2018-01-01: Crawling into the Void
- Log: Crawling into the Void
- Cast: Loren Voss, Asteroid the Kid, Dean Stark, Gwen Whitlock, Jean
- Where: Baskar Sacred Grounds
- Date: January 1st 2017
- Summary: A group ventures into a section of the Baskar Sacred Grounds, meeting a little assistance along the way. What they find is more than they bargained for. Dean grasps onto hope. Asteroid faces an important decision in the dark. Loren defines who he is. Jean pushes on. Gwen persists.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Baskar Sacred Grounds. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Retreat! *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Have you ever seen the way an animal reacts when bad weather is on the horizon? You come upon these Baskar territories to unsettling silence. Deep and profound and layering itself with all the quiet intensity of a calm before the storm. And then you hear it. -Feel- it. A low rumble across the earth, many tiny tremors rippling in chaotic concert to create something much more. A stampede. A stampede of frightened animals desperately trying to run away from something primal and wrong. All of them fleeing in your direction. Time to run against a stampede. Try not to get trampled! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It had started with a report from Elly, out in the field.
And it had left the young medic with a single conclusion: this was something he needed to investigate, himself. If it was Malevolence present once again, that was an additional complication for operations in the region. But it was also, potentially, an opportunity.
...And things being what they are, he can't allow himself to be upstaged.
So here Loren -- as Thomas Blackwell, ex-medical student and Drifter -- down in the depths of a small canyon within the Sacred Grounds of the Baskar. Neither is he alone; Drifters are a useful and replenishable resource.
The good news is, this is the winter season, so it's not as hot as it could be in the canyon.
The bad news is, it's still damnably hot.
So far, aside from the elements and the hike down, it's also been a remarkably uneventful expedition.
In other words, there hasn't been any sign of anything wrong.
Yet.
"One moment," 'Thomas' asks, leaning into the shade of this side of the canyon wall. He flips through a notebook in his hands, squinting at some handwritten text... and a sketch map of the area. It's an okay sketch, for amateur effort.
Is this the right area, he thinks to himself.
There's a low bass note, rolling in a wave across the land.
Far more felt than heard.
A few small pebbles pick their way down the canyon wall.
It doesn't remain there.
Shuddering. Thundering. The sound increases. A rockslide, someone might think at first -- always a risk -- until the true source makes itself known.
They come. Deer, and far too many of them. They run as if they've been horrified by something.
Loren stares at the oncoming wave of panicked animals for a good ten seconds before stuffing his notebook into his coat pocket and bolting. "Look for higher ground!"
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Retreat!.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid is already interested in the Baskar Sacred Sites, being Baskar and all. The fact that malevolence is erupting out of these sites is concerning especially considering what she's heard about malevolence as of late. She did not come along on behest of Loren because of her anti-blonde prejudice. She was already here and indeed, just one look at asteroid and her crater-filled head might indicate to Loren pretty quick she's the 'asteroid' that Ethius had mentioned in Elly's report too.
That said she knows better than to go into ruins by herself. She has attached herself to Thomas's group, frowning at him.
"Are you...." She says. "Lost? I'm Baskar. You don't have to worry about that. I know where all the sacred sites are. I had to study them for like ten years and I'm going to be totally honest with you, it was really boring. We have like a zillion sacred sites that are all either corrupted, broken, ruined, or full of monsters or all of the above. I wonder if it has something to do with everybody stealing our shit."
She isn't a sweet-mouthed Baskar though.
Of course, then there's the stampede and Asteroid draws out two pistol flavored ARMs that are likely Zeboim era and launches a pair of portals with it, once nearby, and the other along the canyon wall.
Asteroid starts running along side it, firing more portal shots before the stampede, causing animals to fall in and start sliding down the canyon wall as well!
"A stampede... NOW??" She complains.
"GWENGWENGWENGWEN I AM SORRY FOR ROBBING THE TRAIN!!! WELL I MEAN I'M NOT REALLY SORRY I'M JUST SAYING THAT BUT I AM SORRY JANUS IS A DOUCHEBAG!!"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Retreat!.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean is interested in helping out with Baskar things, considering he promised the Guardians he'd help seal the Statues and save the world (so, you know, no biggie), but his main reason for coming here is because it was Thomas who asked, and Thomas is a grumpy but kind person who saved him from drowning a month or so ago, so Dean is convinced that he's a Good Person and he's not likely to be dissuaded otherwise. And why wouldn't you help someone, especially someone who did you a kindness, when they're in need? That's just what good people do for each other!
So he's here with Team 'Thomas,' in the canyon, following the others as they attempt to find the Baskar site in question. He frowns at Asteroid, not in disapproval of her but of the idea that people keep stealing the Baskar's stuff, and also while thinking back with guilt to the, er, mishap, at the Stone Forest. "Oh... I'm sorry," he tells her with full sincerity. An apology doesn't really put the sacred sites back in order, though...
Regardless, the ground starts rumbling. He looks down. "Huh? What's going on?" He looks up. TEAL DEER. TEAL DEER, ALL HEADED THIS WAY. Dean, too, summons a pair of pistol ARMs, though he uses them to shoot an icy path leading away from the stampede rather than portals to disrupt and disorient the animals. "C'mon, let's hurry! We gotta get out of the way!"
He doesn't comment on the train just yet, though he's definitely glad that Gwen made it out okay after getting super-stabbed. She... she *is* okay, right? She's not pushing herself right now?!
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, Retreat!.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
---LAST TIME ON THE ADVENTURES OF DOCTOR'ED GWEN, COURIER WOMAN---
Gwen got stabbed in the abdomen by Janus, as well as shot. Thanks to a combination of Avril's medium, Clive's field first aid, and Gwen spending the past day(s) or so recovering in the Baskar doctor's tent, she was back to normal!
That's what she'd like to think. Instead, the poor doctor had to deal with a young woman who seemed extremely private (except for where the wounds actually were), refused to take off her gloves, and seemed a lot more hungry than any person in her condition had any right to be. So instead, Gwen had ventured out to get something to eat while the poor doctor was distracted, determined not to eat the poor man out of house and home.
And then-- "Oh hey, Jean! Fancy seein' you here!"
----ONE HASTILY SCRIBB:ED THANK YOU PAYMENT NOTE TO A DOCTOR LATER----
So Gwen's with them now, looking a little paler than usual, but with the sort of skin she has, that's not saying much. She just seems happen to be along, keeping pace with the team's careful movements towards the site. When 'Thomas' stops, though, Gwen just flops on a boulder, wiping her forehead. "Whew... s'hot." She squints, then suddenly lowers herself to the ground, her eyes focused on something indistinct.
A proper courier knows when a stampede is coming. Well, an actual one, anyway.
"Leeeet's get movin' now. I think something's comin' this way, so-" WELP there's the stampede, just as forecast by Gwen a few moments ago.
