2017-11-26: The Darkness Below
- Log: The Darkness Below
- Cast: Kahm Yugh, Loren Voss, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Wayside Village
- Date: November 26th 2017
- Summary: The Gebler team makes its way into the depths of the Wayside Wellspring after investigating unusual events witnessed in the area of late, in the hopes of learning more about the ancient ARM purifier and whatever the village could be hiding.
DG: A party led by Kahm Yugh is now entering Wayside Wellspring. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ==================<* CHALLENGE - Whatever Floats Your Boat *>=================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You find yourself in a dark, dank cave system beyond the qanat. The water looks slimy and not very clean -- there's a *reason* Wayside depends on its ARM-purifier! On the other side of the water you see several antiquated rowboats, complete with paddles. You'll need one if you want to continue further -- unless you decide to swim! You'll also need a light source -- it's DARK in these caves! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
After a night's stay at Wayside that Kahm would personally term 'uneventful', the group of undercover Gebler agents rose and set off at the crack of down. Their destination: the uncharted system of caves and aquifers that laid below Wayside. Ostensibly, this was a charitable act by friendly drifters to help Riesenlied in the continuing efforts to get her burgeoning village on their feet. In actuality, Kahm wanted to learn more about this ARM relic if they could-and anything the citizens of Wayside may have been hiding from them.
Granted, people with something to hide wouldn't typically let three relative strangers have unrestricted access to this place, but it was also dangerous. Hard not to see why-they'd barely taken 50 feets in a sloping descent before the sunlight rapidly retreated. Kahm flicked on a standard-issue, wearable LED to guide the way once darkness became law, thankful their isolation allowed them the luxury of using such devices where none could see.
Their path comes to a stop at the edge of a rather unappealing body of water, prompting Kahm to wrinkle his nose in mild distaste. "No wonder they rely on that purifier..." He mused, sighting the rowboats across the natural channel. "Those boats appears to be unmoored. Perhaps some gentle waves could bring one our way."
He'll look at both Elly and Loren expectantly. "Why don't you two give it a shot? This is a bit different from the kind of task combat calls for-you'll need to use a gentle touch. They don't teach it enough at Jugend."
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Whatever Floats Your Boat.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren, for his part, had spent some time the night before evaluating Riesenlied and her decidedly unhealthy condition. While it was difficult to make one-to-one comparisons -- he'd have to cross reference with lab techs once they resumed communications -- given the obvious physiological differences...
As he'd thought from looking at her, she had the equivalent of what would be muscular wasting in a person, and had demonstrated some motor issues as well. To his surprise, he'd found that Metal Demons did have a pulse... if an irregular one. Was that normal?
Sick, perhaps. Possibly not as great a threat as previously as a result, but final threat analysis likely dependent on other factors...
So he mused as they descended into the depths, the way lit by their LEDs. Drifters without a light would have had to turn back at this point, but fortunately, they're prepared.
His nose wrinkles as they reach the shore.
"Something's contaminating the water. I suppose it figures. Potable water's said to be rare. Aren't they the lucky ones..."
He gazes across the distance at the rowboats.
'Why don't you two give it a shot?'
Loren's shoulders tense. It's far from a difficult request, technically speaking, but he's under the impression the Major will be watching them carefully as they try. And if there's anyone here who needs to make it count...
He doesn't look at Elly. Lifting a hand to his glasses, he at once focuses and unfocuses his will, splitting it off from himself and sending it sliding into the murk of the water. Just a little bit. He shouldn't need to use much force to send the pool rippling and move one of the boats.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Whatever Floats Your Boat.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly had played her flute at some point. She is a mid-range amateur but at least it wasn't horrifying. (Her accompaniment would have been a different story.)
Now she isn't. She left the flute in Wayside. If she should die, Mikaia will at least be empowered. The stagnant water and its gently foul stench offends Elly's nose, but she keeps her mouth closed. Her own light comes out, attached to her blouse due to her need to keep her hands free, as she is the labor where Kahm is the capital.
"... Of course, sir," she answers Kahm, and walks up, and stays a yard or two from Loren... who is reaching out. She looks at Loren, then looks again, and then raises one hand upwards.
Her own awareness shifts, not to the water, but to the air. It's not all lightning bolts, after all, although there is a transient sparkling tension in the air as Elly gets her bearings. Soon enough a breeze starts up, and it pushes against the side of the boats. Not with great force, but it doesn't need much, does it?
