2018-01-07: Between Chaos and Horror
- Log: Between Chaos and Horror
- Cast: Kahm Yugh, Elhaym van Houten, Seraphita, Loren Voss
- Where: Hadal Temple
- Date: January 7th 2018
- Summary: Gebler heads into the depths of the Hadal Temple to excavate or destroy the ship found in its depths. It doesn't go well.
DG: A party led by Kahm Yugh is now entering Hadal Temple. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Gathering of the Deep *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A primordial scream rings through the air the instant you enter the Hadal Temple. Brook no dissent... from the living... Something moves. Creatures emerge from the darkness, moving with an eerie, undulating grace. They're humanoid, barely, and their bodies are still clothed in patchwork armor and the tattered remains of uniforms. Bits of shell and scale and bone obscure their faces. These are Deep Soldiers, and they have broken through one of the cistern gates. They will overrun you if you do nothing -- but you spot an ancient block infested with pale eyeballs that could be pushed to trap the incoming swarm. (INFO: In this dungeon, certain statements will be marked in Blue. These Blue Statements can only be seen by the one posing the Dungeon Round (or a volunteer if agreed upon), and represents both the speech and the corruptions of the Temple. The drawer is free to believe or disbelieve, but the rest of the party won't be seeing or hearing anything in Blue!) =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
EARLIER
The meeting room aboard Gebler's capital ship was reasonably crowded as officers and enlistees of various stripes filed in to find seats. A aerial map of Ignas's western region was illuminated on room's viewscreen, while Kahm stood at podium aside compiling notes. Murmurs and small talk rippled throughout the crowd; everyone felt a little uneasy in light of the new orders from high command.
"I hear the Commander is seeing red right now."
"Who wouldn't? I can't understand why some lamb family's trinket suddenly matters so much to high command."
"Orders are orders. I just wonder why the Commander isn't debriefing us himself.."
"Instead of the Major? Yeah, you've heard what they say about him, right? That's he's.."
"Alright." Kahm said, his voice cutting through the growing din of chatter with the same efficacy he typically reserved for martial pursuits. "No doubt you're all aware of the recent orders that came down from the ministry of defense. I'll take this moment to remind everyone that isn't our place to question them. That said, this coincides nicely with an operation that has been planned for several weeks."
The Major adjusted a few controls at his podium, and the map of Ignas zoomed into a closer aerial image, detailing a small hamlet built around a tall, white structured.
"This is Wayside village. In addition to being the site of one of the guardian statues, previous expeditions of the ruins below have also revealed the present of an aircraft that may be dated from metal demon era. Considering that drifters and wayside residents themselves have been making incursions, it's only a matter of time before they begin to investigate the aircraft as well."
Against, Kahm dials at the controls and viewscreen shifts-this time a few a grainy photos taken from the within Hadal temple, including the hull of the aircraft.
"Our objective will be to secure or destroy the aircraft before it can fall into other hands. Since a full incursion would alert the attention of the demons, I will be leading a small, tactical unit in first to make deeper contact with the aircraft and create a staging ground for a larger operation to excavate or demolish it, depending on the circumstance. Those of you I've selected for the mission will be assigned modified stimpacks to lessen the visual and auditory hallucinations the ruins are known to cause. Everyone else is on standby until further notice. Meeting adjourned."
NOW
"The locals don't seem to have been busy." Kahm mentions as the group passes through Hadal's entrance to the greeting of familiarly alien faces. "You all know the drill. I'll create a distraction-try and use that time to find a way to deal with them."
The Major doesn't waste any time after that, breaking off from the group and hurling a flashbang near the gaggle of deep ones. The resulting clash light and noise is certainly distracting enough, and has them beading on Kahm's location. Better work fast!
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gathering of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
ON THE COMMAND SHIP
* Refilled espionage supplies!
"Isn't this convenient?"
A LITTLE AFTER THAT
It's strange, Elly thinks as she listens attentively to the briefing. It's a little like coming home.
But only a little.
NOW
Elly is concerned by the situation. She has, however, been here, even if she does not remember it well... rendering her, in a sense, a native guide, or at least a guide of any sort. She has not mentioned her poor memory except to indicate that her passage through this area was in some haste.
Her head tilts up to look towards the block that eyeballs her back - no, she thinks as she blinks, it's just the light, it's just a bad memory. That's all it is. Right? RIGHT? Into the purse she goes; she can spend this, without fear. "Seraphita," she calls, raising the - what is it, a baby shaving cream can? She points up. "Burst it up there!" And then Elly tosses it up.
It is a can of WD-41, the all-purpose organic lubricant that erodes into a thin film of generic dirt within months and is thus safe to use, for crime, around lambs.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, Gathering of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
There was no need to give Seraphita any of those delicious drugs, if her last trip through this awful place was any indication. She seemed to take it well - better than everyone else who was gathered, really, which admittedly isn't saying much - and if nothing else her track record and dossier indicated she... wasn't the sort to be scared by effects spooky and spoopy both. Nor to have her efficiently decline.
If nothing else you could always trust Seraphita to be an engine of destruction chained to an hyperactive mind. That had its downsides, but also its advantages!
"Aww, maybe they just want a hug!" Seraphita says, as Kahm states they should absolutely deal with those people. Elly actually acts on it though, and Elly is never wrong, so Seraphita complies.
By igniting the can with a bounce and an arm flick, resulting in a great explosion that might not just set a lot of those horrors on fire but also cave in rocks on their heads.
