2017-11-07: CaraKin's Pleasant Stroll (Not a Revenge Quest)
- Log: CaraKin's Pleasant Stroll (Not a Revenge Quest)
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Lunata Croze, Ethius Hesiod, Catenna, Matilda Whitehead, Shalune Amira
- Where: Gunsmoke Desert
- Date: November 11th, 2017
- Summary: Jacqueline gathers the Caravan Kinship to have a good time at(i.e. get revenge on) Akbar's Discount Emporium.
============================<* Gunsmoke Desert *>============================= The Gunsmoke Desert occupies the northwestern portion of Ignas. This desert is different from Aveh's. Instead of rolling dunes of sand, it has dry and cracked ground, and the mountains that rim it also intrude into the interior, forming stunning rock formations that can look as beautiful as they look impossible. The settlements here are hard-pressed to survive, consisting of countless small towns. The lucky few are connected by railways to the Seed Cities scattered about the Gunsmoke. Many are lost to the sands, which cover them and a tremendous concentration of ruins from Filgaia's past. This makes these badlands the heart of Drifter activity in Ignas.
DC: Lunata Croze switches forms to Spirit Initiate Lunata!
DG: You've unloaded your Tool, Reliable Repellant! DG: You don't have that Tool loaded! DG: You've unloaded your Tool, Brewte Force! DG: A party led by Jacqueline Barber is now entering Akbar's Discount Dungeon. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps) *>==============
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Welcome, Drifters, to Akbar's Emporium, where you can find anything for less
than its common market value! That pitch might have attracted countless
people in the past, but that was centuries ago. Now all that's left is
ruins, large warehouses and storehouses connected by isolated hallways with
for only way in the main building and lobby. There are two hallways inside:
left, and right. You pick left.
There must have been a big great sale on traps last this place saw any life,
because the hobby is jam-packed with them. And what do you know, some of
them still work. Or more accurately, some of them are still capable of
malfunctioning and misfiring in every direction to give you a right proper
greeting!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps).
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
This had become personal for Jacqueline. Her first time through Akbar's Discount Dungeon, she had been excited to see what the warehouse of an old merchant would be like. But what she found...though she tried to reason it away to herself, she found herself brutally disappointed as she realized the true nature of the man who ran it.
"Everyone...we are about to venture into the lair of the enemy." Jacqueline says, standing outside the Emporium's entrance with her arms folded in front of her. "We stand outside a shrine to decadence, to one who is opposed to all we stand for..."
Jacqueline unfolds her arms.
"In this place, 'customer satisfaction' means nothing! The only priority is the almighty Gella. As a merchant, this place's very existence offends me to the core."
...Jacqueline seems very serious about this...
She turns around, facing the doors.
"Be careful, everyone. This place is afoul with corruption." She starts through the doors, and immediately a giant guillotine blade comes down a foot away from where she stands.
"...Right. And traps. The cheapskate didn't even pay for maintenance, so...sometimes they'll just come down without you even doing anything." She warns.
And sometimes they wouldn't even trigger at all, but it was less wise to count on that...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Any enemy of Jay's is an enemy of mine," Lunata says with a worrying kind of faith that more dubious causes probably have sprung out of. "And to that end....."
"Begone!!" Lunata has little in the way of speed, so she has opted to try smashing things instead.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Somewhere in the background of all this, Ethius is either fighting for his life desperately against a jumpy heat-seeking bear trap, or he just found the equivalent of a pet dog in which he is playing with it by allowing it to leap and snap at the business end of a quarterstaff over and over. (It is not his first rodeo with an overeager bear trap here.)
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Last time Catenna was here, she got locked in a small room with a cuccnado.
She wasn't eager to visit such a silly place again. But Jacqueline was passionate about it, and if there's one thing Catenna's on board with, it's supporting her friends through thick and thin. It's why she's in the process of unspooling her coil of rope and fastening her grappling hook firmly to the end of the rope as she squints down the corridor ahead.
"It is also full of shoddy workmanship and foolish chintz," she huffs as she takes a step back, beginning to whirl her line above her her head. With a long cast, she sends the grappling hook sailing down the corridor. It lands on the end of the hallway and doesn't actually bite into anything.
Which it probably can't, since Catenna's blunted each of the prongs with wool.
Biting down to the tip of her tongue, Catenna begins to reel the hook in, sweeping it back and forth and jerking the line about erratically. The rope thumps against the traps - and a few of them go off wherever the hook and rope come down. She's using the grappling line as a great big sweeper to try and set off as many traps as possible before she has to cross.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps). DG: Catenna has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda... has actually never been here before! But Jay seems to be taking it very seriously, and for the compounder, that's as good a reason as any to do the same. She shakes out her coat a little (with a handful of clanking noises as metal and glass bang against each other).
"... That's honestly rather pathetic," Matilda says. "If you're going to have traps, you need to take care of them!" There's a pause, before she reflects, "... We should get some traps." Once everyone has taken a crack at thinning the number of traps, Matilda goes into the room and sets to work; she moves cautiously, and at one point elects to clamber along the walls rather than stay on the floor. ... it's probably safer, especially if she keeps an eye out for holes.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Uwaaah... Jay is kinda scary today, but it's cool too..." a certain pink-haired mechanic mumbles to herself, not sure whether to say it out loud.
Rather than actually try to dodge between the traps herself, she's actually following in Lunata's wake, letting the Little Dipper carry her smoothly along, gliding a little off the floor as she... ... harvests the broken and busted traps en-masse. The sack on the back of the Little Dipper is getting quite full.
DG: Shalune Amira has used her Tool Little Dipper toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps).
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps) *>==============
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Welcome, Drifters, to Akbar's Emporium, where you can find anything for less
than its common market value! That pitch might have attracted countless
people in the past, but that was centuries ago. Now all that's left is
ruins, large warehouses and storehouses connected by isolated hallways with
for only way in the main building and lobby. There are two hallways inside:
left, and right. You pick left.
There must have been a big great sale on traps last this place saw any life,
because the hobby is jam-packed with them. And what do you know, some of
them still work. Or more accurately, some of them are still capable of
malfunctioning and misfiring in every direction to give you a right proper
greeting!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
===================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 1 *>=================== ================< Results - Akbar's Warm Welcome (Not Traps) >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Grappling Hook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Little Dipper 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Yes, that too." Jacqueline agrees with a nod toward Catenna. That was a pretty good description of the entire place, really. "We put pride into our work."
She glances back at Matilda and considers this for a moment.
"I've never really thought about that, honestly. I haven't really tried putting any traps together before...but I guess there's no way we could do any worse than these." She replies.
The trap-lined hallway doesn't really cause too much trouble for the party, though. Catenna triggers a good number of the traps with a sweep of her Grappling Hook, making it much easier for everyone to progress.