It also moves around the smell. "Phewgh... Do you think it could be some kind of ancient contamination, or is it natural in origin?" she asks, mostly to Loren.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Whatever Floats Your Boat.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ==================<* CHALLENGE - Whatever Floats Your Boat *>=================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You find yourself in a dark, dank cave system beyond the qanat. The water looks slimy and not very clean -- there's a *reason* Wayside depends on its ARM-purifier! On the other side of the water you see several antiquated rowboats, complete with paddles. You'll need one if you want to continue further -- unless you decide to swim! You'll also need a light source -- it's DARK in these caves! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 1 *>======================= ====================< Results - Whatever Floats Your Boat >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Large Largons *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You see a disturbance in the water, a brief warning that two Largons are trying to kill you! These fish-frogs are right in their element. You have no choice but to fight back! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
And just as she asks that question there is a roll of thunder. It's a quiet, sensual thunder, more of a distant rumble that might be taken for a microtremor above. Down here it represents a sudden bolus of displaced wind that smashes down and puts a gear-fist-sized divot in the water. It's very clear.
There is a bloop.
Water gently washes forwards. It brings two of the rowboats with it - one of which has been shipping a lot of stinky water in the bilge, and the other of which has rotted to the waterline even if the wood itself remains rather buoyant.
It also washes over Elly's calves, and just exactly hits the top of her boots, meaning that a good cupful of filthy surface water, which is probably like ninety percent hobo sweat and Drifter urine, gets on her feet. While this would probably excite Shakhan, Elly has to exert herself to not shout in dismay.
"... Well," she says, pulling the less destroyed rowboat forwards, extremely carefully, "At least this one's still got dry seats..."
"Grubbit," agrees the Largon.
Elly turns her head to look at the pair of big quasi-amphibians which are rising out of the water. One of them bellies up on shore and waddles straight dead-ass at Loren while the other seems to be deciding if Elly (smaller, but nearer the water) or Kahm (bigger, but more of a hassle) would be worth eating.
Elly's brow furrows. There is a new light a moment later, because Elly is trying to do a Thermo Cube on the one that's looking between her and the Major. It is probably going to be a bad scene for the monster.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Large Largons.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Kahm was indeed watching closely as the two executed the task at hand, his eyes peeled for the way in which both subordinates wielded and performed their craft. Loren took a straightforward path, but did it well, while Elly deployed more creative thinking beyond what he had specifically ordered, adapting to what Loren was doing. Interesting...had the intuition always been there, or was it a result of her assignment?
The Major only has so much time to speculate, of course, when Murphy's law proves itself as true on Filgaia as anywhere else, and something down the way shoves a bolus of displace air along their sensitive operation. "Careful." Kahm warns, sensing the pressure differential through his own sensitivity to the particular effort, but the water surges forward more expectantly than desired, and his shoes and pants are also awash in filth.
"This is where you learn to adapt to the unexpected." He comments, scraping some muck off his shoe on a conveniently nearby rock when the movement catches the corner of his eye a half-second before the Largons appear. "Case in point."
Kahm's instincts where natural at this point-an armed sonic grenade was already flying through the air between the respective frog-fish, disrupting in a capacity that exploited the natural walling and echo of the caverns to heighten it's effect. The Major didn't stop there, either, generating a current from the bottom of his foot towards either specimen, aided in the flow path by the fact that water was conveniently everywhere. "If there's a colony of these down here, that's at least one explanation for the smell."
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Large Largons.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"...Difficult to say," Loren responds a moment later, exhaling a sharp breath as he returns to himself. "It would depend on what's down here. Perhaps ancient contamination if it's old enough. Or it could some sort of geological intrusion, something like a coal seam."
Fine control is important in healing applications of ether, so that isn't the difficulty here as much as it is the environmental control.
It's incredibly bad if, say, you go to repair an abdominal wound and end up adhering the spleen directly to the liver.
The water obeys; the boat begins to drift favorably...
Wind displaces with great force, washing the boats and a considerable tide ashore. For a brief second Loren considers taking a step back but realizes it won't particularly change the outcome here anyway. He instead stands on the shore, deadpan as the foul water sloshes into his boots.
This is off to a great start.
"The other one's a mess," he comments, eyeing the rotting boat. He takes one step forward--
Something arises, and with astonishing speed, emerges from the drink. It comes right at him before he can so much as bring a weapon to bear or even start to invoke a breath of ether. Its gummy mouth opens wide as it lunges and
Loren, with the first thing he can bring to hand, slams the end of the medical kit weighed down with the heavier trauma equipment down over its head.