"I bet it gets lonely in here if they've been here all this time! We should have brought them fluffy pillows to hug, or maybe hug drones!" They're just those triangular security drones Solaris likes to use with an arm slapped on, and instead of trying to arrest intruders they dispense hugs.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gathering of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
EARLIER
It's one of those meetings. The sort where there are far too many people, the awareness of far too many errant whispers. Second Lieutenant Loren Voss, Medical might not look as if he's paying anyone else much heed -- seated somewhere to the middle on the rightmost side, an empty seat to his left -- as he scrolls through a report on his tablet, but mark well the tension stringing his frame. Around and behind him, people are talking, and he's listening, as if afraid he'll hear his own name.
But the murmurs are mostly about the recent change in orders, and about...
A presentation ensues soon after, presented by the Major. That temple deep in the depths of the waterways underneath Wayside. It figures they would have to go back there again; leaving that sort of technology behind to be picked over by some Drifters just as likely to wipe a city off their map with their 'prize' as pawn it for gella. And then drink it all away, probably.
He'd like to think he wouldn't be chosen for this. But he knows better. If Major Yugh is involved, well...
NOW
Yes, this is exactly as he expected it would go. "More of those things," he murmurs, squinting at the Deep Soldiers as they push forth in a wave. "I wonder what's preventing them from escaping the area. Perhaps they can't survive."
Taking a sample right now isn't an option. Instead, his gaze flickers from the can Elly brandishes to... Seraphita.
"Hug drones," he repeats, a touch flatly. "...Nevermind. Ma'am, I'll handle shaping the blast." By which he means, reorient -- and possibly flat out drop onto the creatures, if he can find any weakened segments thereof -- some of the rock wall to keep the blast from reaching them back here.
...Something about the rock is bothering him when he looks at it.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gathering of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Well yeah! It would take a super long time to hug all these people, so we should just have robots that can do it for us! Then we could leave them here and they'd have hugs forever!" FOREVER. What are energy sources and batteries anyway? Seraphita sure doesn't care about those kinds of silly details.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Gathering of the Deep *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A primordial scream rings through the air the instant you enter the Hadal Temple. Brook no dissent... from the living... Something moves. Creatures emerge from the darkness, moving with an eerie, undulating grace. They're humanoid, barely, and their bodies are still clothed in patchwork armor and the tattered remains of uniforms. Bits of shell and scale and bone obscure their faces. These are Deep Soldiers, and they have broken through one of the cistern gates. They will overrun you if you do nothing -- but you spot an ancient block infested with pale eyeballs that could be pushed to trap the incoming swarm. (INFO: In this dungeon, certain statements will be marked in Blue. These Blue Statements can only be seen by the one posing the Dungeon Round (or a volunteer if agreed upon), and represents both the speech and the corruptions of the Temple. The drawer is free to believe or disbelieve, but the rest of the party won't be seeing or hearing anything in Blue!) =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 1 *>========================== ======================< Results - Gathering of the Deep >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Breath of the Dragon *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Sound pierces you the moment you enter this room, the ground rent by a bone-chilling roar. A fifty-foot Metal Dragon, clearly dead, hovers above you, its tattered metallic skin wreathed in tendrils of water and pockmarked with bulging eyes. With a snap of its neck, it opens its mouth and breathes forth an awful taint, encroaching upon your position quickly. Erase me... You'd best flee before the creeping taint spreads further -- you don't want to be around to find out what it may do to living matter. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
EARLIER
Kahm sat across from Elly, a nondescript metal table between them. The room was a small one, but secure enough from traffic outside the ship's main corridor that there was no concern of their conversation being overheard. While maintaining eye contact, the Major reached forward and placed something in table's center: an empty auto-injector for drive, the same one the Lieutenant had left behind from earlier. Silence hung between them for several ticks of the clock.
"I'm not here to criticize you, Lieutenant." Kahm eventually said, his eyes earnest but wary. "Going by the report, I think you made an appropriate and necessary decision considering the circumstances at the time."
"I only need to know one thing." He said, and leaned infinitesimally closer.
"Are you in control?"
NOW
Without commenting on the merits of 'hug drones', Kahm lifts an arm and invokes a good deal of formless ether to ward off the pressure of the blast Elly and Seraphita cause. The explosion of terrific, throwing the shuddering mass of creatures off their feet and further disorienting them. Loren's efforts succeed in bringing a mass of rubble and debris down on top of the beings, burying them alive-but not without a few large rocks escaping from his mental grip and tumbling towards the group.
"That may not hold them for long, let's go!" Kahm urges, nailing one falling stone with a blast of etheric lightning that sent smaller, less lethal shards raining over them.
The dragon's roar dashed any hopes of an easier expedition as the Major set foot in the last room. "He's early this time." Kahm said, narrowing his eyes as the immense beast swooped in from the skies, "The explosion must have alerted him."
The stimpack rendered the dragon's 'speech' at a far lower octave, easier to ignore, and the beast's skin seemed to only writhe and bulge strangely. Kahm read the creature's intent and ran forward, ducking low to try and avoid it's various fangs and claws.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
It's their friend the giant dragon!
Wait didn't they kill it last time?
It's hazy. Maybe not. Seraphita can't much remember the details, past a point all the murder of giant monsters gets same-ish. Especially in places like this.
The rabbit hops and hops after Kahm, skipping in a hurried pace rather than running. She attempts, likely in vain, to eat some of Metal Dragon's magical force, to weaken its breath, but can she even do that to Metal Demons? Are they magic at all?
That, too, is hazy.
So it's best to keep running, because bun doesn't want to become fried bun!
"Maybe it wants hugs too!!!" she offers.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
THEN
Elly looks at the empty auto-injector. She doesn't look up to Kahm right away, taking an entire breathing cycle to move her eyes from the empty thing which held the devil and which was found, quite shamefully. She should've police called her own trash. She doesn't apologize for it. That's the progress we have here.
