2017-10-01: Spooptacular Farmhouse
- Log: 2017-10-01: Spooptacular Farmhouse
- Cast: Rose, Sorey, Seraph Edna, Seraph Mirielle, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: 2017-10-01
- Summary: Rose unknowingly accepts a quest from a ghost and takes the Shepherd and three ghosts to an eerie farmhouse. Malevolence and doors happen.
============================<* Great Krosian Plains *>============================ The bulk of the countryside around the capital city of Krosse consists of rolling, grassy fields, a stark contrast from the arid desert sands to the north. Every year, however, the desertification spreads, and more and more life is swallowed up by the sands. As travellers near the capital, the grasslands transition into cultivated fields. The yields from Krosse's farmlands have given the kingdom the nickname of the breadbasket of Ignas, and the majority of its trade centres around grains, fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. While its might pales in comparison to its larger neighbours, Krosse maintains a significant standing army to help deal with monsters and green-eyed neighbours who might seek to seize that bounty for themselves. These soldiers are kept active by frequent patrols and maneuvers throughout the Plains and major roadways; as a result, travel in the kingdom is safer than nearly anywhere else on the continent. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbFnoRSW6M
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
EARLIER:
A pale farmer approaches the Sparrowfeathers' table as they prepare to pack for the day. Tattered clothes and a deathly smell make his plea for help resonate all the more with Rose, but after refusing medical care or food, the strange man disappeared in the crowd quietly.
Dezel decided not to tell Rose that was a spirit. Because it wasn't Malevolent, so it really isn't any of his business if an Actual Ghost tries to attract her to his place. He still opted to ride along in the merchant's body just in case, though.
And then Rose had gone out of her way to get Sorey, Edna, Ragnell and Mirielle too, explaining the plea: the farmer's abode has been raided by bandits, and they went as far as destroying his wagons and burning his supplies. He fears the bandits are still there, and fears even moreso for his family!
Come on Shepherd, this is right up your alley, isn't it?
NOW:
"... I don't think we're at the right farm," Rose says, glancing up from the map she's holding as the small wagon they used to travel here stops and Eguille perks a brow up.
"Young missy, who'd you say sent us here again?" he asks.
"Didn't you see me talking to him? He looked like he walked out of a graveyard. Smelled like it, too!" Rose answers.
Gravely, Eguille frowns. "You didn't talk to anyone."
Rose turns as pale as the farmer must have been.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey is understanding when Rose realizes that she's been tricked by a ghost into coming out to a location that is probably haunted to deal with purely mortal bandits. He refrains from laughing very much, and instead attempts to be very understanding.
"I'm glad you're branching out in the sorts of people you are offering your services to, Rose," he states after a moment, still grinning broadly. "I know that you've been leery of the incorporeal, and I'm glad that Squirehood has really opened your horizons."
But Sorey hops out of the wagon, looking around for a moment. "Still, I wonder what bandits would be looking for in a place like this? Someplace that looks this... hmm. Well, I guess we'll find out." He looks to the rest of the group, and smiles. "While I don't think we'd be able to put this poor farmer to rest once and for all, let's at least try and make it so he doesn't feel like his farm is being disturbed. And wrangling bandits will probably help build our reputation back in November as well."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
This is, however, not up Edna's alley. Not because she's afraid of ghosts. Of course not. But because she was in the middle of enjoying her eleventh plate of 'not-mabo curry'. Which meant that she was, in fact, ambivalent to the taste. Watching people freak out because a plate of food wa being eaten by a disembodied spoon, however?
Golden.
But here she is.
There is must regret. She could have had a twelfth plate. But no, they're now staring at a very much abandoned farmhouse. Totally not haunted, right? Right. Of course, Rose turning pale gets a smirk out of the Earth Seraph. Still, they've got to do the thing now that they're here.
She sighs and hops off the wagon. "I want five crablettes once we're done with this idiocy." She mutters, umbrella resting against her shoulder. "Stupid ghosts and bandits and farmhouses and..."
Pleasant girl.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
EARLIER:
Rose asks Mirielle for help, and the slightly morose Seraph reluctantly (and glumly) agreed, making mutterances as soon as she agrees that have very little meaning, and in fact even to a trained ear resemble the sussurations of leaves and not actually words. Oh, she's darkly muttering though! Darkly. Eyes downcast and bangs falling over her face and all.
NOW:
Mirielle's dark mood breaks as she realizes that Rose got a tip from a GHOST!
"Rose, you didn't say you could see the dead - how special!"
Unlike Edna, Mirielle's eyes shine with an intensity. Yes, this is excellent. A spooky farmhouse! A quest from a ghost! Ahhh, this was more like it. Even the atmosphere would be excellent, enjoyable, peachy-keen. "How wonderful for us, that such a thing should occur."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
When Rose had given Ragnell the rundown, Ragnell had agreed readily enough, though she'd been skeptical until the mention of the family. Well--there's no harm in taking a look, and depending on just how young the family in question is... When they arrive at the farmstead on the Sparrowfeather caravan, though, Ragnell leans out the back and peers at the environs. Huh. This doesn't have the feel of a place that's just been raided by bandits. It's more like...
'You didn't talk to anyone,' Eguille says to Rose at her back. Ragnell leans back and turns around to grin wide at a now deathly-pale Rose. "Wow, so now you're talkin' to *actual* ghosts? Hell yeah, Squire Rosie! Way to conquer your fears!" she chirps, thumping Rose on the back. "Soon you'll be kickin' back with spooks like the best of 'em! Right, Sorey~?"
It's *something* like Sorey's attempt to be understanding, anyway, though it edges more towards teasing and outright amusement. It's Ragnell. At least she's being positive? Either way, she gets up and follows Sorey out of the wagon, holding a hand to her hat as she scopes the place out again. "Mmm... Are we sure there actually are bandits here?" she muses. "A ghost mighta just picked an 'enemy' that's easy for mortals to understand. Then again, they tend not to be too creative--you know, once they're dead an' all."
She snorts as Edna joins the two of them, lamenting and muttering. "Sure don't ask for much, do ya, Edna? Did Lunata ever figure out how to make those for ya or what?" she says, amused. She chuckles, too, at Mirielle's delight. "Well, we might find somethin' interestin' here either way, crablettes or no crablettes. Right, Rosie~?" She grins again at the merchant. "After you, hun! After all, *you* got chosen for this mission. <3"
DG: A party led by Rose is now entering Eerie Farmhouse. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>=============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Carrots... *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- One's journey to the eerie farmhouse outside Krosse starts a few blocks up the road, rather than at the farm itself. No matter what route one takes to the farm, the first problems happen a few hundred feet afield. Coming from the direction of the farm is a veritable legion of what appear to be tiny carrots, or at least, some sort of root vegetable. They walk on tiny arms and legs that split off from their tiny orange-brown bodies, with a gait that isn't quite right, bending in ways that seem like they would break a normal vegetable and dripping a paralytic toxin as they walk. Individually, they aren't much to look at -- but mind the poison! ... Just what is happening at that farm? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I didn't... I didn't know he was... Sorey!!" Rose argues, but has absolutely no ability to form coherent arguments. She just kind of quietly makes whining noises as she wraps her hands around herself and shivers. This isn't helped in the slightest by Mirielle rubbing it in. "How can you like this?!"