He takes a step back, drawing a gunsmoke ARM in preparation for further trouble. A brief wince crosses his face as the sonic grenade rings out. "...So I see. Sir."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Large Largons.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Large Largons *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You see a disturbance in the water, a brief warning that two Largons are trying to kill you! These fish-frogs are right in their element. You have no choice but to fight back! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 2 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Large Largons >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Sonic Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh 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: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Oncoming Traffic *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Look out! Another party of adventurers in a boat is careening STRAIGHT towards you, swept by the strong current! You need evasive maneuvers ASAP! For what it's worth, they don't seem loaded down with any treasure. Hey, is that someone you recognize...? (OOC: Any +Observers, feel free to RP the other adventurer(s)...) =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
And so, the Largons largdie.
Elly exhales.
She squinches into the boat and takes her boots off. She is wearing thin socks underneath them, which she opts to just toss into the water because she can buy new on her inflated Gebler salary and expense account, letting the boots drain out. They're good boots. They don't deserve this.
"It would make sense... And they'd hesitate to put poison out for them, wouldn't they, so close to their water supply," Elly speculates.
Then a light shines on them all. It's got the natural warmth of an oil lantern with a reflector rather than their light-emitting diodes, but there is an echoing song from around a bend in the underground spaces, the natural turmoil having muffled what sounds like a vigorous song. The lyrics are too distorted to make out.
What is much clearer is a stentorian woman's voice. "OUT OF THE WAY!"
Elly stares in disbelief at what moves in from behind them, and closing fast. What is coming up the pike is a close-set tandem paddleboat - though it might make no sense to even those of Gebler, given its obviously bespoke construction. Three members of the Althena's guard, mostly rugged and disreputable sorts, look at the drifters with a mixture of amusement and disdain, their legs pumping like engines and crackling with some kind of thunderous nimbus.
The fourth behind them, in an elevated seat with a hand on the tiller and her own pedals, is an elf with black hair. They are going nearly thirty miles an hour. This is only half from the current.
"I SAID GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Margaret shouts. "IDIOT! BLAME YOURSELF OR YOUR PAGAN GODS!"
Their boat, having been made within living memory, will win any collisions. Hopefully someone can avoid one! It won't be Elly, that's for damn sure.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sassy Boots toward her party's challenge, Oncoming Traffic.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
As it turns out, the firearm isn't needed. It would seem that strike with the kit was a fatal one. Loren, after prodding the corpse with his boot, halfshrugs and reholsters.
"Then the mystery is solved," comes the dry response, before he makes a rather less dry approach towards the sole shipshape boat. "Let's get moving before more of them come up to greet us."
All aboard, it seems.
"...Do you hear something?" Loren asks, tilting his head as a sound comes echoing up the way.
...
There's a light. It's approaching fast.
Correction, a boat approaching fast.
Loren freezes, much like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Why is it going so fast.
Fortunately, instinct overrides mental paralysis at some juncture and he expends a burst of etheric force, attempting to shove their own boat -- since he knows the approximate mass, can calculate for the amount of force, can hopefully not smash them into the cave walls -- aside.
Also a thought right now: who in the world IS that?
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Oncoming Traffic.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Once the Largon threat is passed Kahm will settle into the boat with rest, taking point on the right paddle while Loren presumably takes the left. He'll take initiative and push them off with a thrust of his paddle, grateful to leave the shore (and the smell of fried fish frogs) behind them-for now.
"They didn't strike me as natural creatures. The ones above ground may not be the only mutates." Kahm said, quietly eating a field ration and expressing his thoughts more openly in the comparative privacy of the cavern...or at least had thought it private, until the rapidly building crescendo of another group begin to impose itself behind them as soon as they were no more than half a click into their journey.
"That's..." Kahm turns back in time to get an eyeful of mild light, the rush of water and shouting voices explaining more than he could in the next second so. "Tcht! Bank hard to the right!" He shouts, presumably to Loren, leaning in to assist with the rapid pitch of the boat and paddling hard as the Lieutenant leaned again on his etheric specialty to assist them-thankfully.
A leak chooses the most inopportune time the spring at the bottom of the boat in all this, but Kahm quickly uses the remaining half of the ration bar to plug it, stomping the mass with the heel of boot to create an effective seal. Was there anything they couldn't do?!
He also speaks what Loren merely thinks, "I'm going to remember that outrageous face."
