2018-02-08: Mei Mong Wong's Border Adventure
- Log: Mei Mong Wong's Border Adventure
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Maya Schrodinger, Fei Fong Wong, Matilda Whitehead
- Where: Krosse Border
- Date: 8th February 2018
- Summary: Riesenlied and the Ebony Wings receives an urgent request from the Tainted to assist those that have vanished at the Krosse border. With them is handsome illustrious artist, Mei Mong Wong...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The news of the heightened security at Krosse's borders had been alarming -- but simply that; alarming, but nothing that Riesenlied or Wayside could really do anything about... or be affected, up until now, given their relative proximity away from the southern Kingdom in the western part of Ignas.
Up until today.
One of the nomads that had left Wayside since Riesenlied's proclamation had returned in a frantic hurry -- his arm had been shorn off by a nasty cut, and he begs of her:
"P-please... we just wanted to find somewhere else to live, without provoking the Quarter Knights' anger. But they captured-- they captured..."
His head slumps quietly.
And Riesenlied has never been one to turn people away, has she...?
---
The border is as expectantly harsh and heavily guarded, a thick rotation of armed soldiers marching around the perimeter. There's a quiet furrow from Riesenlied's brow as she says, "This is deeply unusual. I doubt that the Althenan Guard's influence would have been able to convince King Krosse to create such borders either... is something else happening?"
She tilts her head, and--
--steps forward, walking towards the border as several soldiers leverage their ARMs on her. She pauses quietly... and then expresses:
"I come in peace. I wish to only find what happened to my brethren."
The soldiers pause and stare at her, as the Dragon's Tear begins to softly shimmer. "W-well, do you have a description...?"
Looks like she's acting as a decoy...
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Don't worry, I've snuck in already once," Fei says. He hasn't run the dig before, no, it was just done--OFF SCREEN.
He hands out FAKE IDS to everybody in the party. They're pretty good forgeries for someone who has been to Krosse once in his life!
"Just use them just in case." He says.
LATER
Mei Mong Wong hands off his ID to a soldier. The soldier looks down at it.
NAME: MEI MONG WONG OCCUPATION: ARTISAN
Fei clears his throat and says, "It's a real name." to the skeptical guard.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has joined your party!
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Krosse Military Checkpoint.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ========================= <* CHALLENGE - Directly Indirect *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As one might expect from an armed forces that is as increasingly paranoid as Krosse's is, the entrance to this Krosian military checkpoint is heavily guarded by a rotation of patrolling soldiers from Krosse's Royal Guard. Getting inside without alerting the entire contingent of royal armed forces stationed here might be tricky -- or it might just be a question of how direct or indirect you want to be in your approach. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Tear against your party's Challenge, Directly Indirect!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya's raison d'etre has been undergoing a pretty significant scope-creep recently, hasn't she? The days of plumbing ruins for riches to gild the family name a little brighter seem further away than ever, wrapped up in the whirlwind of events as she's become.
So it goes for every Drifter out there worth a pinch of salt, lady.
"This is deeply unusual. I doubt that the Althenan Guard's influence would have been able to convince King Krosse to create such borders..." muses Riesenlied, to which her erstwhile Ebony Wings master of disguise cocks an eyebrow briefly. "You never know. They've got a lot of money, and we don't know what they're really up to... or, they could be the symptom and not the cause."
Maya Schrodinger looks--well, not a lot like herself. She's wearing neither her trademark sunset-orange dress nor her weird black sorcerer's garb, but an expensive-looking suit of scarlet plate armor, replete with a heater shield on her back and flashy-looking arming sword at her side. Her hair is tied into a ponytail. There are benefits to this: her chances of being recognized as the Drifter lady hanging out with Metal Demons and Hellions are low.
However, it also stands out intensely. The armor is incredibly intricate and looks like it'd have the masterwork tag on it. Hiding in plain sight is dangerous like that.
Whatever Maya is planning with this new persona of hers, she suavely hands her faux identification, courtesy of Fei 'Photoshop' Fong Wong over to one of the guards without paying him any particular mind. She has complete faith in his forgeries!
"Feels like only yesterday we were heading through here with no problems. Shame."
Her voice has a brusque and Butch Yuri quality to it that will maybe melt Virginia Maxwell into a puddle later. Ah, the joys of autohypnosis and reality-bending powers combined.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For Noeline, the question isn't so much whether they can get into Krosse or not; she has plenty of confidence on that front, not to mention a couple of favours owed from her past that she might be able to hold over people if absolutely necessary. What her curiosity won't let go is /why/ the kingdom has shut itself away so effectively and fully, however, and for her that's a much more interesting question that she really wouldn't mind knowing the answer to.
Besides, she may not be quite as sentimental as Riesenlied is when it comes to offering her help - but she is finding herself more and more of a soft touch, and isn't about to just abandon anyone out of hand if there's a chance they might learn something from the experience.
So all of that is why she isn't standing with the others at the checkpoint as they present themselves in a nice obvious manner.
Instead, with the guard's attention mostly occupied by Riesenlied and Maya's presence, there's a mostly-invisible shape flitting at speed through the brush, approaching the checkpoint at an oblique angle under the dual cover of some good old-fashioned stealth and a little in the way of the Illusion Guardian's power. The air around where she would normally be flickers slightly, muted in colour as she tries to work with a form of magic she hasn't exactly tried before - but the effect is slight, and hopefully enough to camouflage her approach.
If it gives her a chance to look for any border records that might indicate where people are being taken, all the better.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Though Matilda was a little nervous about this at first, she /is/ very interested in what's happening in Krosse -- and this seems to be a great opportunity to get used to working with the Ebony Wings on matters other than the mysterious nature of Veruni rejection.