Indeed, how? It's late, the sun is set, the land is utterly silent, the earth sooty and dark, the buildings battered by time. There truly couldn't be anyone left here, not for many years. Not even the slightest trace of bandits, truth told.
"Ragnell I'll bite you!" Rose threatens, in the most transparent attempt to replace fear with anger. "F-Fine, let's go!" she finally settles on, and bravely marches ahead and into the fields they must cross to reach the largest house of the lot. Eguille elects to remain behind to watch the wagon and horses, because said horses are getting rightly agitated.
A hint of what happened here finally manifests, when the party starts trampling the field of dead plants. Malevolence seeps out of the ground momentarily, feelings of VIOLENCE, WAR and SLAUGHTER. The purple, black and red mist just as quickly sinks back in, and the plants rise - carrots, in this case - animated by the dark energies into monstrous multi-headed carrot hydras. Luckily, they're not actually hydra-sized. Not-so-luckily there's quite a lot of them.
"HA! It's not haunted, it's just Malevolence! POINT FOR ROSE!" she exclaims, momentarily forgetting that Malevolence can and will also produce ghosts. Let her celebrate that she knows how to deal with this for at least a moment before reminding her.
It's with flaming knives, incidently.
DG: Rose has used her Tool Brad's Knives toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Look," Sorey replies to Ragnell, "I'm just glad that Rose is making progress. It's important to broaden your horizons, you never know what you're going to find at that point!"
Really, Rose is being quite brave, given that she's the only normal person here besides Sorey. The Shepherd is very proud indeed.
"We'll see if they have any at the hotel when we get back to November later on," the Shepherd promises Edna. "They're got an interesting variety of food, maybe there's something on the menu that's close?"
Still, the appearance of malevolence here is more than enough for Sorey to take action. He draws his sword, the wooden blade bursting alight as he channels the Flame through it. The swirling blue fire dances for a moment before the Shepherd unleashes a wave of it towards the strange monsters? Hellions? ...carrot demons?
Regardless, he uses his power to attempt to purify them as best he can.
"I wonder if it was like this before, or if something else caused this much malevolence to appear here..."
DG: Sorey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Edna gives Ragnell the most dour of looks. "Last I recall, she said she'd have to find decent crab for it." Shoulders hang and she sighs. "Good food is so hard to find." Her mind wanders back to those glorious mabo curry buns a while back. ...Yeah. That was nice. But that was then, and this is now. Hm.
Sorey gets a glance. "......" Bah. Whatever. There's a nod of acknowledgement, and then she's minding her own business again.
Well, off they go.
Off until they find that... what the crap is that? Walking vegetables? They look like carrots. But of course, Edna just frowns. "Now I've seen everything." She mutters, closing up her umbrella and pointing it towards the legion. "My point about good food still stands." The blonde grumbles before she just starts firing off shots of pure earth magic at them, hanging back to avoid the poisons.
DG: Seraph Edna has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle has a little smile turning up the corners of her mouth, a little c: of quiet joy at... At everything. From the wonderful level of nighttime ambience to the rich, loamy earth, to the rustle of the trees in the distance, to the warm silence of the air. It was perfect. Everything in its proper place.
"That's an odd question. I am of the dark! This place resonates strongly with it. Perhaps..."
Mirielle is cut off by the feeling of awfulness of the Malevolence, causing a wrinkle of her nose. "Well, it could still be haunted. It is good we have a Shepherd, though. Also, Rose, I think it's a little ignorant to call anything 'not haunted', when you truck with Seraphs."
She raises a finger, pointing skyward as her off hand draws out her shady black knife, which drips and smokes. "Every place that I occupy is a little haunted."
"Still... This malevolence isn't natural. An unclean feeling, seperate entirely from the farmhouse." Mirielle notes, the carrots having knife-directed blasts of Darkness whipping out like seeking bolts. "And neither are these creatures! ... I think."
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>=============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Carrots... *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- One's journey to the eerie farmhouse outside Krosse starts a few blocks up the road, rather than at the farm itself. No matter what route one takes to the farm, the first problems happen a few hundred feet afield. Coming from the direction of the farm is a veritable legion of what appear to be tiny carrots, or at least, some sort of root vegetable. They walk on tiny arms and legs that split off from their tiny orange-brown bodies, with a gait that isn't quite right, bending in ways that seem like they would break a normal vegetable and dripping a paralytic toxin as they walk. Individually, they aren't much to look at -- but mind the poison! ... Just what is happening at that farm? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Mirielle's a Darkness Seraph. This is kinda her thing," Ragnell points out, shrugging even as she grins. This turns into an outright laugh when Rose threatens to bite her. "Go for it, Rosie~" Her grin widens further as she winks at her. "I like it when you get feisty. <3" She laughs again, then settles somewhat when Sorey chimes in. "It's true; she *is* doin' better. If this'd been her, what, as short as maybe four months ago? She'd be cryin' and shakin' in the back o' th' caravan." She thumbs-up at Rose, helpfully. "So yeah, kudos!"
Edna, meanwhile, says that Lunata needs to find the crab. Ragnell clucks her tongue. "That so... Yeah, she's not gonna find that easy 'round these parts, I reckon. Too bad." She glances towards Mirielle then, then snorts again in amusement. That sense of Malevolence wafts up then, though, and her smile fades as she narrows her eyes towards the field.
In the distance, tiny little arms and legs shuffle, skitter, and close in, little by little. It's hard to see in the darkness at first, but when Ragnell peers out at the fields, she can see it: a legion of... carrots. Carrots with an unnatural gait, leaving behind leavings of toxins. "...uhhh," she utters, straightening. "Yeahhhh, I'm thinkin' this is *maaaaybe* not a bandit problem."
She draws her twin pistols, then begins to open fire on the vile vegetation, literally, as she leads with her usual electric bullets, then dives into a knee-forward slide and sends firestorms bursting from her pistols as she arcs each gun ninety degrees to her left and right, starting from immediately in front of her, to get a half-circle of lightning and flames to consume the carrots before her.
"Well, Malevolence is *usually* pretty unclean-feelin'," she remarks to Mirielle. "But I get the same sense. Like this is somethin' that was attracted to somethin' that was already here... or somethin' like that." Very specific! So helpful.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Carrots.... DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Extremely Shady Knife toward her party's challenge, The Carrots....