Lunata tries to smash them...but they seem oddly resilient to smashing, though it does activate them safely. This might be for the best, though, as it means they're intact enough for Shalune to collect.
Matilda's plan proves effective, as well - Akbar didn't even account for people moving along the wall, it seems.
And Ethius acquaints himself with an old friend...no, it's actually just a bear trap. Of course, thanks to the general shoddy workmanship of this place, it's more of an annoyance than something that could cause serious harm to someone.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>==========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends) *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Who builds a giant maze inside a warehouse? Clearly, Akbar did. Perhaps the
maze guards his most valuable wares, or perhaps it was an attraction he
charged tourists to try out. Either way, the door shuts behind you. What's
more, the walls extend to the ceiling, preventing the use of grappling hooks
and wings to cheat.
How long will it take the party to realize this maze has no exit, and that
they need to come up with their own exit strategy?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Yes... yes we do," Catenna says with a slow nod as the group slips to the end of the corridor. She turns a corner.
And a door swings shut behind them. Catenna sighs as she looks on into the room ahead - and at the gigantic maze which awaits them. The walls span all the way to the ceiling. Corridors zig and zag madly off in all directions, defying an easy guess.
"I remember this from last time. The walls are cardboard," Catenna says as she steps forward. She gives one of the walls a shove. It doesn't budge.
She frowns and shoves it again, to no avail - until she looks down to spot the label sitting near the floor.
AKBAR DELUXE NOT-CARBOARD WALLS THIS TIME, JERK FOOT!
Catenna lowers her eyelids and breathes out a long sigh, raising her fingertips to her temples and rubbing in slow circles. "Very well, then," she murmurs. "May I suggest that we leave a trail behind ourselves to let us know if we are going the correct way."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius has a bear trap affixed to his leg. Its teeth are too dull to pierce skin, but yet clamp tightly enough that there's probably no taking it off in the near future anyway. This fashionable accessory seems to be met with a mix of resignation and relative apathy, as Catenna takes point on the familiar location.
For a moment, he stops by the label. His eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. Why?
He gets out the little electrically-powered lens thing he has. Same Symbological rituals to turn it on and everything, bringing it up to one eye as he sweeps the newly-reinforced tunnels. It's not precisely what Catenna is suggesting...
"I do not believe there are any noteworthy mechanisms or devices within these halls," so Ethius concludes, which simplifies matters... a little.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Oh, oh, I know!"
Lunata unzips a side pouch on her bag and-- starts rummaging, before quietly regretting it... but then she crosses out a line on the everpresent, ever-faithful blackboard that says:
'With garlic croutons!'
"It's just like the tale of Lunie and Munie, Shalune!" Lunata sounds excited, regardless, taking out a tupperware box full of garlic croutons as she starts to drop them behind as they go, following Catenna's advice.
"Lunie and Munie went into the forest, but left a trail of breadcrumbs so that they could retrace their steps. How did that tale end again...?"
A pause.
"... did cuccos eat their breadcrumbs...?"
A cucco peeks around a dark corner, eye gleaming with intent...
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Soup of the Day toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends).
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline whirls around as the door slams shut behind them. She grimaces somewhat, but sighs and turns her attention forward. The last time she was here, Riesenlied had mapped a similar area with her powers...but this time they'd have to do it manually.
Well, she could make a map of it in her head.
Ethius seems to believe that there aren't any devices at play here...but Jacqueline draws a Crest from her pouch, just in case she needs to blast something.
...The bear trap does earn a second glance from Jacqueline, but she soon turns her attention back to the maze itself.
"Ah, good thinking, you two!" Jacqueline says, glancing between Catenna and Lunata. That would certainly simplify matters...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends). DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
There's nothing -- absolutely nothing -- worse than a maze. Matilda's expression sours significantly, and even moreso when Catenna tries to shove the walls over and gets nothing. "I honestly suggest we break down the walls rather than humor this nonsense. A maze in a space of this size... while apparently quite sturdy... isn't likely to lead to much of interest."
As they start to head forward, Matilda pulls out one of her reagents and starts to mark the walls. "A redundant trail marking reduces the chance that we'll have our breadcrumbs..." Matilda pauses, before adding, with a bit of a grimace, "... eaten by cuccos."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune, on the other hand, lights up at the walls coming down around them. "Ooh~, that's super cool," she hums happily to herself, beaming as the structure hits the floor with a 'crump' kind of noise. "I wonder how they did somethin' on this scale? I mean, that's some pretty devoted craftin' right there. Though, um, I'm not really sure how the customers are s'posed to get through?"
In any case, she seems reasonably upbeat, pumping her arms as she looks to Lunata with a bright smile, and - in an incredible display of common sense - pulls out her dogeared notebook and a stubby pencil, and begins to start sketching the visible walls. Who knew having a draftsgirl around would be so useful when it came to mazes?
(Shalune would, because sometimes she doodles little ones in the margin when she's trying to think.)
"Ummm. Didn't the big bad coyote gobble up their breadcrumbs to try to lead them off course, or somethin'...?" she wonders to herself in response to Lunata, tilting her head to and fro in a rather uncertain manner. "I kinda think it was something like that, right? --aah, noo~," she whines all of a sudden, though, as she spots what Lunata is doing. "Not the crunchy bits! They're the best part!"
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends).
==========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>==========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends) *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Who builds a giant maze inside a warehouse? Clearly, Akbar did. Perhaps the
maze guards his most valuable wares, or perhaps it was an attraction he
charged tourists to try out. Either way, the door shuts behind you. What's
more, the walls extend to the ceiling, preventing the use of grappling hooks
and wings to cheat.
How long will it take the party to realize this maze has no exit, and that
they need to come up with their own exit strategy?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Tire============================================
=====================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 2 *>===================== =================< Results - Akbar's Great Maze (Not Dead Ends) >================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 5 --(8)--> 13 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 10 --(8)--> 18 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 5 --(8)--> 13 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 10 --(8)--> 18 Pass Soup of the Day 3 Wits Effects: Rally ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shalune Amira 5 --(23)--> 28 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 5 --(23)--> 28 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Catenna has posed.
"I am... not sure I have anything that can break down a wall," Catenna confesses to Matilda with a hint of a blush. Her magic's usually more subtle than that!
Breadcrumbing it turns out to be a bad idea: That bobbing cucco clucks along behind the Kinship, nibbling up the bread crumbs. It nips up Lunata's croutons, too, clucking appreciatively. "Stop that," Catenna snaps at the bird, waving a hand as if to shoo it away.
It just clucks at her and continues bobbing along. The priestess folds her arms and touches a hand to her chin. She watches the bird bob around, continuing on down a side corridor.
"I have an idea," she suggests. "Come on."
Eyes directed in that direction, Catenna darts forward - and follows the cucco. Her eyes never leave it.
It's a bit of a trip. The cucco leads the group on for a few minutes before clucking at them and waddling into a dead end -
-where it promptly flaps its wings a little and flutters through a solid-looking wall.
