2017-12-29: Bet On Red
- Log: Bet On Red
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Corwynt, Matilda Whitehead, Kaguya, Dean Stark, Hiro
- Where: Cage Tower
- Date: December 29th 2017
- Summary: A group gathers to explore Cage Tower. In the process, they learn one reason why the tower might have that name. Wiring and other trickery is dealt with. A secret is found in the innermost chamber.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Cage Tower. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Tight Fit *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The door to the Cage Tower is locked, but a little ways up one of the walls is a small crack in the masonry. It may be a tight squeeze, but if you can make it up there and slip through, you could get in that way. (hopefully this was not a cheat day) =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Click. Click-a-click.
"Hmm." Taking a step back in front of the door to the rumored Cage Tower, Josie has realized there's one big problem with an entry:
It's locked, and the key is without doubt not under the mat. Particularly since there's no visible lock. One hand on her hip, the archaeologist considers this problem carefully for a moment or two. Then takes a quick step forward and leans heavily into the door, apparently giving it a big old shove.
It's still locked. The door doesn't so much as budge an inch. Exhaling a sigh after a moment, Josephine Lovelace finally gives in to the inevitable and backs away from the door.
"Well, that's not going to work. Any ideas?" This is said with a glance back over her shoulder to the group she'd gathered together back in town.
Some familiar faces, some unfamiliar, at that...
Then she looks up. Cage Tower, rumored to date back to the Metal Demon War era.
It might even have some ARM parts -- or even ARMs -- hidden within. Now there's just the problem of how to get in.
And abruptly, Penelope, until-now apparently content to rest on a nearby stunted tree abruptly takes flight...
Winging her way up to a person-sized crevice visible on the side of the tower, a distance off the ground. She vanishes into the gap.
Josie stares after the bird for a moment, then shrugs, and approaches the tower wall. "Well, up it is! Hope you all can climb."
As it is, she's going to have to do this one one-handed. At least there's some good grips available.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tight Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
One of the potentially familiar faces accompanying Josie is in fact a familiar body upon which an unfamiliar face is sitting.
Sort of.
The stocky martial artist in a black gi with yellow highlights looks an awful lot like the second-in-command of the local forces of Althena's Guard. But unlike that guy, this guy has a thick black moustache that is as impressively bushy as it is fake, and is also wearing a large sombrero on his head.
He has introduced himself as Il Vagabundo Misterioso Corwynt. He is strangely insistent on the full title.
The little man looks up at the hole in response to Josephine's question, shrugs his shoulders, and begins slowly working his way up, hand over hand.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Tight Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda needs... to get out of the Carakin. She's had a rough go of it, to say the least, and the only solution is to throw herself into something else entirely. She hasn't come alone, though she very nearly made Kaguya come alone after bopping over to the Memory Cube -- but no, she tells herself. She has to get out and do things.
Looking to Josie, Matilda says, "Hrrm... I could widen that crack a little -- but, no, there's too many risks associated with that..." She purses her lips, and then just... shrugs and starts climbing.
She's a pretty fast climber, all truths told; it's one of the parts of Digging she took to quite naturally, and she's even able to stop and provide no small amount of assistance to the others, comfortably hanging one-handed at spots. She keeps a particular eye out for whether Kaguya needs help, but she's not unwilling to help the others, either.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tight Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya was offered a bit of exploration. Being a girl accustomed to and good at trouble, it's within her skillset... And she did want to get out, given everything that's been going on lately. Get out, get away from brooding...
So here she is, in her usual attire with her ARM holstered at her side, peering up the tower behind Josie. She seems in relatively good spirits despite evertying going on--relatively good at least. She's kept a close eye on Matilda though and...
Well, she hasn't gotten Corwynt's title right once so far. Open question whether she's getting it wrong intentionally.
"Ugh," she says. "Guess we climb it." She considers whether she could try to bull through... But isn't sure, especially not in this company. So instead, she gets to the wall, and if she happens to kick up a little dust here and there, that's not so trange.
She does accept Matilda's help.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tight Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean helps Josie with trying to push that door down. Door refuses. After a while, he has to step back with her, scratching his head. "Yeah, I don't think we're getting in this way... I wonder how other Drifter's've gotten inside? I coulda sworn I heard about this place back at the Guild, so there must be *some* way..." And then Penelope flies away, drawing everyone's attention up towards a crack in the masonry. Dean is abruptly glad he's short.
"So that's how, huh... All right! Let's go, everybody!" Then he, too, starts on the climb up. He looks out for Matilda and Kaguya since they're his friends (they may or may not be aware of this) and that's what friends do, but honestly, they're probably having an easier time of it than he is, particularly Matilda, who is some kind of rock-climbing ninja and specifically looking out for Kaguya.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Tight Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro puts a hand to his brow and whistles as they get close enough to Cage Tower that he can get some true idea of its scale - as he grins.
"Heh. This is going to be fun."
Ruby flaps around to fly to the top of the door and give it a onceover, perching from there as Josie asks for ideas, "So we're entering a place that's very much locked up and no way in. With our track record that means we're going to encounter another weirdo girl who just somehow happens to be there."
Instead of ideas she gets snark from a pink Dragonet.
"Kinda doubt that one Ruby. Uh - nope! Not really seeing a way in Miss Lovelace!"
But Josie finds a way up, and Hiro makes the climb. Ruby flaps on ahead - "It's not a tight fit for me so I'm going on ahead!"
And then she does in a whoosh of motion. Every so often there's a flare of fire, like a light to guide them onwards and let them know that there is a way through. If she encounters a monster though - this trip might become easier or much tougher in an instant, but Ruby's gotta be Ruby.
Scrunching himself down into it, he grins at Kaguya and Matilda helping each other up - before checking on Dean as they start to squeeze through, catching some of his enthusiasm. "So Dean right? Guess we're going to be working together today." He says affably before he tries to squeeze himself through the bend - looking forward at Corwynt's back.
For a while he just seems to be staring until, "So Corwynt - got a question for you. Why are you wearing that moustache?" He keeps working his way through, "Is it because you're embarrassed to be hanging around us? No need to be shy about it if that's what you want."