To be fair, it's probably that advance notice that Gwen survives this, regardless of whatever comes of her trying to get to higher ground. Cue her trying to lift herself onto a boulder, yelping as a mule deer *LEAPS* right over her and prances right off the side. "You can apologize later, Astie! N' to be fair, I was kinda shootin' at him at the time, so, y'know, that's just how it goes!" That sounded better in her head. When she wasn't shouting her explanation over a stampede of deer.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Retreat!.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean has her own reasons to look into trouble in the Baskar colonies. To look into Malevolence. Travelling with the so-called Lord of Calamity makes it her problem, after all, and the fact that Lucia avoids populated areas doesn't mean they shouldn't keep an eye out. ...And she needs to keep herself on her toes, keep ready. For... reasons. So when 'Thomas Blackwell' caught her in the city and asked her to go on an expedition...
She negotiated a little cash in the process, having been on a trip to restock her 'supplies', which were largely but not entirely 'alcohol'. ...Those things can wait though. Especially if the medical student pays for the help for what Jean would be doing anyway.
...Which now includes 'keeping an eye on Gwen'. She can tell telling her to get some rest isn't going to do any good, so supervision it is. And now, here they are. Dean along with them, and Thomas, and--
Jean really doesn't seem to care about the heat, for her part. Her clothes are light enough for the desert, and she's been in hotter. "Come on," she jokes, "It's fine! Just make sure to stay hydrated!" She winks, and... pulls a flask, which she takes a pull from. It is not water.
But there's Asteroid. Jean tilts her head. "Hey--" Stam...pede. Jean looks to it, and her eyes widen. "Oh, come on--" She pulls her fans immediately, looks to the others. "You can explain this robbery and shooting when we get out!" For her part, Jean starts off at a run, using her fans as help as she passes a rock and--
Spins to hit it with her weapons, sending the boulder tumbling just far enough to direct some of the stampeders away from their position. ...It's the same boulder Gwen's on, as Jean grabs her and pulls.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, Retreat!.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Retreat! *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Have you ever seen the way an animal reacts when bad weather is on the horizon? You come upon these Baskar territories to unsettling silence. Deep and profound and layering itself with all the quiet intensity of a calm before the storm. And then you hear it. -Feel- it. A low rumble across the earth, many tiny tremors rippling in chaotic concert to create something much more. A stampede. A stampede of frightened animals desperately trying to run away from something primal and wrong. All of them fleeing in your direction. Time to run against a stampede. Try not to get trampled! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
=====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 1 *>====================== =============================< Results - Retreat! >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
Naturally, there were conditions for hiring Jean as help. Supplies, to be specific.
...Naturally, they were largely best described as 'varieties of alcoholic drink'. Wonderful, he'd thought, this one's an alcoholic. Fortunately, the amount that Thomas can justify under expenses is fairly substantial. So long as it fulfills his nation's need, that is.
And after what he'd seen in Seven Sages...
Still, explaining this one is going to be awkward.
By contrast, hiring on Gwen and Dean are easy. Considering the latter's rush to assist, particularly. It could be possibly useful.
There in the fragment of a moment before things go south, Asteroid the Kid makes her appearance.
Loren stares at her for a long, long moment. What in the world is wrong with this one? Is there something they don't say about some of the Baskar?
His expression is a somewhat sour one by the time he responds to her. "Oh, yes, of course. By all means, please lead us on to these corrupted, ruined sacred sites of yours," he says rather acidly. He closes his eyes and exhales a breath. "...I don't recall asking for assistance."
AND THEN, DEER HAPPEN
A few deer get teleported out and go sliding down the slope (and landing in new interesting plateaus) on the canyonside. Ultimately, there are just too many deer to move away. They keep coming.
Until they hit an icy patch, that is. Even moving at top panicked deer speed, they're forced to slow down or slide.
On the other hand, it's a sliding deer that nearly takes Loren out. Not exactly being the fastest on his feet here, he's clipped by a flailing deer and summarily smashes into a rock... fortunately recovering quickly enough to haul himself up similarly to Gwen -- and Jean, who assists her on their desperate escape from the herd as it once again picks up speed after clearing the ice.
The scramble to safety is difficult, but it is completed.
And there, before them, looms a cavern.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Cave In *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The foundations of these grounds are not exactly stable. Something is winding its way through this place, causing irregularities and weakness. Which might explain why everything seems to spontaneously start to crumble above you, as if the very ceiling had given up. Chunks of debris start to fall, threatening to bury you in its hopelessness. Better start running! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen grabs ahold of Jean's grip, a grateful smile on her face. "T-thanks!" You'd think there was something dangerous around here or something.
The deer rumble off into the distance, away to a place with some semblance of safety.
Trekking into the cavern, little sound seems to follow save the echo of footsteps and a lone, tumbling rock.
A few steps, and there's another. Silence.
And there's another rock.
Another.
And then, as if stone was giving in to the depressing pull of gravity, a massive one falls right down right in front of where Gwen is walking, causing her to fall back with a yelp.
The sound is covered by the ceiling cracking and falling, right over the group's heads.
TIME TO GO
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave In.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean gives no sign of any of the things she did at the Seven Sages. No signs of strange techniques; just a dance, athletic enough, fans for weapons... And a fondness for drinking. She's deliberate in keeping on a friendlier demeanor, which is only partly a facade. Partly.
"Accept help with you get it, Blackwell," Jean says with a laugh once they're safe. "Obviously we needed it. That's the kind of trouble I usually get into with the others. Looks like they're not the only magnets for it."
Jean gives Gwen a wink and a smile, and looks to the cavern ahead. Onward they can go...
A rock. ...Another rock. A lot of rocks, as this strange feeling comes; a feeling Jean knows better than most as Malevolence, wending its way through. "--Move!" she calls, and pulls a fan to hurl it at one of the rocks about to come down on one of the others--and catches it to start running too, eyeing back and forth and using the same trick as much as she'll have to, despite the jar in her arms at how hard she has to throw.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, Cave In.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Probably malevolence," Asterod exposits. "My guess is that since Filgaia's dying, all the holy sites devoted to the preservation of Filgaia are suffering. Monsters, corruption, poison, aggression--like with the symptoms of a deadly illness, Filgaia's trying to fight off its diseases. Problem is, what's the source of what's troubling Filgaia eh?"
She grimaces as Loren is clipped by another deer but when she actually talks to him she sounds carefree as heck, "These are my people's sites, so I think you're stealin' my line! Also, are you an alien? You have to tell me if you're an alien."
She asks this of pretty much everybody who's blonde.
Asteroid drops down and adds, "Anyway, I'm Asteroid the Kid." She looks to Jean and bobs her head at her. "Hey Jean. Long time no see! How's Lemina?" She glances towards Thomas and adds, "They're also from space. I know lots of aliens."
Of course before can add anything else, whoo boy. "Aw geeze. Already?"
She launches more portals to try and create shortcuts in the run they're about to undertake. "Gnhaaahh---!"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Cave In.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
So she's familiar with Malevolence? Interesting, Loren considers to himself. "So it's the planetary equivalent of gangrene. How lovely," he remarks, folding his arms over his chest.