Her eyes come up.
"... Yes," she says. "... I think..."
It was easier the second time.
NOW
Hug drones, Elly thinks. She doesn't giggle but she feels less bleak, momentarily. Perhaps, she thinks, that's Seraphita's secret. She can even kindle the fire in our hearts. Rubble and garbage fall onto the creatures, and Elly moves forwards, before there's another massive roar that sends cold tension through Elly's body -
"You've seen it, sir? I tried to... I... I don't think I tried to fight it..." The creature's distorted appearance draws a glance from Elly, then another, then she calls back to Loren - "Be careful!"
Ugh, she immediately thinks. Why did I say that? Of course he'll be careful, here. Elly runs, her feet splashing through the icy water, secure in their grip thanks to the subtle, almost gecko-like texture inlaid on otherwise unremarkable gum rubber soles.
"I don't think it does," Elly tells Seraphita.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sassy Boots toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There are times when he just. Isn't going to ask any questions. Pushing his glasses up his nose as he attempts to tune her out, he focuses.
Something about the rock is strange. Not even just appearances. As he sinks his mental focus into the wall it 'gives' in a way that reminds him far too much of working ether in flesh.
Perhaps 'shock' isn't entirely the right way to term it, but the result is identical: his focus slips. Rock escapes his grasp.
Some of it just falls where it should have. Some doesn't, immediately evoking an internal wince as Kahm destroys it with a targeted shot of ether.
Nevertheless, he doesn't wait. He goes.
Almost immediately there's a roar overhead. "--It's back? I thought--"
The words die on his lips.
what is wrong with its body
Elly's voice cuts through the reverie. Loren shakes his head and, taking one look across the distance he's to run, breaks for it in a dead run.
"It's not alive!"
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Breath of the Dragon *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Sound pierces you the moment you enter this room, the ground rent by a bone-chilling roar. A fifty-foot Metal Dragon, clearly dead, hovers above you, its tattered metallic skin wreathed in tendrils of water and pockmarked with bulging eyes. With a snap of its neck, it opens its mouth and breathes forth an awful taint, encroaching upon your position quickly. Erase me... You'd best flee before the creeping taint spreads further -- you don't want to be around to find out what it may do to living matter. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 2 *>========================== =======================< Results - Breath of the Dragon >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 5 --(25)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 5 --(20)--> 25 Pass Sassy Boots 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 5 --(25)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 10 --(25)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - An Ancient Password *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The next gate you come across is peculiarly out of place -- a metallic wall
of high technology, thrumming with leylines. There is a functioning metal
door with a keypad upon it -- but the letters are ancient and unintelligible
to you... until a cold whisper briefly tells that these are the script of
the Zeboim.
Failing that, you seem to be able to see white, mercurial blood prints on
the keypad -- this could drastically reduce the amount of guesswork needed
to pass through.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
EARLIER
"The after-effects of the drive don't seem to have taken a toll on her." Kahm said to Loren in the very same room he'd questioned the Lieutenant's redheaded counterpart in. "Medical didn't report anything out of the ordinary, but feel free to look over the reports yourself."
The Major knew he'd want to. Maybe doing some would help alleviate any concern. Maybe.
"She felt she was in control." Kahm added, holding back his own reservations about the statement. "But i'll keeping an eye on her all the same."
Meaning, as the context suggested, that Loren should not have to.
NOW
The dragon's roar reverberated off of Kahm's eardrums, and he grit his teeth as felt the sheer mass of the unliving, unfeeling creature pass over them. Only Elly manages to be quick enough to outpace the thing's swoop, the snap of it's tail just barely grazing her fiery hair. The rest of them are buffeted by the ravenous winds left in the dragon's wake, and are scattered accordingly. Kahm felt the air forcefully exist his chest as he bounced hard off the ground and tumbled to the side, regaining his footing just long enough to scramble for the next entrance before the creature could threaten them with a second run.
It doesn't come. Apparently, they weren't worth the creature's time.
Their next conundrum comes in the form of an unusual gate, but Kahm's eyes peer at the unknown technology powering. "This is....hold on." He said, approaching the keypad and pulling out his commander-issued field handbook. "Yes, I think these are zeboim letters." He said, flipping through several pages. "It may take some time, but there's a translation matrix in the back we can use."
DG: Kahm Yugh has used his Tool Field Handbook toward his party's challenge, An Ancient Password.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
That was a lot of running
Seraphita doesn't catch her breath, though, rather she keeps skipping on ahead right up until the gate tells her to stop. That is to say, she almost crashes into it. Almost.
She peeks at the letters.
"Nonono I know how to solve this!"
She squints, super hard. "These are squintletters!!! If you squint really really tightly you can make out the real letters they're supposed to be!!!" She seems so certain of it.
"It saaaaaays... only those with cupcakes may pass!!"
It does not say that.
Seraphita still produces a cupcake and offers it to the door.
If the door doesn't want it, Kahm is allowed to confiscate it.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, An Ancient Password.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I don't... I don't know how any of these things keep moving. It's like they're being controlled by some animating force, like those floating toys..." Elly says, the analogy to some cycle of 2nd-class consumer product possibly eluding everyone. (Kelvena would've understood, Elly is sure.)
The door comes before them. Elly puts her hands on her knees and breathes. She's not exhausted but it's enough that she welcomes the rest. This place is cold and nasty and unwelcoming. The thought crosses her mind, not for the first time, that maybe she could -
what?
"... I see there are five lights," Elly says, "but only three of the keys seem to have the... substance, on them." After this she straightens up, and -
- looks at the cupcake.