Matilda is a rare breed indeed -- a Drifter who is actually /from/ Krosse. Unlike the rest of them, she may not actually /need/ a false ID. "It's... /possible/ that this is the Guard's doing," she allows, "but unlikely -- they'd be a foreign influence unto themselves, wouldn't they...?"
She reaches into her coat as she sticks close to Noeline, pulling out a small book. "Krosse patrol patterns," she notes, "tend to be square, rather than circular, if possible... that may make it easier to outmaneuver them." She doesn't have the advantage of invisibility or near-invisibility... but she /is/ from here.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ========================= <* CHALLENGE - Directly Indirect *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As one might expect from an armed forces that is as increasingly paranoid as Krosse's is, the entrance to this Krosian military checkpoint is heavily guarded by a rotation of patrolling soldiers from Krosse's Royal Guard. Getting inside without alerting the entire contingent of royal armed forces stationed here might be tricky -- or it might just be a question of how direct or indirect you want to be in your approach. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck================================================= ====================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 1 *>================== =========================== < Results - Directly Indirect >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Portable Library 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------==== < Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ================================== < Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Riesenlied has posed.
The guard rather dumbfoundedly stares towards Riesenlied for a moment, and then towards Fei and Maya as they come up to her side. He gawks at Fei for a second longer, before commenting, "O-oh! You must be the famous Mei Mong Wong!"
... famous??
Perhaps, somehow, this guard has met such an artist or an actor... actress? And gives him a salute, before peering towrads Maya with a slightly more suspicious look. "I hear the Tournament of Arms is that way, not here," as he points in the vague direction of Lacour, "And I heard it was a total sham this year anyway. Some waitress kid won."
Still, Noeline and Matilda make good time, and whatever inconsistencies that Noeline isn't used to with the power of Duras Drum is covered up by knowing where the guards are going to be; it isn't long before the chatter dies down and the group is allowed in... but for how long? DG: Maya Schrodinger has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>=======================
============================== <* CHALLENGE - Kill Box *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >--------------------------
At one point, this place was something of a fortress, when the regions of
Krosse were more affected by the endless wars that plague Filgaia; designed
to withstand assault both from without... and from within. Corridors in this
place are custom-designed to put any aggressor at a disadvantage to someone
who knows the layout of this place, and that is certainly never more true
than it is in this narrow hallway with its upraised platform at the opposite
end from where you stand.
An upraised platform, full of archers. Waiting for you.
And promptly filling this narrow hallway with arrow-y death.
Hurray! Wait, no. The other thing. Run!
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Riesenlied's coterie of friends is growing, notes Maya silently as the guard somehow gives her a pass as a prize fighter with a poor sense of direction. "Hmmph. There's always next year." she accepts her papers back as the gang moves on, having fumbled their way past the opening gate of Kross's checkpoint border. So far, so good.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
Maya's gauntleted finger trails an arrow slit in a corridor wall. Or maybe it's a hole through which a musket can be aimed. Hard to tell. "I didn't know we were traveling in the company of a famous artist. That came in handy." she observes, smiling in a appreciative manner. You know, the way you might appreciate a good overhead swordstroke or a chilling business deal. "Not to mention the local knowledge," steely blue eyes lock onto Matilda's. At least they're not confrontational, she just doesn't shy away from eye contact.
The camera pans out to reveal the gang also being lost in the middle of a huge hedge-maze of interior corridors, lit by torches as all good dungeons are.
"Does that extend to knowing the way through here?" the would-be knight asks of Matilda in particular, before her line of thought is cut short as the troupe of investigators steps in front of a goddamn archery firing squad, their bows drawn and arrows nocked. Clearly, they heard the voices of people being where they shouldn't.
The first arrow makes a shrill whistle as it zips by Maya's head and the iron head collides with the corridor with a spark or two. "Wrong turn, everyone, no need to be alarmed."
Despite Maya's assurances to the archers on the raised dais, they clearly think otherwise. "Run!" is her next suggestion, whipping the shield from her back and holding it over the nearest soft target as she starts to backpedal for the nearest corner. This is a very awkward and terrible place to be in, but on the flip side, who wants to get princess-carried or at least stick close to the big strong knight lady?
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
The famous artist... Mei Mong Wong.
Fei keeps on smiling cheerfully, walking along before the guard starts talking about the Lacour tournament.
How dare he besmirch the murder honor of Death Waitress!!
Fei holds one of his hands with the other and doesn't look back at the guard, instead just keeping on keeping on.
He glances towards Maya for a few moments. Does he ... does he even know it's Maya? He probably doesn't know it's Maya. He is about to say something when--
--arrows!!
"Wait...it's coming back to me! Get behind me, I've got this!"
He darts forward and starts smacking down arrows with his bare hands like Nanami.
He ALSO ends up missing his quick time event keys due to it not being adequately explained and gets shot in the gut. Also like Nanami.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks quietly relieved when they're able to at least get past the security checkpoint at the start... she didn't really want to break in, and as Lily has advised her over and over again--
She shouldn't really be getting into a fight.
"Oh, that's right, Mister... Mei, you are a very good artist," Riesenlied speaks as they proceed onward. She didn't even get to use her fake name, which Odjn prepared for her so proudly.
At the side of Riesenlied's pack rests one of the fake IDs, which has the name:
Schtolteheim Riesenbach III
Alas. It isn't long before the first arrow whizzes, and she gasps-- and yelps, "R-running--" as she starts forward, and as Noeline may be able to predict at about this time:
Trips!!
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"--and since when did Krosse need a series of /kill zones/ in its border crossings, exactly!?" grouses Noeline as she suddenly mists out of nowhere, a gout of black smoke rolling around her for a moment before it dissipates away; she hefts her hand around, suddenly weighed down by a large slab of too-white metal masquerading as a mechanical sword.