"I'm not an alien," Loren replies. If anyone actually counts as some sort of 'person from another world', as it appears she means in this case, it would be...
Jean earns a look. The sort of look that appears to silently ask her something along the lines of, 'really'?
"If you insist," he says, apparently in as good a mood right now as ever.
But these are things that sort of fall by the wayside in the wake of the surge of deer.
"'Asteroid', is it? Did your parents name you that?" This is punctuated by a moment of silence as Asteroid straightup comments on Jean's alleged point of origin. "...Indeed."
Somewhat battered but still with them, Loren follows after them into the cavern. "This might be the place I heard about. There are apparently a number of sacred caverns in the canyon wall. Somewhere around here..."
As if to punctuate the general trend of the day so far, a rock falls.
A number of rocks fall. Going back becomes an impossibility.
"--Move it!"
So the only way becomes to go forward. He runs.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cave In.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
They get past the stampede. It's a close shave in some spots, but they're all in one piece, and they stand before a cavern. Dean leans on his knees, panting; he couldn't keep up the ice path forever once the path started heading uphill, and having to run solely uphill is hard at best... but hey, it's better than careening into a boulder. "Y-you guys okay?" he asks, looking around at the others.
Once everyone's safety and more-or-less wellbeing is confirmed, they head inside. There's some more rumbling. "Are those deer still stampeding outside?" he wonders. "I thought they were slowing down some--"
crack crumble tumble stumble
Dean would *totally* like to ask Jean about being from outer space, but unfortunately there's another Incident. Dean's ARMs are back in his hands, and this time he shoots at rocks as they start to fall to freeze them to the ceiling. He of course won't get all of them in time, but if there's just enough he can shoot in time so they can all get through here in one piece...!
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, Cave In.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Cave In *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The foundations of these grounds are not exactly stable. Something is winding its way through this place, causing irregularities and weakness. Which might explain why everything seems to spontaneously start to crumble above you, as if the very ceiling had given up. Chunks of debris start to fall, threatening to bury you in its hopelessness. Better start running! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
=====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 2 *>====================== =============================< Results - Cave In >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 5 --(8)--> 13 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen groans. "Stop sayin' Filgaia's dyin'! I don't wanna think about that while goin' around this place. We can think about depressin' stuff like that later."
Her rebuke's a little sharper than she intends for poor Asteroid. A second passes, and Gwen starts to open her mouth, about to apologize, when ROCKS FALL, (NO)BODY DIES.
Well, Gwen did get one fall on her head for her trouble, so that's... fun. "'Ho names their kid Astieroid..." she mumbles dazedly. "'Er name's... nn...." Too late, she's fallen into a portal and is emerging someplace else more safe. "What th'...?"
More than that would have happened if not for the efforts of the group to flee or deflect rocks away as they move further inwards, with Jean's fan deflecting a particularly large one just enough off its trajectory for Dean to freeze it to the side of the cavern wall, while Asteroid's portals manage to keep th group from falling into a dead end.
They emerge into another area that seems solid, for now, but with the chaotic hand of Malevolence, it may not stay that way for very long...
DG: Jean has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Poisonous Thoughts *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Malevolence can take many forms. And sometimes, in enough concentration, it simply -is-. Case in point: the black and violent vapors currently gushing out of fracturing, puncturing geysers forming fresh in the ground beneath you, filling the air with an overwhelmingly poisonous miasma, choking the air from lungs and filling the soul with contradiction, guilt and overwhelming sloth. And it's filling the air -quickly-. It might, -might-, be a good idea to find a way out of here. Quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Secret==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"...You think so?" Jean asks Asteroid, considers. SHe glances to Gwen who'd rather not think about it--and has a 'well' sort of expression before she shakes her head, decides not to press it. What's the source...? Well.
"Yep, I mentioned," she said. "Nice to see you, Asteroid. Lemina's doing okay. Think she's getting some rest." Pause. "...Or, more likely, thinking about money."
But there they go, in the caverns. Loren is still with them. He mentions it... "Looks like it's a place," she says. The look he gave her gets a grin from Jean regardless. But on the other side--
"We're okay," she says to Dean, "You?" Maybe he can ask her about being from another world after. For now... Once again they make it through. Gwen got a hit on her head and Jean walks over, checking her over with a hand on her shoulder without so much as an ask. "You okay there?" A beat. "..Hmm..."
"Well, let's keep going. Stick close, okay?"
She steps through, and the miasma worsens, becoming visible as geysers pour it into the air. It's stable, sure... But the air is turning, quickly. Jean can feel it as soon as she sees it, guilt slinking through her soul, an old friend's mask worn by an unpleasant visitor. "Ugh--We've got to--" Jean coughs, shaking her head, and starts using her fans to blow it away, to get some fresh air, as she books.
She feels the sloth. "Don't stop moving!" If anybody does stop moving... they get a light fan hit for their troubles to speed them along.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, Poisonous Thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Hmm..." Asteroid says, not entirely convinced of Loren's assurances even though he's completely telling the truth, but it does shut her up at least on the topic.
"Nah, my 'parents' didn't name me Asteroid. It's just what I started calling myself." She glances over to Loren and adds to him. "See, I wasn't born like this or nothin'. The day I left my colony to become a Drifter, or I guess it was actually evening, something knocked me out. And when I woke up, I was in this weird sky city. I could tell they were aliens because they didn't speak any language I knew."
Of course, the miasma is getting worse, but Asteroid the Kid launches more portals to help out. She hops through one and back out the other but she doesn't seem to have... a nose. So she's unlikely to be affected by the gas, except by whatever it does through contact on the skin. She even keeps chatting, glancing back to Thomas Blackwell periodically.
"They did all sorts of shit to me. I used to have hair, henhhh... it was torture but they kept me alive, forcing me again and again to summon Rigdobrite. They wanted to know how I did it, I guess."
She shows off the pistol. "Well I escaped by throwing myself off the sky city and Rigdobrite guided me down, heenh heenh.... Course, I ended up like this. Something's weird with my blood too henh..."
She shrugs though and adds, "Anyway, they were all blonde--their boss had this weird tiara thing on his forehead? He was the one who did almost all the work. Some kind of freak to do this to a pretty girl like me."
She smiles, showing off her teeth and she licks at them with her tongue.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Poisonous Thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean smiles at Jean's confirmation, and he stands up straight, rubbing a finger under his nose. "I'm just fine!" he tells her with a firm nod. "Uhhh, but Gwen might not be--Gwen, are you really sure you should be down here? You got really hurt the other day...!"
Then again, they've already made it this far. They can't just tell Gwen to head back all on her own. He pauses, though, when Asteroid starts explaining her past, leaving Jean to take care of Gwen. This only continues when miasma starts seeping into the cave; being unable to see Malevolence and its like, Dean isn't aware of the deeper significance of any of this, and assumes it's just like the poison gas in the Den of Miasma. All he can do is pull his scarf over his face as he bolts after Jean.
"That's terrible!" he says to Asteroid, horrified by her story. "I'm so sorry that happened to you...!" He'd say more, but that's him breaking into a coughing fit, stumbling, and having to right himself quickly to keep going.