Yeah, that's all the contribution she has here. She does explain, "I don't think we went this way when I was here. This is already a different section..."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, An Ancient Password.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
EARLIER
It had been clear the moment Kahm had shown him the dispenser what Van Houten had done. She'd used it, the Drive. Her medical records say she has an unusual reaction to Drive and can't handle it. Records being records, they elide the particulars.
He sits across from Kahm, expressionless, arms folded across his chest.
He remembers the aftermath of the incident in that hallway. Three recycled, two injured. So cut and dry on paper, but to see it...
"Understood. I'll review the reports, sir."
They'll say it was fine. It always comes out as 'fine', where she's concerned.
"Many often report that, sir," the medic replies, as carefully-phrased a statement -- with more than one way to read it, if one chooses -- as any.
Loren isn't the only one veiling his words here. 'Don't worry about her', the Major may as well have said. He'll keep an eye on her, will he...
Loren only nods, as if to suggest he understands, as if it's all fine.
NOW
Things are not fine.
"With a continuous feed into the musculature a semblance of life might be achieved, but it would need--"
Now's not the time to argue particulars into how the dead could walk. The dragon's dead and rotting regardless, and yet, still can pack enough force into a sweep of its wings to knock Loren flat across the ice, skidding a short distance. Picking himself up hastily, he ends up sinking his arm up to his elbow into the freezing water just below the surface.
Great, a part of his mind thinks dimly.
You're about to get eaten, a much louder, less easily ignored part of his mind voices.
He breaks for it, briefly stumbling as he crosses the threshold into the chamber beyond.
He takes a moment to catch his breath, then, forehead creased in mild interest, approaches the device on the wall alongside Kahm. "Looks like it." Touching his fingers to his glasses, he directs his attention down to the keypad.
Interesting.
"...You might not need to go to the trouble, sir. Whoever used this last may have left a clue. Dried blood, here, there, and..."
Yes, thank you Van Houten, Loren thinks unkindly.
"Yes, and there," he says, pointing at the whitened spots across the pad. "As she said. More typical examples of Metal Demon blood, based on reports from the... uh."
This is the point where Seraphita insists that she knows what this is all about, prompting a decidedly dubious look that manages to become only increasingly so as she persists, until the point where she offers the machine a cupcake and max dubious look is achieved.
"...Ma'am, I don't think..."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, An Ancient Password.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - An Ancient Password *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The next gate you come across is peculiarly out of place -- a metallic wall
of high technology, thrumming with leylines. There is a functioning metal
door with a keypad upon it -- but the letters are ancient and unintelligible
to you... until a cold whisper briefly tells that these are the script of
the Zeboim.
Failing that, you seem to be able to see white, mercurial blood prints on
the keypad -- this could drastically reduce the amount of guesswork needed
to pass through.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Tire===========================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 3 *>========================== =======================< Results - An Ancient Password >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Field Handbook 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Slow(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Even The Gates Have Teeth *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
At some point, the ancient mechanisms that control the sluice gates here
have clearly broken down. The gates are now rapidly shuttering, a problem
due to the painful-looking spikes on their ends, which gnaw and mash like a
carnivorous, hungry beast...
Past the gates, you spot a mechanism that may still function -- but you'll
need to be quick to dodge these spiked gates.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
EARLIER
It wasn't that Kahm avoided trying to have to speak to Seraphita on an individual basis or anything. It's just that he didn't really...know what to say to her in a way that would deliver the desired outcome. So he avoided speaking to her on an individual basis.
Nonetheless, here they were in the same he'd spoken with Loren and Elly in, blue meeting green as their eyes stared at one another for an interminable time.
"...You know, Tolone wanted me to mention that it's...generally not a good idea to talk about drive in front of surface-dwellers." He said, handing over a colorful pamphlet emblazoned with the phrase 'Loose Lips Sink Ships! How YOU can keep state secrets safe!'.
"That aside, if you ever see Lieutenant Van Houten use it, could you make sure she doesn't get too...." He struggled for the right word, chewing his lip as he settled on it, "...meany-faced?"
NOW
Seraphita presents a cupcake to the gate. For a long time, nothing happens.
Then the frosting sloughs off a bit.
"Uh, I think Lieutenant Voss missed lunch this morning, Seraphita." Kahm said, passing the buck without hesitation, "I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
Loren and Elly's suggestion proved wise, and Kahm scowled as he realized the back of his book didn't have a translation matrix anyways. "It must be outdated." He sighed, snapping the book shut. A few attempts at trial and error see the gate sliding open with a customary chime. "I don't believe we encountered this section either, the last time." He mentioned, warily stepping into the next time.
"..However, this looks familiar." The man glowered, leaning forward and bolting in a mad dash past the shuttering gates. He saw little other options at this point, and if at least one of them could make it past they may be able to lock them open for the rest.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Even The Gates Have Teeth.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
EARLIER
"I know! I'm so sorry, I didn't wanna get the leftenant in trouble!!" Seraphita says, pulling the Sad Rabbit Eyes out. There was no doubt she had acknowledged her mistake thoroughly having seen Loren bedridden for even a moment, as a result of Lily's stunt.
"I was gonna make him a cake but I wasn't sure what flavor he likes!" she bemoans, before turning to Kahm with stars in her eyes. "Wait, wait! I bet you know! You're super smart, just like Tolone, you know everything about everyone, right?! I gotta know what his favorite flavor is!"
She takes the pamphlet and doesn't consult it. She is very sorry though, which is no doubt Kahm's desired effect. She won't mess THAT up again! Oh, another request? Seraphita listens.