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, Tight Fit.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Tight Fit *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The door to the Cage Tower is locked, but a little ways up one of the walls is a small crack in the masonry. It may be a tight squeeze, but if you can make it up there and slip through, you could get in that way. (hopefully this was not a cheat day) =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 1 *>=========================== ============================< Results - Tight Fit >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Ruby Being Helpful 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corwynt 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Corwynt has posed.
"I do not know what you mean, senor," the little man replies to Hiro. "If I was this Corwynt hombre, I would be required to take you into custody as a criminal in violations of the laws of the Goddess." He pauses. "Unless, of course, his lawful superior had ordered him to investigate this Tower and not, and I quote, 'cause a disturbance,' using, and I quote again, 'a cunning disguise."
He pauses, waiting for Hiro to slide through.
"Fortunately, I am not that hombre," Il Vagabundo Misterioso says. "That would be muy awkward." He drops to the floor, landing lightly... and looks around at a giant door with a strange box in front of it. The little man frowns, and for those who can sense this sort of thing, a whisper of Althena's Blessing wafts its way out from the martial artist's soul. At the same time, a little blue jewel hanging around his neck seems to glow faintly.
"Ah, most intriguing," he says, stroking his moustache and looking around.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The last time she saw Kaguya, she'd bought a flower from her. And later burned it. This was after she fired bullets in Kaguya's general direction. No hard feelings?
The moustache has drawn a look, already. There might have been a squint.
But ultimately, who is she to judge.
"Nah. You could bring down the house if you played with explosives, so to speak. Besides, if you're going to bomb anything, try the front door!" This is followed by a pause. "...But I don't recommend that either, right? I don't think that one's moving short of a mortar round." She glances over at Dean. Kid looks pretty strong, despite his size, and even the both of them pushing hadn't done anything.
Ruby pipes up. Josie raises a pale eyebrow, then glances from the tiny red dragon (?) over to Hiro.
"Is that where you boys meet girls these days? You know, when I was your age we just went out behind the barn..."
She's managing not to smile, but only just.
And so the lot of them climb and while some slipping occurs -- and while the gap is a little tight -- everyone manages to get out up without too many scrapes and squeeze on in.
DG: Corwynt has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - High-Tech Lock *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A thick steel door blocks the way forwards. A small metal box sits on the wall next to it, and it looks like someone's attacked it with a blade--or with very long claws. Part of it has been pried open, revealing a set of small metal cables of various colors. Maybe you can fix it? =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
"I do not know what you mean, senor," the little man replies to Hiro. "If I was this Corwynt hombre, I would be required to take you into custody as a criminal in violations of the laws of the Goddess." He pauses. "Unless, of course, his lawful superior had ordered him to investigate this Tower and not, and I quote, 'cause a disturbance,' using, and I quote again, 'a cunning disguise."
He pauses, waiting for Hiro to slide through.
"Fortunately, I am not that hombre," Il Vagabundo Misterioso says. "That would be muy awkward." He drops to the floor, landing lightly... and looks around at a giant door with a strange box in front of it. The little man frowns, and for those who can sense this sort of thing, a whisper of Althena's Blessing wafts its way out from the martial artist's soul. At the same time, a little blue jewel hanging around his neck seems to glow faintly.
"Ah, most intriguing," he says, stroking his moustache and looking around.
DG: Corwynt has used his Tool Rememberizer toward his party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Huh," Kaguya answers Hiro. "You know this guy?" Pause. "...He's got a nice hat, I guess." Kaguya proceeds to talk about Corwynt as if he isn't there, because she's polite like that. ...She is meanwhile unaware of Dean's assumed friendship, but does glance back to him and Hiro once as they pass. But... Getting through, Kaguya manages just fine--but the climb itself is more tiring than it ought to be. She huffs when they make it through. Finally she glances back to Josie... and laughs faintly, remembering what she'd said. "Heh."
Yeah, no hard feelings.
A peeeer over at Corwynt in the meantime and a tilt of her head. Violations of... "Which Goddess? I'm having trouble keeping track of all of them these days." A beat, as she looks to the door ahead. Hmmm... Corwynt looks around, and Kaguya steps forward, kneeling at the box. "Hey... We've got some wires here. Hold on a sec..." She pulls some small tools from her bag, and starts using them to examine the wires.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda goes up last, to make sure she can help Kaguya reach the crack and then clamber inside. She then moves almost immediately for the box. "Hmmm... interesting," she says quietly, canting her head slightly to one side as she looks at it. "I'm starting to get a little more familiar with this kind of thing -- this must be the locking mechanism..."
"Look for paint or other material residue on the cables that are cut, and try to match them," she offers. That's the exact sum of her game lan for looking at this, though, because it's still not very in her wheelhouse.
Instead, she scoots toward Dean. Unlike many of the others who came with her not so long ago, Dean hasn't been around to talk to so much. Her voice drops to a whisper as she adds, "Ah... thank you, for -- the other day." She doesn't want to trot the whole sad story out for everyone, but she does owe Dean a debt of gratitude.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean is, indeed, pretty strong for someone his size and age. One would be surprised how buff he is when he takes off that slightly oversized jacket that frankly makes him look even younger than he actually is. "Yeah, let's not bomb the front door. If there's cracks in the walls, you never know what might come falling down," he says, glancing back at Josie.
Then Hiro pipes up, addressing him specifically. "Yup! Nice working with you, Hiro!" Dean says cheerfully. "I like your flying pink kitty, by the way! She's so cute!" He kind of wishes he had a flying pink kitty. And one that can talk, at that! That's so cool! ...he'd pass on the part where she has a crush on him, though.
Once they're all in, he blinks at Hiro and Il Vagabonde Misterioso Corwynt, looking between the two as they converse. "Wow! A good thing you're not that guy, then! That *would* be mooey awkward," he comments, completely without guile. "What's 'mooey'?"
There's a box. It has colorful wires in it? Like most things of this nature, this is beyond Dean. He scratches his head and gives Kaguya some space to deal with it, which means that Matilda's in turn got some space to scoot over to him. Dean isn't part of Caravan Kinship, so it's no wonder she wasn't able to catch up with him recently. Still, when she thanks him, he turns and gives her a warm smile and a nod. "No problem at all! That's what friends are for," he whispers back. His smile fades into a look of concern. "Have you been okay since then? And your mom...?"
