2017-09-30: A Matter Of Names
- Log: 2017-09-30: A Matter Of Names
- Cast: Elena, Amelia Theodore, Katyna Reidal, Jacqueline Barber, Seraph Mirielle
- Where: Gob's Hideout
- Date: 2017-09-30
- Summary: A party seeks to bring Brother Mathius, a rogue Etone, to justice. Digger RNG has other plans for them.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ To the south of the tiny town of Boot Hill lies a manor that hasn't been lived in by polite company for generations. A decrepit wooden structure that stubbornly refuses to buckle to the elements no matter how rough it gets out there, the name of its original occupant has been long lost to time. The nearby villagers have come to simply call it the Gob's Hideout, after a band of Gobs who nearly brought ruin to Boot Hill chose to use it as a base of operations. The locale has proven popular for just about any migratory band of thieves, murderers, and any other imaginable loosely organized group of individuals with loose morals. It's not hard to see why, as the manor is spacious and can hold a few dozen gang members - more if they're willing to forego comfortable space - and is reasonably fortified against outside intrusion. Drifters, especially those who prefer to seek bounties to make ends meet, are almost sure to find someone attemtping to escape the eye of the law within the chambers of the old manor... but they had best be prepared for a fight. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD2s1kx8ONQ
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
Brother Mathius had been a recent recruit; a brash young man with more interest in the power being a member of the Ethos granted him than his purpose as one. Over time reprimands against his behavior on the field multiplied, until he decided he'd had too much. Charged with delivering several wagons of food, clothing and medical supplies to a few remote villages in need of light and guidance after recent attacks by Wels, he had gone rogue, fleeing with the supplies and intending to sell them. Church-grade medical supplies alone could make him and any number of hired accomplices beyond rich.
Wanted posters had paid off; not only are Drifters (that's you!!) hot on Mathias' heels, but the Church of Granas has been informed of the traitor's whereabouts. A Cathedral Knight was deployed to dispense judgment upon his person - and a Songstress to provide support and attempt talk, if it isn't too late to make him turn himself in.
Brother Mathius has taken refuge in an old abandoned mansion out in the wilderness. As Elena and Amelia arrive outside, shadows in the windows indicate that they've been spotted, but no one comes out to meet them yet. The front gate is barricaded, but there's no need to rush ahead just yet. Best wait and group up, and share the facts.
The Etone is a half-decent Ether-user, specializing in healing and lightning. It's unknown how many local thugs he's hired, but he was known to carry a variety of firearm-type ARMs on him at all times and could reasonably arm a dozen people if he wanted to. He was also a bit of a demolitions expert, as seems to be common in the clergy.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Duty is an important part of life for Amelia Theodore. These darker duties are no different.
As a priest, it is her calling to help and tend to the spiritual wellbeing of others. As a Cathedral Knight it is her job to protect.
As the Holy Pardoner it is her duty to forgive men like Brother Mathius.
Nevertheless, the aged priest is present with Elena. But she's not in the white armor she had worn out in the desert, nor at the village swarming and crawling with Wels. The woman is in a much darker set of black and gold, thumb brushing over the pommel of her sheathed sword as she stands silently at Elena's side, quietly contemplating the barricaded entrance.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna is a Drifter. She is in this for the money.
Actually, she's in this for more than the money, because stealing medical supplies from a danger zone is offensive to her in ways that few things are, but money is definitely on Katyna's mind. It turns out that maintaining a Gear and repairing ARMs isn't cheap. And on top of that, she was kind of asked to look into the Wels by a priestess of the order.
Katyna doesn't own a horse. She had to walk, and as a result is both more and less obvious than a rider as she approaches; she makes less noise and is a lower profile, but on the other hand she is also in sight for longer. This means the Granas priestesses get a chance to see her even if the people inside can't. Kat slows as she sees them, keeping to cover in case they're part of Mathius' gang, but raising her empty hands in the traditional 'I come in peace' gesture once she realizes they are not.
Mostly, she is hoping they don't recognize her wanted poster.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
This wasn't the type of job Jacqueline usually took on. She preferred to avoid violence where possible, and from the job description, it sounded like there might be a lot of that...
In reality though, she had an ulterior motive here. Jacqueline had heard rumors that the mansion this 'Brother Mathius' that they were supposed to find had holed up had some old, rare, books. If he was a demolitions expert like they said, it was possible that they might be damaged in the fight...
And so, that's why she was here. If the opportunity came about, she would be there to ensure they were properly taken care of. And if it didn't? ...Well, at least she would still be getting paid.
Ordinarily Jacqueline would greet everyone politely upon gathering for a job, but judging from the situation, silence would probably be best here. They all get a brief nod before Jacqueline turns to assess the situation.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
There were, generally, three types of Humans: Those who did not look to the divine, those whoe did, and those who abused the divine. The first needed guidance, the second boons for their faith, and the third...
Well, the third had need of correction. To be made example of. It was really simple, actually! Those who abused the blessings of Alth-... Well, ok, these weren't really abusing the SERAPH's goddess' blessing. But it really was the principle of the thing! And so, Mirielle had decided to assist in this endeavor, having fond* memories of her time in the stone forest with the followers of Granas. A little bit of mutual back-scratching was never bad! When she saw the place that the bandits hired by the false Brother had occupied, her heart sank, heavy. "This is terrible... Awful, truly!"
Mirielle's face is the picture of deep, soulful distress. "All these brigands, all these terrible men, boarding up windows, turning a place of beauty into a well lit, premeditated place of warfare... Terrible. A waste of potential! It should be dim, and perhaps a little damp, creaking wood and cold stone, candle-lit..."
(* These "fond" memories involved the joy of a clear canteen, and puppies, and not awful cactus monsters and getting ruined by stupid stone pillars)
"So, it's fine if they're hurt, right?" Mirielle asks the Granas faithful.
DG: A party led by Elena is now entering Gob's Hideout. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Dabbling In The Platforming Genre *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Your team has decided to not engage the encampment head-on, and instead take advantage of the derelict mansion itself for an alternate entrance that won't immediately arouse suspicion. This is all fine and good thinking, but the one open window you can spot out of view of their sentries is high up on the second floor. Supplies are precariously stacked outside to make for unsteady makeshift platforms that you might have to move around first before you can confidently climb them. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
Elena greets Katyna as she arrives, not recognizing her - the Songstress doesn't keep a collection of wanted posters, and rarely pays attention to them for a host of reasons. This has worked out decently so far and has yet to backfire horribly.
A nod to Jacqueline is given as well, Elena having her serious face on since arriving. This man, she thought, was despicable and deserved everything that would happen to him today if he wouldn't yield. Amelia might have to forgive him EXTRA hard.
Mirielle - or rather, what outline and filled shapes Elena perceives, which is more akin to a semi-transparent blob of darkness in the shape of Mirielle - is also a familiar sight, to which Elena waves and then warns Amelia: "Sister Theodore, the friendly Seraph from the other day is here to assist us, if you still cannot perceive her!" That way nobody freaks out.
With that done, it's time to decide how to head in. Elena lays out a plan. "Brother Mathius... no, Mathius, he has lost his right to the title Brother. He has likely placed explosives in the mansion. At the front gates. That is why he is not sending anyone out to take us out. He believes we will do it ourselves when we set foot inside and set his traps off. There is a balcony around the back with an open window which I have not seen sentries patrol. If we go around back quietly, we can climb inside from there!"