As he moves, Dean also fires Twin Fenrir's Freeze Ray on the spots in the wall where the gas seems to be coming out. Maybe if he can plug up the holes...! Of course, that won't help at all with regards to the Malevolence, but one thing at a time. After this, though, he's out of freezie pops...
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, Poisonous Thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Sick, not dying. There's a difference," 'Thomas' continues. "Perhaps it just needs its leg cut off," he adds, to unnecessarily extend the metaphor.
Asteroid explains the name. "So it's a descriptive name of your own. Good. Now that we've got that out of the way--"
A 'sky city'.
Loren is reminded again, for the second time in about as many weeks, that there are things he does not want to know much about or get involved with, for the sake of his future wellbeing. This one probably counts, he reflects, silent as Asteroid presents a bit of her backstory.
The Major isn't going to like knowing about this one either.
"Are you sure it wasn't a hallucination?" he remarks, before pressing on.
Gwen takes a hit. Apparently, enough of one to garble her speech. He squints at her, as if attempting to assess her condition, then begins to frown.
But there isn't much time to remark on her possibly compromised status.
The air grows foul. Cupping a hand over his mouth, Loren recoils for a moment, then opens and reaches into the depths of his bag. He recognizes this sensation. It's exactly the same as the time in that cave out east...
Has it grown stronger?
He feels ill. Back against the wall at this part of the cave, he bows his head. Whatever he was reaching for, he doesn't pull it out, his stance frozen that way.
"You're the product of generations of careful breeding. Hold your head high."
He closes his eyes and grimaces.
And a fan clips him on the back of the head. "What--" he says, muffled, his hand still covering his mouth and nose.
But he no longer lingers. He bolts for it along with the rest through the impure haze.
All the while attempting to locate whatever it was he was looking for in his bag and apparently not finding it.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Poisonous Thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"-Leeeeet's not talk about that either," Gwen replies to Thomas's metaphor, as Jean examines her. "I'm fine." Gwen gives Dean a smile and a thumbs up. "Avril did a great job in healin' me up! I just wanted to, y'know, see what was up. What if this place blows up while I'm restin' nearby? Wouldn't be good for me."
-You just wanted to stop thinking about how Janus looked when he tried to kill you.-
Listening to Asteroid as they move along, Gwen's pace begins to slow. "Wow, that, uh, really sucked..."
-Is that the best you can say? You didn't even notice she was gone when you visited the colony.-
Gwen doesn't want to think about it. The talk of a dying planet was all fine and good when she was dying herself. Now, she's actually living. The planet *can't* die now. It'd be all for nothing, then. All the pain, the struggling, the times when her ARM was what stood between her and death, the hope that the world was right out there.
It'd be all for nothing, wouldn't it? Would've been better if she-
"Nn...!" A fan hits the back of Gwen's head. "Owowow! Jean! I just got hit there!" Oh, yeah. Malevolence. Right.
-How about you--
A hand grabs a healthy portion of Loren's clothing as she runs, somehow not satisfied with how fast he's going. "We'll deal with it later!!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Poisonous Thoughts.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Poisonous Thoughts *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Malevolence can take many forms. And sometimes, in enough concentration, it simply -is-. Case in point: the black and violent vapors currently gushing out of fracturing, puncturing geysers forming fresh in the ground beneath you, filling the air with an overwhelmingly poisonous miasma, choking the air from lungs and filling the soul with contradiction, guilt and overwhelming sloth. And it's filling the air -quickly-. It might, -might-, be a good idea to find a way out of here. Quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Secret==========================================
=====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 3 *>====================== ========================< Results - Poisonous Thoughts >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 13 --(5)--> 18 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Secret(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Jean has posed.
Gwen might not be; Jean can see that. "I'll take care of her," Jean tells Dean. ...But as Asteroid keeps going... She hears the story. Hearing it is always... Something. She watches Asteroid carefully, for a few moment, something in memory in her gaze before she looks away. "... Just be careful, Asteroid." Blonde. Weird tiaras...
Some kind of freak. Jean doesn't answer. Instead... Well, at that point, they have to worry about the Malevolence, the miasma, and Jean keeps moving as quickly as she can. Dark thoughts only make this worse. So Jean does hit Gwen. She rushes forward. She keeps moving. And now--
Through freezing some of the miasma, they buy a little more time; with Gwen helping Loren in turn, they both make it through. And Asteroid's portals spread it around enough that it doesn't all converge on them as quickly as it could.
In the end, they're all beyond the cavern, where it doesn't spread, catching their breath. Jean shakes her head. "...Asteroid," she says, and then says nothing else for now. She just looks in some secret knowledge, shakes her head. "There's a lot to deal with later. For now, let's keep moving." She pauses, at that, and pulls a flask out of her things, offering it towards Asteroid.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - The Way of the Baskar *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There have been many times where the secrets of the Baskar have had to be protected at all costs. And not all of these times came from forces from other worlds or demonic creatures of legend. The Baskar have become very adept at losing those who would see to do them harm in a myriad of secret pathways only they know the correct passage through, and it is exactly one of those labyrinthine stretches you find yourself in now. Branching pathways, dead ends, cruel traps -- all these and more must be avoided and the subtle hints and blues the Baskar have left behind interpretted to find the way forward and not get lost within this veritable maze -- a fact not helped by the whispers telling you that all this is hopeless and you're already lost and wouldn't it be so much nicer to just give up already, give up, give up, GIVE UP-- =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid glances over to Gwen. She squints at her as she uses the phrase 'that really sucked'. She's probably thinking something along the lines of what's in Gwen's internal monologue there.
"Eh... you think I'm crazy?" She asks of Loren. It looks like Loren hit a button there. "You think I'm crazy?! You think I don't remember??" The tone of voice from Asteroid indicates that, well, it's probably actually not unfair to call her crazy. "I'll bite your face off, I'm not crazy, I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not crazy! I didn't imagine it!! Arggghhh--!!" She shakes her head rapidly. "This stupid malevolence!! Stop fucking with my life!! LET GINNY GO! YOU'RE KILLING HER!!!" She starts slamming her head against the wall rapidly doing absolutely no damage.
"Fuck fuck fucks!!" She lashes into one of her pouches and rapidly starts dumping a bunch of pills into her palm. She shakes unsteadily for a long moment before she manages to count them out and dump a bunch in her mouth. She then replaces it with another set of pills which she also downs. She takes in several deep breaths. "Shit..is this the right...is this the right amount?"
she starts stumbling around and making her way through the next hall.
She stares ahead and adds, "Hold on, there's clues here. Hold on. Let me decipher 'em..."
She looks them over for a moment, squints more, and then looks back to the party. "......................."
She looks towards Loren. ".................Hey."
Pause.
Pause.
"You should go first. Don't worry, it's clear. No traps. Oh uh, sorry about before, I sometimes get attacks like that, heh. But yeah. After you."