Ethius's Spectral Lens reveals the truth: It's a hologram. Stepping through reveals the cucco on the other side, clucking contently. Biting her bottom lip, Catenna hesitates for a moment.
She sinks to a crouch... then reaches gingerly down to pat the fluffy white bird on the back of the neck. "Good Cucco," she murmurs, channeling Riese as best she can.
The cucco just clucks, once.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>=============================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage) *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Look, if you could sell dragons, wouldn't you? Don't judge Akbar. These
high-fidelity golem-like constructs are sure to spruce up your household,
castle, dungeon, cave or other living area and they don't even cost that
much!
Please disregard client complaints stating the mechanical dragons have a
tendency to wake up and attack the first people they see regardless of
ownership rights. People misusing a product does not the product poor make.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
There is another reason for that holographic wall. Once Catenna and the cucco finish their mutual exchange of favors, two glowing red eyes pierce through the darkness of lighting that has long since failed over the many, many years that have passed.
Whoever says 'something's here' first is already too late. Everyone will feel the hairs of their necks standing on end as a series of creaky, metallic groans fill the way ahead. A silhouette forms from what can be seen, ear-splitting screeches of metal as long-rusted wings fan out and extend to their full wingspan - caving in parts of the ceiling and nearby wall to another obscuring cloud of dust and the clatter of pebbles.
The cucco is too content about its recent patting to care, and just roosts where it is even as a long, rusted metallic snout with so many missing and damaged teeth poke out into the visible light. There is no further ambiguity about what it is the Caravan Kinship stands b efore.
Ethius steps into the front as abruptly as he tends to, hurling down a Powder Grenade just as a deafening roar escapes the throat of the aged-but-not-deactivated mechanical dragon, simultaneously robbing everyone both of sight and hearing in concert.
"Move." Ethius says this several times, each one noticeably louder than the last - owing to ringing ears all around. He doesn't usually... shout. He is insistent about this.
Will they double back? Will they go forward? The creature is humongous, too large for the environs. They'll have to decide quickly.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The creak and groan of that dragon up ahead alerts Catenna that something bad is about to happen. She widens her eyes.
Ethius shouts at them to move. Catenna does, but the first thing she does is perhaps the least useful.
She dives forward, and scoops up the cucco in her arms. The bird clucks and flutters insolently, but Catenna clucks her tongue at the fluffy white hen, hugging it to her chest as she scampers to her feet and dashes away. The roar of the beast fills the air behind her.
Catenna shushes the bird in her arms a few times. She clucks her tongue gently, doing her best to try and communicate with it at least a little. This is one of the things the Zortroa are supposed to be good at, after all.
This is one of the things Catenna always sucked at personally. The cucco just looks at her, but allows it.
Darting to one side with the cucco still cradled in one arm, Catenna whirls and sweeps her free arm out, chanting sonorously and letting loose with her arcana. An invisible, crushing force grips the metallic dragon, aiming to drag it to the ground and hold it there.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Those eyes, that form...
"A dragon...!?" Jacqueline says, shocked. She backpedals out of the Powder Grenade and the holographic wall, putting it between her and the dragon so that it'll be harder for it to see her.
"Alright, I think we should find a different exit..." She says, pulling a bottle of black liquid and hurling it at the beast. She strikes it in mid-air with a bolt of lightning, sending a rain of molten glass and flaming liquid onto it. That might have some disabling effect, but right now her biggest concern was...
She looks around before drawing another Crest and invoking it, unleashing a burst of destructive force toward the nearest wall.
"Let's move, quickly!" She urges. Hopefully that would lead to an exit, and not a dead end...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
There's a moment in which Ge Ramda looms over the cucco...
And the cucco stares back.
There's a moment of exchange between the two, the timeless death spectre and the timeless death chicken... and... in the end, once their gazes, their duel of dominance have ended--
--where Ge Ramda hides behind Lunata, trembling.
The cucco just clucks gently.
"Geez, Ge Ramda, don't be so wimpy--" she stares towards the Dragon as it emerges from within. "W-what's the relation between cuccos and dragons?! That's just silly!"
Riesenlied sniffles somewhere as she spreads seeds and feeds her cuccos.
"Spirit Arte--"
Lunata slashes outwards with her blade, despite Ge Ramda cowering behind her, striking with an outwards lash towards the mechanical, possibly animatronic? Dragon with a wave of energy from her blade.
She turns tail to run afterwards.
"--of Running Away!"
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda chooses forward without much hesitation, despite the danger; the maze is too constrained for certain. There's almost no way that anything else that she could move into is worse... and ends up pretty well sabotaging her ability to form up with the group. It's a bad tactical decision, to be sure -- and one that, unfortunately, they're all pretty likely to pay for!
By the time she's got something approaching her bearings, she's also still a little disoriented by the roar and the blast; hastily, she throws a bottle up into the mechanical dragon's mouth, wincing a bit.
"Nngh..." She staggers back toward the group as best she can, trying to use her natural agility to lead the mechanical dragon away a little, buying herself enough space to slip through and then form up with the group once more.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Succubus Bottle toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Even in the fact of these mechanical dragons, Shalune's cheer seems to be unabated - well, sort of. It isn't that she's worried, so much as she's standing up on the back of the Little Dipper, hands on her hips as she pushes out her cheeks, rather lacking the urgency that's in Ethius' voice. What a turnaround.
"Aw, c'mon, that's super shoddy! Look, there's bits literally falling off one of them!" she blurts as a little metallic ping signals a couple of bolts bouncing and skittering along the floor, having wrenched off as the monster jerkily pulls itself up to its full height. "There's nothin' wrong with working with old metal, but you've got to know how to work it and maintain it, y'know? Otherwise you just kinda end up with clunky old stuff."
Says the girl who literally cheats, all the time, when working with old metal.
Speaking of cheating, she suddenly bunkers down on the Little Dipper, boosting the flying scooter forwards rather than back and pitching to one side at the same time. How she manages to stay attached to the Little Dipper's base during the sideways banking curve isn't clear, but it allows her to swing around the side of the fake dragon, dodging under the main beam of a beating wing of metal.
"Oh, man, I bet Odjn would get super mad," she chimes as she ducks out of sight - apparently, sticking close to the dragon's back legs and talking to herself as she considers. "I hope this isn't sacriledge or somethin' awkward like that, but I mean I'm pretty sure they're fake--"
There's a clonk, which could well be a wrench striking home, and then the sound of metal upon metal as it tenses. "Bet it'd make a cool sculpture for the CaraKin, though--"
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage).
=============================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>=============================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage) *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Look, if you could sell dragons, wouldn't you? Don't judge Akbar. These
high-fidelity golem-like constructs are sure to spruce up your household,
castle, dungeon, cave or other living area and they don't even cost that
much!
