ought not to even attempt more than the bare minimum number of tries at crossing.
Lemina's not so hot either on this front, but she at least has the advantage of being able to move at significant speed, taking it with fewer steps than most of their compatriots.
Once Jean finds the door that is actually a door, everyone slowly clambers over there. It... moooostly works out? It takes a while for poor Gwen to recover from some particularly shaky footing on the dash across, though.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Patterned Braziers *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room ends in another sealed stone door. Six braziers are arranged in two lines of three before it. Unfortunately, the stone tablets on the walls have been eroded to nothing, and offer no hints. The door does not budge -- so you must determine the pattern, to push ahead. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Indeed, it does take a while. Gwen simply collapses to her knees, taking her time to slowly calm her breathing, as well as regain the bottom of her stomach, which still feels like it's fallen into the depths below. "H'okay, I'm fine, everything's fine, we're good. Yes. Okay." She slowly straightens, her eyes closed, and clasps her hands into fists. "Okay, onto the next challenge!"
There's a probably a reason none of these relics have gotten out of Serpent's Coils, and it's probably due to the fact that no one's going to be able to cart anything of value across all those challenges without just falling into a dark seemingly endless pit.
Thankfully, there's no pits here, just unlit braziers, an unsealed door, and walls with stone tablets, likely inscribed with some poem, story, or clue for people to reflect on before venturing deeper within. Like many things, the words have been lost to the sands of time, offering not obvious clues at first glance. "Even if we could read em', would we understand em"?" She strides up to one tablet, drawing out a piece of graphite and unfolding a piece of paper. "Nn. This is too small to really get a good sense of the message. Anybody got ideas?"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Patterned Braziers.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"It doesn't matter," the 'medical student' replies somewhat distractedly to Gwen, in between apparent attempts to push the block back... and then run for it.
He may have a few things on his mind, and multi-tasking in the middle of chaos was never a strong point.
To wit: this clock and its swinging arms here, too.
There is one glittering upshot to the whole proceedings, here.
This is specifically, 'he didn't fall off'. It would have ended badly if he did. Nevertheless, the arms swing around in an arc swiftly, enough so that Loren is forced to slow down and hunch in a crouch so as not to fall.
Gwen has it easy: she can actually scream.
It also makes elaborate exploration very ill-advised. With some considerable muttering and effort, he finally does get across, leaning in the doorway for a moment, taking a few long breaths before pushing on ahead.
"I suppose this is why there are only rumors about this place," he mutters, following along after Gwen into the next chamber this labyrinth presents them with. He hesitates a moment, as if watching wary for the danger that might lurk here, only to realize that there's nothing here.
Unlit torches. Traces of tablets. And a sealed door.
"There's a pattern that they need to be lit in." He pauses, closing his eyes. "Why, only the ancients must know. Perhaps it was some inane security measure or another." And he sighs, shaking his head, before treading ahead to one of the bare patches on the wall, to all appearances pushing his glasses up his nose as he peers futilely at stone.
...Activates a short pulse of ether, feeding it into the receptive lenses.
"Hmm."
He paces to another. "The wall here is about as dark as the rest," he points out after a moment of study. "Perhaps the tablet was also lighter, or made of a different material." He walks ahead to a third to investigate it in turn. "If there's a difference, then there might be some method to it, a meaning behind the material."
If his hypothesis holds, that is.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Patterned Braziers.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"Well," Lemina notes, striding up to the braziers with a grin on her face, "There's less than eight hundred possible combinations, so we could just, you know, keep trying until it works! Mega-great idea!" She gives a big thumbs up. Then shakes her head. "... Juuuuust kidding. That sounds mega-boring."
Instead, she pops her glasses on again and takes a closer look at the wall. "Hrrrm... I wonder if it's really all eroded?" Lemina swoops her hand over the tablets once, covering them in a thick layer of frost -- and then again, creating a high-contrast light that might bring out a little bit of the shadow of the inscriptions that once lay there.