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Way of the Baskar.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Already having suffered the indignity of a fan to the back of the head, someone grabs his arm, apparently deciding he hasn't been moving quickly enough. "What--"
Gwen grabs his arm, yanking it -- and the dust mask, which he finally found -- right out of his bag. It goes flying from his grasp, lost somewhere in the halls as he's hauled along. "Wait-- one moment--"
But the air seems to clear. Perhaps this is the extent of it.
Taking a moment to regroup and take a look ahead, he's soon rounded on by Asteroid.
It might be more telling watching Loren's relative... non-reaction, comparatively. Sure, he straightens up, rolls his stance backwards a touch. Raises his eyebrows. But this is, perhaps, not the first sort of similar fit he's seen to this in his life. It's worrying, but only worrying in the sense that now he has to prepare himself to potentially put down the equivalent of a mad dog.
Though one blond eyebrow arches at the sight of the pills she just haphazardly tossed down. Was that an overdosage? ...What are those, and where is she getting them from?
And in the wake of all that -- through which he's been notably silent -- Loren finally says, "...I said hallucinations, not insanity."
Though is he considering the latter now? Yes.
She moves on ahead to take a look at the next obstacle.
And indicates he should go and 'check it out'. For a long, long moment Loren levels a distinctly dubious look at her. "Should I." He glances over at the door ahead, then back at her. "And this is completely, absolutely safe. Of course." His tone is flat, sarcasm laid on thick.
Some days, he wonders why he even bothers.
He lifts a hand as if to merely readjust his glasses, then walks over to the doorway and pauses, kneeling.
"...Just as I thought..."
Pressure plate.
In fact, everything ahead appears to be a pressure plate. "...These plates indent when stepped on," he remarks. "Since the whole corridor is made of them, there's likely some pattern they need to be stepped on in. Given the way these things tend to go, failing is probably harmful to life and limb. The usual. I don't suppose you have any suggestions, Miss Asteroid?"
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, The Way of the Baskar.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
'Perhaps it just needs its leg cut off,' Thomas says. Dean double-takes. "Wait, what? Who needs a leg taken off??" Someone wasn't paying attention to the conversation... "Is this a metaphorical kind of thing?"
One thing he *can't* overlook: Asteroid flipping the fuck out at Loren, then shoving a bunch of pills in her mouth. "A-Asteroid?! I-it's okay, *I* believe you! Calm down, you're gonna hurt yourself!" And then she starts going off on a bunch of things he doesn't know anything about, and Dean can only stand there, hands held out to Asteroid as if to grab her if she falls over, looking increasingly alarmed and bewildered.
There's whisperings all about. Whispers that he's lost, that he can't help, that these people are beyond his help, that people like Asteroid and Ida and Avril can't be helped because he's too stupid and ignorant and dense to really understand their problems and help them the way they need--
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try!" he declares aloud, affronted, turning around at the others. "Who said that? That was really rude!"
...
It looks like he mistook the Malevolence whispering for someone actually speaking...
He scratches his head, frowning. It doesn't seem like anyone was responsible... "Was I just hearing things? ...This place is getting to me..." He shakes his head, then walks over to Loren as he inspects the hallway, then declares that the pressure plates need to be stepped on in order. His earlier sarcasm goes completely over Dean's head. "I think *I* can help," he says, adjusting Twin Fenrir's cartridges to the Standard. "I can set them off from here, and we can figure out what the right order is through trial and error!"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, The Way of the Baskar.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Dean tells Asteroid to calm down. She doesn't seem particularly hurt but she WAS swinging her head against the wall pretty solidly. She doesn't move for a while, clearly trying to chill herself out.
Eventually Dean holds out his hands and Asteroid looks at them. She reddens faintly and says, "It's...it's fine. Sorry for worrying you."
She is so embarrassed and tries to distract herself by fucking with Loren.
5rAsteroid the Kid says, "Oh. I guess you saw through my prank. Oh well."
PRANK!??!?
She shrugs. "...Everybody says I was seeing things. I wasn't seeing things."
She adds, "Sure, you just need to go in the order of the Guardians placed in order of importance to the running of Filgaia without any repeats."
She looks at the tiles and sees that the inscriptions have worn away.
"...In theory." She adds helpfully.
She steadfastly tries to avoid looking at Dean because he's kind of cute and all and agghhh why does she keep running into cute nice people she is going to just find somewhere to hide after all this is over and hopefully get eaten by wild malevolence powered deer.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Crazy. ...Well, Asteroid does seem a little unhinged--the talk of Ginny worries Jean. But then... Malevolence. She can guess that. Asteroid bangs her head on the wall and Jean winces, looking sort of dubiously in that direction as she continues to watch the... pills. Whatever they are. Jean is not very accustomed to pills, frankly. It's a little weird. But the next hall...
"Prank," Jean repeats, and sighs. "Try not to get the rest of our group killed, okay?" Another shake of her head. "...And you, you could try and be a little sensitive," she says to Loren, disapproving but still pretty casual. Talk of pressure plates though? Well...
"Great," she suggests. "More work." She glances down, but doesn't bother trying to read them. She just tilts her head, looking over. "Uh..."
Asteroid is sort of--sort of helpful. "It'll be... fine."
But she looks to Dean at that. He was helping, at least. But the whispers... They reach her, too. There's nothing she can do; there's another girl who was taken in a different way right here, and after all, Jean can't hide from what she is, it would be simple to--
Her hand is curled into a deadly fist before she notes it, stops, and shakes her head immediately. "...No," she murmurs. "I won't."
"This place is getting to all of us," she says, and steps forward. "Set them off... All right. Well, I'll run forward."
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Way of the Baskar.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It really is hopeless, isn't it? Gwen listens to Asteroid talk, and struggle, and curse, and be understandably angry.
If she was her better self, she would have offered better words by now, or even minutes earlier, when Asteroid could've really used them. "... You doin' that to yerself ain't gonna make Ginny better." The statement comes out of Gwen's lips in reaction to Asteroid's self harm, the courier's words feeling far too coarse and dry for her taste. "In fact, it'll make her feel worse. So stop it." As if it were that easy.
Just like old times, isn't it?
-Your mask is slipping.-
It's not a mask.
It's not.
-You'll never be that person. You're marked. Just like Janus.-
It can't be a mask, if some part of her believes in it.
-No one goes unmarked in that town. No one cares.-
If no one did, she wouldn't have survived that night-
'Who said that? That was really rude!'
Gwen manages to shake loose from the despair clouding her mind, and looks upon Dean with a sort of wonder.
Dean's the real deal.
With a slow smile, Gwen positions herself next to Dean, reaching into the pouch on her left sleeve garter. "Better we do it then someone go ahead." She begins arming the Mockingbird, a light whirr coming from the ARM as she begins to ready it for firing. "Not too much. Lost a lotta juice a while ago. But I got enough for this." Her eyes cross over to Asteroid. "... Sorry, by the way. That... wasn't really fair to you. Y'came here because you wanted to help, even if you got all the reasons to just shove off and do somethin' else. That's pretty commendable."
She'll just keep standing next to Dean while his HOPE RAYS keep shining out.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Way of the Baskar.