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>=============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - The Carrots... *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- One's journey to the eerie farmhouse outside Krosse starts a few blocks up the road, rather than at the farm itself. No matter what route one takes to the farm, the first problems happen a few hundred feet afield. Coming from the direction of the farm is a veritable legion of what appear to be tiny carrots, or at least, some sort of root vegetable. They walk on tiny arms and legs that split off from their tiny orange-brown bodies, with a gait that isn't quite right, bending in ways that seem like they would break a normal vegetable and dripping a paralytic toxin as they walk. Individually, they aren't much to look at -- but mind the poison! ... Just what is happening at that farm? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 1 *>========================== ===========================< Results - The Carrots... >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Brad's Knives 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorey 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Edna 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Extremely Shady Knife 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Rose 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Rose has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Don't know!" Rose answers Sorey as she cuts off one of the carrothydra's heads, and then twirls, cutting another and another and - she's a veritable whirlwind of fire and death, apparently.
Edna uses earth magic against earth monsters!!! You can practically see the 'RESISTED!' messages pop up and the front of her damage being lower, if just a bit. Though she slows the carrots up just fine, today, food preys on her, not the reverse! Life is awful for a second or five.
It's fine, though, since Mirielle and Ragnell have her covered. Bolts of lightning and darkness pin down and knock about the remaining hydras, and set the field up for Sorey to enter play.
Purification battles Malevolence, the blue flames washing away the purple badstuff. Of course, Sorey gets a taste of it firsthand. He sees bandits, at a time the farm still stood tall and proud, its fields green and lush. He sees soldiers of two different nations. A three-way battle, blood spilled on the fields indiscriminatedly. He sees the family who lived here caught in the crossfire, too.
But it's all too brief. There's more of that darkness where it came from, no doubt. They just have to find the source!
Rose, unaware Sorey gets this sort of feedback, turns to look at Mirielle and Ragnell. "That's kind of creepy that you like weird places. And I would NOT have been crying and shaking, THANK YOU VERY MUCH," she says, before making mental note Mirielle is evidently completely fine with being called a ghost.
DG: Sorey has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Harvest - Bean Trellis *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What feels like an eternity's worth of bean trellises stands in front of the investigators. On its own, this might provoke some mild comment or another, but what draws the eye most is the design of the trellises themselves; the sticks are thrown up haphazardly, as if threatening to stab anyone who draws close. Sometimes the beanstalks seem to move, and the trellises move with them -- sharp and vicious, threatening to outright stab those who draw near. Some of them look like they've drawn a little blood already. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Look," Sorey replies to Ragnell, "I'm just glad that Rose is making progress. It's important to broaden your horizons, you never know what you're going to find at that point!"
Really, Rose is being quite brave, given that she's the only normal person here besides Sorey. The Shepherd is very proud indeed.
"We'll see if they have any at the hotel when we get back to November later on," the Shepherd promises Edna. "They're got an interesting variety of food, maybe there's something on the menu that's close?"
Still, the appearance of malevolence here is more than enough for Sorey to take action. He draws his sword, the wooden blade bursting alight as he channels the Flame through it. The swirling blue fire dances for a moment before the Shepherd unleashes a wave of it towards the strange monsters? Hellions? ...carrot demons?
Regardless, he uses his power to attempt to purify them as best he can.
"I wonder if it was like this before, or if something else caused this much malevolence to appear here..."
Ask, and you shall receive. Sorey pauses for a moment, an odd expression washing over his face as he burns away the malevolence and the feelings involved in creating it wash over him. He shakes his head after a moment, and looks up.
So this might just be an echo, without any real bandits? Edna can feel the realization, but Sorey says nothing and sheaths his sword, walking further onto the farm.
What comes next are massive numbers of trellises, set up as if they were a barricade to keep people out. The Shepherd gazes at them for a moment, and shakes his head. "This barrier has a lot of malevolence clinging to it - I expect it will try and move if we go around it. We need to break it down, and that should release the energy inside."
It is kind of creepy - but there's creepy to most people, and creepy to two people who work with ghosts and three *actual* ghosts...
DG: Sorey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Ugh. This is a pain in the ass. Edna just wants to not be here.
...Maybe she can just dwell inside Sorey and let them all deal with this.
... ...
It would have been a fine idea if she wasn't already outside. Tsk. And so she swats away a number of dumb carrots before Ragnell and Mirielle take them out. Once they're taken care of, she sighs and lowers her umbrella. "Hm..." Well, whatever. Time to go. She doesn't spare a look as she follows along with everyone else...
Right till they find what appear to be... "Seriously?" She grumbles and narrows her eyes. "Always more work." She raises an arm, summoning a huge floating gauntlet as she steps forward. She reaches out and the gauntlet follows suit, flexing as she opens her hand and makes a grasping motion.
The metal gauntlet grasps the offending trellises and then she pulls her arm back, yanking them away. ...And then again... and again...
It might be therapeutic.
DG: Seraph Edna has used her Tool Divine Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"... really?" Rose asks Sorey, staring at the trellises, in much the same tone and with similar timing to Edna saying 'seriously'.
"Is there anything Malevolence WON'T corrupt? Could you like... Malevolence-proof things? Is that a service we could offer?" It'd be a great way to make a killing, but for once Rose is more concerned about the wellbeing of people, and it's easy for Sorey and Edna to tell through the link.
Using her knives, Rose approaches the trellises as carefully as she can and tries to help Edna and Sorey as best as she can, hopefully without getting run through by angry garden equipment.
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Rose is normal? No, no. Sorey and the Seraphs are normal. Rose is odd! That's how small grouping works - normalcy is relative! This is absolutely how statistics works. "Just because it is weird for you doesn't mean it's weird for me!"
A haunted farmstead where the carrots rise up to poison travellers to death and turn them into fertilizer, and bean trellises that thirst not for sunlight and nutrients but for PAIN and BLOOD - well, that's just how Malevolence works.
"I am indeed, and that is my thing." Mirielle practically darkles* with Ragnell's words, a gentle sway in her step lifting and fanning out the hem of her dress as she moves. She's... really happy. "It is fine, it is fine. Althena's providence brought the poltergeist to Rose, and Rose brought us to this place that so needs the cleansing light and soothing dark of Althena's blessings - all is as it is meant to be. A place can be dark and forboding without being vile or wicked, just as a place of light can be oppressive." She nods eagerly. As for the bean trellises...
"Hmm... Merely spooky, or Malevolent? I believe this is the latter." Mirielle notes, before summoning up a few darkstuff-skellingtons to help clear the way with a bony rattle. The slim forms use their bone fingers to peel apart the trellises and clear the way... without a chance of being cut! But there's soooo many trellises, and they thirst for flesh and suffering!!! It must be an allegory for farming itself, how poignant.