Please disregard client complaints stating the mechanical dragons have a
tendency to wake up and attack the first people they see regardless of
ownership rights. People misusing a product does not the product poor make.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
========================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 3 *>======================================== =========================< Results - Akbar's Faithful Dragon Replica (Not Likely To Rampage) >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 13 --(28)--> 41 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 18 --(28)--> 46 Pass Powder Grenade 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 13 --(28)--> 41 Pass Celesdue Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 18 --(28)--> 46 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 28 --(33)--> 61 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 28 --(33)--> 61 Fail Succubus Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Embolden, Fanfare, an -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Suffer(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Embolden(1) ================================�@
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
This is a rare moment where Akbar's warehouse of long-forgotten, abandoned hoard of items of dubious quality takes its turn towards the mortally dangerous, and everyone responds in kind to Ethius' suggestion to move.
It takes almost every trick in the book for people to create their openings. Catenna uses the huge, weighty mass of the creature against it as its construction continues to squeal and groan as it collapses upon itself. The flames set by Jay's flammable repellant gives a more frightening, warping visage of the mechanical parody of what was meant to be a dragon as it flails and roars in... pain? Can this feel pain?
A huge chunk of one of its supports falls free to a blade of energy from Lunata, allowing some a means to head through there. Matilda tosses a bottle into the flailing maw of the horrible thing, its contents messing with whatever mechanisms rattle around inside. It trades a probable reality of it belching flames or something or another by making its screaming that much worse for the human ears to behold. Shalune gingerly tries to pick at it and figure out how the whole thing ticks--
"Go." Ethius insists with a more intense glare than he can usually muster, attempting to see her out as he turns his back to the rest of the fleeing group before she can really get anything cool or neat from it. "I will regroup with you later."
He faces down the mechanical monstrosity, already in ruin from time, now further removed from the ability to pursue and threaten the group by everyone's efforts.
"I call to a star that enables the patterns of life itself, its existence itself an unstable, unsustainable chaos..."
...
He'll be a little while. The air behind them gets much hotter, and harder to breathe, but the further they run, the easier it is to reclaim one's breath.
Meanwhile, the cucco that Catenna holds with care for its well-being clucks cryptically.
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge. ========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
========================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 3 *>========================================
===<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels) *>====
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It is time, you feel, that someone fill an official complaint about what a
terrible place of business this is. And your luck has turned! The signs
ahead, they read: CUSTOMER SERVICE, with an arrow helpfully pointing you
into a small office. It's clean, well-arranged. The desk is covered in
blood, and there are bones everywhere.
From behind the desk, a hidden door opens and out comes one, two, three
Wels! The unliving abominations are thin, malnourished, but at least they're
wearing clean suits. They will listen to your complaints thoroughly, once
your brains are in their mouths.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata nods as she says, "O-okay! Be careful!" as she heads along with the others, leaving Ethius to the dark and grim business of casting Giga SOOve-- er, Solar Storm on the mechanical, animatronic Dragon. Odjn probably would be jealous, but... you know, the last time she saw a big dragon like that, she just snuck into its skull and made gags.
They burst into a -- surprisingly well-kept office room, an arrow pointing them towards a helpful sign that reads:
'Your feedback matters to us!'
Hmm. Part of the sign's lettering has been blotched out. Does this have significance of any sort? It doesn't look like it, until--
A number of Wels bursts from behind the desk, from within hidden walls, and out of the copier! They're dressed in clean suits and look like they're ready to take your complaints...
Complaints in the form of a blade crushing one on the face. "This is ridiculous! I knew people died from overworking, but..."
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels).
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna clucks her tongue back at the cucco, giving the bird a little squeeze. It fluffs its wings out a bit.
She's not about to let the bird get devoured by a dragon; she takes it along as the group bursts into the next office. The cucco clucks with agitation right away. Blinking, Catenna looks down at the white ball of fluffy feathers. "I do not think our friend likes this room very much," she murmurs.
For good reason. Wels come shambling out from behind the desk, and Catenna widens her eyes, dropping back and calling upon her magic again. Once more the invisible grip of gravity clutches at her foe; the shambling Wels groan as the burden of gravity magnifies itself upon them, their every move becoming a Herculean effort.
Only once the Wels are held in place does Catenna call out something unfamiliar - and a burst of water gushes out from around her to slam towards one of the Wels. She's getting Lucadia in on this too.
The cucco catches a bit of the spray and just flutters its wings as if it doesn't mind a light bath.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline nods toward Ethius. She trusts him when he says he would regroup with them later - he always seemed to, whenever he went off to do his own thing. She moves along until she finds herself in a well-kept room marked 'Customer Service'.
"Huh, I didn't seem this room last time. Well, good. I need to give someone a piece of my mind..." Jacqueline mutters. She starts to look for a place to deposit her complaint...when all of a sudden a group of well-dressed Wels emerge from the surroundings.
"Ugh, I should've known...!" Jacqueline hisses, drawing out a bottle of repellant and hurling it into the crowd.
The complaint box probably lead right into the shredder, anyway.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels). DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"--aah, noooo--..." bawls Shalune as the Little Dipper apparently takes on a mind of its own in a very Big Shal kind of way at Ethius' insistence, piling her through the door and onwards after the group before Shalune can get caught up in the spell's effects. In the end, her arms are still outstretched as she turns towards Lunata, not tearing up but pretty close. "I coulda got a big fancy dragon! All I'd have to do was find the off switch!"
I-it wasn't yours, Shalune!
She puffs up for a moment longer, and then - the pink-haired girl just sort of lets it go with a bright sigh, shaking it away. "Aw, well. I guess I got a pretty good glimpse of it, though, and it's not like I don't know what a dragon looks like now I've seen a buncha them up close. Maybe I can make a Mecha-Muni instead?" she wonders, and then has to pause for a moment as she considers that.
That particular thought distracts her enough for the creatures to get the drop on her, and she suddenly yelps as she kicks the Little Dipper unceremoniously to one side, just in time to avoid a lunging swipe. "--maybe they're just, um, equal opportunity hiring?" she wonders as she reverses the direction of her craft, lunging forwards to pick the Wels up in a bodycheck that leaves it slammed against the wall.
"I mean, everyone deserves one chance at rehabilitation, y'know?" she adds with an upbeat sort of encouragement as she expands her shotstaff, banking her craft in a wide circle around the room, climbing a little at the same time to allow herself to rain down a series of peppering shots.
Admittedly, both she and the Little Dipper seem to hang in the air for a silent moment after Lunata speaks. What follows is a remarkably dented sulk: "... Lunie, you're the last one to talk about 'dyin' from overwork' after everything that happened," Shalune pouts. I-is this the making of the Shalunie-timeout?
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Wels... have honestly become somewhat old hat to Matilda at this point. They're scary, certainly -- but she's almost... used to fighting them, by now. When she scrambles back to the group and finds herself facing down a group of Wels, Matilda draws Freischütz without even the slightest hesitation... though she does momentarily glance at the cucco with a little bit of relief. At least it seems to have made it here intact, too!