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Field Rations toward his party's challenge, Oncoming Traffic.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Oncoming Traffic *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Look out! Another party of adventurers in a boat is careening STRAIGHT towards you, swept by the strong current! You need evasive maneuvers ASAP! For what it's worth, they don't seem loaded down with any treasure. Hey, is that someone you recognize...? (OOC: Any +Observers, feel free to RP the other adventurer(s)...) =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 3 *>======================= =========================< Results - Oncoming Traffic >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Field Rations 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 25 --(10)--> 35 Pass Sassy Boots 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Rubble Trouble *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The cave mouth to the next area is both semi-underwater and blocked by stones of various sizes and types. They appear to have been left there deliberately. You'll have to clear them away before you can direct your rowboat through. Fortunately the water is shallow enough to stand in. It's also cold and not a little slimy. You might want to check your vaccinations before leaving the boat. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's not a face he knows, runs the very distant thought as he pours the remainder of his focus into attempting to bank the boat hard to the right as the Major orders.
It's a face he'll probably remember out of sheer spite, though.
It was a good attempt, but the elf woman and her crew are just moving too darn fast; even getting out of immediate oncoming strike range -- which would have put an end to business for the day right there, unless they felt like swimming the rest of the way -- with a combined effort of etheric push and the oars just sets them up to get swamped by the speeding boat's wake. The little rowboat pitches hard as it's sent careening down a side tunnel, battering the wall as it glides out of control...
Loren, perhaps not in the best place for this on the boat, is flung against one side before another pitch sends him into the drink.
Swimming skills, fortunately, were on the curriculum. Breaching the surface, he gasps and grabs blindly for the side.
The good news is, the makeshift plug holds.
Also, the boat is still seaworthy, as it were, if in dire need of a little bit of a bailout.
Whoever that woman was, he's feeling a little bit murderous concerning, right now.
And then he realizes something important: "...It's shallow."
His feet are touching the bottom of the riverbed here. Releasing his grip, he stands, about shoulder deep for him, then takes off his glasses and glances to one side. "...Looks like a dead end." He squints. "No, wait. I think we can break through and take the boat the rest of the way. See how the rocks are unstable? I think..."
He doesn't say anything else, instead kicking off towards the near wall. ...The water feels about as inviting as it looked, which is to say, 'no, not really'. Planting his hand on the wall, he takes a breath, coughs a little wetly, then pours his will into the earth. They just need to weaken the rock here and let physics (and possibly explosives) do the rest.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rubble Trouble.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The question might rise: Why is Margaret wearing that much eye makeup underground?
Elly cries out, in concern, "Loren!!"
But then - she sees - he's alright. She's halfway out of the boat already, but only halfway. Her hair's in the water, though. She doesn't want to think about that. She fumbles in a pocket to offer Loren a clean, dry-ish hankerchief, and then -
Well, her boots are already off. She climbs gingerly out, grimacing at the slightly slimy feel to the water.
She doesn't need to be cued by Loren further. She reaches into the bag she'd brought with her, which is still somehow miraculously dry. She pulls out a small ampoule...
... and bites it open at the thin plastic of the neck in order to drink it because it's an oral Rosesol. This refreshment aids her in that very tentative and gingerly pressing forwards, to try to breach the Earth.
Some of the stones flake off in curiously heart-shaped forms. Weird.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, Rubble Trouble.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Kahm did not get ejected from the boat, but his hand was outstretched at chunk of empty space as he saw the Loren go over. "Lieutenant!!" He shouts, stifling a curse as he recalls that yes, Loren knew how to swim. There shouldn't be anything to worry about...unless more of those fish-frogs were swimming about.
Fortunately, the other man is able to get back into the boat without incident and their boat is mostly unscathed-unless you count the filthy water they've all taken on. In certainly wasn't what Kahm had hoped for when he decided to investigate this area, but the reality was that much of their work was often like this: filthy, thankless, and poorly lit.
There was a tendency to forget that, in Bledavik.
Once they reach shallower waters, Loren lays out a plan to which the Major lends his ready agreement. "Acknowledged. A straight path seems best, here."