"Oh yeah! Meany-faced Elly was nicknamed Strawberry Jam in Jugend by the other students, you know?" You can probably guess why. "If I see it happen I'll hug her out of it before she ruins another outfit!!"
NOW
Loren gains a cupcake, per Kahm's suggestion.
It's a good cupcake.
Then there's awful gates and grinders and Seraphita remembers the conveyor belts again. It's just like last time! "Oh, we just have to run through this again then! That means we're not far from the ship!" Some silver linings you have to take, sometimes.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Even The Gates Have Teeth.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks briefly disappointed when it is revealed that the cupcake is intended for Loren, but, she doesn't object. She probably won't collapse from low blood sugar. "It's possible it was a rare dialect," Elly theorizes, perhaps to spare the Major's feelings.
THEN COMES THE DARK PORTAL! Sluicing up and down with toothsome, striking force to slay all those who might dare penetrate their dark recesses. Elly shakes her head again, the modified stimulants perhaps sending her thoughts in weird directions.
Her boots remain perfect. Seriously, those soles would probably be worth a small count's ransom if not a duke's, and the main issue for the lambs would be reproducing the exact material. She leans in, she runs, and she calls to Seraphita even as she gives a passing glance to Kahm - as if to confirm he's bearing up - "You've been this way before!"
Thank goodness, Elly thinks. This...
This isn't as awful as I thought. The memories must have been stained by the drive...
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sassy Boots toward her party's challenge, Even The Gates Have Teeth.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"It looks like the older edition. There might have been a mixup," Loren comments, glancing over the manual before Kahm snaps it shut again.
"Well--"
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Loren decides, accepting the cupcake.
It's also now an ex-cupcake, at least as of the moment Loren falls back to the rear of the group.
Even at the best of times he's usually somewhat hungry. Having missed lunch due to a minor injury-related incident and with not even a ration bar to his name, well...
"Mmf." Though it does mean his mouth is full the second he steps out into the hallway with the gates. He swallows quickly, squinting at the series of doorways.
He's reminded of gnashing teeth, somehow. Shaking his head to shake the thought aside, he breaks into a run, burning a burst of ether to empower his flight as he goes. He doesn't want to get left behind.
The modified stimulants must be working well overall, he contemplates as he races for the first gate.
That, or they've just been lucky.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Even The Gates Have Teeth.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Even The Gates Have Teeth *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
At some point, the ancient mechanisms that control the sluice gates here
have clearly broken down. The gates are now rapidly shuttering, a problem
due to the painful-looking spikes on their ends, which gnaw and mash like a
carnivorous, hungry beast...
Past the gates, you spot a mechanism that may still function -- but you'll
need to be quick to dodge these spiked gates.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 4 *>========================== ====================< Results - Even The Gates Have Teeth >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Sassy Boots 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Ice Coffin *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You emerge onto the shores of a beautiful lake of frozen crystal, ley-like patterns ambiently thrumming with life against the walls. But suddenly, crystalline spires rise from the surface, conspiring to slowly trap and squash you. There's no clean gap in which you can fit through. ...Reflect within thine icy tomb... You'll have to break the ice and pierce through with force, but beware the black reflections that the crystals show you... =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Elly's boots really are something magical-they seem to stick to the surface without even a bit of give, allowing her to keep pace and match stride with Kahm easily. As in a moment perfect sync, the two manager to leap through chomping sluice gates at the same time, both landing a hand on a lever of the ancient mechanism and pulling and sync.
This proves to be fortuitous, as the gates halt and snap back open just when they might have mercilessly chomped on Loren and Seraphita.
"Good work." Kahm asides to the redheaded Lieutenant. "How's this matching up with your recollection of the last time?"
They come out next to a familiar lake...a little too familiar. "Be careful." Kahm warns, mainly for Elly, "Last time we approached this later some sort of monster broke through the ice and attacked us. It seems it's frozen back over, somehow..."
What comes next is no monster, but the ice itself as it rose to form a prison amongst them. Already wary, Kahm draws on his reserves of inner force, channeling a burning blue bolt of positive lightning from his hands with the aim of boring a hole (and a path) right through the endlessly criss-crossing network of ice spires.
Something seems dark and moving perpetually in the corner of his eye as he does so. It's distracting.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ice Coffin.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
No no, the nasty gears and gates bruised the bun!
She doesn't seem to mind, which is par for the course. Her outfit is a bit redder in some places, where a tear and a red streak on her skin shows.
"Yupyup, nasty ice monsters! But it's still super pretty!" Indeed the frozen lake is beautiful, if eerie. Seraphita wonders the same as she did then - but this time, Elly is here to hear it.
"Hey, hey, hey, Elly! ... do you think we can use your Ether to make an ice skating rink in the palace?" Oh, she should have brought skates. Dang! What a missed opportunity, she TOTALLY FORGOT. Noooooooo.
Oh hey prison.
What is that she sees, in the reflections?
"Huh?"
She edges closer to one of the emerging spires, placing a hand on it as she looks deep within. What does a bun bun see, when a nasty temple tries to poison her mind?
It's the Commander, of course.
That Man has his fist through his chest.
He drops the body like garbage, on a pile of limbs belonging to others. No mistaking those uniforms either. He turns towards Loren next. If the vision is meant to continue, Seraphita doesn't let it.
She lets out a high-pitched shriek, and fiery Ether flares up absolutely everywhere, a storm of plasma and fire that threatens more than their prison, but the entire lake. Hopefully everyone knows how to swim.
Maybe she should have taken Kahm's delicious drugs after all.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ice Coffin.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
This is bad, runs Loren's thoughts fleetingly as the gate descends with a shudder just as they pass through.