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Shortly after clearing the entry gap, Josie glances around for her wayward companion, apparently in vain. "...Penelope, where the hell did you... oh."
A coo rings out from a small gap in the ceiling, just overhead. "Get out of there," she informs the pigeon.
Penelope does not get out of there. "...Well, fine. You can just stay... huh." The obstacle in their path has, apparently, proven itself a distraction on its own.
"Yep," Josie remarks, peering at the smashed up box. "You got it. These wires are controlling that gate, over there. Or it would, if it weren't a wreck. Hmm..."
She stoops, shrugging off her pack, and rummages in its depths. "Screwdriver... ok, got it. Of course, that's only part of the problem here. We've got to bridge the gap, and for that, ehh..."
She shifts, looking around for something helpful.
From above, there's a brief ripping sound. Pieces of wire come raining down from the small gap overhead as Penelope evicts them from her hole.
Josie's lips press thin. "I hope that wasn't anything important. Oh well, too late to worry about it now." She picks up the fragments of wire and waves them in the air. "Here, these'll help."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro winces a little as he's about to start explaining. It must have echoed because from deep within Ruby starts shouting, "WHO SAID THAT!? I THINK I HEARD KITTY! I WANT NAMES! THERE WILL BE BLOOD!" Hiro mumbles to Dean, "She's a little sensitive about that. You might have a better time calling her a dragon."
Hiro looks at Josie as if he doesn't get it for a while. One can almost see the ??? popping in and out of existence over his head until a light flickers on. He immediately starts to wave his arms dismissively, his cheeks bright red, "No, no you've got it all wrong. It's just a thing - that seems to happen to us by coincidence sometimes."
But then Corwynt gives his explanation of the disguise, "Uh... huh." Hiro says as he scratches his chin, before nodding at Kaguya. "Sure do."
But by the end of the explanation he looks more confused than he did with Josie's question of how girls meet boys. Eventually he leans over to the others and motions for them closer, whispering to anyone who does step in- "So I don't really know what's going on here. When I was a kid I used to pretend I was Dragonmaster Alex though and would have gotten pretty sore if someone told me I wasn't. So let's play along so we don't hurt his feelings."
Ruby flutters up with a glare like she's searching for whoever said 'kitty' but double takes like she's looking at Corwynt on this trip for the first time, "Hey Corwynt what's with the cruddy disguise?"
Hiro sort of waves his arms at Ruby as if to say - 'No. No. No' but she doesn't notice. "Is this a new thing where we all play party games in the ancient ruins? Well whatever-" She then examines the box and asks, "-don't suppose anyone's good with machines"
Hiro takes out his Grandpa's notebook. By now it can't entirely be called his Grandpa's notebook anymore because he's added pages all over from their trip of Filgaia. Looking at a diagram from a Veruni Generator they cut open, he squints at it and shows it to the others, "Maybe - kind of like this? ... Maybe."
He turns the notebook upside down suddenly as if he's uncertain.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, High-Tech Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Uh huh," Josie says, apparently unconvinced.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - High-Tech Lock *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A thick steel door blocks the way forwards. A small metal box sits on the wall next to it, and it looks like someone's attacked it with a blade--or with very long claws. Part of it has been pried open, revealing a set of small metal cables of various colors. Maybe you can fix it? =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 2 *>=========================== ==========================< Results - High-Tech Lock >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corwynt 13 --(8)--> 21 Pass Rememberizer 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 13 --(13)--> 26 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 8 --(13)--> 21 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Corwynt gives Dean a sort of 'are you actually serious' look that he's probably seen before. The martial artist quickly decides that the young man is what he appears to be, and shrugs his shoulders. "Pardon me, it is simply my accent," says Il Vagabondo Misterioso, who is speaking without any sort of accent at all. "I meant to say 'very.' As in, 'it is a very good thing that I am not that person, for he would take great umbrage at any insult toward the one true Goddess, Althena," he says without looking at Kaguya at all.
He is super fun at parties.
Between the three of them, Kaguya and Josie and Hiro manage to rewire the contraption until the door hisses open. Il Vagabondo Misterioso nods approvingly. "Bueno," he says, then starts heading forward. "Come along, pink flying creature. Let us step along here meow."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Cage of Steel *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The air around you flickers and shimmers, and the smell of ozone emanates from somewhere above. There's a sudden, disorienting /pop/, and you're no longer where you were. Instead, you're on the wrong side of a set of sturdy metal bars, and you're going to have to break out the hard way. Luckily, the teleporter seems to have transported other oddments into the cell as well. Maybe there's something useful? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Sticking close to both Dean and Kaguya as they progress, Matilda does her best to keep her head on a swivel; there are some things, though, that you just can't prepare for. No sooner do they head through the door they've gotten open than there's a strange scent, and a --
-- by the time Matilda thinks to say "Back!" they're already teleported into a cell. Matilda looks from side to side, taking stock of the cell for a few moments, and then frowns. "Ugh," she appends, with a sigh, as she fishes in her long coat for something. "It looks like we'll have to break ourselves out..."
She has not yet noticed the pile of junk in the corner; she's too focused on trying to apply a bottle of some sort of lotion to the door. It sizzles mightily once applied -- but it's unclear if it'll eat the whole way through the bars... might be best not to wait on it.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Oh." Kaguya blinks at Hiro a little longer at his explanation, peering over at Corwynt again, and considering that sometimes she does like hurting other peoples' feelings... But this people is muscly, and she's not really in a punchy mood that way anyway. She decides, "Money Ingentlement Corbin," with a nod. "Totally, you're not that guy."
Then a beat, "Ohhhh, Althena," she says. "Yeah we get a lot of people who are into her back at the Carakin, huh?" She seems to consider that. "She's the one you can go meet, right?"
Kaguya shocks herself working on the device--but thanks to Josie's extra wires, she's able to finish it up. "Ugh. Stupid junky archaic tech," she mutters to herself, because she's great at disgusing herself as a human at all times. "Oh well. Hey--" She looks over to find Dean and Matilda talking... and leaves them to it. Matilda's suggestion was helpful at least. She brings herself up to her feet again. Then they go and--
Pop.