While Loren and Elly both invoke ether to assist with the work of clearing the rubble, Kahm will take a more conventional approach and secure a small block of plastique explosive to an opportune-looking space between some of the rocks. Regrettably he hadn't been outfitted for a stronger charge-what he had was more suitable for busting safe or door locks-but all it might take was the right push at the right time to bring the whole thing crumbling down.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rubble Trouble.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Rubble Trouble *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The cave mouth to the next area is both semi-underwater and blocked by stones of various sizes and types. They appear to have been left there deliberately. You'll have to clear them away before you can direct your rowboat through. Fortunately the water is shallow enough to stand in. It's also cold and not a little slimy. You might want to check your vaccinations before leaving the boat. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 4 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Rubble Trouble >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh 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: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ==============<* CHALLENGE - Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers *>=============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Two Madanglers leap into your boat and attack! You'd better wipe out these upright monster fish before you're a goner! They seem to be trying to sink your boat, the easier to drown you! Their teeth are sharp and eager for your flesh! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
As it turns out, luck was on their side for this one. Once Kahm has taken a few steps back, he'll furrow his brows and detonate the charge remotely with an appropriate voltage spike. The placement of the explosive takes advantage of the work Loren had already done to weaken the rocks surrounding it, while Elly's breaching ether demolishes any lingering structure. The whole obstruction collapses in heap and several unkind splooshes into the water.
The last one, coincidentally (and disgustingly?!), seems to leave ripples in the shape of a heart.
"Well done." The Major said to both officers, bringing up the boat behind them, "Let's keep moving."
The little rowboat that almost-could shall press on, her occupants likely all the warier of their surroundings in light of the afflictions they've already dealt with. In Kahm's case, at least, this leaves him ready for trouble when two Madanglers leap out of the water and into the already-cramped boat, jaws chomping and fins wiggling with naught but killing intent. "More mutated fauna." Kahm speculates, managing to prop the jaw of one open with the thick sole of his boot, "What could be causing this?"
The other seems to have an eye for Elly, perhaps attracted by the presence of something metal and shiny on her person (Possibly, it has ingested too many alternative facts and feels it is is owed something). Kahm is busy with the one trying to eat it's way through his boot, and helpfully tosses an blinking sound grenade down it's gullet before trying to kick it back overboard!
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Sonic Grenade toward his party's challenge, Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren's had better days, that's for sure. The good news is that the medical kit is very well waterproofed -- and only a few items would be permanently damaged by water intrusion anyway -- so the only thing harmed is as usual his pride.
And comfort, considering he's now completed soaked in the water and whatever it is that's contaminated the water. Fortunately: he's up to date on all his vaccinations.
Still, it's the little things that count, and under the circumstances, he takes the offered handkerchief from Elly and uses it to wipe off his glasses. ...Whatever's in the water smears the lenses though. He sighs, unable to do more than irritatedly accept this turn of events for what it is once again.
Add 'and cold' to that list of conditions you don't think about in Bledavik. It's hard to believe anything could be so bone-numbingly cold until you've taken a dip. But there's no use bringing it up now.
The stability in the rock has shifted; he can feel it in a -- pun unintended -- elemental way as he explores the stone etherically. Hopefully it's enough--
The explosion and etheric push from Elly seem to have done the trick.
In silence, Loren's gaze follows the ripples for a moment. ...Why is it a heart?
But for now, he gets back on board, scooping a little more of the water out of the craft after settling.
He tries very hard not to shiver as the boat glides along.
It doesn't take long before there's further disturbances in the water. Ripples announce their approach, and this time the medic already has his kit open as the mad fish make their dive inwards. "--Careful--"
One hand moves to steady the boat, the other drags out a pair of Rosesols from the depths of the pack, which he handily tosses over to Elly and the major, before extracting a nastier-looking tool from the bag and moves to club the thing over the head with it. Not usually how you use a bonesaw, but points for effort, maybe.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks down at the creature that seems to be attracted to the scent of her. Oh! If only she could ease its suffering by feeding it her flesh. No, though, that's not a method that's going to work reliably - especially not against a creature like this.
Namely, 'big, unsavory, and underground.' "Why couldn't those people in the other boat have been stopped by this...!"
They probably took another route, or were favored by god, Elly. Elly's secondary argument is a burst of shrapnel from the nearby rubble, forming long jagged rock-shards that sweep laterally against the thing's back, which Elly did not fully think through because now she's going to either have to throw the corpse overboard or form a new relationship with dead monster parts.
She catches that Rosesol with a glance. Then she says, to Loren, with enthusiasm -
"Get it behind the head! I think I see it's pulsating there!"