... There's no time for thinking about the cucco! Matilda briefly reaches into her coat... and then thinks better of it for now. Honestly, drawing more Wels means drawing lots more Wels, usually, and she'd rather take this one calmly and slowly. She loads Freischütz with a small box of rocks, and sets to work.
"They're Wels," Matilda says to Shalune, shaking her head. "I don't think they... can rehabilitate. I don't think they can think." ... that's kind of depressing to think about, so she ends up making herself... well, not. Think about it.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels).
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Normally, when a friend rejoins you after a brief absence in matters of this nature - when one is about to be devoured by three famished Wels in fresh, well-pressed suits - there's usually something of a dramatic entrance. Some explosive, barely-announced attack.
The end of a quarterstaff pokes out, attempting to make use of its superior reach to push a Wel back out of 'grab one's skull' range as Ethius steps fully into the view of the rest.
"If it is not much trouble," he speaks, "I request assistance in removing an item that has affixed itself to my leg."
...Usually a dramatic re-entrance is met with a snappy one-liner. No, it... kind of looks like he's genuinely asking for one of the Wel customer service agents to kindly remove the dulled bear trap from his leg.
He is caked in more soot and dust than usual, and smells strongly of rust, but hey, he seems to be of the thought that Wels might have the mind to get the bear trap off of him.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels).
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
========================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 3 *>========================================
===<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels) *>====
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It is time, you feel, that someone fill an official complaint about what a
terrible place of business this is. And your luck has turned! The signs
ahead, they read: CUSTOMER SERVICE, with an arrow helpfully pointing you
into a small office. It's clean, well-arranged. The desk is covered in
blood, and there are bones everywhere.
From behind the desk, a hidden door opens and out comes one, two, three
Wels! The unliving abominations are thin, malnourished, but at least they're
wearing clean suits. They will listen to your complaints thoroughly, once
your brains are in their mouths.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
===================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 4 *>===================
========================================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 3 *>======================================== =====< Results - Akbar's Customer Service Center (Not Staffed By Wels) >====== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 41 --(5)--> 46 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 46 --(15)--> 61 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 41 --(5)--> 46 Pass Celesdue Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 46 --(5)--> 51 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 61 --(5)--> 66 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 61 --(5)--> 66 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Lunata Croze has posed.
ONE MINUTE BEFORE NOW
(Spoken in Drifter-unknown Welsian dialect)
'We've had a lot of complaints that our customer service is staid, boring. We need to have a more-- hands-on approach, you know?'r
'Mm! I think a surprise party might just be the kind of icebreaker Akbar's looking for?'
'Like he cares about customer service at all! The only reason we're here is because of ancient regulations-- ooh, here comes someone!'
'Finally! We've just been rotting here for centuries!'
It turns out it's a lot harder to shout out a happy welcome when your esophagus is perforated and your lungs don't work, so what's supposed to be a jovial welcome comes out as a "GRARAHHRHGH--"
And then that guy gets his brains split in half.
'OH GOD his head's missing--'
And another one flies and flomphs against the wall as a burst of powerful pressure comes out of Lucadia's medium.
'SWEET GRANAS--'
The one attempting to rehabilitate to Granas doesn't get the chance before Shalune bodychecks and shoots it with her staff.
'There's no hazard pay for this!!'
Is the last thought of a Wels accountant that discovered that her brains were actually made out of rocks.
'T-this smells worse than when Akhbar bought a ferret--'
And several more go 'thunk' as Jay's repellant hits the floor.
'Sir, your leg...'
One of the half-torn Wels shambles by Ethius' foot and groars at him weakly, before looking at the bear trap. He reaches for it and... unhinges and removes it.
'Have a nice day...'
DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>=========================
=======<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin) *>========
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You have finally reached the office of Akbar the Great. To schedule an
appointment, please consult the receptionist and discuss which payment plan
and appointment duration best suits your needs. If you select the correct
payment plan and the stars are aligned just right, you may win a WONDERFUL
PRIZE!!!
Conditions may apply.
Sadly, it seems that the receptionist is just a mannequin dressed like a
receptionist. She's holding onto some kind of barely functional datapad with
an empty scheduler on display. Maybe if you mess with it you can figure it
out? Or you could take the datapad. Who doesn't want a free tablet these
days? It doesn't do much beyond schedule appointments though.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Beyond customer service is... the office. It would seem that, at long last, the group has found its way past the horrors of the emporium and back into something that resembles a real shop. ... resembles, of course, because it's a totally dead, lifeless room, filled with nothing but... a desk, a mannequin, and a datapad.
Matilda looks at the room with near-total incredulity, taking everything in -- the signage, the mannequin, the... well, honestly, the desolation of it all. "... How sad," is all she manages for a little while. When she sees the datapad, she looks first to the freshly de-bear-trapped Ethius...
... and then thinks better of it, and turns her attention to Shalune. "Ah -- Shalune, if you would...?" she requests, gently, as she scoots to stand just next to her. "I can think of no one with a greater chance of putting the pieces together here... unless, of course, Miss Jay has encountered this before...?"
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata is looking pretty exhausted as she trudges through with the others, covered in Wels gunk and looking like she could really use a break. She sighs as she pulls out some wipes and rubs her hands off, staring towards the office and says, "... I gotta say..."
A pause. "While Lunie messes with that, does anyone want soup?"
She puts the sign down.
TODAY'S DUNGEON SOUP
Cream of cauliflower soup
with bacon gremolata
Sadly, the 'and garlic croutons' part is crossed out...
A certain cucco is responsible.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Soup of the Day toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"Yes, absolutely," Matilda says, immediately moving to acquire soup.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Here again." Catenna lowers her eyelids and sighs, moving towards Lunata and checking out the sign.
"Why is the garlic crouton off the menu," she asks.
The cucco cradled in her left arm cucks appreciatively. Catenna looks down at it.
"Oh," she sighs as she dips a thumb to brush crumbs off of the cucco's bill and breast feathers. The bird just flaps its little winglets like the happiest cucco on earth, giving Lunata what would probably be an admiring look, assuming you can superimpose that emotion on a literal chicken.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Matilda's side-glance is probably right. Ethius already has that glowing lens to his eye, affixed upon that datapad, as he reaches out slowly... very slowly. Dramatically slowly, which is unlike him.
The universe may be about to conspire on this specific point in favor of...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
They're getting close... Jacqueline steps into the office, glancing toward the counter with a slight frown.
"Hm, well, I have...but I didn't have much success last time. It's very, ah..." She fumbles about a bit for a word, but...
"...Not good." She concludes a bit lamely. She is all for leaving it to Shalune, and so when Lunata sets out the Soup of the Day, Jacqueline readily moves to join her. Who could say no to Lunata's soup?