(* Darkles are dark sparkles!)
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"She's right about that," Ragnell comments, chiming in with Mirielle, half-smiling in amusement.
The carrot-monsters soon go down, thanks to the combined efforts of the two humans and three Seraphim. Ragnell doesn't get to see the feedback Sorey does, him being the Shepherd and directly clearing the Malevolence here, but she does note the way his eyes go distance for a moment. She eyes him, but he pulls himself together, and the rest of the monsters are down by now, so it's all good... for the time being.
"Uhhhh, pretty sure you would've," Ragnell says, half-smirking at Rose. "Mind, you might've also been stabbin' everythin' within stabbin' reach, but you'd'a been cryin' and wailin' at the same time too, admit it. C'mon, Dez, back me up here, I know you're in there."
Another snort at Sorey, though that attitude fades when the group reaches the trellises full of Malevolent beans. Hmmmm... "Yeah," she says, holstering her guns and fetching one of her lightning grenades. She pauses before pulling the pin, though, looking at Mirielle and then chuckling. "True 'nough. Well, first things first--Edna, lemme back you up there, make it easier for ya t' yank those things up. Sorey, Rose--lightnin' in the hole!"
And then she chucks her grenade towards the center of the field, where it will explode with snaking branches of lightning a moment later, potentially making it easier for the rest to carve a path through.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Harvest - Bean Trellis.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Harvest - Bean Trellis *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What feels like an eternity's worth of bean trellises stands in front of the investigators. On its own, this might provoke some mild comment or another, but what draws the eye most is the design of the trellises themselves; the sticks are thrown up haphazardly, as if threatening to stab anyone who draws close. Sometimes the beanstalks seem to move, and the trellises move with them -- sharp and vicious, threatening to outright stab those who draw near. Some of them look like they've drawn a little blood already. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 2 *>========================= ======================< Results - Harvest - Bean Trellis >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 3 --(13)--> 16 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 6 --(6)--> 12 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorey 3 --(4)--> 7 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Edna 13 --(6)--> 19 Pass Divine Gauntlets 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 6 --(3)--> 9 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rose 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rose has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Not really, I'm afraid," Sorey states as he helps to hack away at the beans and remove them from the trellises. He allows Edna to pull one away, before going to work on the next. "Malevolence is something that everyone learns to live with - it's a part of people and the land, and while we work to purify it when it gets too strong, it wouldn't get this bad if people lived lives that were more in balance. When they're confronted by contradictions, when they fight and hurt each other... it leads to things like this happening. Which in turn can lead to more malevolence, which spreads and causes more problems..."
The group continues to demolish the beany barrier, burning away the vines, pulling up the posts and generally smashing everything in sight. Before long the beans cease their struggling, drawing back away and leaving a clear path for the party to move forward towards the farmhouse.
It seems that even beans can be beaten, at least by a group of ghosts and people with the power of purification. But Sorey pauses and looks at the small crater amidst all their work where Ragnell's electric grenade had gone off. And he just raises an eyebrow. "...isn't that overdoing it, just a little?" he asks curiously. But then he grins, and looks towards the house. "I wonder what's going to come next? Spirit sprouts? Phantom fennel? Ghostly greens?"
It does seem weird that the main barrier has been... well, vegetation.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Reaping *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
At first glance, this looks like a mere job uncompleted -- a section of
farmland where the reaping started, but was never finished, tools discarded
and field left in disrepair. The tools, however, seem to have other ideas,
as they one-by-one pry themselves off the earth and swipe, instead, at the
investigators!
Each swipe seems to render them that littlest bit slower, though; this is,
no doubt, a simple question of moving carefully and waiting for the tools
to.. exhaust themselves? Is that right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Slow===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
"Imbalance leads to Malevolence - Malevolence leads to imbalance. It's truly a terrible cycle, but thankfully, one we can mend, and prevent." Mirielle agrees with the Shepherd as she hops through a hole created in the trellises by her Conjured Skeletons, which, as soon as the party is clear of the awfully bloodthirsty planting bed arrangements, fade back into the ground with a puff and a smoky wafting.
They continue to approach the farmhouse proper through the twisted fields, when one shed to the side creaks loudly, its rotting door hanging adjar. Scattered from it is a job unfinished - an overgrown field with patches empty, scattered with scythes small and large, wheelbarrows and carts laying rusting on the field.
Suddenly, they awake, the Malevolence from the killing fields and the battleground animating the tools for farming into spinning, deadly blades that sweep around the field. The barrows and carts rise up just off the ground, moving like battering rams along various paths at a rapid pace to hem the party into the paths of the spinning blades. It's like a spinning blade trap!!!
Except executed by hateful animated farm equipment in the rotten and overgrown fields. Maybe the shed is safe to wait this out?
Oh, wait, no. The shed explodes outward, the door splintering as the rest of the tools empty out into the air, a cloud of swooping missiles - trowels and the like - that attack like an angry cloud of crows or hail of arrows, not like tools of growth and harvest.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle, for once a little spooked herself, tries throwing a few simple blasts out before putting her head down. "This isn't delightfully spooky, this is just murderously vengeant! Dark or light, such ill will..." She hops to, trying to maneuver simply through the maze of whirling blades, swpping tools, and hemming barrows.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Reaping.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Can't disagree about that at least," Rose answers Mirielle, on the specific topic of oppressive light and soothing darkness. "Think I'd rather take a vacation to a well-lit beach than a haunted farm though." She's a very simple person when it comes to her wants and needs.
"And absolutely not!" she reiterates for Ragnell.
"Yeah actually you would have been," Dezel chimes in as a disembodied voice, taking it easy inside Rose in much the same manner Edna had considered doing inside Sorey.
Rose almost trips on a shovel from the distraction.
"WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT! -WHEN- DID YOU GET IN?!"
"Obviously when you weren't looking." he matter-of-factly states.
Rose sighs deeply, turning to Sorey. "No such thing as overdoing when inanimate objects are trying to kill you. Balance, though, huh...? So you're saying Malevolence's always been around and it's only bad when there's too much? ... who do you think was the first person to have 'too much'? Isn't it weird we don't have a record of that?"
They do, after all, have records of the first Shepherds, of the Hero King Claudin and at least one of his followers. Well, less records and more places named after them, and legends spread through them. Close enough.
Then suddenly, deadly tools.
"WhoaWHAT!!" says Rose as she narrowly avoids the shovel she tripped on rising to smash her in the face. She grabs it angrily before realizing you can't strangle a shovel. "Ugh. Well, fine, I bet there's people out there who'd pay for haunted farm equipment. Always gotta look for those quirky collectors."
Rose produces her rope and hook, and as she carefully weaves through the deadly blades, attempts to lasso as many of them as she can, using the end of the rope to bundle them all up once caught. The rope'll help carry them too, so it's a bonus!