It's more or less the same size as her, but that comes in handy when she abruptly rams it against the ground, pointed upright as she aims to use its bulk to cover both her and Riesenlied at the same time. The first volley of arrows simply bend and break against it, wood not doing a great deal to the solid chunk of hard material.
In the same instant, Noeline's immediately started to stoop downwards. It's not any kind of ability to see the future, nor even her fast reactions - she's just acting purely automatically as she scoops Riesenlied up into her arms, propelling the other woman up to standing and pulling her partner to the safety of the space behind her sword.
One arm stays around Riese to steady her, as the twintailed girl risks a peek between volleys. "Honestly, this isn't a proper welcome at all," she huffs, flicking a hand in a forwards motion. From over her shoulders, Strife and Trouble suddenly wing forwards and spin around her shoulders - then release a volley of bright fire down the corridor at their attackers. The bolts aren't high power, set more to stun than to wound - and aimed towards whatever will produce the most smoke to cover them.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"Sadly, no -- military tactics are something of a hobby of mine, but maps of installations and their surroundings are a little... harder to come by," Matilda answers Maya, squirming a little under her gaze. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to steady herself... shortly before the shooting starts.
On the one hand... Matilda is honestly perfectly willing to just shoot back, even against her own countrymen. On the other hand... well, one, the position is at a stark disadvantage, and two, it might make a poor impression on her newer acquaintances.
Instead, thus, she starts running alongside Maya. She does /not/ seem to be super interested in getting behind Fei, nor being carried. "This is... /relatively/ novel for Krosse!" she adds, for Noeline's benefit.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kill Box.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>=======================
============================== <* CHALLENGE - Kill Box *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >--------------------------
At one point, this place was something of a fortress, when the regions of
Krosse were more affected by the endless wars that plague Filgaia; designed
to withstand assault both from without... and from within. Corridors in this
place are custom-designed to put any aggressor at a disadvantage to someone
who knows the layout of this place, and that is certainly never more true
than it is in this narrow hallway with its upraised platform at the opposite
end from where you stand.
An upraised platform, full of archers. Waiting for you.
And promptly filling this narrow hallway with arrow-y death.
Hurray! Wait, no. The other thing. Run!
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
====================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 2 *>==================
================================ < Results - Kill Box >============================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maya Schrodinger 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass
Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------==== < Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail
Conditions: Cripple
Effects: Cleanse
================================== < Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Fei might not recognize Maya as the sword-lady. Riesenlied keeps a lot of weird company after all, and they haven't been too properly introduced anyway! But then, the gentle-spirited lady might've explained her contractor-esque role with the Ebony Wings on the way over regardless. Tough call. More important than that is that he keeps Some Asshole from coming out to play, and also karate chops a shitload of arrows out of the air for a mere 2 motes of essence and no willpower expenditure. Now that's what I call a deal. Unfortunately, he is also possibly hit in the (trained, hardened, shiny-ab'd) guts with an arrow and if need be, can be dragged off until the gang assemble all 108 Stars to wish him back to health.
Riesenlied will have to be upfront with Ms. Keil later: things took about 5 minutes to go from 'sneak' to 'fight'. It's clearly not good for her health, and the crappy cobblestones in here don't make escaping under fire much easier, nevermind that bog-standard mook arrows probably suck against even a Tainted Hyadean. Her footing is unsure, though, and she tumbles to the ground!
Noeline asks a very good question, to which Maya has only the suggestion of an answer. "Maybe since Kings started getting kidnapped and assassinated? Royal blood gets cold at the thought of being next." the shield maiden grouses back as a broadhead arrow strikes her head and flies off into a nearby torch, flinging it off the wall and setting some pitch on fire. Great, now the corridor is a killzone that is also on fucking FIRE. Luckily, Noeline is there to pick Riesenlied up before this can interact with her in a miserable way. Failing forward.
Matilda admits to not having a map to get them through here, shortly before the violence begins. That she fires back reminds the blonde of something important about her capabilities, and she briefly levels her sword at the distant wall of archers before a burst of aquamarine light fires out of it and makes one of them fall off the platform with a Wilhelm Scream. "Novel is one way of putting it, but I've never--"
Maya cuts herself off as she thinks better of it, and drags a straggling friend behind a corner to safety. That clearly was not the way forward, and now people are bleeding and on fire and generally not in their comfort zone.
"Let's--try another path." the self-styled knight suggests, in the awkward lull that follows. Krosse feels no closer than it did beyond the gates.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ============================= <* CHALLENGE - Lock Down *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You know what, it's a strange thing, but one might get the sinking suspicion they're not wanted here. Maybe it's the increasing patrols. Maybe it's the angry shouts of 'INTRUDERS ARE HERE! GET THE INTRUDERS! WHY HASN'T ANYONE GOTTEN THE INTRUDERS YET?!' Maybe it's the fact that the Royal Guard is systematically locking down every inch of the checkpoint to catch you like rats in a trap. It's hard to say. But that's definitely what is happening here, as the way forward -- or even out -- of this chamber is cut off from you through bolted doors and magic seals as the entire installation goes through a base-wide lockdown. The Royal Guard aren't here yet -- but if you don't break out in time, that might be another matter entirely... =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK. Fei gets hit by like three arrows. Luckily he's a tough guy and they don't hit anything VITAL, but he does fall over because arrows hit with a lot of force. He is summarily dragged off but is likely only to survive the ordeal if all 108 stars of destiny are assembled.
what's that? We don't have 108 individual characters? uh. well.
Anyway, Fei manages a, "Guess... I didn't quite do it right." Fei says.
'INTRUDERS!' someone shouts. 'MEI MONG WONG DOESN'T HAVE LUXURIOUS AND SUPPLE LOCKS OF HAIR LIKE THAT! STOP THEM AT ANY COST!'
"Oh shoot." Fei says. "We've been found out."
Rather quickly a door slams shut in front of them. Fei blinks a few times before saying, "Oh shit," this time.