"Oh you're kidding me?" she asks as she looks around, and then that dissolves into a coughing fit, which gets her hand a little bloody and lasts uncomfortably long. "...Ugh." She looks up, shaking her head, at the bars. "...Whatever. That should weaken it--hold up Atida, I'm gonna--"
Cla-CLACK. She loads a cartridge into her ARM's chamber after wiping her hand on her pants. She aims--and fires, a loud noise echoing in the enclosed space as deep white waves radiate out to try to crash straight through the bars and shake them apart.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean frowns at Corwynt. He has indeed seen that look before. Lots of times. Why do people keep looking at him like that, it was just a question! Fortunately, Corwynt soon answers it. "Oh," he replies. A pause. "Who's Althena?"
the one true goddess, dean, weren't you listening
Hiro, meanwhile, cautions Dean about kitties, who apparently dislike being called kitties. Dean grimaces, wide-eyed with surprise, at the vehemence of Ruby's shout from further in the dungeon. However, something else Hiro says catches his attention: "Woah, she's a *dragon*?? That's so cool! I've never met a dragon before!" He pauses. "I didn't know they were so fluffy..."
He looks up at Penelope as she tosses wires down for Josie to use. That's a smart bird! Unless she did it by pure chance. Hopefully those wires weren't anything important. Regardless, they make it through, even Dean who did absolutely nothing to help (untrue: he stayed out of the way, that's plenty), and after making sure Kaguya's okay after her shock, he walks with Matilda forward to--
"Hey, what's that smell?" he wonders. (no, it's not sulphur)
*pop*
Dean blinks. Suddenly he's on the other side of a set of bars, as are his friends. "--hey!!" he utters when realization dawns. "What the heck just happened??" He kicks at them after Matilda applies the lotion, then slams his shoulder into them. "Nngh! These are pretty tough! But I'm not giving up that easy!! Hyaaaah!!"
Dean continues to use himself as a battering ram. Maybe someone else ought to check out the oddments in the room, see if there's anything useful there, because he's going to be busy with this for a while.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
"Well," Il Vagabondo Misterioso says, his hand drifting up toward the front of his gi, "When last I met one of her disciples, he gave me this explanatory panfleto that..."
*poit*
"...Dia mio," the little martial artist grumbles as the group is teleported into what appears to be some sort of containment device. "Please, young man and small flying creatures, step away meow," Corwynt advises as he pulls back a fist and starts concentrating, summoning glowing green-white power into his right hand. The little man charges the attack for several seconds, then fires a bolt of howling wind in the direction of the weakened bars.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Can't say I'm all that familiar with this 'Althena' either. Name's familiar, though. Where was it..."
Josie will remember a certain rumor about a certain public event in short order.
Whatever Penelope was doing up there -- making a nest? deliberate pigeon sabotage? -- it doesn't ultimately hold the bird's interest for terribly long. Not too far after they reroute the controls for the door and the gateway shunks open does the black-and-white pigeon come swooping down out of the hole in the ceiling to alight on Josie's shoulder.
She's bearing a bit of wire in her beak.
Josie just gives the pigeon a long, lingering and very dubious look, then sighs.
Then they step on through the gateway and there's a particularly familiar smell. "Wait--"
And they find themselves elsewhere.
Penelope blinks blearily and drops her bit of wire.
"So this is why they call it 'cage' tower, huh?" Josie comments, before stooping to once again root through her bag. Well, root through her bag and freeze up, the instant that roll of noise washes across the room. With a trilling cry, Penelope immediately plunges for the safe ground that is the back of Josie's neck and covers herself up with a section of the woman's scarf. "Fengalon's teeth," Josie mutters, one eye squinted shut.
She holds her ground just long enough for Corwynt to deliver that strike, then, hefting the mattock, she swings one-handed for the bars.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby is about 97% certain that Corwynt made a cat pun. However Ruby also knows that Senor Corwynt can punch whirlwinds to her the moment he drops all pretense, which is why she wisely chooses not to try and set his face aflame. Instead she focuses on Dean instead - "Yep. I'm bonafide one of the most magnificent creatures in all of Althena's creation." She looks proud about that, whereas Hiro grins and murmurs, "Now you're getting it Dean." Not realizing that Dean actually believes it.
"Well yeah. That's in fact what we want to do." Hiro mentions to Kaguya when it comes to Althena and being able to meet her, "Because I bet five minutes with her and this mess would just all sort out then she'd have a good laugh later about her mistake."
But then there's a pop and a smell of ozone and - "Wait - huh. I think Lemina said something about Vane having things which take one person from place to-" And then Kaguya's ARM goes off - and then Dean tries to batter the cell door bodily. And then he steps aside because he's afraid Corwynt might actually hit him with that fist if he doesn't - despite the warning, "Dean! Hey Dean careful! You're just going to hurt yourself!"
Hiro meanwhile goes through the pile in the corner, tossing debris and the like aside. Casting aside what looks like a portable mechanical saw. Which breaks into a pile of rusty parts the moment it hits the wall. Then a miniature piledriver - which also makes an ominous cracking noise as he throws it aside. Apparently he has no idea what any of this tech is or how it might be useful.
Eventually he picks up a nail file, holding it triumphantly.
Then looks at the cell door and the amount of firepower stacked against it. Shrugging sheepishly, he tosses it down - and runs forward in a shoulder tackle to join Dean in trying to slam into the bars bodily with a grunt on impact.
"Hiro what the heck!? You have magic!"
Maybe he just doesn't want to summon wind in such a narrow space on everyone. Maybe he wants to see if Jean's training has made him stronger.
"Yeah - and?"
Or maybe he just decided to go with the flow and join Dean on this one.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Cage of Steel *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The air around you flickers and shimmers, and the smell of ozone emanates from somewhere above. There's a sudden, disorienting /pop/, and you're no longer where you were. Instead, you're on the wrong side of a set of sturdy metal bars, and you're going to have to break out the hard way. Luckily, the teleporter seems to have transported other oddments into the cell as well. Maybe there's something useful? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 3 *>=========================== ==========================< Results - Cage of Steel >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 16 --(5)--> 21 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 16 --(5)--> 21 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corwynt 21 --(5)--> 26 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 16 --(5)--> 21 Pass Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 35 --(25)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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.