PULSATING WITH LIFE AND VITALITY! An epicenter that MEDICINE can CURE!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ==============<* CHALLENGE - Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers *>=============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Two Madanglers leap into your boat and attack! You'd better wipe out these upright monster fish before you're a goner! They seem to be trying to sink your boat, the easier to drown you! Their teeth are sharp and eager for your flesh! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 5 *>======================= ================< Results - Mad, But Not Dangling, Madanglers >================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 55 --(5)--> 60 Pass Sonic Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh 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: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Weigh to Go *>========================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- How interesting! THIS cavern you find yourself in has been worked by human --or possibly humanoid--hands. There's a convenient landing to tie up your boat, and past that, a wall with a mural depicting a beneficent turtle and admiring or grateful subjects. You see a sealed door on the lower right side of the mural. Nearby you find a large balance scale and a huge assortment of water pitchers of every size and type imaginable. No two are alike. At least you'll be able to proceed on foot, once you get the door open. What is it with ruins and quirky locks, anyway? Hadn't the ancients ever heard of normal keys? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The fish is down but not out.
"I see it." It's a weak point just behind the head where the briefly stunned fish lies twitching under Kahm's boot, jaws still working.
There is briefly a bit of gore as Loren, for the second time this expedition, mercilessly clubs a monster over the head with a blunt object.
Then again, Solarian medics do get some combat training.
Elly, on the other hand, is infantry. Needless to say, there's a good deal of monster parts she'll have to deal with after that raking claw of earth of hers sweeps low.
As quickly as it started, the situation is over with.
And just in time, as an aged stone dock can be seen ahead. A little bit of rowing will see them over to it.
As if the dock itself didn't tip them off that this place has been shaped by people -- by some definition of the word -- the presence of the murals will underline and boldface it for them.
Loren approaches the one featuring a beneficent turtle. "...I believe one of the Guardians was a turtle, or was depicted in that form. Considering the people surrounding it," he says, after a moment's inspection of the mural, "Well, cultural would know more."
There's also a door. It's not opening, as a short inspection of it will demonstrate. Even force doesn't seem to register against it; it's exactly as solid as the root of a mountain and as easy to push.
But there is a scale.
And there are pitchers.
Loren takes a step back, considering the two for a few moments, arms folded over his chest. He lifts a hand to touch his glasses, expending a short burst of ether in the process, the fine details making themselves known. Then, his brow furrows and his shoulders sag.
"Oh, don't tell me..." he mutters, stepping over to pick up one of the pitchers. Then another, in his off hand. He hefts the two as if to gauge their weight. And Loren sighs. "What I would like to know is, why these people or these Guardians were into all these ridiculous puzzles..."
Then he turns and hands them over to Kahm and Elly. "...Sir. Lieutenant. I think what we'll have to do here is balance the weights on either end of the scale. Since none of these pitchers are going to hold the same amount of water, we'll have to think outside the box..."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Weigh to Go.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"That's correct," Elly says, about the Guardians. She looks at the pitchers...
IN THE PAST...
Elly has a sense of having looked at similar pitcher puzzles before. And yet, that is all. There is no solution beyond that. She scratches her nose, bashfully, pursing her lips as she feels herself drip.
"I suppose it's a test," she says, "but I don't know if this is actually from the Guardians or their cult. It might just be decoration... you could have a turtle without Schturdark. They eat turtles, after all, sometimes."
She receives a pitcher.
"... It's heavy. Do you think that might be it? That we have to put them in without any water at all?" Elly guesses, because she's sick to death of water.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weigh to Go.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Interesting how attacks by monsters were generally the least of their concerns when it came to these sojourns-though perhaps it wasn't, given that they were the military wing of the most advanced nation on the planet. Once the murderous fish are dealt with, Kahm spends the brief respite taking inventory of his gear. Only one grenade left-he'd have to make it count.
Soon they encounter signs of civilization, or a former one, at least. The presence of a dock and a mural speak for themselves, but Kahm find himself nodding at Loren's explanation. "More Guardian worship. The mural suggests we approach hallowed ground." He said, finding further proof in the theory when they encounter a queer system of locking.
"Ritual often creates strange edifices. Perhaps this process is one of them. A necessary rite to prove one's self worthy to enter, or perhaps a system to ensure only races with a degree of intelligence could gain access." Kahm theorizes as his eyes survey the pitchers, frowning at the variety. This was going to take some time, unless any of them were particularly talented at estimating differentials.
"I'm going to admit this is not my strong suit, Lieutenant." Kahm says, taking the jug in hand and comparing it with Elly's, "We're going to be in your hands for this one. Direct, and we'll assemble the jugs on the scales as you see fit."