The door looks pretty heavy, and sturdy--and unless the team gets through it somehow, they might end up trapped until a Krosse team of soldiers decides to arrest them for impersonating artists and cosplayers and pretty knights. Fei, naturally, tries the kamehameha--
--the guided shot blast!
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Lock Down.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
You know, if we tallied up every FC and OC I'm pretty sure we're probably on our way to 108 characters. But who's the Tenkai Star to unite them all?
Riesenlied does gasp as Noeline pulls her out of the air and behind the sword; it feels so very familiar at this point, the way Noeline keeps having to pull her out of the fire and defend her. She feels rather horrible about it, how her partner keeps having to put herself on the line due to her stubbornness...
And then the announcement occurs.
She cups her mouth and gasps a little at that loud proclamation, stammering, "I--I suppose... oh, at the very least they acknowledge your hair is very pretty, Mister Fei." T-thanks??
She cups her mouth as the door starts to rattle, and she reaches towards an ornate flute that she pulls her lips to and plays a soft song...
'AAAH GOD' 'WHY ARE THERE CUCCOS OUT HERE' 'HEEEEELP'
"... oh no..." Riesenlied feels bad immediately afterwards.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lock Down.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Bracing herself, Noeline tucks her arm a little tighter around Riesenlied, strengthens her grip that much harder on the hilt of her ridiculous sword, and pushes forwards. The tip of her blade - in as much as it has any angles whatsoever - squeals as it scrapes a long tear in the floor of the corridor, but the maneuver is mostly successful, allowing her to close enough distance to act as a bulwark pushing forwards through the hail of arrows.
Finally, she's able to throw herself aside into a side passage, and slip Riesenlied more securely into her arms as she lets her sword melt back into her with a rather odd visual effect. Pressing forward is obvious enough, rats in a trap as they are, and it isn't long before she's caught up, even taking into account her blonde cargo.
She doesn't see the door close - but she doesn't need anything more than Fei staring at it with a genteel cursework to roughly understand the situation. Where Fei goes high she goes low, summoning the oversize sword back to her hands in the blink of an eye and ramming it hard into the frame of the door at their feet.
You-- probably aren't supposed to use Hyadean technology as giant crowbars, but Noeline's always preferred to use whatever she's got in whatever way would be best. "... you know, you should really at least hang a sign on them saying not to touch," she grouses at Riesenlied as the first yell goes up.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
--that said, the first thing through the door isn't a cucco. Not quite. Instead, amidst the clucks, there's a strained and sustained beeep as one of Noeline's pods leads the cucco's charge. ... it... seems to have gained a ruff along the way somewhere...
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Lock Down.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Well. This isn't great. Matilda -- now equipped with both Freischütz /and/ her more recently-acquired pistol -- sticks close to Maya, with only a cursory glance back toward Fei. (Sorry, Fei!)
As the announcement comes, Matilda's posture sinks lower. It's hard to conceal the fear in it. As Fei and Noeline focus on opening the door, Matilda checks her coat for a moment -- and scowls. She'd expected this to be a sales trip (or at least hoped), not an adventuring trip, which means her /favorite/ anti-door concoctions... are gone!
So naturally, she instead moves to defend Fei and Noeline, swapping out Freischütz for a knife -- a weapon much btter suited to these close quarters.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lock Down.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Some asshole (not to be confused with Some Asshole) hollers in the distance, alerting the rest of the compound to the sneaking mission going on inside of it. "If the jig wasn't up before," Maya grunts as her hair shines with L'Oreal richness in the torchlight, trying to find a damn way out of here with her entourage. "It really is now." and then the corridor's big double-doors slam shut in her face. Rude!
"For what it's worth," the Prettiest Knight on Filgaia(tm) confides in Fei as she draws her sword again, which has a seven-star constellation along the blade are you kidding me. What is this fantasy bullshit. "I thought it was a good disguise."
The egress from danger is slowed a little as a horde of improbably cute and rotund creatures with white feathers swarm past the group, but here's what's important: Maya doesn't step on any of them and invite disaster. "Unorthodox." she notes, as she pulls something from a small leather satchel worn on her back. Kind of like a fanny pack for knights. Lame, dude.
"Look. The hinges on this door are the weak points. Give me a moment, and--" the blonde is left standing there blinking foolishly as Fei adopts the proper stance to unleash a Lv. 3 Shinkuu Hadoken into the oaken barrier. Almost unseen amidst the furious storm of burning chi, the scarlet-plated knight pulls one of Al's shaped charges from her satchel and just stuffs it as hard as she can into the brass hinges.
"This is going to explode, so don't stand next to it." she advises, then helpfully moves closer to Matilda to put that big shield between her and the (hopefully) soon-to-explode door. VERY helpful.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, Lock Down.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ============================= <* CHALLENGE - Lock Down *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You know what, it's a strange thing, but one might get the sinking suspicion they're not wanted here. Maybe it's the increasing patrols. Maybe it's the angry shouts of 'INTRUDERS ARE HERE! GET THE INTRUDERS! WHY HASN'T ANYONE GOTTEN THE INTRUDERS YET?!' Maybe it's the fact that the Royal Guard is systematically locking down every inch of the checkpoint to catch you like rats in a trap. It's hard to say. But that's definitely what is happening here, as the way forward -- or even out -- of this chamber is cut off from you through bolted doors and magic seals as the entire installation goes through a base-wide lockdown. The Royal Guard aren't here yet -- but if you don't break out in time, that might be another matter entirely... =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust================================================== ====================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 3 *>================== =============================== < Results - Lock Down >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Schrodinger Special 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------==== < Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ================================== < Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
As Riesenlied delays the... people doing their jobs by preventing people from sneaking into Krosse without valid ID by assaulting them with POULTRYGEISTS, everybody else works on the door.