Jacqueline does glance toward the cucco in Catenna's arms with a suspicious frown...but doesn't say anything, instead deciding to focus on the most important thing at the moment -
Soup.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune is at least polite enough to disembark the Little Dipper before she enters the odd office, tilting her head as she whines quietly under her breath. "Y-yikes. Um. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for havin' people help you out in a work environment and all, but--" She squirms for a moment, not really sure how to tactfully put it - and in the end, she just gives in as she gingerly touches the dusty, half-caved arm of the mannequin. "--this is kind of sad and spooky all at once, y'know?" she mutters to Lunata.
She perks up a little as Matilda calls her over, at least, peering around the scientist's shoulder to take a look at the device. "Oh-- yeah, I think I saw one of those at Wayside, or somethin' like it," she rattles off eagerly. She's trying to be informative, but you can sort of see the way she shuffles to one side to near Lunata's pot of soup, her expression only falling a little at the loss of the garlic croutons before she cups her hands around a mug.
"They're kind of, um. They're like notebooks except they're machines and you poke 'em," she nods at Ethius' motion, as if completely unwilling to consider the fact that the taciturn man might be about to roast the device. "You use a finger rather than a pen. I mean, I dunno why," she adds, her expression turning down a little. "I got smudges everywhere when I tried it, it was horrible. I wiped and wiped and it just kinda spread. Eugh."
In a blink, she's back at Ethius' arm with a remarkable amount of trust. "Right, right! Maybe if you-- um--" Finally, she seems to spot what's wrong with an inanimate object as a receptionist, and kind of clatters to a silent and abjectly confused stop.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin).
=========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>=========================
=======<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin) *>========
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You have finally reached the office of Akbar the Great. To schedule an
appointment, please consult the receptionist and discuss which payment plan
and appointment duration best suits your needs. If you select the correct
payment plan and the stars are aligned just right, you may win a WONDERFUL
PRIZE!!!
Conditions may apply.
Sadly, it seems that the receptionist is just a mannequin dressed like a
receptionist. She's holding onto some kind of barely functional datapad with
an empty scheduler on display. Maybe if you mess with it you can figure it
out? Or you could take the datapad. Who doesn't want a free tablet these
days? It doesn't do much beyond schedule appointments though.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
====================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 5 *>==================== =========< Results - Akbar's Appointment Secretary (Not A Mannequin) >========== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 46 --(15)--> 61 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 61 --(25)--> 86 Fail Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 46 --(25)--> 71 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 51 --(15)--> 66 Pass Soup of the Day 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shalune Amira 66 --(25)--> 91 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 66 --(25)--> 91 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Jacqueline Barber 80 --(0)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Stupify(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 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> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Unfortunately, there's no real receptionist to ask for help! Nothing goes well! Everything is bad.
Shalune ends up the primary member of the party working on it, and even she can't seem to figure out much of anything about the tablet. It does... essentially nothing. No doors open. Nothing is scheduled. No taps seem to do anything. It freezes at one point.
Scowling, Matilda says, "... Why don't we just break in?"
Her upper lip is covered in soup. It makes the scowl look kind of awkward.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
==========<* CHALLENGE - Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive) *>==========
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You have somehow managed to secure an appointment with the great Akbar. Or
his ghost, at the very least. A tall, rowdy man who wears a red jumpsuit,
with hair in a red mohawk and a thin frame.
"Suckers!" he shouts.
A very large boulder materializes before each party member. It seems the
ghostly conman wants a demonstration of power - bonus points if you use any
of his wares!
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Having taking an opportunity to rest and recuperate with delicious soup(despite the lack of croutons), Jacqueline nods toward Matilda.
"...Right." She says with a nod of agreement. She glances toward the door and draws her Crest, unleashing a burst of destructive force to knock it off its hinges.
"Akbar!" Jacqueline shouts, marching into the room. Akbar was the name of the man who owned this Emporium long ago, right? By all accounts he should be dead, but indeed...there he is at the end of the room, sitting back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk.
...At least assuming you could see ghosts and spiritual phenomena, otherwise you'd just see a chair tilted at an unnatural angle.
"I was wondering how long it would take you jerks to show up! I've been watching you the whole time, you know. Did you really have to go overboard on my poor dragon? That thing was expensive, even by my standards!" He complains.
"So whaddaya want? A refund? You haven't bought nothin', kid, so if you're looking for money, you can turn around and get your keister outta here. I've got nothin' for you, so scram." He says.
In response, Jacqueline slams a hand onto the desk.
"My problem is with you and your lack of respect for the business! You don't care about the people you serve, you just care about money! You sell them awful, low-quality goods, then find every possible way to wriggle out of giving them a refund...if your shoddy goods don't kill them first!" She shouts. Akbar gives gasp and recoils in an overexaggerated manner.
"Oh no, that's horrible! Absolutely awful. I'm dyin' of shame over here, kid." He says, rolling his eyes.
"...'Cept for the little, tiny problam that I'm already dead, so it's too late for that. Newsflash, kid - that's what business is about! If you're making money off 'em, who cares? Screw 'em, there're more suckers where they came from." He says. Jacqueline slams her hand on the desk again.
"The Caravan Kinship cares about their customers! We do our best for them, and they do their best for us! That's how a merchant should really act!" She replies. Akbar simply rolls his eyes again.
"The Caravan Kinship, huh? You know, I've heard of you jerks before. People say you really..."
As he speaks, a ghostly lever appears on his desk.
"Rock!!" As he says this he pulls the lever and Jacqueline leaps backward as a set of rocks drop from the ceiling, blocking the Kinship away from him.
"Suckers!! If you want to get through to my cold, hard, heart, you're going to have to dig up my rotting corpse first! You're talkin' to a brick wall, kid, and now you're stuck behind one, too! Good luck with that!" He jeers, then cackles.
Jacqueline grimaces, and shakes her head.
"I thought this would happen..." She mutters, and invokes her Crest again, launching destructive force at one of the stones ahead of her.
It looks like if you want to explore the rest of the office, you'll have to do something about them...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata -- Lunata -- can't say she knows a lot about business. Restaurants are kind of stable, after all, and being a waitress, she's never exactly been in the cutting edge of how to price meals and when and where to market them.
But Ge Ramda rises from out of her -- and grabs hold of that boulder with a long and mournful whimper.
"Merchants like you give Jay a bad name!" Lunata lectures, clicking her fingers as she has Ge Ramda fling it back in Akbar's direction--
--and she takes off the earring clipped to her ear, hucking it to strike the boulder.
The resulting explosion of wind, water, fire and earth would be beautiful and a sight to behold indeed.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Meredin's Earrings toward her party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The cucco, too, is enjoying the soup. It enjoys it so much that it starts to eat Catenna's share.
Catenna lowers her eyelids a little.