Lemina doesn't actually do any torch-lighting, despite the fact that she can also cast fire spells. Maybe she needs to let her magic build back up. ... maybe she's just lazing.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Reading Glasses toward her party's challenge, Patterned Braziers.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean halfway cackles when Ragnell crows at her, before she grins right on back. "I might as well, right?" And it only gets better when Lemina covers her face, leaving the green-haired woman to briefly drown in how funny that is, grinning so hard that her face should hurt.
But they do succeed; Jean does her best, quick and willing to help the others as needed. Any moments where she's smushed with someone don't last far.
For Jean it... was about as casual as it looked, and she waits for the others, guarding where they are in case of monsters or guardans or... anything.
So by that point that Gwen is there, Jean is tipping her canteen all the way back. Once it's capped she blows a little breath of air out, not quite a whistle. "Ruins are dangerous," Jean says, tilting her head at Loren. Security... It's possible. "Could've been religious," Jean points out.
But the wall... That's... Huh. She tilts her head at this too, and decides to have another drink as she stands beside Loren. She looks at Lemina as she works.
"Whatever, call me if you need something, I have no idea about any of this." She leans against one of the braziers, briefly.
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Patterned Braziers.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Hey now, Ragnell mad it across with a minimum of needed steps, too. Regardless, Jean finds the correct door, and Ragnell waltzes after her (not literally, that wouldn't be a good idea) as the others attempt to keep up. "Keep repeatin' that to yourself and maybe you actually will be," she cracks to poor Gwen, thwapping her on the back.
On the other side, there's a sealed door with several braziers and no hints as to how to make it work. Loren suggests that there's supposed to be a pattern in which the braziers are lit. "As good a guess as any," Ragnell says, shrugging. "Maybe there's still hints of numbers that were carved on?" She rubs the braziers in an attempt to test this. She probably doesn't get very far, all considered. At least she moves her hand so Lemina can get a better look with her nerd glasses.
"What kinda treasure's supposed to be in these ruins, anyway?" she wonders all of a sudden. "Does anyone actually know? An' at least *try* to guess or hold shit up in a better light or something', Jean. Throw a rock at nerd boy's head when he's not lookin'. Hell, *I'll* do it, an' you can mess with him for me when he whines. Sound good?"
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Patterned Braziers.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Patterned Braziers *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room ends in another sealed stone door. Six braziers are arranged in two lines of three before it. Unfortunately, the stone tablets on the walls have been eroded to nothing, and offer no hints. The door does not budge -- so you must determine the pattern, to push ahead. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
========================<* Serpent's Coils - Round 4 *>========================= ========================< Results - Patterned Braziers >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 18 --(4)--> 22 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 15 --(8)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 14 --(6)--> 20 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 13 --(5)--> 18 Pass Reading Glasses 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 17 --(3)--> 20 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 50 --(30)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Secret(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"When I was here last, my party found fossils. I mean, yeah, it ain't anything like gold or gems, but they might as well be to the right people," Gwen says, examining the walls. She pauses, looking over her shoulder at Ragnell. "C'mon, man. He's my client. save it for later, will ya?"
Which may look baffling to Loren, as it's unclear just what Gwen is objecting to.
Loren's lens, combined with Lemina's frosting, allow them to see a marking of fingertips into the markings of the wall. Much like what Jean said, they were likely religious in nature, a sort of ritual exercise meant to purify the mind.
At least, that's the vague connotation behind the markings on the walls, a pattern of dozens of fingertips marking a specific pattern in the softer, lighter stone of the tablets, relating to the patterns of metal on the braziers. Specially, one brazier, which, when lit, will trigger a mechanism to open the door.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsing Catwalks *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The lowest chamber is, like some of the rooms here, multi-leveled: this time with three. You enter the room on the highest, on an ancient wooden catwalk. The rails are dusty and the boards dry. After a few steps, the wooden catwalk starts to collapse! It is a long way down -- but a few places look safer, where ledges and more sturdy catwalks might hold your weight. Otherwise, it will be a long, painful way down... and because a pit is along the rim of the room, you may not be able to reach the end of the dungeon. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Religious," 'Thomas' says, sounding a little dubious.