DG: Rose has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, The Reaping.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
"..... ......."
By this point, Edna is just fresh out of fucks to give. Icy blue eyes narrowed, she just stares at the animated farming tools in a most unimpressed manner. There aren't even words good enough to describe her sheer, utter, incredulity at this latest happening.
And so she doesn't bother attemption to contend. She casually kicks the ground, and then goes flying as a strip of stone launches her into the air. Then, Edna opens up her umbrella and floats along to the other side~
Screw this nonsense. "Whoever's behind this is losing all of their teeth when I'm done with them."
DG: Seraph Edna has used her Tool Umbrella toward her party's challenge, The Reaping.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Given how long the Seraphim have been around, it's not surprising that humans might have lost the record of the first person to become a Hellion. They might not have even understood what happened at the time, really." Still, that sort of thing is the information that Sorey would *love* to find while they were exploring, and-
"Woah!" Sorey's sword snaps out, and he parry's one of the tools before it can land a hit against him. He pauses, stepping on the flying death... rake for a moment, and then pulls out a length of line from his backpack. "Rose, give me a hand here!" he calls out, as he lashes a knot around the neck of the rake before it can resume its attack.
And then he reaches out to snag another piece of farm equipment before it can do serious damage to someone else!
Sorey's plan quickly becomes clear, as he starts grabbing the flying farm equipment and tying them together into one large knot of twisting, shaking and rattling metal and wood. It takes a fair amount of agility to grab the tools without getting cut, but they're not moving too fast! And maybe this way they won't actually be able to attack anyone else.
Barring, of course, just turning into one giant rolling ball of death that chases the party around or anything like that.
Such an occurrence would be terrible, but hopefully unlikely.
DG: Sorey has used his Tool Climbing Kit toward his party's challenge, The Reaping.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell raises an eyebrow right back at Sorey. "Nope," she says succinctly. And she might leave it at that, but on a whim, she decides to add, "You use the tools you got, kiddo. I might be good in a fight, but when it comes to brute force?" She raises and waves her arms in a remarkably undulous, wave-like motion. "Yeah, not so much."
Then she folds those arms behind her head, nodding towards Mirielle. Whatever comes next, they'll be ready for it. ...probably. The farmtools scattered on the ground as the pass by only get a glance at first, and then she laughs as Dezel totally backs her up.
"See? Told ya!" she crows. She sobers at Rose's question of who was the first to have 'too much' Malevolence. That's... actually a pretty good question. Ragnell wonders if Lailah would know the answer. Before she can remark, though, the farm tools animate themselves and begin to fly towards the group. Ragnell whips to one side to avoid a pitchfork just in time. "Woah!! Well, damn!" she utters, watching it fly by. Then, as more buzz towards her, she laughs with a dark sort of delight. Edna might be totally done with everything, and Mirielle might be distressed by the vengeance, but Ragnell's quite having fun attempting to not get skewered. Spotting Sorey and Rose attempting to round up the flying farm tools, she cooperates in her own way--by taunting those that remain, then diving and dodging and distrating them, giving the humans an opening to snag the rest.
Hopefully it actually works out that way instead of the worst-case scenario Sorey describes!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Reaping.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Reaping *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
At first glance, this looks like a mere job uncompleted -- a section of
farmland where the reaping started, but was never finished, tools discarded
and field left in disrepair. The tools, however, seem to have other ideas,
as they one-by-one pry themselves off the earth and swipe, instead, at the
investigators!
Each swipe seems to render them that littlest bit slower, though; this is,
no doubt, a simple question of moving carefully and waiting for the tools
to.. exhaust themselves? Is that right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Slow===========================================
=======================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 3 *>======================== ==========================< Results - The Reaping >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rose 16 --(3)--> 19 Pass Grappling Hook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 12 --(3)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sorey 7 --(6)--> 13 Pass Climbing Kit 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Edna 19 --(3)--> 22 Pass Umbrella 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 9 --(5)--> 14 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rose 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Overzealous(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Rose has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Seraph Edna has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Tool Shed *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This small building with a heavy door is marked with the word "TOOLS" in solid block letters, crafted by a firm and even hand. The building itself is sturdy, made of thick masonry blocks and firmly planted in the soil. The tools inside would be quite the boon for dealing with the plants outside, but getting in there requires picking the door lock. Failing that, there's always looking for a key under the myriad rocks and bushes nearby... but wouldn't the larcenous route be that much faster? =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
As Mirielle simply dives, slides, and avoids, finding her place in the background rather easily - it IS her nature to fade to the darker parts - Edna takes a different tack, simply Princess Peach'ing her way over the rather ground-oriented tool situation.
Which leaves the two humans and Ragnell to a most dangerous game. As blades flash, pitchforks lunge, and shovels slice, Ragnell races into the thick of things, drawing the Malevolent ire of the animate tools as surely as if she was a fresh talk of wheat for harvest. As she surges forward, Sorey and Rose are not just quick on the draw - they're QTE masters, hammering X and A and B and Y and RT+LT with perfect timing to lasso up and tie down the tools, bundling them together as surely as a more innocent bushel of produce would be.
And, as swiftly as it starts, it ends, the bundles of tools slam dunked into a wheelbarrow each, causing the whole circus of flying and flailing items to fall silent, with a creak of rusted metal and a rustling of the surrounding plant-overgrown fields.
Well, that sure was a thing.
From off in the rotten cornstalks, Mirielle calls. "Is everyone alright? That was... impressive!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
"......"
It's a door.
"We meet again, Brave Sir Door..." Edna grumbles, contemplating just punching the door down, but... tsk. Maybe not. The sound might draw the attention of more hellions than they'd like to deal with. And so, she takes a step back and looks about. There must be a way in. Maybe there's a key? ...Or maybe someone can just pick the lock.
Edna's eyes land squarely on Rose.
Jiiiiiiiii.
Other than that, she's not helping. Sure, they COULD skip the place, but they have to be thorough, don't they?
Tsk.
DG: Seraph Edna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tool Shed.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
With the tools dealt with, that meant there was... well, the tool shed itself? With the shed having demonstrated some supernatural power, it's entirely possible that the center of the disturbance could be hidden within? "Yeah, better not to smash it down Edna. If there's something inside that's responsible for this haunting, then we probably want to try and approach it respectfully, at first."
With that, Sorey refers to his ever helpful, heavily marked and personally annotated copy of the Celestial Record for how to deal with this sort of lock. "It says these types of locks should be easy enough to pick with a... screwdriver and hammer?" Sorey looks at the record for a moment. "...I guess they didn't have much respect for these heavy padlock things and their ability to actually keep things safe."