Only for it to come to a complete stop. He doesn't gape at it overlong, simply picks up and hurries to catch up with the Major and Van Houten.
It's that gate again. "Careful," he cautions, gaze lingering on the ice below as if expecting something to appear from the frozen depths at any moment. "...Something about this place isn't right. It's as if it's alive."
Just as he says that, ice crystalizes about them in a solid cage, with nary a warning but for the faint crinkling sound. Loren pauses for a moment, then exhales a breath.
"...As I was saying."
He takes a step toward one facet of the prison that binds them, feeling out the structure of the ice walls with his mind.
Something moves with him, below and to the left, a dark mirror image.
"...The structure here's somewhat unstable..." he mutters aloud, before glancing down at the thing that mimics him, below and beyond the ice.
He freezes up for a good ten seconds, staring at it, his face a blank mask.
Oh. That's good.
Thoughts don't get a chance to progress further.
Seraphita shrieks shrilly behind him, snapping him out of his reverie. The reflexive barrier of ether -- cast off to everyone within the prison of ice -- comes seconds later, wrapping everyone in its protective embrace.
It won't help much against the icy water, though.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ice Coffin.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I think we're getting near to that place... we must have taken a different route," Elly says, sweeping her hair back with one hand and letting out a breath. "I remember a waterfall... I think that I encouraged the ice, or something like that. It was a little nebulous."
Her arm twinges just a bit. And then the ice itself shows up, though Elly didn't do it - honest - you can tell from the Ether traces in the air if you don't believe her. The crystalline ice looms around them, wine-dark and Elly wonders: Why is it so -
She turns her head -
But before she can see more than a vague impression of the reflected image from the shard behind her, and that shard of ice's reflection of the one ahead of her, and so on and so on -- there is a SHRIEK, and a surge, and the ice slumps over and Elly is unceremoniously cast into the drink.
Elly does not immediately rise to the surface.
... Or a moment later.
... it might approach the point of being worrisome.
But then there is a sudden hiss and she bobs to the surface, swimming towards the shore and -- is the water around her steaming? It certainly is. You can probably guess why. Elly has slung a thin tube mesh that has been inflated into a sort of half-assed emergency floatation device around her shoulders and front, which is most of what caused that delay. Probably.
"Ah! Seraphita! Loren, say something -!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, Ice Coffin.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Ice Coffin *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You emerge onto the shores of a beautiful lake of frozen crystal, ley-like patterns ambiently thrumming with life against the walls. But suddenly, crystalline spires rise from the surface, conspiring to slowly trap and squash you. There's no clean gap in which you can fit through. ...Reflect within thine icy tomb... You'll have to break the ice and pierce through with force, but beware the black reflections that the crystals show you... =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 5 *>========================== ============================< Results - Ice Coffin >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 35 --(15)--> 50 Pass Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 50 --(15)--> 65 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 50 --(20)--> 70 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Injure(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Fall of the Dragon *>======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You are at the top of a flowing waterfall, broken by the roots of the chalky
trees that have oft dotted the Temple's landscape. Below, eyes and tendrils
break the surface of the icy lake like waves -- the nest of the Detestable
is close at hand.
The Detestable Pale draws near...
The water's surface breaks and lashes. A bone-chilling shriek splits the
air, and something massive rushes at you from above. A fifty-foot Metal
Dragon, perhaps the same one as before, throws itself at you.
Its flesh is riddled with tears and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it
still moves. Tendrils of lashing water stress at its shaven metallic flesh.
Bulbous, distending eyes burst from the cracks within its bones, dripping
with mercurial blood.
You've no way forward but down the waterfall -- but be careful you do not
slip, for it may not be mere water at the bottom of the basin!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
The continual rise of the ice spires proves too heavy for Kahm's efforts to make much headway in, so Seraphita changes the rules of the playing field. The sound of her scream draws the Major's attention, but it's the effect of her incredible spike that yanks uncharacteristic speech from his mouth as the very ice beneath them shudders and melts across the entire lake beneath the advent of the Fire Element's fearsome power.
"Holy shit!" Kahm exclaimed, moments before he plunged into the water. Loren's barrier allows them to bounce for a moment, but it doesn't hold.
At the very least, the sudden transition of matter from solid to liquid didn't disturb the surface of the lake very much-it remains relatively calm, allowing the Major to get his bearings and swim towards the rest of the group. "Everyone stay together!" He shouts, enduring a few tense of moments of searching for Elly before she finally bobs up in another one of her improvised spy gadgets.
Once everyone's accounted for, Kahm will lead the way by his memory. "Seraphita, Lieutenant, use your power to keep our body temperatures stable." He said, which was another reason to keep the group close together. They'll make progress to where the lake reaches the waterfall, coming ashore only to be threatened again by the dragon from earlier.
"Looks like we have its attention again." The Major said over the creature's wailing. At least it announced itself. From there it's down and over, as Kahm leapt down a series of rocky outcroppings and branches before the dragon could sweep him up.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Bun is now wet. This makes her hair slightly less fluffy and poofy, which probably looks very funny. Seraphita flails. "Oh no you said a bad word!!!" she replies to Kahm, having already put the awful experience behind her. That's how her mind copes! Just focus on what's happening right now.
And what's happening right now is that Kahm is a pottymouth!!!!
Also ice cold water and all that.
Eventually they all hit the shore, thankfully, and Seraphita radiates heat out like a... well, a heater. It's nice. "Sorryyyyy, the ice was showing me mean things so I made it all go away!" All in all perfectly understandable. Speaking of mean things though.
"Dragon! You're back! Hugs, come and get them!"