=========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - The Way of the Baskar *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There have been many times where the secrets of the Baskar have had to be protected at all costs. And not all of these times came from forces from other worlds or demonic creatures of legend. The Baskar have become very adept at losing those who would see to do them harm in a myriad of secret pathways only they know the correct passage through, and it is exactly one of those labyrinthine stretches you find yourself in now. Branching pathways, dead ends, cruel traps -- all these and more must be avoided and the subtle hints and blues the Baskar have left behind interpretted to find the way forward and not get lost within this veritable maze -- a fact not helped by the whispers telling you that all this is hopeless and you're already lost and wouldn't it be so much nicer to just give up already, give up, give up, GIVE UP-- =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 4 *>===================== =====================< Results - The Way of the Baskar >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 18 --(20)--> 38 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Secret(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
In the end they actually set off all the traps and only Loren, somehow, is the guy who ends up unharmed from them all. Perhaps this is karma.
Asteroid has several arrows stuck in her. Her head is on fire. Her eyes have been sprayed with some kind of toxic gas, and a bunch of scarabs are chewing on Asteroid's clothes.
"I need to focus," She tells Gwen. "Pain brings clarity sometime. Not like it's damaged."
Though that's kind of something that she shouldn't take for granted.
She looks over to Loren suspiciously a bit because, again, he was the only guy to avoid being stuck by any traps before adding, "I blame the construction." She tells Gwen. "It clearly wasn't designed to last past the Baskar civilzation also I totally remembered the right order okay? It's not because I'm not Baskar enough. Gggghhhh...!!"
She growls and grumbles under her breath for the next while.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Going Down? *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There's a shaft here that leads down into pathways further through the sacred grounds. It's not only the best way forward -- thanks to age, decay, and the shifts of time, it's also the only way. The shaft is unstable, and the only way down a manual lift. There's not enough space for more than one or maybe two people at a time, and will require you to lower yourself slowly down that shaft without losing control of the pulley. Otherwise? Well. It's a long way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed. <SoundTracker> Griffin McElroy - Beseiged ~ https://soundcloud.com/griffinmcelroy/besieged
Briefly, Loren closes his eyes. Longsufferingly. "Yes. It's a metaphor," he replies to Dean, words clipped.
Emperor Cain help the people of the surface lands.
How do you think this will go for you? Has anything changed yet?
...Prank? He looks at Asteroid as if to suggest a response along the lines of 'seriously?' but instead what he does is shake his head slightly and say, "Fine." And again to Jean, as she recommends a more tactful approach on his part. "...Fine."
He can already tell that this place is intruding. Again, like the last time, where the Major and Hauch had that strange reaction. If what was said about Malevolence is accurate... perhaps it's understandable why. As ridiculous as it sounds. But here they are, in a world where there are entities like Guardians.
He's going to use his ARMs to set off the plates? Loren raises an eyebrow, then shrugs. "By all means," he says to Dean, stepping aside to allow him -- and the others -- to go on ahead.
The plates get set off, alright.
It's with some mild schadenfreude that the 'medical student' crosses the hallway soon after, passing through unscathed across the depressed plates. "I'm sure," he says quite simply to Asteroid, who is on fire and being chewed on by some kind of beetle. "Next time, proceed more prudently," he suggests to the group at large, extracting a few sols from his bag and handing them out. He's going to need more than a few bandages here, too, it seems.
It's likely that they all have to take a moment before they can even think about pressing on. It's well-timed: there's no way ahead except the darkened elevator shaft. Leaving them behind for the moment while he investigates the only path that's open to them: the extremely dubious-looking lift.
But you already know. No matter how much you struggle...
He furrows his brow, kneeling as he inspects the bottom of the cart. Worm-eaten wood. Some of it's crumbling away where he prods at it. It won't hold more than a person or two at a time. Rolling back on his heels, Loren stands to then investigate what passes as the controls. ...Just as he thought, it's a manual system.
"It's not in good shape, and there's not a lot of room," he announces at length. "It looks like maybe one, two of us can descend at a time. Someone will need to stay behind to operate the lift." Blue eyes skim across their little adventuring group. Then he points between Jean and Asteroid. "Why don't you two go first."
He doesn't trust her not to have another 'fit' if he goes ahead of her. And honestly, come to think of it...
"Which means we'll go last." Meaning himself and Gwen. "...And you're better off out here." Meaning Dean.
...In the end, it's all futile.
All the while, it, awakened as they have all ventured further into this place, pulses in the background. Angry, sick and nauseating. A days-old bruise, discolored and tender to the touch. Some thoughts are difficult to ignore.
But it's alright. You were never up to the task anyway. Why blame yourself for what you could couldn't accomplish?
Faintly, Loren winces, and straightens as if catching the sound of something unpleasant. Like a whispered rumor caught on the wind by its subject.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Going Down?.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid reddens a bit. "It's not my fault."
She glances over to Loren though, as she makes his 'suggestion'. She laughs a bit and says, "Guess fair's fair." She cricks her neck a bit. "If something eats us I'll scream real loud for you so you can stay safe." She pats the air as if miming papping Loren's shoulder.
She summons a large rock into her hand and throws it down the shaft, getting a feel for how long the drop is going to be if it invariably falls apart mid-ride.
Quieter, she adds to Jean. "I kind of hope he lets us drop because we'll totally fall with style and he won't be so smug then will he, no sir, he'll be like 'In my professional medical opinion, I just got BURNED yo'."
And then she blinks. "Yeah, yeah, I'll behave."
She doesn't seem to react to the dark words pushing into her psyche.
Maybe she's not even hearing them.
Or maybe...
...maybe it's not too different from the internal monologue usually running through her head.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Asteroid Ball toward her party's challenge, Going Down?.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Everyone is getting along so well, Jean can tell. It makes the whispers going on about her head worse, the attempts to make everyone at least a little civil. ...The difficulty with the pressure plates isn't forgotten either; Jean has a lot of bruises and a few burns herself, after all of that. Even she wasn't fast enough to get out of all of them. ...Loren, though, was fine. Of course he was. And here they are.
They do have to take a moment; she looks ahead, takes a sol, and lifts an eyebrow at Loren's advice. "...Right," she says, disapproving.
But you already know. No matter how much you struggle...
Jean closes her eyes, taking a moment to stretch her arms out to either side, to flex lightly, to limber up a bit. Loren suggests how to go down, and she considers Dean. "...If you're okay with that," she says.
"Sure, we can go." She goes with Asteroid, waiting on the rock, and then adds to Asteroid, "You think so?" A little look at her, thinking. "...Probably. I'll pass that up for a decent way down, though."
...In the end, it's all futile.
On the way down, Jean hears the pulse, feels something in the air, something angry, something sick. It is not the same, as what she felt before. It is distinct. ...Nevertheless it calls.
You cannot escape what you have become.
Jean looks to the wall, and then to Asteroid, and does not answer the voice.