DG: Sorey has used his Tool Sorey's Celestial Record toward his party's challenge, Tool Shed.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
As the group approaches the tool shed, which had caused such a reaping threat to the whole party, Mirielle is cautious. But it's worse than she could have hoped. This SHED OF DESPAIR is not only the source of the killer tools...
It's LOCKED.
Truly, the most awful of circumstances. Fishing around, the Darkness Seraph produces a small black opal or some other similarly dusky crystal, holding it towards the door. "I'll try to draw out the poison in the land - well, shed really - into one of my crystals, but... We'll still have to open the door!"
Mirielle looks to Edna, who looks to Rose, so Mirielle follows onto the Completely Legit And Not Spooked At All Businesswoman. "Well, I suppose it's up to you...? All the hammers and other tools are bundled up, too, so it'd be hard to get those to open the lock..."
DG: Seraph Mirielle has used her Tool Containment Crystal toward her party's challenge, Tool Shed.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"I know right? I don't have your lust for ancient history but I have to admit I'd love to meet the first Hellion and the first Shepherd. Usually those kinds of people are always really interesting!" Usually. Maybe the first Hellion was just a nobody who got too angry one day. "But doesn't that make you wonder how Malevolence came to be at all? Didn't Althena take humans to Lunar to protect them from... something?" Whatever got the Guardians unhappy. "Maybe it was Malevolence?" But there wasn't any on Filgaia before recently, was there...?
OH WELL. Tools. That'll make the expedition worth it. Novelty haunted tools, perfect for spooky October festivals.
"I'm alright!" she reassures Mirielle, before watching as Edna heads for the tool shed. Who proceeds to eye her back. "Whoa, hang on now! Tools JUST tried to kill us, maybe we... shouldn't go in there?" Rose asks, but under the immense pressure of Edna's stare, sighs and heads towards lock. "What, no! That is NOT how you open doors!" Rose says, evidently disagreeing with the wisdom of the ancients. "You use lockpicks. Like CIVILIZED people. Guess it's not surprising ancient civilizations were as good at opening locked doors as they were at building dungeons full of death traps, geez..."
Well, hopefully her lockpicks don't try to stab her in the eyes like every other tool here. Open open, door!
DG: Rose has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tool Shed.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Almost as soon as it starts, it's over. Ragnell slides to a stop, looking back to see the two humans having neatly lassoed the farm tools, and dusts off her gloved hands. "Yup! Jus' fine over here," she says to Mirielle. But where there are tools, there is going to be a toolshed--and, apparently, a locked door.
"Doors are the worst," she says solemnly in response to Edna's grumbling. As Sorey looks up potential answers in the Celestial Record, Ragnell fishes out her fan and gives herself a bit of fresh air to cool down after her sprint earlier.
"Hmmm... yeah, any way you look at it, this seems like Rose's wheelhouse, dun't it?" she drawls, looking at the others when Rose points out you use lockpicks like civilized people. She doesn't remark on how Malevolence came to be in the first place. They've got other things to concentrate on right now. If Rose wants to get into an ancient history lesson, she should ask for one when they're *not* trying to navigate a hellscape.
Either way, she'll be here, cheering the others on! Sometimes the best wisdom is knowing when to leave things to someone else.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Tool Shed.
============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Tool Shed *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This small building with a heavy door is marked with the word "TOOLS" in solid block letters, crafted by a firm and even hand. The building itself is sturdy, made of thick masonry blocks and firmly planted in the soil. The tools inside would be quite the boon for dealing with the plants outside, but getting in there requires picking the door lock. Failing that, there's always looking for a key under the myriad rocks and bushes nearby... but wouldn't the larcenous route be that much faster? =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
=======================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 4 *>======================== ===========================< Results - Tool Shed >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rose 19 --(0)--> 19 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sorey 13 --(0)--> 13 Pass Sorey's Celestial Record 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Edna 22 --(0)--> 22 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Mirielle 14 --(0)--> 14 Pass Containment Crystal 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Rose 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Rose has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Resident assassination and breaking and entering extraordinaire, Rose, is hard at work on the lock. While Edna and Mirielle staaaaaaaaaaare. Ragnell takes an idle moment to cool herself off with a.. is that a fan? Neat. And Sorey provides some much misguided knowledge from the ancients.
All in all, everything looks like it'll be juuuuuust fine.
The lock even clicks open in a telltale manner. It's open! Success!
But then the contraption falls to the ground. What follows are the doors swinging open as Brave Sir Door unleashes his hidden, forbidden, secret technique upon Rose's face.
Oh noooooooo.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
At long last, there's a clear path to the porch, and subsequently, the
entrance to the main farmhouse. There's just one problem, of course:
*click click*
*click click*
It's locked. It's EXTREMELY locked. Once again, the greatest archnemesis of
any investigator is... door...
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Hesitate============================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
CLONK.
A door falls towards, quite possibly right on, Rose's cute face. Ragnell *roars* with laughter. Sadly, there's not really anything inside the toolshed, but it does allow the others to stow away the rounded-up tools from earlier--and once inside, they actually settle down, which means they won't have to worry about the tools coming to life again to shank them all at a bad moment. So that's something, right? Right??
T
From there, it's a straight shot to the farmhouse at the top of the hill. No monsters, no Malevolence, no nothing; it's just a creepy building and another door. "Well, this should be easy enough, at least," Ragnell remarks as they all walk up the porch stairs. She pulls open the screen door and reaches for the main once.
The knob rattles. She frowns. It rattles some more, but does not budge. She hits the door with her shoulder--but all to no avail. It's locked. It's SUPER-locked. And Rose is not likely to want to pick said lock after the last run-in.
Ragnell looks to the others. "So, what d'y'all say we smash a window an' let ourselves in? If you wrap tape around the edges, it won't make as much noise. Rose, you got somethin' like that on you, right?" She's a merchant! She probably has *all kinds* of eclectic junk on her.
Otherwise, there's always the option of 'another grenade.'
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
SLAM. Rose falls onto her ass as the door crushes her nose in. Both hands grip her face and she rolls on the floor, whining. "OOOOOOOOW," she says, as well she should, before eventually rising to her feet, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose to contain the bleeding.
She kicks the door in rebutal.
"Screw you too, door!"
Rose, assassin extraordinaire indeed.
After that, Rose avoids going into the shed at all.
She likes her body devoid of angry farming equipment.
At the sight of another door, Rose frowns, still holding onto her nose. "I don't, you guys can solve THIS door problem on your own, I'm not getting my butt kicked by two doors today! Chop chop, use your ghostly powers or whatever." Huff.
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey... chuckles, and helps Rose out from under the door. Because it's only the polite thing to do. "It was a good try, Rose. Sometimes these things happen." He's sure if there was a terrible monster or if some trap had gone off, Rose would have been more than ready to deal with it. But the direct approach can catch people by surprise at times.