And that is, wouldn't you know, exactly what the party finds. Empty crates and old furniture is stacked up like a great big pile of trash just under the balcony, allowing one to climb a fair way up before needing the scale the wall or rely on ropes. "Does someone have rope?"
DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dabbling In The Platforming Genre.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna Reidal is certainly not going to make an issue about having a wanted poster with her name on it and an appearance that makes her distinctive enough to be noteworthy, because the last thing she wants is for this group to decide they'd rather get her money than his.
She, very obviously, cannot see Mirielle. She looks right past her twice trying to figure out where the 'seraph' (whatever that is) she is addressing is. Perhaps this is a religious thing? Seraphs are angels, right? she thinks, trying to remember everything she knows about Filgaian religion (almost nothing). Kat gives up after a few moments.
Katyna meanders around the structure and takes a look at it. "Actually," she says, speaking for the first time, "I do have rope." Reaching into an inner pocket of her duster, Katyna pulls out a knife with a ring on the pommel end and what looks like a spool of wire. She ties the 'wire' to the ring, and as it comes off the spool it expands, becoming something more like a rope of some rough, vaguely plastic-like material, easy to grip.
Katyna considers throwing it but decides to just climb up, something she does remarkably quickly for someone wearing a duster like that. She loops the knife around a banister twice, then jams the knife point into the balcony itself, affixing it as firmly as she can so that she can let the rope down. "I need that back afterwards," she hisses downward, "but come up."
Is that... an ARM rope?
DG: Katyna Reidal has used her Tool Grappling Cable toward her party's challenge, Dabbling In The Platforming Genre.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Amelia remains ominously silent for a long moment, the woman as still as a statue save for the flutter of her cloak. She's staring intently at the door as though mentally preparing herself for a full frontal assault. Before an alternate means is presented in the plan to go around the back. This she is fine with. Then others arrive. This, too, she is fine with.
There's just a brief moment of cool blue eyes focusing on Katyna, lingerin. Though if she recognizes her off any wanted posters, the old church knight has deemed now to be niether the time nor place, in her mind, with other business to attend to. She gets a stoic nod of greeting. Then Jacqueline- a familiar face. She too gets a silent bow of the head. But Amelia is in business mode.
"Aye. I know. I recognize her voice." She replies to Elena, regarding Mirielle's presence. She'd probably recognize better if the Seraph were holding a bottle of water, or that shady knife, but voice is a good start as she squints at the point of assumed origin.
Down to business though. Climbing. There's a grumble, but Amelia presents another option, lacking rope in her equipment.
She takes to a knee, bracing shield overhead. "Someone hop on, I'll give a boost."
Assuming someone steps on her shield, they're going to get launched. Safely though.
She can drag herself up afterwards- probably with assistance.
DG: Amelia Theodore has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dabbling In The Platforming Genre.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline might have seen Katyna's wanted posters before. Even if she has, though, this isn't in danger of turning into a fight amongst themselves - Jacqueline has far too many friends with bounties on her head to try and hunt someone else's without having a good reasoon for it.
Mirielle gets a second glance, however. She vividly recalls the Seraph from their visit to the Stone Forest, and she gets a friendly wave...which might seem strange to those who cannot see her, but at least Elena fills in.
She also, fortunately, provides a plan.
"I don't have any rope, but...someone can hitch a ride with me." Jacqueline reaches into her pouch and draws out a Crest Graph.
She invokes it, causing a pillar of stone to start rising from the ground like an earthen elevator. Hopefully it rises up quickly enough that they'll get there before a guard wanders by. She had to regulate the speed carefully, so she didn't just launch them all upwards and into the mansion, perhaps a bit more violently than she intended.
That seems to be about the idea Amelia has, however, though Jacqueline was sure the older woman probably had a bit more control over that.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dabbling In The Platforming Genre.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
The darkness filled smudge in Elena's view begins leaking, as Mirielle begins to fill the surroundings from her sleeves, her hands disappearing in the flow of 'heavy smoke' that dilutes and dims the ambient light level. When Jacqueline waves, though, she smiles and waves back, which causes a fountain of darkstuff to Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Darkbad about funnily. For the actual challenge, though, sneaking in, Mirielle has to rely on her natural ability to clamber and crawl like some sort of NORMIE, even if she appears to float a bit. Inking the air around the group could be helpful!
It could also make things far harder to see.
"It will be fine, for the dark that they hide in is their enemy... The unfaithful will find no succor... perhaps after a good scare, they'll repent their wrongdoings!"
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dabbling In The Platforming Genre.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Dabbling In The Platforming Genre *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Your team has decided to not engage the encampment head-on, and instead take advantage of the derelict mansion itself for an alternate entrance that won't immediately arouse suspicion. This is all fine and good thinking, but the one open window you can spot out of view of their sentries is high up on the second floor. Supplies are precariously stacked outside to make for unsteady makeshift platforms that you might have to move around first before you can confidently climb them. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Dabbling In The Platforming Genre *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Your team has decided to not engage the encampment head-on, and instead take advantage of the derelict mansion itself for an alternate entrance that won't immediately arouse suspicion. This is all fine and good thinking, but the one open window you can spot out of view of their sentries is high up on the second floor. Supplies are precariously stacked outside to make for unsteady makeshift platforms that you might have to move around first before you can confidently climb them. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
==========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 1 *>=========================== =================< Results - Dabbling In The Platforming Genre >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 0 --(3)--> 3 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katyna Reidal 0 --(4)--> 4 Pass Grappling Cable 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amelia Theodore 0 --(3)--> 3 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Elena 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Elena 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> Elena has posed.
Thanks to Katyna's rope and Jacqueline's sudden display of sorcery, getting Elena and Amelia up turns out to be entirely possible despite their lack of parkour skills. It just takes a bit longer than it should have, that's all!
On the bright side, as the last of the party members climb through the open window or settle on the balcony, the hallway ahead of them, dusty and dark to Mirielle's liking, shows no signs of bandits or rogue priests. Unlit candles on golden stands, condemned half-rotten doors and stairs going both up and down await them at the very end of the hallway, along with countless rooms they could explore if they had a mind to. There are more cobwebs and spiders here than bandits, for sure.
"I do not believe they will repent," Elena whispers back to Mirielle, seemingly unhappy. "Mathius actions have endangered the lives of countless people all for his own profit, he does not even deserve the notion of forgiveness." OK well maybe Elena is a bit harsh as priestesses go but can you blame her on this topic?
(The answer is yes, you can.)
DG: Katyna Reidal has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Gob's Hideout *>=============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Key Item Strongly Suggested *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your party finds a treasure chest neatly hidden in a well-hidden side room within the hideout. It is a much different color from all the other treasure chests you've seen, and none of the keys you may have found work in the lock. Common sense dictates that you might have the means to open it later... but why wait? You could just try and force it open right here and now, but you suspect it will not yield to your impatience easily. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna will help anyone who needs it up the rope (except Mirielle since, well, she can't see her) before she winds it back onto the spool. It actually shrinks back down to the wire size as she does, letting her put the whole spool back in her pocket. Handy stuff.