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Going Down?.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen looks back towards Dean as Thomas lays out his plan, her lips twisting to one side. She clearly doesn't quite like the plan of leaving Dean behind, but Thomas's logic is sound. "Dean can make sure we're able to get back up."
And he clearly seems to be the one of them most resistant to the effects of Malevolence, though Gwen wouldn't want to push him for very long. As Jean and Asteroid descend, Gwen lands a solid pat on the young Drifter's shoulder. "If you ever hear that voice the cave's puttin' inside your head, Dean, tell it to leave you alone, just like you did a few minutes ago."
You shouldn't even be here. Not only is that doctor looking for you, you've got people worried about you.
"Dunno what your demons are, Thomas, but if it helps a little, I trust ya." ... As if all of Loren's problems where just a simple matter of trust, or a matter that could have been resolved by the admittance of something Gwen's shown well in advance of them even meeting.
You're just slowing everyone down.
And then, Gwen too winces, as she grabs ahold of the rope. "No one's dropping," she says, solidly. "Loren and I both got the rope."
It doesn't matter if she should be here or not. She's here, and she'll make sure to keep going.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Going Down?.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Going Down? *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There's a shaft here that leads down into pathways further through the sacred grounds. It's not only the best way forward -- thanks to age, decay, and the shifts of time, it's also the only way. The shaft is unstable, and the only way down a manual lift. There's not enough space for more than one or maybe two people at a time, and will require you to lower yourself slowly down that shaft without losing control of the pulley. Otherwise? Well. It's a long way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 5 *>====================== ===========================< Results - Going Down? >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 38 --(5)--> 43 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Asteroid Ball 3 Brute Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Stupify(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
"I'm sure you will," Loren replies dryly, pressing his lips thin. "I wouldn't worry too much about something eating you, of course. You'd just give it fatal indigestion."
There's a certain freedom, he's found, among the people on the surface. Sometimes, he can say exactly what he wants to say.
He pauses a moment, as if considering something. Then, "Why, and pass up the chance to feed you to a monster?"
The summoned rock ball rattles on down for quite a distance, but eventually, eventually, there's a distinctive crash as it finds the bottom. Good news: the elevator shaft isn't endless.
Why let yourself hurt this way any longer?
It'll take some time and care for Jean and Asteroid to descend in the lift, during which Gwen, Dean, and 'Thomas' are briefly left to their own devices.
In silence, Loren regards the wall to one side, as if lost in thought.
Maybe it's the nature of this place. Maybe it's something else.
But he can't say this is an unfamiliar place.
"...What?" This is said to Gwen as she suddenly says she trusts him. "What? Why are you saying something like that?" He squints at her, looking her over. "You should be more careful. If you go around saying things like that to people, you'll regret it." Then shakes his head. "...Never mind. Forget about it." A pause stretches out. "It's come back up."
Give in.
In silence, at least on his part, the next descent, slow and lengthy, starts. Down into the depths...
GIVE UP.
Though rebuffed, the voice continues undeterred. What darkness lies in the hearts of people, perhaps, is not easily silenced.
But for now, they persevere.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Despair of Life *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There's something here, in the heart of the Baskar grounds. Pulsing illness like the beat of a fetid heart. Malevolence both emanates and draws towards it, a blood that grows thicker and more powerful every time that it flows towards that thing in the distance. With how powerfully it seems to warp the fabric of space, it is difficult to make out just what it could be within this torrent... and it also seems disinclined to allow you near. Every pulse grows stronger, more violent. Every outpouring of Malevolence seems directed against you, digging talons deep into your soul, dredging up every regret you have ever experienced. Give up. Why are you still here? You can't win. Everything you do is pointless. You are a twinkle in an oblivious and uncaring existence. Give in. Surrender. Isn't it nicer to not try? Surrender. GIVE UP. And ever-stronger it goes, creating a battleground out of your soul you will have to wage bloody war against in order to get to where you want to be. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Vault============================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Loren's oddly concerned(?) manner causes Gwen to chuckle. "You looked like you needed some shakin' up." She focuses on the rope. "I mean, yeah, I don't know you well enough to say that outside of here, but I trust ya enough here, right now." Slowly the rope gets lowered, so that Jean and Asteroid are safely lowered down. "It gets... exhausting. Goin' around thinkin' everyone's out t'get you, and plannin' how you were gonna get them first."
Is that how Janus came to be the way he is? No, it was something much deeper, much more complicated.
He does that because he knows he's going to be alone, someday. Just like every single friend both of you ever had.
That's how it starts, at least for Gwen. It's probably for the best that Dean held back, because the very movement everyone's feet touches the ground, their very soul is snapped into a painful current, waxing and waning in sharp bursts of hopelessness. Like the sort of cold that disallows the very act of snowfall, the Malevolence down here doesn't have the same effects on the surroundings as the crumbling infrastructure up near the cavern entrance. The rocky edges of the tunnel seem to just warp and churn with each beat, each streaming pulse of whatever lies deep within. Like a sucking wound, or a black hole, nothing but despair could seep towards it.
To move further in would be like crawling into the void.
It would take someone removed from it to get you back.
If you can even get back to that point.
You were given plenty of chances to die, but each time, you wasted each chance, depending on someone else to dig you out.
Gwen's face goes ashen. To keep moving forward seems like the very antithesis of what she feels she *should* do, at her core.
You could've died with your real mom and dad, your house, your normal, if short life. Then, you could've died knowing you were loved. And now...
She keeps walking forward. "It's not worth it to give up here," she states loudly, her breath hissing through her teeth. In the dark, it's possible to feel the weight of an entire shelf of rock and dust overhead, threatening to crush everyone. At the same time, it's also possible to feel like the tunnel could go on forever, never ending, never quite allowing someone to get to the very end...
Soon, dear Frea will be gone too. She could even be dying, right now, as you pretend that the world isn't dying right below your very feet. And what of whatever number of poor souls that pulled you from that burning house? The world doesn't care if someone is kind. It only leaves them open to the world's violent heart.
Gwen grips the right sleeve of her blouse and pulls it back in a stiff motion.
What did you think would happen, if you persisted in choosing to live? Did you expect anything to change, just because you were there to see it? Or did you really want to see the last dying ember of the world, and know that there was nothing left but to give up?
In the darkness, the Mockingbird pulses with a rhythm of its own, that of Gwen's own life, converted into energy. With a breath, she wills it to brighten, showing it as a light against the darkness. The Malevolence does not cease, nor does it care, but at least now there's a point of focus, striding forward.
Gwen's voice is muted. "Sorry to insist, but we gotta keep going."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Despair of Life.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
For now, they persevere.
...The Malevolence continues. It keeps reaching out to Jean, though for the most part it's just a sick, roiling feeling, familiar. She's heard voices call to her before, but this one seems to drive at her nature, placing wedges in the contradictions, seeking to make her give up. ...It's simple, that way; it's no argument anymore, not a hard sell but something quieter instead. Sneaking at her, telling her this isn't important; it's not hers to deal with.
...She has other things in mind; she has her own goals. Why should she bother with this one? Why should she help them? It would be a better use of her energy to give up. She can only waste what energy she has. Plenty of chances... Plenty of things...