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Weigh to Go.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Weigh to Go *>========================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- How interesting! THIS cavern you find yourself in has been worked by human --or possibly humanoid--hands. There's a convenient landing to tie up your boat, and past that, a wall with a mural depicting a beneficent turtle and admiring or grateful subjects. You see a sealed door on the lower right side of the mural. Nearby you find a large balance scale and a huge assortment of water pitchers of every size and type imaginable. No two are alike. At least you'll be able to proceed on foot, once you get the door open. What is it with ruins and quirky locks, anyway? Hadn't the ancients ever heard of normal keys? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 6 *>======================= ===========================< Results - Weigh to Go >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed 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. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Schturdark Shrine *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Through the scale-door you find an ancient shrine to the Water Guardian, Schturdark. Its highlight is an enormous fountain surmounted by the Water Guardian's statue. You have no idea why people would've located a shrine so far underground, unless the water is particularly blessed? It does look pure -- and tastes it, if you dare to. Reaching the statue to seal or destroy it will be a demanding climb -- the builders never intended for anyone to actually touch it. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There's a marking on each of the pitchers he hands over. Three lines. Five lines.
Elly wonders if they're supposed to put them in empty.
Loren closes his eyes, touching a hand to his head. "That wouldn't be a very effective lock, would it," he says a little more bite than the situation calls for.
And all eyes go to him.
"...I don't think in this case the precise weight matters, but both sides should be even," he starts to say, before turning back to the array of pitchers once again to inspect and gauge the various sizes available. "Since there's no volume marks save the total volume, it's a little bit trickier than it would be otherwise. But..." He steps over and selects a different one. Eight lines. "I think these indicate how much they'll hold. ...So it's just a math puzzle. If I fill and pour the contents of this pitcher into the one marked with 'five', then there's three... whatever volume measurement they're using, left here. If we then fill the one van Houten's holding with what's in your's, sir, then we'll know it will have two left. And so on. We'll be able to divide four into this one and your own, which should open the door."
Unless it's some other trick, but hey.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Races with a degree of intelligence, Elly thinks. Just how stupid can Beastmen get? she wonders - but there are other options she doesn't consider. She will, one day, but then it will be too late.
(chu shall be as gods)
Elly says - "Oh - I see. So it doesn't matter how much the volume 'really' is, because it's arbitrary. I see..."
There is shuffling, some mishaps, and a splash here and there of water, but in the final analysis the puzzle is solved - Elly turned out to be completely wrong, but the exact solution involved half-emptying the biggest one to counterbalance the smallest (full) and the middle one (with 'full minus contents of smallest').
"At least we're not being attacked," Elly remarks during try #4. At try #9, the way is opened...
Oh, I was wrong about that too, Elly thinks. She takes it in stride; she can't be expected to understand surface cults thoroughly, when she didn't even study them beyond cursory summaries in the briefing documents.
"... Oh! I think it's clean," Elly says, stepping forwards, towards the fountain. She doesn't taste it, but she does dip her fingers in it and finds them to be less gross afterwards. Looking at the others, she says, "It's a natural spring, I suppose. Do you think it's purifying the water, or that this is just a natural divergence and they're assuming the output from here is some kind of a filtration system?"
As she says this, she puts her boots back on, digging out a thin spool of rope - glorified twine, really, but it's good enough for Solaris - with a weight on the end. She hurls it upwards, trying to anchor it and give a way up into the higher reaches of chelonic glory.
"Be careful," she tells Loren. "It's going to be slippery."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, Schturdark Shrine.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
It takes a few attempts to get the right weights in place, but in the end the way is opened to them and they're left with another unexpected view.
"Another guardian statue." Kahm surmises, eyes narrowing with suspicions, "..just like the one in Bledavik."
He didn't like it. There was still too much about these things they didn't know, and here was one that just so happened to be underneath Wayside Village. "The water looks pure enough...strange, considering what we just went through to get here. But perhaps it's because of isolation from other geologic systems."
According to Kent's report, the drifters had done something to 'seal' the statue in the Royal Gardens. Kahm doubted they had any equipment to facilitate that here, but giving the statue a closer inspection could only be helpful. Elly has already primed them for a climb, but it'll be a challenging one-fortunately, Kahm's boots had grippable soles!
"I'll come up behind you, Lieutenant." Kahm says to Loren, "It's a quite a fall, so if anything should happen I'll use the air currents to help slow our descent. Lieutenant Van Houten will remain on ground to provide assistance in that case, as well."
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Schturdark Shrine.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Eventually, they get the weighting right -- a little guesswork turns out to be necessary, since it's not as if the ones who built this place included helpful instructions.