Unfortunately for Fei, kamehameha waves only killed people, not /doors/ obviously. Or more to the point, he makes a big flashy light that tells the entire complex where they are and Matilda takes a few hits protecting the crew while Maya and Noeline get to work.
Noeline swings a sword REAL DANG HARD into the door. She carves a nice hole into, and then another one, allowing Maya's bombs to obliterate the door to shrapnel.
"One of these days," Fei thinks aloud. "I'm gonna figure out how to deal with doors properly."
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ============================= <* CHALLENGE - Alert (!) *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, it really doesn't matter how many cardboard boxes you sneak around in, or how many lockers you hide inside. That damn AI is still going to get suspicious of you with the sound of a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk and a damning ! of alertness and then suddenly, there goes your perfect no-kill run, right down the toilet. Wait. What? Well. Regardless. There are members of Krosse's royal guard after you now, so you should probably, like... deal with that. Snake! What happened?! Snake! Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-- =Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I tend to find something very large and heavy helps. Or else, small and pinpoint," she adds as she jukes back, covering her face for a moment as Maya's explosives blast the rest of the door out of its frame and to one side. "Either or. Though if I'm honest, talking it out is usually the most reliable way. It's much less messy, and you don't get yelled at coming the other way."
She hesitates for a moment, then pushes forwards, glancing left and then right before leading the way down the corridor ahead. "This place is a ridiculous maze. Was this always like this, I wonder, or did they just spring it up overnight?" The question is light, but directed towards Matilda; Noeline huffs softly immediately afterwards, though, not exactly expecting a response as she taps a wall. "I suppose we could always try going /through/ rather than through, should it be absolutely necessary."
Rounding the next corner, she immediately tenses - some instinct makes her stop where she is, twist her blade until it's flat, and then sweep it to one side. It impacts with a side door just as one of the guards starts to burst through it, and the ensuing impact throws him and a few of his compatriots back inside the room with an oddly-familiar 'gwaa--' noise of pain.
Immediately, Noeline plants her shoulder against the blade, using it as an impromptu barricade to keep the door shut. "--keep going! I'll pin this lot down a while!" she says - or starts to say, because already another door along the corridor is opening.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied coughs and covers her mouth a little as Maya, even in her knightly form, finds it in herself to still have a l'il bit of the Schrodinger Special to just explode out the door off its hinges. "I was not expecting things to be this intense..." she has to rather plainly admit.
She keeps quiet as she follows after Noeline, pressing a hand to her own chest as she looks to Matilda. "I would certainly not think this to be normal behaviour, as Miss Matilda notes..."
She winces as they're surrounded once more, and it's in her newest compatriot that she entrusts--
"Trouble!"
--her will into, albeit... Trouble, as Noeline notes, appears to have gotten a bit of a ruff and a few feathers by her side, and a white coat of paint that makes her look like a... a...
Mecha-Cucco.
"Please, aid us!"
There's even a recorded cucco-like noise as Noeline's poor former ARM loses its dignity and flutters up towards the next pack of guards and bops them over the head.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Claw against your party's Challenge, Alert (!)!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"... that /is/ a good question -- this level of border checkpoint... /use/ is new, I believe, but I've never had to deal with any path except the most direct one, so I'm unsure about the installation itself... Citizenship and academic credentials tend to... speed the process." Matilda sighs, sticking behind Noeline --
-- and stopping when she stops. "Oh /of course/," Matilda mutters, exasperatedly, before moving toward yet another door -- and in turn finding, you guessed it, /more/ guards/. ... Well, she thinks to herself -- this can't come back to haunt me if no one gets a sufficiently conscious look at my face...
She rushes toward the next set of guards alongside Trouble, going in for a simple, direct approach -- lots of grabbed arms and faces shoved into walls. It's... clinical, to put it gently -- though she avoids killing anyone, at least.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei has to focus hard to avoid letting his arrow wounds muck him up, but this does mean he slows down a bit relative to Noeline's incredible charges. "You know, I never really thought about it, I mean I thought about it, but I never thought to just ask about it--" He says, looking over to Riesenlied. "What's with you and cuccos? Like, to be honest, I find them a little creepy myself and one nearly killed me once, but you seem really--into them. Do you want to be, like, a cucco rancher when everything settles down?"
He thinks about it, raising cuccos, watching them go ballistic and peck to death anybody who fronts too hard.
"...Actually nevermind, I think I got the appeal."
And then suddenly--GUARDS!
"HEY WAIT!"
He points towards the leftmost guard. "I'm here representing the Official RPS League. This is your chance to become a champion..."
He raises his RPS Badge. "I know what you're thinking--it's your job to stop us, but perhaps you have an opportunity here. Get out of this lifestyle where you have to yell at drifters all the time only to get beat up or worse. If you become an RPS Champino you can do anything..."
"What do you say?" Fei asks.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The smoke is still clearing from the explosion when Riese admits 'I was not expecting things to be this intense...', and Maya waves the dust clear from her face as they keep pressing forward. "Nor was I, but things are worse here than we thought..." and she quiets to give Matilda room to speak. Her input on this is pretty dang valuable, as the native to the region.
'Citizenship and academic credentials tend to... speed the process.' concludes the confounding compounder, and the swordlady signals the affirmative with a curt nod. "That they wouldn't let you in as easily is another troubling sign. Something reeks here. More than just a scared lot of royals trying to keep danger at bay."
ALERT - 99:99
There's scarce time to catch breath or discuss the next move. The calm and composed Matilda is soon beating a path for an exit and performing badass jiu-jitsu on the hapless guards before they can spy her. Pretty inspiring.