She decides to keep the knife out just in case, though, as she looks around the first room in the balcony - it's easy to overlook, it looks like it's a linen closet until she opens the small door. What she sees is a room full of... stuff. Most of it looks like junk - battered boxes, ancient scraps of cloth - but there's one box that stands out by being sort of vaguely clean and in better shape.
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Key Item Strongly Suggested.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"I do not think so... surely they would leave those supplies guarded or near them if so? Perhaps this belongs to the previous owners of the mansion," Elena theorizes, though she's no better off than the others when it comes to knowing. It really could be anything, though given the state of the hallway they ended up in it's probably not a recent addition to the manor.
There's only one way to find out, right?
No, it's not bombs. Though she thought about it.
Instead Elena pulls her Mana Egg out of her robes, the shining blue crystal glowing an icy white as she channels magic through it and the air chills. "I will try to freeze the hinges of the chest if you cannot pick it open. It should be easier to remove the lid that way."
DG: Elena has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Key Item Strongly Suggested.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Katyna's means up are helpful, useful, and prove one thing: Heavy armor was not made for parkour. Nevertheless, the old knight gives an appreciative dip of her head once she's up. Once inside though, her hand is kept close on the hilt of her blade, ready to draw if needed, should they have been spotted on entry but... It looks like that's not the case. "Might be." Murmured to Reidal. If not the supplies they came to take back it could be honest to Granas treasure. But treasure does not motivate Amelia.
Amelia gently clears her throat however, at Elena, before fixing the songstress with a level look that might be hard to read. "Sister Elena, that is where I come in." She reminds gently. "Perhaps they very well may repent." She echoes Mirielle; though Amelia isn't actually quite as hopeful as she sounds on the matter. There is doubt clouding her there, as she returns her attention to the chest at hand. When Elena freezes the hinges, Amelia... Well she's honestly surprised explosives didn't come into play. But then takes a solid swing at the hinges with the lip of her shield to try and shatter them.
DG: Amelia Theodore has used her Tool Confessional Wall toward her party's challenge, Key Item Strongly Suggested.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
When you stare into the darkness, the darkness stares back. And when you wave at it, it apparently also waves back. The darkness is very friendly and receptive, is what Jacqueline's figuring out.
To everyone else - assuming they can see it - this might be a bit disturbing, but to Jacqueline, who can see it all, it actually gets a chuckle out of her.
It doesn't distract her from her climb upwards, though, and before long she's up and joining the others at the chest of what were presumably supplies.
Katyna, Amelia, and Elena get to hopefully working the chest open. Jacqueline figures that she'll probably just get in the way here so she stands off to the side, electing to keep watch so that she could warn everyone in advance if anyone happened to overhear the commotion and come to check it out.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Key Item Strongly Suggested.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle('s dark, leaking goest smudge) nods to Elena, the corners of her mouth downturned in a tiny frown. "Then, I shall be as harsh as necessary."
Whispers surround her like a cloud, as her darkness-pouring sleeves move from a flood to a smoky afterimage trail, words like 'kill' and 'maim' and 'rend' and 'rip', as well as the rattling of thick chains. The Seraph is incited with the idea that someone could so foully take advantage of the Church - any church, not even hers! - to get rich quick. Only someone deserving of the most crushing terror that lurked within the darkness would do such a thing!
Belief, you see, was something that required maintenance, like a 'Refridgerator'. (This was Mirielle's new favorite word.)
But then the group comes across a chest!
"Ah, hidden into the wall, perhaps there is a tasty snack inside? What joy the Darkness brings, treasures abounding within its shad'wy breast, for those vigilant few who prowl within its graces!"
She goes about trying to help open it, joining Amelia's whacking with a small jolt of darkness - a small skull of darkstuff that shoots for the lock and quietly... chews. On the lock.
With its skellyteeth.
HELPFUL.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Key Item Strongly Suggested.
==============================<* Gob's Hideout *>=============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Key Item Strongly Suggested *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your party finds a treasure chest neatly hidden in a well-hidden side room within the hideout. It is a much different color from all the other treasure chests you've seen, and none of the keys you may have found work in the lock. Common sense dictates that you might have the means to open it later... but why wait? You could just try and force it open right here and now, but you suspect it will not yield to your impatience easily. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 2 *>========================== ===================< Results - Key Item Strongly Suggested >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 3 --(17)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 3 --(20)--> 23 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katyna Reidal 4 --(12)--> 16 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amelia Theodore 3 --(12)--> 15 Pass Confessional Wall 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 3 --(16)--> 19 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Elena 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Elena has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
"This lock," Katyna says, with a grunt as she twists the knife, "is surprisingly sturdy for being old-fashioned."
And, indeed, the whole box kind of is. Freezing the hinges and smashing them appears to have worked... to an extent... but it didn't take the lid all the way off because of the complicated series of latches. For all Katyna is calling it old-fashioned, it really isn't.
Katyna gives up entirely when the box apparently bites her finger while she's working on it. It wasn't Mirielle's skeleton, thankfully - the latch just slipped and skinned her fingertip - but judging by the way she's looking at it, she's not entirely sure. Is this some kind of freaky magic trap? She looks at her bleeding finger (her blood is pretty close in colour to a human, for someone who is so differently coloured anyway), then the box, then her finger again before sticking it in her mouth. It stings!
"Yeah, no," she mumbles, around her finger. "If this is the supplies, we're going to need the key. And if it's not... I think we're still going to need the key."
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gob's Hideout *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - No Sanctuary *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The people you are fighting aren't the only ones to take up residence here. As the manor has fallen into disrepair, wildlife often finds cracks and openings in which to crawl in and shield themselves from the elements. Large, bird-like creatures have taken roost and are attempting to get some shut-eye. A failure to get past them without waking them up might see you losing some valuables, or being given the gift of an annoying status effect. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
While the others are busy working with the chest of supplies - assuming it even is the supplies - Jacqueline scopes out the situation. She doesn't see anything associated with the man they're tracking down...however, she does see something else, and she slinks back to the group carefully.
It takes one look to realize that they haven't managed to open the chest, but she doesn't address that now.
"Be careful going forward. I spotted some creatures in the rafters...Pordarge or Okypete, maybe. They're notorious thieves, tend to carry diseases, and they're very loud, too...if we wake them up, we might alert the entire building. We need to be cautious here." Jacqueline murmurs, just low enough for everyone else to hear.
She reaches into her bag and hands out some potions to help counteract the effects the birds carry, just in case.
For herself, however, she takes a pale-green potion and takes a dose. It should help her to move quickly and more efficiently, to reduce noise.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, No Sanctuary.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
The chest defeats the party.
Elena wonders if it's too late to use explosives. Yes, Elena, it is. Also it would give away your location. And probably destroy the contents of the chest too.
She looks at Amelia as the pardoner states her duty and nods. "I apologize, Sister Theodore. That is correct. I will let you perform your duty before I cast judgment." If it had been anyone else, she'd have continued arguing.
More than a little spooped out by Mirielle's shadowy displays, it's a good thing Elena isn't TOO jumpy or screamy (in this context at least). "I... I am sorry for asking if it is rude to do so, but are all shadow-elemental magics meant to... look so disturbing?" she asks the Seraph, curious, and careful to draw a slight line between 'dark magic' and 'Dark magic' since she's at least mildly aware Seraphim are elemental spirits, not spirits or good and evil.