"I suppose they assumed the people who came here would already know what was needed," he comments, somewhere in the middle of proceedings. "--No, try the other side--"
But all that aside, they eventually proceed into the inner sanctum...
"Hmm." His gaze lifts upwards, to the statue perched high atop the shrine. "Up there. Do you think that's one of those statues?" He points.
"...Keil had mentioned something about 'a special tool' used to seal the statues away. I think it's the same one Hauch saw them use." One that they obviously don't have.
He shakes his head. "It could be a purification system. Something somewhere has to be doing the work, or everyone in that village would be poisoned twice over." He's going to dose himself with a few 'just in case' medications once they're done here. In the meantime, as Elly begins to unwind and extract the length of rope from her kit, he stoops to carefully bottle and cap a sampling of the water. Loren swirls it gently, holding it up to the light. No detritus. Not even tiny flakes of silt. "...Looks clear, but I'd rather get a confirmation. We can test it later. Sir, what do you recommend--"
His expression runs carefully blank for a moment. Climb it? He glances down at himself, then over at Elly. "Wouldn't..." he starts. But he exhales a breath, squares his shoulders, and approaches the twine nonetheless.
So he's on point for this. Fine. Briefly touching a hand to his glasses, the medic expends a burst of ether in a flash of hard-walled light, like some crystalline structure. Just in case. Then, he takes the end of the rope and begins the ascent.
Basic physical education is a pre-requisite for everyone in Jugend.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Schturdark Shrine.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Schturdark Shrine *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Through the scale-door you find an ancient shrine to the Water Guardian, Schturdark. Its highlight is an enormous fountain surmounted by the Water Guardian's statue. You have no idea why people would've located a shrine so far underground, unless the water is particularly blessed? It does look pure -- and tastes it, if you dare to. Reaching the statue to seal or destroy it will be a demanding climb -- the builders never intended for anyone to actually touch it. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=======================<* Wayside Wellspring - Round 7 *>======================= ========================< Results - Schturdark Shrine >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 70 --(100)--> 170 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 55 --(100)--> 155 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 55 --(100)--> 155 Pass Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Kahm Yugh is too exhausted to continue! DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elhaym van Houten 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 Kahm Yugh has been fully Exhausted by Wayside Wellspring! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
============================<* Wayside Wellspring *>============================ ================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Row, Row, Row Your Boat *>================= |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You need to get out of here, now! Fortunately, all you have to do is stop fighting the current, and you'll be taken right out of the cave system! You'd better hope you'll be going too fast to let monsters attack! Once you reach the end of the qanat, it should be fairly easy to reach the surface again through one of the qanat's access tunnels. You'll have to leave your boat behind, though. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Midway through the climb, unknown forces decide it's not to be. There was a slow, subtle roar that echoed down the chamber, and the fountain suddenly surged with a large surplus of water, overflowing the edges and spilling over into the room.
Kahm struggled to grip his feet on the wall, cursing. "Tch. The room's going to flood! We need to pull back." He shouted, slipping down the rope and using etheric will power to ease the fall (likely with some support with Elly). Loren will receive the same, whenever he descends.
Meanwhile, water continues to flow and surge, rushing past the door and flowing into the caves. The Major will lead the other officers in a hasty retreat to the boat before it can be swept away in the current.
From there, it's a long a wild ride to an exit. "We'll need to come back here with better preparations next time." Kahm said. He'd have to think about whether or not they should share this information with Riesenlied.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Something rumbles. Whatever it is that's willed it, success is not in the cards for them today.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Loren comments, gaze tracking up at the walls as water starts to cascade into the small chamber. It makes for one thing any sort of foothold precarious, and for another...
A potentially non-zero chance of drowning here this day.
We need to pull back.
Him being halfway up means he's got further to fall. Taking it carefully isn't an option. But the alternative is...
His hands tense on the rope he hangs from for a precarious moment. Drown or fall.
He loosens his grip, allowing himself to slide down the length he'd climbed.
Neither of them lets him drop without easing the descent. It's a fact that comes as a bit of a surprise.
If one that he doesn't dwell on. The chamber -- and the waterway -- are flooding.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Elly, of course, helped Loren, though her relative size meant the brunt of that ended up on Kahm. She did her best to stem the tide, or at least ease their passage. The distant sound of rushing waters and - laughter? Did those damn Guardsmen laugh at them? - recede into her memory as she sits on a rock in the sun.
"Do you think, sir, we could bring an inflatable with us?"