It swoops by, knocking Seraphita on her ass with just a wingbeat. She whines. "Awww, no hugs, huh?" It pursues. It doesn't look happy.
Seraphita follows Kahm down the outcropping - trying to make sure the other two are close by, too. But they're wet, and the rocks are slippery and icy, and it's quite the way down...
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It doesn't hold. The most he's able to do is prevent them all from becoming cooked, and perhaps delay the inevitable for a handful of seconds.
It's really, incredibly cold.
Buoying himself up to the surface with a kick and a brief pulse of water ether, Loren gasps then immediately clenches his teeth, anything to keep them from chattering.
Half a page of the initial symptoms of hypothermia play back across his psyche. Treading water, he nevertheless remains put as Kahm swims towards him, the others soon joining the throng as they head for shore.
Fire ether should at least keep them from dying in here.
Though there might be a race for that, considering the dragon's back.
he doesn't have to be told twice. He's off, skidding across the stone in an attempt to get down before it can pick them off. He calls back to Seraphita. "I don't think it's here for--"
Loren stops.
There in the waters below, he sees it.
The great eye opens.
His grip on the ice-rimed rock slides as, for that perilous moment, he remains staring back at it, color draining from his face.
"What... is that," he voices at last, his voice toneless.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
In a sense, life is just a handful of seconds repeated over and over. If you get enough of them... perhaps you win.
Elly paddles closer to the others. The water warms; this is probably not a sustainable method, but again, every few seconds can count, and as they hit the shore, at least they swiftly steam and dry outwards. Seraphita seems to be doing most of it, and Elly sags in relief afterwards, breathing heavily. She opens the purse-- tipping out a little water -- and
oh no
Oh wait it's just a Rosesol. As she downs it, Elly's eyes turn upwards and the creature has presented itself in full. The others move, and Elly is the last to get up, and perhaps it is good because she will at least be able to push people back upright when and if they start to slip and fall backwards.
"It's a horrible thing," Elly tells Loren, with fatigue in her voice. "Keep moving..."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Sassy Boots toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Fall of the Dragon *>======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You are at the top of a flowing waterfall, broken by the roots of the chalky
trees that have oft dotted the Temple's landscape. Below, eyes and tendrils
break the surface of the icy lake like waves -- the nest of the Detestable
is close at hand.
The Detestable Pale draws near...
The water's surface breaks and lashes. A bone-chilling shriek splits the
air, and something massive rushes at you from above. A fifty-foot Metal
Dragon, perhaps the same one as before, throws itself at you.
Its flesh is riddled with tears and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it
still moves. Tendrils of lashing water stress at its shaven metallic flesh.
Bulbous, distending eyes burst from the cracks within its bones, dripping
with mercurial blood.
You've no way forward but down the waterfall -- but be careful you do not
slip, for it may not be mere water at the bottom of the basin!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 6 *>========================== ========================< Results - Fall of the Dragon >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 65 --(15)--> 80 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 50 --(15)--> 65 Fail Sassy Boots 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 65 --(15)--> 80 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 70 --(15)--> 85 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 80 --(0)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kahm Yugh has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Flash of the Detestable Pale *>=================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your descent downwards has finally taken you to the edge of the basin, to a
hideous mass of bulbous eyes and writhing, tainted tendrils. In the center
of the mass is a brilliant blue-white light, a pinprick of primordial energy
that threatens to shear away at your very being.
Those of Filgaian sorcerous inclinations may know that this is a Leyline...
and being exposed to it for long periods of time is in no way healthy.
The voice of the Primarch is audible to all:
Immerse thyself...
...within the Pale...
...Call upon my name...
...and walk beyond the Ley...
As the undead Dragon descends, the Leyline shimmers and starts to burst with
ardent power, spitting out dangerous bursts of raw magic in its wake. You
could potentially use it against the beast, but be quick, lest you be
exposed to Filgaia's very own lifeline!
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
This time, the dragon doesn't take no for an answer. Although none manage to find their way into its haggard claws, the soaring monstrosity partially collides with the bank the Solarians had just embarked from, sending a shudder down the cliffside that was quickly followed by a small avalanche of snow and debris. Elly, being in the rear position, will have the mixed position of being the first to notice and the one with the least time to do something about it.
Kahm was halfway down by the time it hit him, swept up in the snow and feeling a half-second of terror-inducing freefall as eyes and tendrils rose up to greet him. He manages to twist himself to the side and hits hard on the ground, feeling a crack in his shoulder that spiral with white, hot pain. "Ugh..." He murmured, slowly rising to his feet and taking stock of his haggard state. Loren would have to tend to this later...assuming he himself wouldn't need medical attention.
"Either stims are wearing off, or they're less effective the deeper we get into the ruin." He said, half-limping towards the rim of the basin ahead as the their aerial tormentor flew over them. There was something else there too, a font of natural Filgaian power. An idea slowly formed in the Major's mind.
"Come on." Kahm said, taking the first step down, "We'll need to be fast-those energies are as lethal as the dragon."
True to form, the dragon makes another attempt at them as they're crossing, right when they're near enough to the leyline font. Kahm reaches out then, sending a flurry of anemo bolts into the leyline's hub to try and overload it as the flying menace descended, dodging rolling to his right if it should happen to fail.
DG: Kahm Yugh has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Flash of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
That dragon sure likes them.
One very bumpy and rocky descent later, Seraphita is actually showing signs of being exhausted! That's new. Not new enough to keep her from continuing to bounce all over the place, but certainly new. She attempts to jump over and through leyline bursts at opportune moments, but...
Well, it's hard to get the timing right.
And that dragon is NOT make it easy.