His head turns as Gwen addresses someone who isn't there. His gaze quickly turns back towards the wall he's studying studiously.
It wouldn't be the first time an entity had followed them. Before, only Elly had been able to see her -- well, of their team, not counting the Drifters they had met.
Could it be... 'Spring Breeze' has returned?
"There's a mark here..."
By the time he makes it over to the one Lemina is working on -- frost included, which is a technique he'll try to watch very closely indeed, if he can catch her working long enough -- it becomes apparent what they are. And between the pressure of the prints, the number, and a little bit of trial and error.
Fwoosh, go the flames. And click, goes the door.
The room beyond is dimly lit.
"We need a light," he says, treading across what is apparently some surprisingly-well preserved floorboards. They creak underfoot.
And snap.
Oh yeah, that dim lighting? It's because there's another level below this one. And below that, too, which someone might find out very quickly if they're very unlikely.
Loren, for his part, lets out a cut-off shout as he abruptly plummets, grabbing for something, anything, that he can hold onto.
So, this is how it goes, he thinks dully, at least grateful that he can't see the floor rising up from below.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Collapsing Catwalks.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Ragnell's offer gets a grin. "No idea about the treasure, but..." A beat, "Buy me a drink when we get to town and I'm for it. Go ahead." To Loren, it looks like she's talking to herself. If he notices Jean's words at all, as she stands closer to Ragnell while he's focusing. But then Gwen says not to, and Jean siiiiighs.
"You gotta live a little, Gwen!" Which might look still more baffling. "Have fun, you know." But Loren leads them on and--abrubtly--
"Shit," Jean says, and tumbles forward quickly into the room, light on her feet to avoid collapsing more and suddenly tossing her fans out to slam into Loren in an effort to get him closer to something to hold onto. "Thomas!" she calls. "The wall!"
From there though, she has to keep going, and she catches her fans before leaping downward to shove herself towards another catwalk. It's going to be bumpy.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, Collapsing Catwalks.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina just sort of... does things with elements. Frost, light -- she hasn't had occasion to use fire yet, but that's also in her repertoire. She's very casual with it -- it certainly could be Ether, though it isn't quite right for that at first glance... then again, Ether is wild.
As they step forward -- and then abruptly lose their footing, Lemina yelps. "No idea about the treasure help help heeelp," is Lemina's extremely coherent answer as she flails. She manages to hook herself onto a catwalk support at one point by a sandal.
Thoughts of the treasure are totally abandoned as Lemina scrambles onto a slightly sturdier catwalk, at which point she starts moving as fast as she can, rying to avoid putting her weight down very hard on any one spot.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Chiro Sandals toward her party's challenge, Collapsing Catwalks.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Hey. Heeey." Gwen's staring straight ahead. "I know this place. It's the same place the party I was in was-" If she had thought of a better, more concise way of saying that, she may have been able to warn Loren in time. Instead, Loren is falling, and Gwen's reacting, having the advantage of having been here before to give her that nice edge of... maybe a second?
Thank goodness Jean's here, in other words.
The time Jean buys allows Gwen to begin running, using her momentum to leap onto another platform further below. Her right arm snakes out, trying to grab some part of Loren as he falls. "Hey! Help me out here, Rag-"
That's when her own platform begins to give way as well, dislodged by the rushed landing Gwen made moments before.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsing Catwalks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Hey, he's Gwen's client, so be nice. Ragnell weighs whether or not to tell Gwen that 'Thomas' is lying to her; then she decides that a) she needs to learn more about Loren first b) this is something Gwen ought to learn for herself anyway. "Fossils, huh," she says instead, electing to ignore the chiding entirely--though she does eye Loren to check *his* reaction to people talking to someone who doesn't seem to be there. She catches him in time to see him quickly look away. Hm. "Like, Metal Dragon fossils, or?"