Soon enough, though, the phantom in red makes his appearance again. With a hiss of breath, Catenna reaches for her main Medium, but first Jacqueline has words for the phantom. The priestess just looks on, mildly astounded as Jacqueline's integrity - and her gall.
"I am not even really a merchant and I know when I am dealing with a huckster," she puts in flatly.
The inevitable rocks come rolling down. Immediately, Catenna jumps back; it's the same thing that happened last time, but this time she had a little bit of warning. Keeping a hold on the cucco to ensure the poor bird doesn't get flattened, Catenna chants softly in her own language and waves her hand.
The rock rolling towards her suddenly lifts itself off the ground.
With a stony *CLUNK*, the rock hits the ceiling and begins to roll back the other way. Catenna fights to broaden the spell, struggling to hold the rock up and to try and slow down the other rocks. Sweat beads at her temples, her arm tightening around the cucco a little as she pours everything she can into the magic.
The cucco clucks a bit as if to protest the tightening.
"Sorry," Catenna mutters.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
In the wake of datapad antics, he comes up empty-handed. His eyes trail wherever or whoever has it for a while, but he doesn't seem to see it fit to broach the topic any further as he follows the rest along inward.
He has no words for the scene before him. Can he see it? It is either ignorance of something under the surface, or an assurance of some greater cause, that makes him decide that he has little to say. (The truth is that he might just be an optional party member and thus not have any baked-in story beats... but... shh.)
The rocks come down, and he raises a hand again to start fluttering the fingers. The syllables don't come.
Ethius exhales loudly once. He's usually among the best Filgaia's ever seen at keeping a poker face, but then again it's easy to cheat that when you keep half your face hidden virtually at all times. He can't quite hide it, now.
Whatever he did to the dragon, it's taken much out of him. When you are a sorcerer, your body craves significant calorie intake to make up for the epxended energy. When your dietary strategy seems to roughly boil down to 'burn the crap out of everything until it's barely edible,' and still yet muster up the willpower and gumption to decide - for any reason! - to pass up soup from one of the best cooks for miles, possibly even the continent...
You run into problems going full tilt.
He struggles to keep himself focused and together long enough to channel off any number of heat spells to try and weaken the obstruction(s) in question. The destructive Symbological force he wields that seems almost anathema to the continued function of almost any construct doesn't quite materialize to the expected magnitude and force one would seek of him.
But something compels him to scrape at the very bottom of his MP pool, just to see them through this last traditional obstruction to the just end in which Jay has rolled up her sleeves and brought her posse along. He's not a merchant, like the rest of them - what, exactly, is his stake here then?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Jay... has a conversation with an empty chair. In some respects, this is the most Western thing that has ever happened. Matilda watches a little blankly, trying to piece together whatever supernatural nonsense is happening in front of her eyes --
--WHAM.
Matilda frowns, and loads something into Freischütz. "I suppose I should have seen this coming," she murmurs, with a long-suffering sigh. "Maybe not this exactly, but..." She extends the barrel, because it seems it's time for some detailed, precise work with the rocks.
Matilda fires a thick lotion from Freischütz's barrel at a remarkably high velocity; it bubbles and sizzles on impact, and threatens to carve the rocks into pieces.
Her eyes widen a little as she sees the earring go out. "... So that's what those were for," she murmurs, thoughtfully. "I suppose every scholar has a few secrets..."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Carefully, Shalune peeks inside the room, a kind of horrified expression on her face as it finally clicks with her that perhaps the mysterious 'Akbar' might not actually be of the living. "I-is it really okay to lecture a ghost?" she burbles half to herself, bobbling from side to side as she's effectively countermanded and superceded by Jacqueline's opening assault. "I mean, um, is it even gonna take? Wouldn't he be a lich if he's doin' Crest Graphs an' stuff?" she adds, kind of perturbed before she draws in a breath. "U-um-- um, well, anyway, go Jay!"
She almost seems to have forgotten whatever was on her mind as she pumps her fist, but-- but then a rock materializes in front of her, and she yelps, skittering backwards a few steps as
he
boulder fails to go anywhere at all. There's no rumbling roll, or splat, or anything much at all, and Shalune to has pause as she feels the wind start to slowly drain out of her sails all over again.
"... I'm kinda startin' to feel more on board with burning this place down, I'm just gonna say that," she grumbles for a moment, then puffs as she reaches for her coat, patting it down. Somehow, it seems hard to really come up with anything to deal with a rock that's just sort of innocently sitting there, and she dithers for a moment in wondering if she should really even be bothering with it.
Eventually, she frowns, deciding to solve the issue in the only managerially appropriate way as she steps around the boulder in her path. "Lunieee~, can't we just exorcise this guy or somethin'?"
DG: Shalune Amira has used her Tool Soup of the Day -Shalune Ver.- toward her party's challenge, Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive).
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
==========<* CHALLENGE - Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive) *>==========
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You have somehow managed to secure an appointment with the great Akbar. Or
his ghost, at the very least. A tall, rowdy man who wears a red jumpsuit,
with hair in a red mohawk and a thin frame.
"Suckers!" he shouts.
A very large boulder materializes before each party member. It seems the
ghostly conman wants a demonstration of power - bonus points if you use any
of his wares!
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
===================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon - Round 6 *>=================== ============< Results - Akbar The Great (Not Overly Competitive) >============ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 61 --(5)--> 66 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 86 --(10)--> 96 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 71 --(10)--> 81 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 66 --(5)--> 71 Pass Meredin's Earrings 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 91 --(5)--> 96 Pass Soup of the Day -Shalune Ver.- 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 91 --(10)--> 101 Fail Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Stupify(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Matilda Whitehead is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has successfully explored Akbar's Discount Dungeon!
========================<* Akbar's Discount Dungeon *>========================
====<* CHALLENGE - Akbar's Guide to Success and Fame (Not Blank Books) *>=====
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You have triumphed over Akbar and found his secret stash of unsold products.
This stash contains several copies of Akbar's bestseller book. It begins
with extremely interesting quotes and passages cited from other books and
prestigious figures of Filgaian history, but after about ten pages of this,
the rest of the book is blank, in a sort of self help book fill it yourself
kind of way.
Maybe the key to success and fame is to figure it out on your own.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The party brings their full force against the challenge Akbar placed before them. They fight back against the forces of a merchant who is the opposite of everything they stand for. Eventually, the stones dropped by Akbar are destroyed, and their pathway to him is clear.
"So, you're more than just talk, huh...? So, what're you going to do to me? Can't kill me, I'm already dead, and I feel like you're the type who'd just shrivel if you got a little bit of blood on your hands..." Akbar says with a confident grin, then glances toward Shalune.
"Exorcise me? Kid, I'm already in perfect shape! ...Besides, my soul is already weighed down by greed. Not to mention my enormous fortune! I'd like to see you try. There's nothing you lot can do to me."
"The fortune you made off the misfortune of others?" Jacqueline says with a frown.