Jean shakes her head, keeps walking. The hard sell starts again. A monster like her shouldn't be attempting to help. Her shoulders slump a little as she continues, looking to the others, looking at her own hand.
"..."
She keeps walking. She thinks about the vow of pacifism she broke. Even now, is it something she should have done?
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Despair of Life.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
The quiet acceptance of the voice only intensifies here.
It's without warning that Asteroid sits herself down, all of a sudden, on the floor. She doesn't say much but she reaches into her pack and draws out a knife. It's for skinning and defense and punching through rope. She stares at the weapon.
'This is what she needs to like you, Lydia.'
She looks towards Gwen for a long moment when she says they need to keep moving. She looks at her. She looks over to Jean.
She slowly turns the blade to that it faces towards her chest.
Will she win the battle of wills? With that kind of difficult rating? Probably not.
It's just like remodeling the cart, she thinks.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Despair of Life.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"For right now." As if amused by something, he huffs out a breath, probably the closest Gwen's seen him come to a laugh. "Fine, then. Hmph..." Sidelong, he looks over at her, only to shake his head. "Exhausting, is it...? I find it less 'exhausting' than a a knife in the back."
Isn't it hilarious? Everything in your life.
It rolls over him like a jolt, like he's just touched a live wire. He pulls up short against the weight of it, shoulders and indeed his whole body tensed as if he were preparing to bolt but weren't sure wherever to go.
Every single decision.
The only problem with running is this:
You can't run away from yourself.
Go on. Name it. Name what's worked out for you.
He hisses out a breath in the depths of this cavern, pulse pounding in his ears. Of course. Of course, he should have known. Van Houten's report. He should have realized it already...
It's all gone wrong. It'll keep going wrong. You should know the score by now.
As if he were walking into a furnace, he takes a step forward, right towards the heart of the void. Run. Run away. It's the prudent action. Whatever rests down here will eat him alive, flay his psyche, destroy his soul.
...He can't turn away. That's not what he came here to do. He can't...
...lose to this...
Lifting his face, teeth grit, he stares down the abyss. Purposefully -- the burn of ether spent a familiar one -- he pushes his glasses up his nose.
What makes you think you'll succeed? What, if you just keep trying? You'll just fail in the end.
He doesn't see anything. Nothing changes in the quality or tone of the pressure forcing its way down upon him. But Loren remembers the most important thing, the one thing he knows he has.
He's a first class citizen of the Holy Empire of Solaris. No one can take away what's his by birth. Even indignity can't fully tarnish it. He takes another step.
Just like HIM.
Just like him.
For one moment he stops, as if faltering, the weight of that last pulse perhaps too much to bear.
Until he breathes out a single word. "No."
Not yet.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Despair of Life.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Despair of Life *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There's something here, in the heart of the Baskar grounds. Pulsing illness like the beat of a fetid heart. Malevolence both emanates and draws towards it, a blood that grows thicker and more powerful every time that it flows towards that thing in the distance. With how powerfully it seems to warp the fabric of space, it is difficult to make out just what it could be within this torrent... and it also seems disinclined to allow you near. Every pulse grows stronger, more violent. Every outpouring of Malevolence seems directed against you, digging talons deep into your soul, dredging up every regret you have ever experienced. Give up. Why are you still here? You can't win. Everything you do is pointless. You are a twinkle in an oblivious and uncaring existence. Give in. Surrender. Isn't it nicer to not try? Surrender. GIVE UP. And ever-stronger it goes, creating a battleground out of your soul you will have to wage bloody war against in order to get to where you want to be. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Vault============================================
=====================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds - Round 6 *>====================== =========================< Results - Despair of Life >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 40 --(100)--> 140 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 43 --(100)--> 143 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 35 --(100)--> 135 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 40 --(100)--> 140 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Suffer(1)|Vault(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Jean is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Asteroid the Kid 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 Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Baskar Sacred Grounds! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==========================<* Baskar Sacred Grounds *>=========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Despair Overrun *>======================== |Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's too much. The Malevolence concentrated in the heart of this place grows too rampant, too powerful, to be contained. Before you can find the source, you are forced to flee as space twists and upends itself deliriously around you. Vapors fill the air, invading your lungs, filling your soul as you retreat, filling you with impressions. Visions of a small village, a forgotten hamlet on the fringes of society. Thoughts of a land drenched in despair. And for that cursed land, a fleeting name: 'Wehaca' =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
The medic says 'No' out loud and Asteroid assumes he's talking to her.
The knife drops from her hand. She stares at it for a moment. She turns her head in shock towards Loren. She thought he was just a pure bona fide ass... but she was wrong!
He was one of THOSE types. They act like they're jerks, but they're actually secretly super nice?? She didn't think they existed in reality, but they do??
"...You saved me..." Asteroid says, in awe of this mysterious Thomas Blackwell.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
They struggle against their darker thoughts, a fight magnified to an unsettling extreme. For the most part, they prevail, whether by persevering, having someone else there to snap them out of it, or pushing it aside.
The problem is...
It's taken too long.
To pierce a void this all-consuming, they'd have to give something up. Something they can't decide. It'd decide for them, taking larger and larger pieces, like a spark of flame onto a piece of dry wood.
And there'd be nothing left to repair the hole left behind. All would be ash.
With this revelation, something in Gwen's ARM snaps, the bright light briefly illuminating the pulsating tunnel before sharply falling to a dim glow.
"Gh... Need t'..." Gwen's breath comes in painful gasps. "Pull... back..."
Just give up.
A vision passes through everyone's minds. A small village, forgotten on the fringes of some society.
Give up. Let them go ahead.
A land drenched in despair, the passing reference to a name that all will be able to recall with clarity.
Give up.
'Wehaca.'
Give in.
WIth a cry, Gwen falls back, pulling anyone with her who fails to match even her speed with surprising strength. Up the tunnel, then the shaft (with Dean's help), and even through the caved in entrance.
It's only when everyone gets outside that Gwen finally collapses, allowing herself to drape against a boulder. She intended to lean against it, in the beginning, but gravity sort of... took over.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
No. Not yet. Not yet.
He presses on, leaning into it.
But there's only so far someone can stare into the void without losing a piece of themselves to it.
What will you give me, the seething black seems to ask. And to that, Loren doesn't have a word. The shock that rolls through him has its own response to his defiance:
Not yet.
But someday.
"Gh...hk..."
One hand presses over an eye, pain seeming to erupt within his skull in a bloom of glowing black against black. It's too much. He can try, but if he goes any further he'll...
A vision overtakes his mind's eye in the shadows, swallowing up his whole awareness of the realm within this cavern.
A village. A small hamlet somewhere, out in the wilderness. Its residents heedless of what is to come.
This land is, without question...
It's fated.
Gwen cries out and falls back. Loren doesn't last much longer. Getting back out again will be its own ordeal.
But they eventually emerge back into the sunlight once again. Gwen is not the only one who apparently needs to sit down.
Exhaustion is not limited to the body alone.