Speaking of evil.
Her voice lowers as she says: "If only the beasts had handled Mathius instead of standing in our way..." If only indeed.
She tiptoes along best she can.
DG: Elena has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Sanctuary.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
A few solid whunks with her shield and Amelia raises for the next before... Mirielle's lirrle skullfriend lunges in to start chewing. The fact that this happens halts the old knight-priest. The fact that she can see it distracts her. She's squinting at the source of Mirielle's voice; that amorphous dark... Darkness that she couldn't see before. Elena haid said over time she'd get better or somesuch.
Still, Amelia clicks her teeth. No dice on finding those stolen supplies just yet. Though she does rifle through her possessions and presents Katyna with a handkerchief for her finger.. But then. Birds.
The last time Jacqueline handed her a potion it was useful. Amelia isn't doubting it this time either when the topic of disease comes into play. "My thanks."
She's keeping that close to hand in the event any pecking happens as she tries to take it slow and keep her chainmail from making TOO much noise. Her step might be surprisingly light, but that's not going to stop her from quietly praying internally anyway.
DG: Amelia Theodore has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Sanctuary.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
There is a multiple person pileup on opening the box, and Mirielle winces when Katyna cuts herself. "There's probably a puzzle, everyone, it's alright... Like, a little setup with three statues, and a riddle, and you must place the statues correctly, or a trap door will release snakes -- or no, spiders! Many spiders, yes, big and little, scrabbling and scuttling, and a door that slams shut behind you! Yes, this is..."
Mirielle continues to fantasize about Resident Evil puzzles in monster-infested mansions, backing away from the chest which will probably take the SCORPION KEY or something equally foolish.
"Ah, most of the Artes I use are more evocative... Fear, you see, is an affirmation of life! And when one is affirmed of their life, in their moments just after being afraid, they search for reason and are eager for belief. They call to Althena in their need, and their deliverance naturally stems from those pleas. Thus, to make people believe, I must affirm their lives beyond the dull and droll and dreary. To make people feel life-affirmation, I must make them afraid. Simple, mmm?" She explains, chattering away as they continue along - heedless of the monsters. Monsters don't bother her!
She's a Seraphim, rare is the simple animal that can see her. Right?
Well, she is 'leaking' something fierce for the sake of visibility and enhancement.
"I know some other Artes, and seraphic blessings, but those are the most rote for me."
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Sanctuary.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna Reidal keeps her finger in her mouth. She is watching the box suspiciously in case it sprouts chains or more skeletons or something, right up until they leave the room and she very deliberately closes the door behind the party.
Eventually it stops bleeding, so she takes it out, waving off the handkerchief. It was a minor injury. Mostly it just stung. What the heck is an okypete, she thinks to herself, looking around - oh. Up. Birds. And not a kind she knows; she wishes she had the time to take a picture. And also was in front of people she can take a picture in front of.
Fortunately, Kat is very light on her feet, and so she's rather less worried about getting through quietly than some people. No clattering chain mail here, just a battered duster thrown over her upper half of the bodysuit. Also, there's a convenient blob of darkness to hide near. Huh.
...wait, which one of them is casting that?
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Sanctuary.
=============================<* Gob's Hideout *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - No Sanctuary *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The people you are fighting aren't the only ones to take up residence here. As the manor has fallen into disrepair, wildlife often finds cracks and openings in which to crawl in and shield themselves from the elements. Large, bird-like creatures have taken roost and are attempting to get some shut-eye. A failure to get past them without waking them up might see you losing some valuables, or being given the gift of an annoying status effect. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 3 *>========================= ==========================< Results - No Sanctuary >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elena 20 --(13)--> 33 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 23 --(9)--> 32 Pass Invigoration Elixir 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Katyna Reidal 16 --(9)--> 25 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amelia Theodore 15 --(15)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 19 --(11)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Elena 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Conditions: Wound(2) Effects: Stalwart(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Elena 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. DG: Amelia Theodore has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gob's Hideout *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Crawling Out The Woodwork *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It can't be much of a surprise that you'd just happen to run into three or four bandits en route to some other part of the hideout, can it? That's why you're here to begin with. Aggravatingly, at least one or two more show up while you're dealing with this group. They aren't that dangerous individually, but if this keeps up... you're going to be here for a while. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
These things, as it turns out, were pretty light sleepers. It does take much to set them off, and when they do they descend on the party, squawking and shrieking and swiping and stealing. The party will have no choice but to finish them off if they want to reclaim what they've stolen...most likely from Elena and Amelia.
Jacqueline and Katyna are swift enough that the birds don't manage to grab anything from them. While the birds can't see Mirielle, as such, their bestial instincts tell them that something is there in the darkness, so more than a few try to swipe in her direction.
In the end the lot of them are dealt with, but they might have larger problems on their hands...
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Try as they might to get by without incident. Incident follows the group from the chest to the birds. And in the end it doesn't quite matter who did it, but everyone loses.
"Caw?" "CAW!" "SQUAWWWWW!"
Someone aggros the birds.
In a flurry of feathers, claws, and pecking beaks, they swarm down from the rafters, angry about their slumber being disturbed and even more avaricious than normal because of it as they swoop, claw, peck, try to steal anything shiny, and make themselves into a horrendous nuisance.
Somewhere along the way, Amelia is fairly certain her money pouch has become lighter, and her face has earned a few more fresh and bloody scratches. Yes, larger problems are on the way though.
Like the group of men that overhear the commotion and come rushing to investigate. Their voices and bootsteps are the only warning anyone has before several men come rushing in. Though Amelia batters one in the face with a blunt swing of her shield, they draw weapons and engage with intent to dispatch the group of well meaning but bird-haggard Drifters.
DG: Amelia Theodore has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crawling Out The Woodwork.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"I see... so you use fear to draw people to your faith?" Elena questions, although this is very much a case of pot and kettle in more ways than one.
And then birds assault Elena.
Elena wears shiny red orbs on her shoulders.
The birds make off with them.
"W-Wait, no, do not take those, they are not food, you -"
KABOOM. Bird chunks and feathers rain down.
Also bandits have been alerted to their location.
"I am sorry, I did not think that could happen!" she says to the group as she grips her Mana Egg tighter. It glows a windy green, and with her other hand Elena directs the sudden appearing of circular wind blades straight for the incoming men. Don't worry, they don't actually cut like buzzsaws, they just hurt like them.
"Perhaps it would be best if we did not knock all of them out so that we may question them!" she says, just in case.
DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, Crawling Out The Woodwork.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Ugh. Birds. Kat is pretty sure it wasn't her, but this isn't the time to figure it out. She hunches down, taking shelter in her duster, and manages to keep birds off of her - though one of them, being a particularly vicious bird, does what birds do right on the back of it. She's safe, but it makes a mess and she'll have to brush it off later, once it dries.
Gross.
And bandit-attracting, apparently. Katyna is still holding a knife from when she tried to pry the box open with it. It's one of her worst knives - battered, there's a reason she used it to pry instead of one of her others - but she tosses it with a complex snap of her wrist and a flick of her finger.