"This really isn't very finished yet," Maya grouses to possibly herself, although what exactly she is grumbling about is not exactly clear. She takes advantage of Noeline's diversion to heft that shield of hers, strapped to her forearm as is proper, and whallop an unfortunate member of the Kross Military Burger King Kids (K...K...?) in the head with it before he can draw his blade and advance on the less overtly-armed members of the party. "But it'll have to do until I can get somewhere and change. Keep going!"
The sheer audacity of Mei Mong Wong's attempt to bring the combat to a halt in the name of the holy RPs League gives Maya the opening she needs to shove her current combatant back in the door and smash the lock shut. She then sprints right past Fei at full speed in the background while he tries to convince the guard.
Maya's use of sword and shield in a non-lethal fashion totally does not align with the name of this tool but that is because transforming is hard and I did not take that into account when applying in February 2017.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Tankbuster Cartridge toward her party's challenge, Alert (!).
=========================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ============================= <* CHALLENGE - Alert (!) *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, it really doesn't matter how many cardboard boxes you sneak around in, or how many lockers you hide inside. That damn AI is still going to get suspicious of you with the sound of a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk and a damning ! of alertness and then suddenly, there goes your perfect no-kill run, right down the toilet. Wait. What? Well. Regardless. There are members of Krosse's royal guard after you now, so you should probably, like... deal with that. Snake! What happened?! Snake! Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-- =Dungeon Conditions: Vault==================================================== ====================== <* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 4 *>================== =============================== < Results - Alert (!) >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Tankbuster Cartridge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------==== < Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 50 --(30)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Vault(1) Effects: Cleanse ================================== < Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
============================ <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>========================
========================= <* CHALLENGE - Captain of the Guard *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The holding station of this checkpoint is one that has been well used, and
yet seems not overly populated. Most of the Guard are on the prowl in the
other levels of the base, leaving this place relatively untended to... but
not entirely. A fact made more than abundantly clear as a large man
decorated in the armor of a Captain of Krosse's Royal Guard lumbers in. For
accomplished Drifters, a lone man might not provide much challenge... if it
weren't for the feverish way he was talking. The unstable look in his eyes.
The way black, smoky Malevolence starts to roll and leak off the cracks
between his armor...
... as all that paranoia and suspicion and fear creates a Hellion more armor
than man, a simmering suit of knight's regalia that comes charging at you,
brandishing its large, warped sword and shield, eyes blazing a threateningly
desperate violet. Getting past will require subduing the Captain of the
Guard -- preferably, before he subdues you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The question of whether it was always like this or sprang up overnight will sadly have to go unanswered, though according to the history of these places, it seems like there would be some historical reasons for maze-like fortresses to repel intruders -- and keep those that Krosse wishes to stay within from escaping... Noeline flares into action, holding shut a set of reinforcements with her enormous strength.
Cucco-Trouble comes to bounce against some guards' heads, playing on their fear as they squawk and retreat and divot themselves into other paths. Trouble provides some cover for Matilda as well, as she proceeds onwards and proceeds to remind the Krosse Royal Guard of the basics of CQC, which Riese has to watch with a certain kind of awe-- it reminds her of her older days, when she was still physically able enough to train the neonates back at the Photosphere...
"Um-- well... I've adored and revered the myth of a legendary cucco for a long time," Riesenlied admits, and even though Fei is totally baiting her out, she doesn't immediately sparkle and gush about how wonderful cuccos are. "But... they're fluffy, round and cute..."
There's a tender, delicate smile as she says, "Living with Cucco is wonderful..."
OK, so maybe she's going to fall for it a bit.
The guard pauses and gasps, staring towards the RPS badge. He locks eyes with Fei, and for a moment, hesitates... hesitates further... and then whispers:
"I've been waiting for so many years for this."
He procures another RPS badge from his chest and fixes it to his tabard gratefully. He pats his fist onto his palm and expresses, "Rock, paper, scissors--"
Boom! Maya's shield continues to do wonderful things as it bashes faces and smacks fools aside, even though she's mysteriously utilising a tankbuster cartridge the likes of which is totally not seen in the regal seven-star set.
It isn't long until the din of combat dies down... however...
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
... Well, that's one way to lose an alert. No more guards come for a while -- and at last, it seems it's safe to press forward... though what 'press forward' entails is a little vague, no?
At this point, it's honestly hard to tell where they've been and where they haven't; Matilda's normally excellent sense of direction has been pretty well turned around by all the fighting and shooting and running, even. The only path is forward, really -- through one of the doors, onward... and eventually to the checkpoint's holding station -- where they are not alone, it seems. A man in heavy armor enters from another door into the holding station, and...
... levels his blade at the group. "You -- stay back," he says, voice shaking, eyes wide. "Get out -- you -- get /out/ --" he stammers, before his gaze comes to rest on Matilda for just a moment. "You -- I know you... Whitehead -- your father..."
There's the faint hiss of Malevolence escaping from his armor, the eerie darkness starting to close in... and the armor starts to bulge and twist, the blade warping and bending -- and the eyes glowing a fierce purple.
"He'd be ashamed to see a child of Krosse throw in with this lot!!" he shouts, before closing first on Matilda, though his eyes seem to sweep over everyone at once, assessing threat, weighing potential approaches -- listening to fear.
Reaching into her pockets, Matilda produces a sickly yellow vial -- and promptly slams the whole thing into the armored Hellion before her, before moving for a quick trip and getting ready to lead with her knife. "... Hopefully that'll still lock his joints down the same way it would anyone else," she says quietly, before slipping into a guarded stance, ready to show the Captain her stabs.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Shock Oil toward her party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied turns just in time to see the man come forward at them. She hears -- no, senses his fear and hesitation more than anything else. "We aren't here to cause trouble. We just want to find--" but her protests soon fall on deaf ears, and further--
--when she gasps in pain as she senses the exuding aura of Malevolence emerge from his armour, the darkness ensconcing him as she clutches her free hand against her chest. "Why-- why here...?"