"Yeah, that's the one! Good job, kid, you're finally starting to catch on to how this business works! Here, I got a little something for you. Maybe if you read my book, you can become half as rich and famous as I am." With a malicious grin he reaches for a lever, and the front of his desk opens up. Copy after copy of "Akbar's Guide to Success and Fame" start shooting out of it. They even threaten to fill up the room.
"Don't worry, I've got plenty! Besides, you left yours here last time!" He taunts with another cackle.
With a grimace Jacqueline starts to invoke her Crest. There's a swirl of energy...
But Jacqueline sighs and powers down instead.
"Fine, let's just leave this lost soul here. We don't have to stoop to his level." She says, turning around to leave. One of his books smacks her in the back of the head as she walks out. She doesn't flinch, or even acknowledge it.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
With a huff of effort, Catenna comes down from that spell. It took a lot out of her.
"Then let us go," she says with a slow nod. Cradling the cucco in her arm, she flashes Jacqueline a quiet smile. "You did well. I think we should take our friend with us... what with all the help the cucco gave us today--"
The cucco clucks at Catenna and flutters its wings a couple of times. It hops down from her arm and looks up at her, clucking again.
Widening her eyes, Catenna sinks to a crouch, folding her hands together. Hints of sadness etch themselves around the corners of her eyes. "Oh," she murmurs, her cheeks taking on a slight rosy tinge. "Well... then if you have a home to return to... then it would be cruel of me to say otherwise...."
Fluffy white feathers poofing out a bit, the cucco clucks up at Catenna again.
"Then," the priestess says, bowing her head, "I guess this is goodbye."
Catenna folds her hands together. She closes her eyes for a moment and smiles a small smile - thankful, yet sad, both emotions side by side. "Thank you for your help. Please be safe in your travels."
The cucco clucks at her, and flicks a wing. It waves both wings, then, at the entire party.
With a strutting step, the cucco turns away. Long, slow strides carry it off towards the horizon. In the distance, the sun is setting. The light of it wreathes the cucco's shape, streaming through fluffy wings and tailfeathers. It recedes into the distance as it walks off into the setting sun.
A ways away, it turns, waves a wing, and clucks one more time. And then, with a flutter of wings, it's gone, out of sight.
Catenna blinks a couple of times. "Aren't we still indoors," she mutters, giving Lunata a quizzical look.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks towards Jacqueline, looking between her and Akbar, looking a little more and more incensed. She lowers her head for a moment, then breathes deeply.
"... Jay might not be the kind who likes to get blood on her hands, but--"
She raises her hand as a telltale, cold sensation of death erupts in the area. Her hair whips on end as the light of the Key of Rephaim surrounds her.
"--I'm not."
She narrows her eyes as she murmurs, "The Wheel or Spirits has ample room for sinners, sinners worse than you. Would you like to experience what it's like to be trapped in it? I--"
And then her heels start shuffling as the light dies down.
"Wh-- hey, hey! What gives, Ge Ramda?!" Lunata barks.
Ge Ramda gives her one look, shared between them for a moment, and there's a sudden look of realisation.
"... okay, no, I don't want to inherit the memory of his bad business practices," Lunata sulks, before giving Akbar the stink-eye. She sighs, and turns as she glances towards the cucco head off...
And looks to Catenna. "Cuccos are powerful... Aunt Hilda said so."
ELSEWHERE, A BIT LATER
"Oh? Cucco, you're back~" calls an extremely familiar voice, as the cucco lands on the fence of the open-range pen that it dwells in. "Cucco, come here~ I have dinner for you~!"
Cucco looks very self-satisfied for some reason...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune visibly waits for the 'bonk', and yet it doesn't come. Instead, she finds herself sighing as she watches the light show that Lunata erupts into - before grimacing at the concept that Lunata might actually inherit the memories of the ghosts she exorcises. "Baw--" she blurts automatically, and suddenly she's helping Ge Ramda pull Lunata back, letting out a breath as she does so. "M-maaan, even I feel really tired... what the heck kinda ruin is this? I'm all for just leavin' this place well alone, you know?"
"... you think there's a bunch of ghosts like this? Like a franchise?" she wonders abruptly, before easily pronouncing the capitals: "Like someday I'm gonna come across DARK LUNIE and be horrified at the way she just leaves stuff everywhere an' doesn't close up her machines after she fixes them and uses a number 6 all the time when she should just be usin' a number 4?" Perhaps she's getting a little carried away in hopes of scrubbing the memory of the place, because suddenly she's all smiles as she warms to the aimless thought. "With a Dark Big Shal-- um. Hmm. Maybe a Little Shal? Oh, but Little Shal exists now-- Dark Evil Shal? Baw, I don't wanna think of Big Shal being evil--..."
With luck, maybe this will go on for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius stands exhausted as he refrains from casting more spells at the issue. The problem seems to be resolved, through everyone's efforts, as Jay goes into another round of verbal sparring against the ghost of Akbar - capitalistic sourge of a bygone age. His quarterstaff pulls double duty as a walking stick to keep himself upright as his breathing heightens.
Books fly forth. Whatever strength Ethius has left, he parts his left hand from the grasp of the quarterstaff to reach out and catch one mid-flight. He holds it before himself as though the act of catching this very book were symbolically important, indicative of some great development or end of a pivotal trial or whatnot nonsense.
"This book." Ethius speaks. "This book... it is evidence." Evidence of what? He seems to be looking in Akbar's direction - maybe even directly at them? This might be a conicidence. "The character of the mechanisms and items within... they do not appear constructed of mere lack of skill, or simply for bottom gella."
"I have previously obtained hold of a similar device seen to the room before." He continues aloud... to nothing? If he's speaking to everyone, he's not facing them. "There was a detail about them that has proven most invaluable for my curiosity..."
"Dates." Pff, who knew he was seeking a relati--
"I am confident about the era in which this place once operated. If this book confirms but one of my suspicions..." As if a book full of quotes sourced from other famous Filgaians and works might be any indication of anything? What would Ethius expect to find? Even as he speaks, the fatigue that surrounds him seems to melt away, slowly, revealing...
Something only Akbar could see.
"I will have cause to return." This is probably a threat, but it is spoken with the same care, rhythm, and tone Ethius generally speaks at all. It is as though these words mark an inevitability.
He does not say what, exactly, he would be seeking in the event he does, as he turns to face the rest of them. Tucking the book into his poncho somehow, he does extend a hand towards Matilda should she require one... or even really want one from him, and says nothing of real consequence for the way out.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda snags a copy of the book -- but that's all she bothers to do. The ghost is of no interest -- or more accurately, of essentially no perception past a chill wind and the occasional phantom sensation of ghostliness. She seems... perfectly fine with this turn of events, though.
She glances toward Ethius, then at the hand... and decides not to take it. Maybe she's still a little on edge?