It doesn't fly straight at the bandits; it makes a wide arc, coming in from the side. By that point. Katyna has pulled out a second knife, one of her better ones, and flicks that one differently; it spins as it flies, making more of a shining disc of steel in the air, and only just barely touches one of the bandits, almost appearing to slow and stop in midair for an instant before reversing, boomeranging back to Katyna's hand.
She's not fighting to kill, really, but her knife tricks are a) distracting and b) rather painful; she's not adverse to dropping them, she'd just rather not start by mass murder. "Can't we all just get along?" she asks the air, and does not expect to be answered.
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crawling Out The Woodwork.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
It's an interesting question whether one can pass through a spooky ghost if you're merely an evil swooping bird. Scholars have debated the point for ages.
Birds have new evidence to submit, if they were academic sorts: claws harry and cut at her, and cause he to cry out - which is in and of itself an awful, echoing thing that bounces around walls, up and down the attic. Like a B-movie wail, it draws in fools closer! Which, you know, would have been great if Mirielle was a slasher movie villain, and those drawn were moronic co-eds.
These, unfortunately, are dread bandits!
"Ah, the faithless!" Mirielle notices them, after hiding in the corner for a moment, drawing her glowing knife to get to the stabbing.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Extremely Shady Knife toward her party's challenge, Crawling Out The Woodwork.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline was afraid this might happen. The commotion caused by the birds is enough to draw in trouble. She backpedals, feeling the effects of the Invigoration Elixir slowly start to leave her. That was fine, though...the time for stealth was over.
She reaches into one of her bags, drawing out a bottle of foul-smelling black liquid. Unfortunately, if she shouted a warning now, it'd be enough to alert the enemy, too...she'll just have to try and hurl it into their midst before anyone moves in.
With any luck it would distract and throw confusion into their ranks, making them easier to deal with. She seems reluctant to actually injure any of them herself, though...fortunately, everyone seems to be on the same wavelength.
"Understood!" With that, Jacqueline draws out her earth pillar Crest and becomes to invoke some in the area, attempting to limit the bandits' escape options.
It's okay, she can retract them later.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Crawling Out The Woodwork.
=============================<* Gob's Hideout *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Crawling Out The Woodwork *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It can't be much of a surprise that you'd just happen to run into three or four bandits en route to some other part of the hideout, can it? That's why you're here to begin with. Aggravatingly, at least one or two more show up while you're dealing with this group. They aren't that dangerous individually, but if this keeps up... you're going to be here for a while. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 4 *>========================= ===================< Results - Crawling Out The Woodwork >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elena 33 --(0)--> 33 Pass Mist Egg 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 32 --(0)--> 32 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Katyna Reidal 25 --(0)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amelia Theodore 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Extremely Shady Knife 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Elena 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Elena 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> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Between birds and bandits it's touch and go for a little bit there. But it looks like the men that storm in are sent packing, or stabbed. There's a lot of stabbing that happens.
Though the dust settles and Amelia wipes some blood off herself-- it's bird chunks mostly- she pauses to take a breather and survey. Most of the men are on the ground writhing in pain or passed out, be it from wind blades, knife tricks, earthen walls, shield bashes or some good old fashioned shady shanking.
"They didn't seem to want to get along, no. Shall we continue?"
DG: Elena has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - Another Man's Treasure *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Whatever the aims of the outlaws that are here, they've already accumulated a lot of... something. There's a number of heavy, tightly-wrapped sacks that are far too heavy for anyone to pick up and run off with, and too well-tied in which to have a peek as to what could be inside. They're all placed inconveniently as to create an unintentional but effective blockade. Better roll up your sleeves, and make yourself an opening to continue down further through the hideout. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
The party advances, past the unconscious bandits, up the stairs, ever carefully. Why upstairs? Probably a coinflip. It was up or down, you had to pick a direction.
It turns out to be a pretty good thing. The party stumbles on the stolen supplies! Crate upon crate upon crate of clothes, medical wares, potions, pills, food (mostly dried or emergency rations that keep for a while) and bottled water.
... but they're in the way. You can't proceed further upstairs from this side of the mansion unless you move some of the wares aside. Try not to break anything.
Elena, naturally, doesn't resort to explosives.
"It... it would take us too long to move all of this back downstairs. We do not even have the means to carry them back to town unless we find Mathius' wagons. If the wares are here, however... he must not be far."
It'd make sense, this stuff is highly valuable. He probably wouldn't even trust his own men not to dip into the supplies.
Elena does her best to start moving some of the crates aside. She's not very strong but she's pretty good at finding the lightest crates and making some room to pass.
DG: Elena has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Another Man's Treasure.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna just looks at the stuff. Well, it's apparently not in the box they found before.
"I can possibly help get it back to town," she says, a little uncertainly because does she really want to admit it? Well, she's not going to leave the medical stuff here. "Even if we can't find any wagons. But we'll have to deal with the problem first." She'll have to get her Gear for that, and it's not even here right now.
Katyna doesn't try to move obstacles, immediately. She tries to climb partially on top of it so she can see what's up, and then she tries to shift things from there. It also lets her help direct things so that pulling random items out of the barricade doesn't start an avalanche of gear.
Supply slide economics is no way to run a dungeon.
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Another Man's Treasure.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
With a haggard sigh, Jacqueline retracts the earth pillar. Her first order of business was to examine the unconscious bandits and determine whether they were dead or alive, and with that figured out she gets to restraining them. They could deal with them later once they found the man they were after.
They progress, and...come across the stolen supplies! This is a bit problematic, though, considering the location...
"Well, if we have to, I can bring my vehicle around...I should be able to carry all of this, but we don't have the time to do that now." Jacqueline replies. It was parked a fair ways away, though, so they wouldn't be tipped off by it driving up.
Unfortunately, the supplies are too tightly picked for her magic to be of any use, here. She has to do things manually, which...isn't her specialty. She closes in, attempting to help shift things around.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Another Man's Treasure.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
There's the supplies. Amelia makes mental note of the location at least. But she has other priorities, believe it or not. "These won't be going anywhere. We can find Mathius and handle all of this later." She suggests, in regards to getting it back to town. She sure can't carry any of it on her own. She does try to push her way through though, using her shield for leverage in places or otherwise help give a good but CAREFUL push to get by, and help Elena.
DG: Amelia Theodore has used her Tool Confessional Wall toward her party's challenge, Another Man's Treasure.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle's shady knife goes snicker-snack, but thankfully these are bandits so there's not much trouble just turning them into groaning casualties on the ground. She's rougher than may be entirely justified, but she's not only mad with the subject matter of the bandit's awful deeds, but she's mad at BIRDS rebelling against her!
You're supposed to be her allies, cawing loudly at the window, a flap of feathers and a beat of wing on a windy eve...
In any case - Stumbling upon the cache of stolen goods is a heartening and fortuitous circumstance! Until they're called upon to move them to bypass the attic space. "It will all be fine. Althena - And Granas! - have provided for us all. It is enough that we move the things, yes? Of course! Let me help!"
Mirielle focuses and channels, pouring darkness from her hands directly into a pool on the ground, before a large black arm reaches out, and then another, claws a part of the shadowy beast's long fingers. White teeth and red eyes glimmer along its slightly amorphous head, as it pulls itself from the ground and... Politely begins lifting boxes, using its stubby monster legs to LIFT PROPERLY and delicately shift thing aside. What a nice and polite monster. It even seems to defer to the others, growling throatily in... pleasantries as it works?