Her eyes widen, as she murmurs, "Trial Knight... no, it couldn't be?"
But suddenly the battle is joined sooner than she'd like, and she's forced to concentrate upon the Dragon's Tear instead to help matters, which starts to ripple with a timourous violet light...
"... be calm...!"
There's a grit of teeth as she extends her aura outwards -- a stream of shimmering power surrounding the man to attempt to soothe the emotion and quell the beast within...
...though a part of her knows...
She has no ability to cure this.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Claw against your party's Challenge, Captain of the Guard!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's hackles are starting to raise well before they reach the holding station; she doesn't voice her concerns, but there's certainly a growing look in her eye that speaks of a certainty that trouble will be on the way, that some pulse in the air around them is building up to a crescendo.
"--that certainly answers a few things," she mutters, and this time the weapon that melts out of her and grows in her hands is her crimson scythe, already blurring as she pulls it around in a defensive sweep. For a moment, her eyes flick to Riesenlied, and then back to the Malevolent guard in front of them. "Though it leaves the biggest question of all - just how big an effect are we dealing with?"
For a moment, she hesitates - part of her would like to simply hang back, protect Riesenlied as she attempts to exorcise the man. Part of her is all too aware that there's a very limited amount of actual options, and it really only takes Matilda pulling out a knife to spur the spy forwards.
"Sorry," she mutters to Riese, before the half of her staff slams into the man's legs at the same time as she thrusts a knee up and forwards, aiming to trip the Guard and drive him to the ground. "--restrain him if you can!" she calls to the people behind her, then sucks in a sudden breath; she's forced to break away as a wild swing almost connects with her, juking backwards as she brings her weapon back up in front of her. "If you cannot, then at least protect yourself!"
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya's nose wrinkles as the fetid, fel aura of capital-M troublemaking exudes from the man-at-arms trying to end the group's venture here. "Everywhere I look, everywhere there's trouble, it's that foul force at work..." she scowls, shield brought to bear and sword held tightly in hand. Riesenlied gasps aloud the name of the figure the cosplaying knight holds responsible, no less. "Malevolence, and the Trial Knight's behind it again, I bet... what is he trying to accomplish?"
Matilda and Riesenlied have their own ways to deal with the situation, as their combined assault weathers on the Captain's physical and mental faculties. Maya has hers. Specifically: to keep the Hellionized soldier from taking anyone with him.
"Pardon, but she's under our care." Maya gives her best rumbly growl as the Captain barks his disgust at Matilda and closes on her, dark violet roiling off of his armor in a plume of negative light. Not to say that Matilda needs the protecting, but consider what a storybook knight would do in the situation. The heavily-armored woman catches the other man's blade with her own, the stars on her sword glimmering faintly.
It's stable enough to fight with--it'll do! I can do this...!
"And what would your Lord say?" Maya's rebuke is as stinging as the shield-slap she tries to give the Captain, to take his attention utterly. Keep him focused on her, while the others do their thing. "Look at you. Senseless, a stinking drunk has more decorum in the house of his liege than you. Barking nonsense. Listen to yourself!"
They have a bitching sweet sword duel and there's some gnarly juxtaposition between Maya's luminous cyan aura and the poor Captain's Bad Guy purple aura. [OOC] Maya Schrodinger says, "aaah sorry we're dishing up dinner so i'm posing quick and not waiting--also digs make me very irreverent"
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Tankbuster Cartridge toward her party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Another RPS Badge..!!! Fei didn't expect to battle against an opponent of such renown...!
Unfortunately, he isn't able to defeat another carrier of an RPS Badge soundly, but he is able to take it to a draw. That's as good as he can get before the others deal with the other guards in their manner.
"You're one of the strongest opponents I've ever faced. You're ready." Fei says, patting the soldier once on the shoulder before moving on.
And then uh.
Oh.
It's that again.
It's THAT again
Fei's expression is deadpan. "Did he pick this place just cause it starts with a K?"
He looks to Maya for a moment, cupping his chin thoughtfully, before turning back to the guard.
FEI PSYCHO UP
It's just the malevolence of course. The only sign is a little flash in Fei's eyes before he raises up the RPS Badge, curls his fist around it, swings his arm back--
--and then leaps into the air to jump kick the guard with both legs for the guard's face.
"What do you mean it couldn't be?" Fei asks. "This is literally what he does all the time."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
============================ <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>========================
========================= <* CHALLENGE - Captain of the Guard *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The holding station of this checkpoint is one that has been well used, and
yet seems not overly populated. Most of the Guard are on the prowl in the
other levels of the base, leaving this place relatively untended to... but
not entirely. A fact made more than abundantly clear as a large man
decorated in the armor of a Captain of Krosse's Royal Guard lumbers in. For
accomplished Drifters, a lone man might not provide much challenge... if it
weren't for the feverish way he was talking. The unstable look in his eyes.
The way black, smoky Malevolence starts to roll and leak off the cracks
between his armor...
... as all that paranoia and suspicion and fear creates a Hellion more armor
than man, a simmering suit of knight's regalia that comes charging at you,
brandishing its large, warped sword and shield, eyes blazing a threateningly
desperate violet. Getting past will require subduing the Captain of the
Guard -- preferably, before he subdues you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
======================= <* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 5 *>===================
=========================== < Results - Captain of the Guard >=======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass
Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maya Schrodinger 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass
Tankbuster Cartridge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass
RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass
Shock Oil 3 Combat Effects: Liability and Resilie
-----------------------------------==== < Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass
Conditions: Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)
=================================== < Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Krosse Military Checkpoint!