Of course, the revelation of another door they need to get past might just make Rose go into... yep, there it is. Sorey watches as she shouts at the door, and decides mercy is the better part of valor here. "I don't think we need to worry about any physical problems here - I think that the entire problem is ghosts, and we can probably just make do with breaking the door down."
That said, breaking it down might be easier said than done - Sorey looks at Edna, and states, "Let's hit it together - that should make sure it falls the other way. ...and the chances of it bouncing off of something and hitting Rose in the process are lower if we're both hitting it, I think..."
DG: Sorey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Edna blink slowly as she witnesses the assault of Brave Sir Door as he unleashes his specialty technique; Opening.
"......" And then she abruptly looks away and walks onward, not even sparing a glance into the shed. There was probably nothing in there anyway.
And then there was another door. Edna narrows her eyes. "...Brave Sir Door's valiant brother." She mutters giving the door a most withering glance. Then she looks to Ragnell, then Sorey. A nod.
Forget subtlety. She rears back with a fist, summoning a giant gauntlet before punching forward and sending the thing crashing right into the barrier.
Begone, door!
DG: Seraph Edna has used her Tool Divine Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
Mirielle stares at Rose, her eyes unblinking, her features unchanging, her gaze intense and unrelenting.
Don't mess it up. Don't do it. Everyone's counting on you. The fate of the party rests on your nimble fingers.
-WHAM- goes the door. Mirielle just stands there watching with a little c: as her expression. She doesn't laugh, or even snort! She restrains herself to laughing at Rose... but internally.
As Ragnell approaches the second door, at the farmhouse proper the hip Seraph begins mentioning just finding a window. And... Where's Mirielle?
Oh, there she is. On the porch. Tapping at a window?
She drags her finger down the dirty pane with a slow, extended squeeeeeeeak, before her sleeves start leaking darkness, pouring it onto the deck. As Edna goes to just bash down the door, Mirielle finishes up her conjuration, a tall and broad-shouldered 'monster' crawls from her pool, long clawed fingers on big hands attached to an amorphous, jellybean body without a discernable head, simply a large mouth and eyes. Little runty feet finish off the Closet Monster, which aims to elbow in the window when Ragnell notes that you can dampen it -- with tape!
Mirielle frowns, and the Closet Monster stands idle as she considers. "... I suppose it'd be rude to break the window, you're right."
With a gesture, and waiting for any ELECTRIC EXPLOSIONS from Ragnell to pass, the Closent Monster is directed with a gesture to wedge its clawed fingers into the doorframe and tear it off - or assist Edna in simply oblitering Noble Big Brother Door.
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
=============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
At long last, there's a clear path to the porch, and subsequently, the
entrance to the main farmhouse. There's just one problem, of course:
*click click*
*click click*
It's locked. It's EXTREMELY locked. Once again, the greatest archnemesis of
any investigator is... door...
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken, Hesitate============================
========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 5 *>========================= ======================< Results - Breaking and Entering >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 19 --(15)--> 34 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 15 --(16)--> 31 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorey 13 --(18)--> 31 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Edna 22 --(12)--> 34 Pass Divine Gauntlets 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 14 --(16)--> 30 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Rose 80 --(5)--> 85 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Rose has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Oh? Suit yourself, then," Ragnell replies to Rose with a shrug. "Have at it, y'all."
And so they do. Sorey has no more luck just smashing his shoulder into the door than Ragnell did, but Edna has her giant gauntlets and smashes it quite handily--but not quite completely. Mirielle meanwhile sends her apparition within through the window to finish the job--and while it manages to tear out the bottom half, the force sends the top half flying.
Right into Rose's head.
On the plus side, the way inside is completely clear and free for everyone else to head on inside?
Ragnell, for her part, jogs on over to Rose and leans over her to peer down. "Man, today is just not your day," she remarks. Does she sound more amused than sympathetic? Surely that's just your imagination. At least she adds, "How many fingers am I holdin' up? You need me to heal your head or d'you get harder knocks than that on the job?"
DG: Rose has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>===============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Cut Out My Heart *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The vines that normally block access through the walls and interior doors of
the main room, for the moment, have receded into the corner of the room.
Only a small portion of the strange(?) organism(??) presently manifests in
the main room; a massive fruit pulses on it like a heart, and viny tendrils
protect... something, in one of the corners of the farmhouse.
Better start ripping and tearing.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Bad Luck==============================
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
SLAM 2: RETURN OF THE DOOR.
Rose is on the ground again, but at least, since she had her hand over her nose, it's her hand that took most of the beating, not her already pained visage.
"Hate you too," Rose replies to Ragnell. "Heal please."
She doesn't count fingers.
And now for a complete mood whiplash: Malevolence. All of it. The inside of the farmhouse is a sea of ominous mist, the air thick with the purple, red and black glow. It would be bad news for untethered Seraphim to so much as step a single foot inside, but luckily, everyone present likely has a vessel of some kind, and if not, the Shepherd's presence casts a domain capable of shielding them from Malevolence. So does Rose, actually, but it's smaller. You'd have to be hugging her to really be inside it, as it is.
"I feel sick just being in here and I don't think it's from my nose. Is that what it always feels like to you, Sorey?" She tries to keep herself together, at least, especially when some of the mist parts to reveal the source.
Human hearts. One, five, ten... twenty... fifty of them. Clustered together in one massive heart, from which bloodied vines sprawl out thorough the entire house. They feel. Anger. Betrayal. Bloodlust. Soldiers that weren't laid to rest. Farmers slain by a conflict they weren't a part of. Bandits killed in the midst of pillaging. It all clustered together into one, single Hellion. It's no Fell Dragon, but it might be hard to purify in one go.
"E... Eww," is all Rose can say.
"Sorey, maybe now would be a good time to tell me how I can help you purify things."
DG: Rose has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
"....... More of these." Edna grumbles, before she raises her hand to summon her artifact again. However, when she does, she can see that it's wavering in and out. ...Tsk. Used up too much energy. How annoying. She dismisses the artifact and grips her umbrella. She's going to have to do this the hard way. And so she steps forward, coating her weapon in jagged rock as she starts taking swings at the myriad vines.
She could really use that lifetime supply of royal crablettes right about now.
Why did Alisha have to go and lose the tournament?
Bah.
DG: Seraph Edna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey would, under normal circumstances, go help Rose out, make sure she was not seriously hurt, that sort of thing. It was generally polite, and unfortunately is totally upstaged by the massive blast of malevolence coming from inside.
Sorey is almost staggered by the way of miasma coming from inside of the house, and seeing the mass of once living hearts that have been fused together to create this abomination makes the Shepherd feel queasy. But he's also prepared himself for things like this, and Sorey grits his teeth and holds his ground.