The whole thing seems to take all of Mirielle's attention though. Those skinny Seraph arms aren't good for lifting, anyway.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Another Man's Treasure.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - Another Man's Treasure *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Whatever the aims of the outlaws that are here, they've already accumulated a lot of... something. There's a number of heavy, tightly-wrapped sacks that are far too heavy for anyone to pick up and run off with, and too well-tied in which to have a peek as to what could be inside. They're all placed inconveniently as to create an unintentional but effective blockade. Better roll up your sleeves, and make yourself an opening to continue down further through the hideout. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - Another Man's Treasure *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Whatever the aims of the outlaws that are here, they've already accumulated a lot of... something. There's a number of heavy, tightly-wrapped sacks that are far too heavy for anyone to pick up and run off with, and too well-tied in which to have a peek as to what could be inside. They're all placed inconveniently as to create an unintentional but effective blockade. Better roll up your sleeves, and make yourself an opening to continue down further through the hideout. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
==========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 5 *>=========================== =======================< Results - Another Man's Treasure >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 33 --(18)--> 51 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 32 --(15)--> 47 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katyna Reidal 25 --(18)--> 43 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amelia Theodore 30 --(15)--> 45 Pass Confessional Wall 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 30 --(15)--> 45 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Elena 65 --(10)--> 75 Fail Conditions: Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Elena 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. DG: Elena has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Just You And Me... *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- At last, you've come face to face with the head honcho of this illegal operation. Full of bravado and contempt, they're at least two cuts above anything else you've fought here before. They appear to be on their own, but they appear a match for any Drifter that dare defy them - and still stand as a threat to a party like yourselves. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
The party starts moving crates - or starts climbing on crates. You'd think this would work out great, because what are crates going to do to you, really?
... well.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP!
There's a thunderous explosion, as flames, shrapnel, food, clothes and medical supplies, including glass shards and syringes, are blown out in every direction! It was a trap! But there's a lot more wood strewn about from the crates than contents... were most of those crates actually empty?
You'll have time to ponder that when you rise back up, one floor down, because the explosion knocked the party clean through said floor and set the mansion on fire. Amelia and Mirielle got out of that way better through sheer luck or smart use of their toys.
Oh, but the bad news keep on coming.
Peering down the hole at the party is a priest. His dark blue tabard with the Ethos' insignia on it in bright white, worn over pale purple robes, is all too obvious in the light of the flames. "I hope you didn't think I'd keep it all in one place. Now if it's all the same to you, you know how Ethos business goes. No witnesses."
His hands point down and the air is abuzz with energy. A lightning bolt the size of a car crashes through the roof of the mansion and heads straight for the party!
Elena, roughed up by the explosion, barely has time to conjure up a watery shield around the party using her Mana Egg to dampen the impact of the traitor's lightning Ether. "T-Take him out, I cannot hold this for long!"
DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, Just You And Me....
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna is distracted (again) by a horrible darkness thing being very polite about its box-moving. "Okay," she demands, "who is DOING that? Because it's kind of - just - " She trails off, uncertain how to finish that, and she doesn't have to because an explosion takes the place of the end of that sentence.
The bad part: Katyna was on top of the boxes, so guess who's right in it when it explodes?
The good part: At least she lands on her feet.
Katyna's duster looks a little ragged (well, more than before) because she reflexively used it as a shield for her face. One of the sleeves looks like it's about to come off from the number of rips and tears in it, the arm that was under it is looking more than a little injured too, and it's shredded down the left side.
But she does indeed land on her feet, and that means she's ready to act almost immediately after Elena blocks the lightning bolt for her. (She couldn't have done that.) Katyna has flipped a knife into her hand from somewhere in her jacket, and this one looks a little unusual. The hilt is a little thicker, mechanically constructed around a core with finer seams than any Filgaian weapon.
Katyna throws it up at Mathius. It actually hits the floor he's leaning over and sticks, and he might actually miss it's happened for a moment. "Sorry," she calls back up, hoping he can hear her because her ears are ringing from the explosion and thunderclap. "I'm not a believer."
Katyna's knife explodes. It makes a remarkably powerful explosion for something the size and shape of a throwing knife. Hope he likes coming down here too!
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Just You And Me....
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline notices the sound just a moment too late.
"W-wait, that's-!"
There's an explosion. Jacqueline crashes to the floor below in a crumpled heap with her glasses clattering to the floor next to her, their lenses cracked or broken. She lays there for a moment, still. She can hear voices around her, foggy and indistinct...
And the next thing she knows she feels something similar - the crackle of lightning, crashing down above. It was a familiar sensation. She was used to it, from her own Sorcery.
There was a fight going on...she couldn't keep herself down for long. With a wince she hauls herself to her feet. She tries to support herself with an arm as she stands, but that turns out to be a poor idea. Her legs handle it just fine, at least...and fortunately, she only needed a single arm to hurl a potion.
She aims for the blue and purple blob standing above her, drawing out a bottle of foul-smelling black liquid and hurling it as powerfully as she could up at him.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle's Closet Monster heaves and hefts, but something is wrong. The boxes are too light, and with a testing rattle - finds that it's empty. The beeping sound, on the other hand, is one that draws yet more suspicion, because of all of the technology that the Seraph Mirielle had experienced on Filgaia, the noble 'explosive device' was by far the most common. Dropping the empty crate, the Closet Monster leaps for Mirielle and loses definition as a creature, instead becoming a sphere of absolute black, causing her to fall down to the lower floor, bounce once, and then pop, the 'bubble' of darkness pouring outward and leaving Mirielle, in her black dress, face framed by her white hair, with a very stern look on her face. "I'm not sure if you can hear me, or see me, failed Brother of the cloth. But you are the most evil of all Humans - those that betray the trust placed upon you. Those that betray your god."
The darkness that had been the Closet Monster pools on the ground like smoke, before curling up the legs of the party, binding wounds and lingering on them like an aura, emboldening them as Mirielle draws out her glowing knife.
She had asked, at the beginning, how rough she could be.
The flames all around, the smoke that begins to billow out, casts firelight shadows all around, but firelight is not Mirielle's enemy - it is her friend, a licking bonfire whose natural light deepened every shadow as much as it lit up the cathedral. "You won't steal from the mouth of your fellows any more. The dark will take you, and none will lament your loss!"
Ok, Mirielle's a LITTLE theatrical. The best part of being a dark smudge is that most people can't critique your spooky (potential murder) monologues.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Extremely Shady Knife toward her party's challenge, Just You And Me.... DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Just You And Me....
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Let it be known now and forever more: A shield is not a toy. It is a symbol. It is a representation of faith. But It is also a hunk of metal that's at least over an inch thick, and those are generally good to hide behind when the telltale beeps of a timer counting down starts to signal that time is up.
When the explosion dies down and the dust settles, Amelia is pressed with her back against the nearest wall, shield and armor scorched but her shield was UP. She lowers it for a peek, cringing at the results, but internally growling.
And then there is Mathius.
Amelia peels herself off the wall with a grunt. And the old knight-priest draws her sword.
"Aye, I know how Ethos business goes. But you're no Etone anymore, boy." Muttered as she begins to approach.