Hiro goes through the pile, finding a nail file first; this seems to unseat something in the pile, which tumbles to become much wider and less top-heavy and reveals a Drifter's coat, ARM, bullets, and satchel of medicine. No bones, though. That's mildly nervewracking.
Everyone else focuses on the bars, meanwhile; the wind seems to contort around them rather than press against them, but for the most pat, the combination of weakened bars and applied main strength -- and, in one case, a giant blast of concussive force -- does the trick. The door to the cell is busted open, and Matilda takes a moment to dust herself off and breathe a small sigh of relief.
"... Let's hope that doesn't happen again," is all she offers, before giving Ruby a small, squinting look. "And I... will endeavor to believe that," she adds, regarding Ruby's magnificence.
DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Damaged Relay *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Some of the strange machinery in Cage Tower is somewhat functional, but this strange machinery is not. Ahead lies a series of strange, crystalline structures, arranged in a pattern--some of them are spiderwebbed with cracks, and lightning arcs between them intermittently. You're going to have to be quick on your feet to make it through without getting electrocuted. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"..." Kaguya looks over at the pile after she finishes blasting. She considers for a moment. "...Huh," she says. "Naked guy running?" When the door's opened, Kaguya steps over to the pile. "You want this stuff?" she says to Hiro. Whatever he doesn't take she'll pick up and take along. It might be useful!
"...She's definitely the like..." She thinks about it, "I mean, I've met some dragons. So." She shakes her head.
"Anyway let's go on."
Kaguya doesn't lead the way obviously; she's a little slow. But she goes, until they round a bend and see... strange structures. Crystals, with cracks of lightning and--and--
"Aw, come on," Kaguya complains, looking at the stuff. "...Ugh." She looks around. "Any ideas?"
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Wow!" Dean breathes at Ruby, looking *super* impressed. And why wouldn't he believe it? Why would Hiro *and* Ruby lie to him?
But then teleportation happens, and Dean starts battering himself against the bars. "Don't worry, I'm built tough!" he reassures Hiro. Apparently that's enough to convince him, because between Dean, Hiro, and Josie's brute force, Corwynt's brute force plus, Kaguya's concussive rounds, and Matilda's lotion, they manage to bust things down. Dean staggers forward a few steps once the door goes down, but he stays on his feet and grins to the others. "Yeah, that was a pain, haha!" he says to Matilda.
The group heads onwards. Soon they find some strange machinery with crystals and cracks and lightning... Although it's clearly dangerous, Dean brightens to see it. "Yeah, I've got one!" he says to Kaguya, summoning Twin Fenrir to hand. He adjusts the ARM's cartridge, then points and fires-- "Take this!" --a beam of pure white, which freezes the ground over upon impact. That should give them some protection from the flashes of lightning, as well as let them slide across with ease. Should.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Il Vagabondo Misterioso Corwynt surveys the flashing lightning ground, which is slowly icing over thanks to Dean's intervention. "I do have one idea, si," he suggests. "To let our faith in the Goddess, and in our own abilities, be our shield from this ferromantic absurdity."
At which point he takes two steps forward and then leaps across the room, propelling himself rapidly forward with a powerful gust of wind. This causes the sombrero to fall off behind him, and land on one of the sparking machines. It hangs there, tilted rather jauntily.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Whatcha got over there?" Josie says, noticing the pile.
At which Kaguya also comments. "Or dead," Josie adds, then eyes the contents of the pile again. "Probably dead. No Drifter would leave their ARM behind if they could help it."
Well, she wouldn't.
"C'mon. Let's get out of here," she says, a moment later, before slipping past the broken gates.
"Huh. Still active?" is her comment as she regards the arcing electrical crystals. "You know, it's pretty interesting. Some ruins are just dead and gone. There's nothing still working in them at all anymore. Other ones, well..."
She slides her rifle from its holster.
"Too bad, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs," she comments, squinting one eye shut as she takes aim for the closest of the crystals. "Though if this doesn't work, I recommend running."
A pause, as Corwynt makes his suggestion. "Or, sure, say a prayer too. It's probably not a bad idea."
She fires.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby glowers at Matilda, "Believe it."
Hiro however is answering Dean's remark, "Heh. Should have known on that. The people of the Blue Star are built tough." He grins at Dean as he returns to the pile and tosses the coat and satchel of medicine Kaguya's way. "Knock yourself out." He however does pick up the ARM and bullets without hesitation, holding up the small revolver ARM, "Hey Ruby. Wonder if I could be a real Gunslinger with t-" POW - the bullet ricochets, he takes cover. The bullet imbedding itself by his foot with a wince, "And that's the predictable result."
Coughing in embarrassment, he still puts it away though, for later. His embarrassment can't last for long.
Once in the crystalline structure hall - Ruby and Hiro whistle simultaneously at the freeze ray's effects. "Whoa! That's really impressive!" Okay! Okay here I go!" Ruby swoops down quickly towards Dean's frozen section of the ground landing at full tilt where she starts to slide at high speed - before taking off once a flash of lightning goes off. From that side of the room she starts to flap around and look for a kill switch for these weird machines.
"So long as we're not the eggs in this case." Hiro replies to Josie as he waits for her to time her shot. Then does the same thing minus the flying - trying to take the opening Josie gave them. Whooping as he slides by - and grabs Corwynt's hat as he does so.
Lifting it up - he walks up to him and puts it back on his head. "You know maybe I've been hanging with Ragnell too much but - now I can't imagine you without the hat. I think it really suits you."
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda gives Ruby a slightly flat look, but offers, "... Okay," with a little more sincerity than before.
"Or taken without his things," Matilda muses to Kaguya and Josie, before turning her attention outward toward the crackling electricity. "I honestly have no ideas except a running leap," she adds, with a small frown. Fortunately, everyone else seems to have the idea of 'break it harder.'
Matilda does not join everyone else in trying to break it; instead, she waits for everyone else to finish. Only once everyone's attempted to break it does she go for it, though, breaking into a full sprint and -- when appropriate -- leaping for it.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Damaged Relay.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Corwynt accepts the placing of the hat with better grace than one might expect... although both Hiro and Ruby have seen the seriousness with which he takes the orders of Althena's Chosen, so perhaps it explains the boy's insouciance. Or perhaps, an old and near-forgotten part of Corwynt thinks, it's just Hiro being Hiro.