"We should have brought a knight!! It's like I said last time, only knights are allowed to kill dragons, it's a rule!!!" it's what makes them knights, after all. That, and saving princesses, but that tends to come AFTER the killing dragons part.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flash of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"It's a horrible thing."
Jerkily, Loren nods, before stiffly attempting to lower himself down to the next foothold.
That's as far as he gets before the plume of snow slams into him. His grip slips. He falls, impacting a jutting root with a crack, then plummets several feet more to land in the snowdrift below. Ice falls in a shower afterwards, and for a moment, he doesn't move.
Then groans, slowly rising up. Ether burns through his body, patching together his wounds just enough that he can get up again. "I don't think they're working anymore," he says to Kahm, a moment later.
As it happens, lying there might have been the worse option.
What is that.
There at the heart of the thing in the depths. There. That thing. That glowing point of light.
He can feel the suppuration of its presence around him.
Oh.
It's no great moment, merely the dawning of a horrific realization. A leyline, as some call it. A point where the energies of the planet are laid bare. As surely as someone would perish walking into the heart of a reactor, there's not much room for life in a place like this either. Not for long.
Not as they know it.
Oh. Another realization. That's why the dragon is still animate, isn't it...
The dragon, which swoops down, right on cue.
They'll need to be fast. Dully, Loren nods, unable to initially entirely take his eyes off the leyline.
Then, lowering his head, pausing just long enough to take a slow steady breath, he runs, ducking out of the way of one of those bursts.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Flash of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
It does not, fortunately, all return to nothing - but Elly does end up stumbling, only shifting herself around and making it into a half-controlled skid when dragonsfall makes the ground beneath them shake. Dull training and resolution is keeping her forwards, staring down at the stone. She skids to a semi-halt as the creature rises, flies...
Seraphita is cheery. It helps. Even as Kahm moves towards the leyline font or - or the nexus - whatever it may be, that pale shallow of horror, Elly says - forcing herself to do it - "I suppose we'll have to do..."
She leans downwards, moving to stay near Loren. Is she worried about him? Does she intend to throw him into the font of power and reap his soul for snack cakes? Is this a simple form of cowardice - hoping he'll produce some defensive enchantment to save his skin, and in turn, save her own?
Elly isn't even really thinking at this point, between chaos and horror on the one hand and the ebbing flow of pharmaceticals on the other. But it seemed like he was stumbling... And despite it all that is enough of a motivator to steer Elly off course, to be there if he falls.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flash of the Detestable Pale.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Flash of the Detestable Pale *>=================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your descent downwards has finally taken you to the edge of the basin, to a
hideous mass of bulbous eyes and writhing, tainted tendrils. In the center
of the mass is a brilliant blue-white light, a pinprick of primordial energy
that threatens to shear away at your very being.
Those of Filgaian sorcerous inclinations may know that this is a Leyline...
and being exposed to it for long periods of time is in no way healthy.
The voice of the Primarch is audible to all:
Immerse thyself...
...within the Pale...
...Call upon my name...
...and walk beyond the Ley...
As the undead Dragon descends, the Leyline shimmers and starts to burst with
ardent power, spitting out dangerous bursts of raw magic in its wake. You
could potentially use it against the beast, but be quick, lest you be
exposed to Filgaia's very own lifeline!
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 7 *>========================== ===================< Results - Flash of the Detestable Pale >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahm Yugh 80 --(100)--> 180 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 65 --(100)--> 165 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 80 --(100)--> 180 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 85 --(100)--> 185 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Kahm Yugh 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Suffer(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Kahm Yugh is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraphita is too exhausted to continue! DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Kahm Yugh has been fully Exhausted by Hadal Temple! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - To Gaze Too Deeply *>====================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's too much. You can't go any further, not now, not like this. If you do, you might never see daylight again. The eyes--they're watching you, they know what you've done-- You head back, retracing your path as best as you can in this maddening place. As you pass through the gate, you feel a nagging reflection from the Temple's dark waters within you, like the rippling of water upon your thoughts. It is probably nothing... is it? (NOTE: You may choose to have a minor, fake memory inflicted upon you as a reflection of the Primarch's power. You may choose to confront this false memory at any time.) =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
It doesn't work. The fell energies of the leyline and the dragon's assaults prove too much to overcome, and Kahm is forced to make a decision that, in honesty, he probably should have made before they'd descended.
"Fall back!" He commands, throwing up what he can manage as a barrier to fend off any other attacks by the dragon so they can scramble up to the rim. "We're aborting the mission!"
It's a bitter fact, certainly. But there was some hope that if the ship was this difficult to get, the other groups weren't making much headway either. He'd have to rely on Elly's good graces with Riesenlied to take the temperature on that.
Once everyone has retreated to a more secure location, there's some brief time for rest before they begin the trek back out of the temple. "If we can't reach the ship, we'll have to settle on other options for containing it. I'll submit a few plans to the commander when we recon. For now, everyone should take some time to get their strength back."
Kahm's eyes turned towards the rim of crater then, silent in thought.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He's aware, as he runs, that he's not alone. Loren chances a glance back over his shoulder?
Elly? What is she doing? Why is she--
[ SLIDE MISSING ]
He falls, impacting the ground hard. A wash of the energies thrown off by the leyline burn far too close to him for comfort's sake. Loren stares into it for what feels like an eternity.
A wall of crystalline white light erupts soon after. The flood fades and he rises, pulse roaring in his ears.
"Fall back!"
He does, without complaint.
Only once they reach the light of the outside does he finally sit heavily upon one of the rocks just outside, his gaze a touch vacant.
She'd pushed him. She'd actually done it. There's no writing it off anymore now.
She really is trying to kill him.