"The time of judgment has come." She recites. "Sins once forgotten return to sink the soul... When the Day of Darkness comes at last, and the light is swallowed up by growing shadow, where will you be, boy? Those who remain moan in dread with their last breaths..."
She's not stopping.
Her voice is chillingly gentle as she says...
"When even the darkness says you're the most evil of all, I'll still forgive you..."
If he can hear Mirielle, Amelia too can heap onto the theatrics. Her intent is brutally simple- and frightening in theory. She's going for the nearest support beam under Mathius, hoping exploding knives will weaken it enough for her to bring it- and him down with it to everyone else's level before she can REALLY deal out that good old fashioned Granas forgiveness.
DG: Amelia Theodore has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Just You And Me....
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Just You And Me... *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- At last, you've come face to face with the head honcho of this illegal operation. Full of bravado and contempt, they're at least two cuts above anything else you've fought here before. They appear to be on their own, but they appear a match for any Drifter that dare defy them - and still stand as a threat to a party like yourselves. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Just You And Me... *>======================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- At last, you've come face to face with the head honcho of this illegal operation. Full of bravado and contempt, they're at least two cuts above anything else you've fought here before. They appear to be on their own, but they appear a match for any Drifter that dare defy them - and still stand as a threat to a party like yourselves. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
==========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 6 *>=========================== =========================< Results - Just You And Me... >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 51 --(5)--> 56 Fail Mist Egg 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 47 --(5)--> 52 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katyna Reidal 43 --(6)--> 49 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amelia Theodore 45 --(6)--> 51 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 45 --(3)--> 48 Pass Extremely Shady Knife 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Elena 75 --(5)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Elena has passed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elena has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - ...And All My Men! *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The boss has had enough of your guff from the first few exchanges of blows, and has decided to invite the rest of their gang to tip the odds. Hey, you ganged up on them first, and turnabout is fair play! Following a tense stand-off in which your team is made aware of the peril before them, weapons are drawn and commands are shouted. Time to put an end to their reign of terror... or find yourself thrown right on out of the manor of the ill-mannered. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Wound==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
It's very unfortunate that Elena's shield doesn't hold - but fortunate that she's the only one caught in the blast when it drops, as everyone has, apparently, had ample time to get out of the way. Though the poor Songstress is blasted back and scorched badly, everyone else uses the moment to go to town on the priest.
Katyna, stealthily, blows his footing out from under him, causing the priest to crash down into the flaming debris too. Jacqueline supports Mirielle, who goes full spoopy and enters spooky territory. Evidently, the Etone isn't much of a spiritual person and can't perceive the Seraph, but he can hear her and see her effects all too well. It clearly has him backing away in fear.
"Back, you unholy thing! BACK!"
He avoids being brutally knifed, if Mirielle had even intended it, but crashes right into Amelia in his panic. "The... Pardoner?!" Well his day just got a lot worse. Amelia cuts a support beam and flaming floor crashes on top of the traitor. With a crack of thunder, he blasts it all away, rising, trickle of blood coming from his forehead.
"Screw this, this isn't worth dying!" Two fingers go in his mouth and he whistles loudly. Gunfire drowns out the sound of the flames as bandits, wielding gunsmoke ARMs, pour in from the upper and current floor, firing at will - as the priest makes a bad dash for the window at the end of the hall!
Elena has enough strength left to spread a healing spell or two across the party, but will need cover to not be shot full of holes.
DG: Elena has used her Tool Mist Egg toward her party's challenge, ...And All My Men!.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Quietly, as ARMsfire rages around her, Jacqueline leans down, sliding her poor, broken glasses back into position. Her vision still isn't at one-hundred percent, but it's better than nothing. She sees Mathius making a dash toward the window...and frowns.
"No." She says simply, invoking the Earth Pillar Crest. Outside a pillar of earth rises up, blocking off his potential exit. Which left only...
Jacqueline reaches into her bags for her last bottle of repellent, hurling it into the crowd of bandits.
With her other arm out of commission for now, she won't be able to get back to casting right away...hopefully, she wouldn't need to.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, ...And All My Men!.
<Pose Tracker> Katyna Reidal has posed.
Katyna Reidal never did get an answer about the shadow magic...
But Katyna is not completely spiritually insensitive. She just has no experience with Seraphs, or indeed any of the magic found on Filgaia; even Symbology is not popular amongst Hallorans for several reasons. She still can't see Mirielle, not even a little bit, but she at least gets the sense that something is there, which is better than she did before.
Kat glances toward Mirielle (she's off by a few degrees) but then dives to one side. This is because bandits are shooting at her, and she would rather not get shot. Her duster gets a few more holes. One of them is accompanied with a hole in her, and she lets out a choked-back grunt.
Trying to ignore the injury, Katyna catches herself from the roll and leaps. She can jump a lot higher than it looks like she should be able to, the blue beastwoman (or whatever) apparently surprisingly athletic. She flings another one of those knives up toward the bandits, with a different construction around the hilt and forming a short crossguard. Wait, don't throwing knives not normally have crossguards?
This one impacts point-first in the wall near some of the shooters, burying itself partially in the wall - and the thing splits open, spraying an improbable amount of bitterly cold mist in a wide arc. Ice starts to form along the floor, the wall, and anything else that stays close enough to the cryogenic mister, possibly including bandits. Kat had been going to throw it at Mathius to block his route, but she can't find a good angle from here. Who needs Symbology? She has her knives. (And damn, what she wouldn't give for her pistol back...)
Katyna lands from her jump, staggering to the side in pain. She's not quite as well-off as she was hoping.
DG: Katyna Reidal has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ...And All My Men!.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
Ah, this one recognizes her.
When the rubble shifts, Amelia has her back to Mathius, scarred eye watching him from over her shoulder, while her other keeps watch on the men just arriving.
"Now is the time to beg for deliverance. Do not allow Darkness into your soul. Darkness is ruin and destruction, and the judgment of the wicked eternal."
Her voice is a whisper; her demeanor is calm and placid. The grip on her blade tightens.
Elena was hurt in that blast, it is a note Amelia files away as another of Mathius' fresh sins. When Jacqueline cuts off his means of escape, Amelia turns, her approach slow and inexorable, as unstoppable as the march of time itself; the leisurely pace of a patient hunter who is entirely fine with giving a slow and persistent chace to wear down their quarry rather than rush the moment. The Closet Monster lingering about her only adding to the sudden spike in the almost palpable levels of menace radiating from a woman who was, mere moments ago, just a tired old knight. She fends men away by sword and shield to the best of her ability when they approach her, but mostly leaves the mob to the others as she focuses on enacting her duty and absolving Mathius of his sins. With her blade.
DG: Amelia Theodore has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ...And All My Men!.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
"Unholy? UNHOLY?!" Mirielle steams, as the fire begins to get worse, the room filling with something a little more potent than verbal barbs and woodsmoke - ARMs fire. She moves towards Jacqueline, seeing her in danger, and throws up a barrier, or rather, summons one into exeistance from the smoking ground. "Such an ill-formed view of all things. There's no forgiveness. Only the silence that comes after you. Unholy... To think... That humans like you exist! Foolish, selfish, ignorant...!"
She drives her knife into the barrier of darkness, and the barrier takes on a 'face', and grasping skeletal hands. It lurches towards the bandits, bony fingers with that same red glow as her knife sweeping like a hundred daggers.