"Thank you," he says politely, then frowns. "Also, I believe you mean Holy Seraph Ragnell," Corwynt corrects him.
(they have never met)
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Damaged Relay *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Some of the strange machinery in Cage Tower is somewhat functional, but this strange machinery is not. Ahead lies a series of strange, crystalline structures, arranged in a pattern--some of them are spiderwebbed with cracks, and lightning arcs between them intermittently. You're going to have to be quick on your feet to make it through without getting electrocuted. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 4 *>=========================== ==========================< Results - Damaged Relay >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 21 --(15)--> 36 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Ruby Being Helpful 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corwynt 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 31 --(5)--> 36 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Kaguya has posed.
"I mean I'd figure dead but where'd the bones go? There should be a body or something." She shudders after a moment, shaking her head, and drops it anyway. Get out of there... That's fine.
Dean freezes the path, which is great. Kaguya looks over to him and looks a little impressed... though then she glances to imagine what the ice is going to do when she tries to balance on it. Then she looks to COrwynt as he mentions his idea... And... It's...
"Oh come on, that's not even faith bullshit that's just magic bullshit!" She sighs, heavily.
Josie, meanwhile, shoots at one of the crystals. This breaks a few eggs all right; one of them shatters, but... the lightning keeps going anyway. Looks like running is the plan.
Corwynt gets across easily; Hiro and Ruby, too. Matilda same... as Kaguya follows behind, sliding around a lot more easily than she was thinking. And Josie? Well, Josie is fine.
"Whew. That..." A pause. "Man." She still has the coat though.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Well," Josie says, "Slimes do eat bones. I haven't seen any here yet, but, you know how it goes. A place goes to rack and ruin, and in come the slimes."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Protocol *>======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
The message flashes across a panel on the wall, over and over, as you enter
the room. The floor is strewn with debris--bits of rock and metal, bone and
cloth. Several mostly-intact skeletons indicate more recent intrusion, one
of which lies in front of a door labeled CLEAN ROOM. Moments later, the door
slams shut behind you, a heavy deadbolt falling into place.
STERILIZATION INITIATED
That's no good. Those sensitive to magic get a moment's warning before
Symbological runes on the walls light up, and the air begins to superheat.
Can you break down that clean room door before you pass out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Let's hope not~" she replies to Hiro, before taking her shot.
One crystal breaks. Ancient technology being what it is, it doesn't exactly change anything environmentally. "Damn," she mutters, squinting at the eletricity that continues to discharge its way across the room. "Must have some sort of redundancy. Damn, damn."
Shaking her head, she ducks low and bolts for it, right across the way, and holstering her firearm, slips into the next room.
It very quickly becomes clear that this was a mistake.
Red text pours down the screens inside. Josie's gaze lingers on the characters as they scroll through the text, then immediately shifts to the piles of bones scattered on the floor.
They're pretty recent.
They're also notably charred.
Immediately, she turns, as if to make for the door she came in by. But for her and everyone else in here, that escape becomes an impossibility. With finality, the door they came in through slams shut and is bolted.
Her expression is briefly grim. "Okay," she starts to say.
And that familiar sensation worms its way down her spine. The runes on the walls light up. Oh, yes, she knows that one. And that one, and that one, and oh, that one's never good.
"...Shit," is her final comment. The air in here is growing warm. Pointing at the door ahead -- the one with the CLEAN ROOM label on it and no sign of bolts or heavy plating -- she gives her order. "Break down the damn door!"
She doesn't hold back on her end, either. Retrieving the mattock from her pack, she grips it with both hands as she strides forwards and swings it at the door, not even pausing to brace herself for the pain that's sure to follow.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Il Vagabondo Mysterioso Corwynt looks around at the room as he enters, and his own conclusions are slower to come than they are for Josephine. He's seen burned bodies before, but due to acts of cruelty rather than in an attempt to cleanse the ill. Indeed, what monsters would do such when the bounty of the Goddess can relieve the suffering of the sick with but faith and a prayer?
But when the room boils over with a sensation that screams 'fire' to his senses, the little man realizes just what sterilization is meant to mean. He also wonders what Red Priestess Mauri is doing, but this is a fleeting thought.
Scowling, Corwynt rushes forward on the speed of the wind, lashing out at the sealed door with a powerful strike. He unleashes another a moment later, then fires a third once the way is clear.
DG: Corwynt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Turning her attention immediately to the deadbolt as it slams shut, Matilda murmurs, "This place -- is it...?" She pauses here, trying to figure it out. A quarantine zone -- biological weapons experiments? A hospital? It's hard to know for sure -- but she still has a dire feeling in her gut.
Her gaze sweeps across the room briefly, until she spots the skeletons clawing at the clean room door. She nods immediately, and pulls out a second bottle of that sky-blue lotion; she's off like a bolt of lightning, attempting to eat through the edges of the door and provide a weak point for Josie to smash.
There's no further comments, or even really much in the way of thought; Matilda just wants to get out of this room before they all melt.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Into the room they go. And then the doors slam down. And then the text comes on. Then it starts to get really warm! "OH NO! I mean I'll be okay because heat doesn't bother me but what about the rest of you!?"
Not having much time to react, Hiro unsheathes his sword for the first time here - though he's glad his hands are wrapped as otherwise he'd get blisters. "Well you know what they say- an eye for an eye-"
Raising it to a high guard he murmurs something as his wind magic swirls around him. Far be it from providing ventilation though. All it does is cause the heat to circulate and make things more uncomfortable. "-and fight fire with fire." "What!? Noone says that! I'd know! I'm a literal fire dragon!"
Which is when he takes a step forward and simultaneously blasts himself forward with it. Between whatever sword technique he's learned and the air friction the silver blade ignites into flame as he lands in a controlled skid and pivots, "BURN!" And thrusts into the door with a blazing wave of flame. "BURN!" And does it again. "BURN!" And again at the section the others are weakening.
Of course it's an insulated door so the only way he's going to melt through that would to be hit even higher temperature than these protocols which will turn up the ambient temperature even hotter. In an already uncomfortable room. ... Yeah this was a dumb idea.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean smiles back at Kaguya, Twin Fenrir flashing back into... wherever it is they go when he's not using them. The way forward has been prepared, so forward march they go, until they reach a room and big screens show big red text. He blinks at them, not really understanding the message; much easier to understand are the charred bones scattered across the room, one in front of a room called CLEAN ROOM. The way they came in gets blocked off and barred, and Dean whirls around in alarm.