But Jean speaks of beer, and Ragnell winks at her. "You're on. S'been a while since we hung out anyway, jus' you--an' me," she purrs. If Lemina was embarrassed by them *before*... Fortunately, Ragnell then slips into a normal if cheerful tone of voice as she continues, "So a beer oughtta be fun times!"
The group moves on, with no real help from Ragnell. That's okay, since she's tagging along anyhow. Further in, there's another multi-layered room, this one with an ancient catwalk that doesn't look to Ragnell like it'll be able to support everyone's weight. And wouldn't you know, she's right! As the boarding beneath her begins to crumble, she breaks into a sprint, leaping from section to section as best as an elemental spirit is able, which is fairly able and really has nothing to do with her being an elemental spirit anyway.
As for requests for help made her way? "Y'all're gonna have to help yourselves!" she calls back, which is vaguely reasonable since Ragnell doesn't have a rope or anything but is nonetheless a pretty dickish thing to say to someone as they're about to plummet to their death. Maybe she'll end up plummeting too? It'd serve her right.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsing Catwalks.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsing Catwalks *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The lowest chamber is, like some of the rooms here, multi-leveled: this time with three. You enter the room on the highest, on an ancient wooden catwalk. The rails are dusty and the boards dry. After a few steps, the wooden catwalk starts to collapse! It is a long way down -- but a few places look safer, where ledges and more sturdy catwalks might hold your weight. Otherwise, it will be a long, painful way down... and because a pit is along the rim of the room, you may not be able to reach the end of the dungeon. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
========================<* Serpent's Coils - Round 5 *>========================= =======================< Results - Collapsing Catwalks >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 22 --(100)--> 122 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 23 --(100)--> 123 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 20 --(100)--> 120 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 18 --(100)--> 118 Fail Chiro Sandals 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 20 --(100)--> 120 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Stupify(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jean is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lemina Ausa is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Serpent's Coils! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=============================<* Serpent's Coils *>============================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Dropout *>============================ |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Pits are located throughout the Serpent's Coils. Some are well-hidden. When you step on one -- or perhaps get pushed into one -- the floor gives away, and you drop down into a pit. It twists and turns, forming a fast-moving slide, that ultimately deposits you... back on the sand, and nowhere near the entrance. If you can find it again. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
A lot of things happen as people fall down the cat-walk studded pit.
For Loren, very little of it's pleasant. Jean's fan slams into his side, knocking him onto one of the nearby platforms where he lies, semi-prone and somewhat dazed. This is roughly when Gwen alights just nearby, her landing setting the platforms a-rattling. He glances up at her, shifts as if about to move--
And this one snaps, too. Under the both of them.
Very few of the platforms are all that sturdy, as it happens -- a thing that Lemina will also learn, quite possibly to her dismay.
Only Ragnell and Jean are fleet-footed enough to traverse the collapsing platforms all the way to the bottom, where an unfortunate truth is made clear:
Whatever sadists made this place, this room is nothing but pit at the bottom. And with most of the catwalks collapsed or in a sorry state, there's no (easy) way up.
And only an arguably easy way down.
Whether they fall, jump, or take an easier way down into the dark embrace of the abyss below, there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel.
It's the sun, of course -- as the group is funneled back out into the wastes and the sands of the Gunsmoke Desert.
Loren skids to a stop, for his part, then flops onto his back and stares a little blankly up at the blue sky above.
He's just going to. Lie here for a little while longer.
Uggghhh.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
In the end, Gwen, Lemina, and Loren *aren't* able to help themselves. Arguably, it's because Ragnell doesn't go back for them that she's able to make it across herself, but ultimately it becomes apparent that there's no way through but down anyway.
"Fuck this place," she announces, before attempting to catch Jean's eye, nodding to her, and then consigning herself to the abyss. Why not? There's no other way out, and she's reasonably sure she *probably* won't die.
She's even right again, too! She just gets shoved back out into the sand in the wake of those who were rejected first, in goddess knows where of the Gunsmoke Desert, and goddess only knows where the entrance they managed to find is relative to here.
On the plus side: that slide was *super* fun. At least she knows why it's called the Serpent's Coils now.