"The greatest mercy I can give you all is not dwell on the things you do."
She turns to Jacqueline as her LEGALLY DISTINCT DEMON WALL (Of skeletons) pushes out to protect the pair while cackling.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Extremely Shady Knife toward her party's challenge, ...And All My Men!.
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - ...And All My Men! *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The boss has had enough of your guff from the first few exchanges of blows, and has decided to invite the rest of their gang to tip the odds. Hey, you ganged up on them first, and turnabout is fair play! Following a tense stand-off in which your team is made aware of the peril before them, weapons are drawn and commands are shouted. Time to put an end to their reign of terror... or find yourself thrown right on out of the manor of the ill-mannered. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Wound==========================================
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - ...And All My Men! *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The boss has had enough of your guff from the first few exchanges of blows, and has decided to invite the rest of their gang to tip the odds. Hey, you ganged up on them first, and turnabout is fair play! Following a tense stand-off in which your team is made aware of the peril before them, weapons are drawn and commands are shouted. Time to put an end to their reign of terror... or find yourself thrown right on out of the manor of the ill-mannered. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Wound==========================================
==========================<* Gob's Hideout - Round 7 *>=========================== =========================< Results - ...And All My Men! >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena 56 --(6)--> 62 Fail Mist Egg 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 52 --(5)--> 57 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Katyna Reidal 49 --(5)--> 54 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amelia Theodore 51 --(6)--> 57 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 48 --(6)--> 54 Pass Extremely Shady Knife 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Elena 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Elena has successfully explored Gob's Hideout!
===============================<* Gob's Hideout *>================================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Enemy of My Enemy *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- As the battle winds down, cooler heads among the group surrender and invite a calmer discussion with a fine bottle of expensive liquor. It appears that the whole episode was the result of a misunderstanding! The outlaws here in question are, in reality, a vigilante militia coming here to hunt a third party that was rumored to have been using this as a hideout. After clearing the air about mistaken identities, both parties can part ways as new friends in a difficult world. (They'd appreciate it if you could spare that guy over there a Potion Berry, as you really did a number on them...) =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
A full battle breaks out.
Lightning flies in every direction - gunfire, too. Jacqueline blocks 'Mathius's' exit, and he stops, evidently cornered. Katyna manages to blast most of the bandits out of their safe cover (if not unconscious outright), which easily leaves Mirielle and Amelia to confront the leader. As they approach, he seems shaken, completely out of juice. His men can't even slow their advance.
Skeletal hands pin the bandits and 'Mathius' in place. He stares at Amelia, rumbling.
"I can't believe I'm going to die because the Pardoner is on Mathius' side and has a posse of Drifters and some sort of evil spirit. Well! Come on then!"
"W-Wait, what?" Elena says, as the mansion falls silent (save for the flames). "Are you not... are YOU not Mathius?" she asks.
"Brother MathiAS of the Etones, thank you. We set this ambush up after recovering Mathius' wares. We figured he'd come back for them because we didn't see him leave the premise. Paid his men a nice sum to turn on him, too."
Oh. OH. Oh...
"... a-ah... that is..."
Outside, a horse suddenly breaks away from the mansion at full speed. Through a hole in the wall one can see Mathius fleeing, without men or goods.
"Um..." Elena slumps against a still standing and non-flaming portion of wall.
<Pose Tracker> Amelia Theodore has posed.
It's a perfect match up really. Mirielle's ominous but NOT UNHOLY dark and dreadful visions of clawing darkness, and Amelia's unending approach. With the Etone pinned, the Pardoner raises her blade.
"Have you any final sins to conf... ess...?"
Amelia trails off entirely, the cold indifferent expression upon her face melting away to one of halted bewilderment.
"I'm on who's side now, lad?"
There goes Mathius, just outside.
Amelia slowly, tiredly, buries her face in one hand.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline draws out another Crest...but as she does so, she hears something that gives her pause.
"...What." She states. The Crest slips beneath her fingers, fluttering to the floor. "Are you serious."
It is not very often that Jacqueline could be said to be 'dumbfounded'. She goes from that to a state that can be called 'absolutely livid'.
She takes a deep breath and bends down, picking up the Crest and slotting it back into her pouch.
Jacqueline's a bit of a mess. Her glasses are broken, her left arm might also be broken, and her clothes are singed and her body hurts all over.
And this was all a misunderstanding?
"What in blazes were you thinking?" She hisses, marching over to Brother Mathias.
"You blow us up and you attack us, without stopping to consider that maybe we're not the guy you were setting a trap for?" She shouts, then glances to the side as someone who is in all likelihood the person they were tracking down flees.
"Lovely. This is perfect." Jacqueline mutters, fuming. She is really not in a good mood right now...
She quickly draws a bottle from her bags and throws it to him...though from the speed, it was more like she was throwing it at him.
"Just...just take this." She mutters.
It's a healing potion.
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"Hey, in my defense, you've got some kind of dark spirit hanging around with you making skeletons pop out of thin air and you looked like you came to take the supplies back! How was I supposed to know you WEREN'T sent here by him?" Brother MathiAS replies, as he no doubt begins helping with the healing where he can too, what with having Ether and all.
"You never even asked me my name!"
Well, he did attack first, but you guys were being PRETTY SHADY too. "What a waste of good explosives," he also complains. And some supplies, presumably, since the bait had to look real.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle's SPOOPY (and Legally Distinct) DEMONWALL (of bone) stops short of hurting MathiAs too much, disappearing into the smoke with a sigh and a clatter.
All Mirielle adds to this, morosely, is...
"You called me unholy."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Mirielle is nice when you get to know her, really! She's just...very dedicated to her craft." Jacqueline says, coming to the Seraph's defense. "You can't and shouldn't automatically assume that just because something is 'dark' and 'scary', it's evil or unholy! That's why the world is in the situation it's in now, people are too quick to act on sudden judgments without actually understanding."
Jacqueline sighs and shakes her head.
"But, whatever. It's done, and he got away." Ordinarily at this point she would fold her arms all cool, but her arm is still recovering.
"The Caravan Kinship would be honored to help assist in the replacement of the stolen supplies. Just...try to avoid blowing up innocent people in the future, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.
"You're a dark spirit making SKELETONS attack people! What ELSE am I supposed to scream as I try not to get maimed by you?!" Mathias insists, still completely uncertain how to address the invisible Seraph even after Jacqueline's explanation. He is after all an Etone.
He sighs, defeated. "Fine, fine. Look, we don't need help replacing the supplies, but if I give you the list of towns they need to get to, how about helping with that instead? Better to split the supplies up this time."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I can do that, certainly. It won't be that difficult for us." Jacqueline agrees with a nod. Admittedly, the thought of asking for reimbursement does broach her thoughts...but she chases it away just as quickly. There were more important things to worry about, like the well-being of those towns...and they probably wouldn't exactly have much in the ways of funds to pay her with.
That was fine, though. They were the sort of people the Caravan Kinship was formed to help. They could probably appreciate some of the cheer they could bring..
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
"I'm a dark spirit, yes, and I was making skeletons attack people. Would you rather spiders? Maybe..." Mirielle trails off.
"That doesn't make me unholy. I'm more divine than you! Judgmental..." She pouts, but leaves Jay to do her business.
Her pride took a CRITICAL hit.