However, he's not one to hesitate. Josie suggests/demands they break down the CLEAN ROOM door, and Dean nods decisively. "You got it!" He's already running over to help with ramming himself into and kicking it. Hopefully he won't burn himself on the metal while Ruby's making a hot room even hotter...
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Quarantine? QUARANTINE!?" Kaguya snaps it out at the room, seeing the text on the panel, seeing the debris-strewn room. She doesn't like the sound of the deadbolt; Matilda's fast. Josie's fast. Everyone is fast. As they all work--Well, at least the breeze from Corwynt's wind is--no, that's hot too because of this room. Kaguya feels light-headed; the heat is getting to her quickly. "Thiiiis..."
She loads her ARM, the heat-resistance plastics still holdable for her. She loads another special cartridge, cla-CLACK. "Sucks!" She rushes forward, stumbling here and there, until she's point blank with the door. "it super sucks! And--and--"
"And that's TOTALLY STUPID!" she shouts at Hiro as she fires, the loud gunshot echoing in the halls as waves of concussive force pound straight towards the door.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Protocol *>======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
The message flashes across a panel on the wall, over and over, as you enter
the room. The floor is strewn with debris--bits of rock and metal, bone and
cloth. Several mostly-intact skeletons indicate more recent intrusion, one
of which lies in front of a door labeled CLEAN ROOM. Moments later, the door
slams shut behind you, a heavy deadbolt falling into place.
STERILIZATION INITIATED
That's no good. Those sensitive to magic get a moment's warning before
Symbological runes on the walls light up, and the air begins to superheat.
Can you break down that clean room door before you pass out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 5 *>=========================== =======================< Results - Sterilizer Protocol >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 36 --(5)--> 41 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corwynt 31 --(5)--> 36 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 36 --(5)--> 41 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 31 --(5)--> 36 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I don't know what this place is but--"
The mattock impacts the door mere moments after Matilda throws her bottle at it, making a sizeable dent into the weakened metal. But it was built tough -- it doesn't do the trick by itself.
She takes a step back, angling out of the way as Corwynt follows up, delivering a flurry of blows to the stubborn obstacle. Dean leaps in to similarly pummel at the door, the both of them nearly knocking it free from its moorings. Nearly, but not quite. "It doesn't really matter, does it? Let's just hope our goose isn't cooked. Heh..."
The symbols in the room glow ever brighter, an angry red as the temperature continues to rise.
And continues to escalate as Hiro quite literally fights fire with fire, his blade igniting as he swings for the door. In the exact same moment, Kaguya's gunshot echoes across the room. Pure force and driven heat combine as one for the final strike.
The door flies right off its hinges, impacting the far wall of the Clean Room where it clatters onto the floor.
The heat in here hasn't abated, though.
Wings whirring, Penelope takes flight abruptly right on into the Clean Room, and to be honest, Josie doesn't linger either. "C'mon! It's not going to stop!"
And it doesn't stop heating up. The whole room practically glows, but fortunately by this point everyone is over there and fortunately only has to watch. And feel the faintest of plumes of the chamber's sterilization process baking away.
"Almost a little too close, there..."
DG: Hiro has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Cage Tower *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Quarantine Lock *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The clean room door leads to a short hallway, which looks like it was a very
sterile shade of white centuries ago. A glass panel flickers next to the
door on the other end of the hall.
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
LOCKDOWN INITIATED
A few wires dangle from a little silvery box next to the door. Maybe it's
some sort of locking mechanism? Perhaps if you got it working, you could
open the clean room... or trigger an even worse emergency protocol.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"What's wrong with it!?" Hiro calls back at Kaguya. "Aghhh I am not explaining this one to you! I'll get Lemina to do it later!"
The party runs out of the hallway, panting and sweatingpast the point where the door used to be. And that's when the alarms REALLY start to blare.
Sirens go off - it's ringing everywhere. And words are flashing on red on glass panels.
And that's when heavy blast doors about a half a sharl thick start to drop down in sequence, just missing the old sterilization room door. One after the other - after another. While they're no longer looking at immediate death, they're now looking at the prospect of having to go through ALL these doors which means their food and endurance will likely run out if they keep trying to blast through them all.
But there's hope - in the form of a single, sparking silver box. The pad is full of nonsense characters. The glass screen above it flashes with -
INPUT ADMINISTRATIVE LEVEL
ACCESS CODE
TO OVERRIDE LOCKDOWN
But the guts of the box are exposed. A messy tangle of rainbow wires.
After a moment's examination Hiro asks, "So who here's good with machines?" "NOT IT!" With a rueful smile, he takes out the book from the satchel and starts to flip through it. One page after another, after another - "A lot of these machines in old ruins feel like they have a common color system for the wiring..."
He's flipping through crude diagram after crude diagram. One by one by one. Does he have something? "... just haven't figured it out yet."
Nope.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
That door goes DOWN. The room doesn't stop getting hotter. Dean rushes inside along with the rest, possibly leading to a situation where a couple of them get stuck before making it through. While they might be out of the ever-hotter room, there's still no more door blocking off the sterilization chamber, meaning that this hallway's getting hotter too now--
BAM.
Oh. That's a new door, slamming down. Okay, that works. Except now there's a lot of them, slamming down in sequence, and that's uuuusually not a good thing. The last time Dean was trapped inside a dungeon by a pair of doors, sand started pouring in to drown him and his friends.
"I'm not good at machines, but--c'mon, c'mon, there's gotta be something..." He looks around, first back and forth, then finally up. As is standard for any kind of building, there's lighting overhead, in the form of a series of round orbs--but they're out of commission right now. Or maybe just turned off. "There! Lemme try something that might help!"
Dean summons Twin Fenrir and loads up the rubber bullets of the standard cartridge, then opens fire on the large, dim orbs overhead. He manages to hit hidden switches upon impact, lighting them up--and letting whoever takes a crack at the actual box next to the door have some decent light while they work on it. But will that be enough?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
They get a few seconds of respite, that is.
Before klaxons ring out and more doors slam shut.