"This isn't the usual sort of malevolence," he states quietly. "This... creation is anchored to the land and the building, and just trying to purify it won't work. We need to break its connection before we try, and if we're not fast enough it will retreat and we'll have to come back later to deal with it."
And with that, Sorey leaps forwards, slashing at some of the vines that connect the abomination to the rest of the structure. "Edna, Ragnell, Mirielle, we need to try and disconnect it from the house! Just focus on burning away those vines, Rose! I'll send you some of the extra malevolence when we strike at it, and that should be all we need...!"
Sorey hopes, at least.
DG: Sorey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Do I hear a 'thank you'?" Ragnell says lightly. She heals Rose's face anyway. Lightning healing magic is tingly in a good way, for the record.
The inside of the farmhouse... Ragnell senses the Malevolence on the threshold and steels herself accordingly, her face now an iron mask. Her gait inside is slow but steady. Someone's had experience shielding themselves from these things... though Ragnell sure doesn't want to stay long, either. Her red eyes flit back and forth, taking in the insides, but inevitably they fall on the mass of vines and the beating fruit-like heart at the center. It's an unusual Hellion, to be sure... And as Sorey observes, purifying it might be hard with it so closely connected to the building and the land.
"Gotcha," she says, pulling the last of her grenades. "I'mma shove this right into the thick of it, get a good solid blast to tear the worst of it apart. Y'all do what you need to when it goes off!" And with that, she dashes forward, pulls the pin, thrusts the grenade as deep into the mass of vines as she can, and then gets the hell out of dodge.
Hopefully the Hellion doesn't just *absorb* the lightning grenade or something. That'd be bad.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
While Mirielle had directed her Closet Monster to tear down the door, and had never dreamed that it would have a repeat showing of the toolshed door into Rose's facial personage area, she had also never dreamed what would be behind the door.
Her Closet Monster stood just inside the doorway looking like a doofus with its stunty legs while the Malevolence blasted out from inside, powerful enough to send back the Shepherd.
Mirielle, after that, is nowhere to be found. Did she leave? Did she betray the party??? HAD THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENED???!!!
From over Rose's shoulder, a dark-sleeved hand moves up to brush a gentle touch on her maybe-broken nose. "It's safe near you, did you know that? It doesn't feel so bad." Comes Mirielle's whispered voice, before her other arm drapes over Rose's other shoulder to get her in a (gentle) headlock.
"Don't mind me - I'll protect you! So just go at it with all your might."
As Mirielle says this, the Closet Monster seems to get the bright idea (dark idea?) to follow Sorey's commands, stomping deeper heedless of the waves of negative energy to tear and rip and rend, roaring loudly and exaggeratedly attacking the connective plant tissue to the heart. It'd probably be terrifying in a normal circumstance, groggily seeing a toothy horror out of the corner of your eye when you heard a bump in the night...
But now, with it in plain sight, and that terrible Malevolence pouring forth? It's barely spooky at all!
DG: Seraph Mirielle has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut Out My Heart.
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>===============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Cut Out My Heart *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The vines that normally block access through the walls and interior doors of
the main room, for the moment, have receded into the corner of the room.
Only a small portion of the strange(?) organism(??) presently manifests in
the main room; a massive fruit pulses on it like a heart, and viny tendrils
protect... something, in one of the corners of the farmhouse.
Better start ripping and tearing.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Bad Luck==============================
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>===============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Cut Out My Heart *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The vines that normally block access through the walls and interior doors of
the main room, for the moment, have receded into the corner of the room.
Only a small portion of the strange(?) organism(??) presently manifests in
the main room; a massive fruit pulses on it like a heart, and viny tendrils
protect... something, in one of the corners of the farmhouse.
Better start ripping and tearing.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Bad Luck==============================
=========================<* Eerie Farmhouse - Round 6 *>========================== ==========================< Results - Cut Out My Heart >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rose 34 --(100)--> 134 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 31 --(100)--> 131 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorey 31 --(100)--> 131 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Edna 34 --(100)--> 134 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Mirielle 30 --(100)--> 130 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Rose 85 --(5)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Collapse|Hesitate(1)|Madness|Overzealous(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: Rose is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Sorey is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Edna is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Mirielle 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 Rose has been fully Exhausted by Eerie Farmhouse! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==============================<* Eerie Farmhouse *>===============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - I Felt Much Better Than This Before *>===============
|Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The farm rebels against the investigators, who have no choice but to retreat
from it. The only path of retreat is through a hole in the far fence... but
something between your position and the fence catches someone's eyes.
Blueberries -- untouched, shockingly perfectly grown amid the hellscape of
twisted plants and more conventionally blighted crops. A large garden of
these healing berries is quite literally ripe for the taking, and will fetch
a commanding price if taken and sold deeper in the Badlands. For a farmer, a
treacherous journey -- but for a Drifter, easy money.
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Treasure=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"You're going to WHAT," says Rose as Sorey simply states he'll 'send Malevolence her way'. "I thought it was bad! How does that... WORK?" she asks.
Sorey is going to have to explain what purifying is one day.
But alas, there is no time just yet. The Hellion is blasted by a grenade, as Mirielle withdraws to Rose's side and sends her monster to maim the massive heart and its protective red vines. The heart beats, loudly, despite the damage.
It screams. A chorus of fifty voices. Men, children, women.
I D O N T W A N T T O D I E the voices cry out.
The Hellion squirms. The vines pull back from the house, gathering in a massive cocoon around the beast's exposed weak point. They form a drill underneath it, and it BLASTS itself through the foundations of the farmhouse and into the earth, deep below.
So deep, that even Edna can no longer sense its presence. The Hellion has retreated, perhaps to find a new home somewhere else, or to lie in wait for the Shepherd's party to leave.
Sadly, the Malevolence doesn't disappear with it. It continues to soak the house, now leaking out of the hole left behind by the Hellion's retreat. Sorey can probably purify the house, but he knows it won't last. They have to find that thing. But it won't be today.
On the bright side, healing berries on the way out!
And Rose looking super uncomfortable with Mirielle all up in her personal space. But pretty thankful for the healing.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Mirielle has posed.
OMAKE CLIP:
On the way out, Mirielle is quiet, still hanging off of Rose's neck. As the imminent threat of Malevolence passes, a single question occurs to her.
"Your hair smells nice. What shampoo do you use?"
Mirielle truly is a master of spooking.
[OOC] Rose says, "pfft"
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "Rose, I think Miri's hitting on you"
[OOC] Rose says, "what am I, a harem protagonist"
[OOC] Seraph Edna says, "Yes."
[OOC] Rose can't juggle Alisha, Jean, Raguu AND Mirielle!!
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "Are you saying you *don't* want a bunch of cute girlfriends?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Edna has posed.
Edna may or may not have decided to dwell inside of Rose.
Move over Dezel.
:|