Josie briefly considers that they might have a new problem on hand. Turning, she seeks out... something. Something they can do to stop this before they either get walled out from whatever still might be hiding in here or simply become the latest additions to the collection.
She spots a screen. And a tangle of wires.
Briefly, the archaeologist grins.
"Bin-go~"
Hurriedly, she roots through her pack, seeking out her toolkit. A small pile quickly gathers as she unceremoniously dumps objects onto the floor. "Damn, I knew I should have packed it up properly. Damn, damn..." Light from above helps, but it doesn't entirely resolve Josie's packing problem.
But all is not lost (?).
From out of nowhere, a blur of black and white swoops for the tangle of wires and, wings flailing, tears and wrenches at the tangle.
"What the-- no! Drop it!"
Penelope won't get a long moment to attempt to tear the shit out of the wires as Josie quickly rises to her feet and extracts the angry bird before she hurts herself (or gets them all killed), but she will get that one gleaming moment.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Corwynt has posed.
Il Vagabundo Misterioso Corwynt is not good with Filgaian ferromancy - or machines, as they so crudely put it. But Altehan's Guard, even diminished as it is here upon this broken world, has a great number of people who have been scouting the Blue Star, spreading across the land in disguise, learning of its people and their activities. A handful of them have apprenticed with ARMs Meisters from various lands. Like all Guards on detached duty, they write reports on their findings.
White Knight Leo does not read most of these reports, because there are a lot of them and he is busy being an inspirational leader and a Hero of Althena. He has people for that. Specifically, he has Corwynt.
The little martial artist channels the Blessing of his Goddess into the little blue jewel worn around his neck, and it begins to glow with a faint inner light. As he does so, the magic of the Rememberizer expands the confined of his mind, granting him perfect recall - every moment of his life, every thought and sensation, as crystal clear as the moment he first experienced it.
Corwynt has not lived an idyllic life, and so this is less pleasant than one might think.
But it does allow him to recall and review in full detail every report he has ever skimmed through; he lets the knowledge of ferromantic principles rise within his memories as he leans over Hiro. "I believe the electricity needs to not flow through these particular nodes," he says, pointing them out. "Evidently one must always sever the red wires, for some reason." He pauses, then adds: "Senor."
DG: Corwynt has used his Tool Rememberizer toward his party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Fire with fire is a totally different context! You can't just make things hotter to make them stop getting hot!" It's... it's still hot. Kaguya is sweating, just from this. Just after this little bit of time. But she sure runs into the new room when they get to the clean room. Almost... "No, that was definitely. Too close," Kaguya says. Not even almost. Definitely. But there's Hiro and Ruby in here now, and the blast doors... Now...
"Ugh..."
Access code, though. The computer system draws Kaguya's attention, and she tilts her head at it. "Hmm..." Hiro's already looking at things, but--Dean... Dean is looking for stuff. He provides light. Kaguya steps towards the thing. "...I'm not totally solid on barbaric old tech like this, but..." She is talking to herself a little. She should not be, but the heat has addled her a little.
"--Aah!? Bird!?" Kaguya stares at Penelope. "You--"
Pause. "....Honestly you're my kinda animal..."
Kaguya, at that, kneels down to start looking at the box. "Kaaay, so... This links to that links to that..." She peers at the computer screen. "...Nobody sees like, a stickynote with the password on it, right?"
She'll get to work. Honest.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Another locking mechanism... Matilda frowns, even as they have a moment's respite after their narrow escape. Hiro finds the box, and Matilda offers, a little harried, "Ah -- I don't think that that's really my area of expertise, though I can help as I'm able..."
Then again, too many people crowded around the box itself would be a problem too, wouldn't it? Matilda scootches instead toward Dean, noticing his plan to get the room lit up -- that seems like a much better idea. "Hm -- yes, that's not a bad plan..."
Then it hits her what she can do. "Ah -- is anyone injured, exhausted, or suffering heatstroke...?" she asks, a little hesitantly, as she rummages in her coat. Even if she can't help with the machines, she can take this opportunity to make sure everyone feels well..
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
===============================<* Cage Tower *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Quarantine Lock *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The clean room door leads to a short hallway, which looks like it was a very
sterile shade of white centuries ago. A glass panel flickers next to the
door on the other end of the hall.
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
LOCKDOWN INITIATED
A few wires dangle from a little silvery box next to the door. Maybe it's
some sort of locking mechanism? Perhaps if you got it working, you could
open the clean room... or trigger an even worse emergency protocol.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
==========================<* Cage Tower - Round 6 *>========================== ========================< Results - Quarantine Lock >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 41 --(10)--> 51 Fail Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 31 --(5)--> 36 Pass Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Corwynt 36 --(5)--> 41 Pass Rememberizer 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 31 --(10)--> 41 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 41 --(10)--> 51 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 36 --(5)--> 41 Pass Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Cage Tower!
===============================<* Cage Tower *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Broken Console *>======================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- In the back of the clean room is a metal console with a glass panel on top. It looks like it's relatively intact, but unlike most of the equipment around it, it's not operational for some reason. Perhaps someone with the right training could get it working again, and who knows what you'd find then? You should send in a +request about this discovery! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Dean shines some light on the subject - literally - giving Josie some light to work, while Matilda treats them for heat stroke. While Hiro and Corwynt consult each other on the diagrams. "Red wire huh? I could have sworn that one was the one you don't want to cut..." Whatever! Cut - don't cut... let's just bet on red!
This may not be entirely helpful to Josie who is doing the real work examining the thing here while the rest of them talk about it.
Which is when help comes on Hatoful wings in the form of Penelope, though one wouldn't know it by the sudden mess she makes. As Penelope rips and tears the console goes wild -
ACCESS DENIED
ACCESS DENIED
ACCESS DENIED
TOO MANY FAILED ATTEMPTS
EXTERMINATION PROTOCOL ACTI-
As Josie finally rips her away - the red wire is caught on her talons and gets severed. Which seemingly doesn't do anything until Kaguya happens to twitch another one right past that severed red one, causing it to spark to life.
OVERRIDE CODE ACCEPTED.
And all the blast doors start sliding up.
One by one by one by one.
Which reveals the clean room - it has a metal console which appears inactive right now. But given where it was, it could be important right?