============================ <* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================== ========================== <* CHALLENGE - Take All Prisoners *>====================== |Type: Conclusion |Dungeon Ability: 1 |Challenge Rating: Discovery | ---------------------------==== < Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As the conflict settles and you head into the holding area of the checkpoint, you realize you are not alone here: there are prisoners still being detained within this base. A decent handful of people, largely outsiders -- but some dissenters of recent policy as well find themselves here, foreign or not. Getting them out of this place somewhere they can be safely questioned will reveal that the 'questioning' in these checkpoints are a mere formality at best: all prisoners are inevitably shipped off to someplace in the capital of Krosse. Those who have been here long enough mention overhearing the guards talk about some manner of ancient catacombs built underneath the city of Krosse the prisoners have been relocated to... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda's biological warfare is a /strong/ start; it opens the captain up for a trip from Noeline, followed almost immediately by Maya's SICK SWORD DUEL. Riesenlied's empathy... that one is a little complex; it doesn't purge the malevolence -- but it /does/ seem to get him to hesitate... which opens him up to getting kicked in the face by Fei, which sends him sprawling and knocks him unconscious.
Matilda immediately pulls away, looking around for a length of rope or chain; she finds some manacles, which... will suffice, she supposes, as she moves to -- well -- apply them. She glances over to the prisoners in the holding station for a moment, but her thoughts are... occupied.
"... We should get them out of here," Matilda notes, quietly -- though she's now busy looking for a second pair of manacles to bind the Hellion's /feet/, because she's not inclined to take any chances. "The way we came, at least, should be safe..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks down towards the unconscious Hellion for a moment, biting her lip. She can't help feel so helpless, so unable to assist those suffering from it... but she won't give up. She started not being able to feel it at all, after all...
She looks towards the prisoners, hurrying along with a nod towards Matilda. "Ah, start from over there-- I'll--"
"M-Miss Riesenlied??"
A rattle of chains turns her attention to one of the cells, as a limping Metal Demon with an upturned bucket and a broom for a leg shifts. "I've heard what happened, we're here to spirit you out..."
---
It isn't long, with the head of the Royal Guards knocked out, for the group to eventually retreat out towards safety. Riesenlied's chosen... well, not inside Krosse, because she doesn't really want to intrude into a dangerous and politically unstable environment for too long with her bounty...
"I heard it from them..." the Demon speaks. "They kept me there for a long time because they thought I was still in with Lord Siegfried. Kept questioning... torturing me..."
A pause, and he expresses, "And... they said I wouldn't be 'useful'. They brought the others to some kind of... really old catacombs underneath Krosse..."
Riesenlied's face falls and pales as she expresses, "... just like the Hollow... like Lahan, and..." she places a hand to her face. She looks towards Noeline, Fei, Maya and Matilda. "... I can't just let this be--"
She hesitates at Noeline, lowering her head. "But-- but I know we're busy... and overextended..."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong presses his hand to his forehead. Has he seen Ethius use this gesture so much he got addicted to using it himself? Careful Fei, you don't want to get that kind of sketchy reputation!
But he does seem to be thinking. "Riese. You're not fighting alone for Filgaia." He lowers his hand and he adds, "I'll let the Wolves know. Maybe we can handle it for you. And we can give the Carakin a heads up if they don't know. There should be plenty of people who aren't preparing for an attack from Siegfried. You don't have to fight against everything you find personally offensive. That's what friends are for."
He glances over to Matilda for a few moments before turning his head back to Riese.
"Try to grasp everything in your hands and it'll slip through your fingers."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's remained tense all the way out, as if something in the Malevolent air around them might scratch and bite at them at any moment. Perhaps it's her Medium alerting her to the situation around them, perhaps it's her own natural wariness, but it's only once they're out of there that she breathes easy, and once the Metal Demon says something about being 'useful'. Malevolence can't stick to them, after all, not in the same way it does humans.
"... assuming this stretches across the entirety of the kingdom, this might be rather bigger than any of us can deal with. If you consider the scale of the disturbance in Wehaca, I really wonder how much you would need to affect the entirety of Krosse," she wonders aloud as she glances back to meet Riesenlied's eyes.
She at least pauses to let Fei say his piece; there's a low and amused chuckle from the spy as she plants a hand on her hip. "... I dare say we can find a way to help, at the very least. We make do with what we've got - and what we've got includes a lot more in the way of support than it used to," she adds, in a tone of voice that is absolutely capitulation, if rather wryly amused at the same time. "Fei does have a point, of course. But I know that you wouldn't feel right leaving it up to other people, hm?"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya might be learning the ropes with whatever she's been ruminating on this whole time, but she's clearly got enough of a handle on it to keep pace with the Hellionized Captain of the Guard, especially since she isn't handling this one alone. She ties his blade up with her own long enough for Fei to expertly bonk him unconscious, and then exhales a long, steady breath before sheathing her sword. "He's okay." she reports, having knelt by her side to make sure the poor dude is still breathing and not, you know, lying there with a broken neck or something morbid that this band of moes would never do. "But we can't do anything for that--affliction. Let's get out of here before he wakes."
Anyway, the many-formed member of the Ebony Wings helps with the prison break. She has a lot of Magic and explosives, so there's not a lot of imagination needed on that front.
---
"This is more grim than I anticipated."
What an understatement. Maya stands to one side like some kind of brooding antihero, arms folded and scarf blowing ominously in the cool breeze. The tales from the prisoners have not been heartening, to say the least. She meets Riesenlied's gaze with an uncharacteristically steely one of her own, but then, this adopted persona is an unfamiliar one even to her. Kinks to iron out.
But hark. The ponytailed picker of rock (or paper(or scissors)) has a point. "Agreed. We don't have to go at this alone." the Knight(?) chimes in after Fei 'Stressed Like Hell' Fong Wong. "And if we let whatever the Trial Knight is doing fester, here..."
Maya's jaw sets firmly as she gazes back to the skyline. She thinks of cavernous mazes, of skeletal dragons animated by lurid purple fire, and the corruption of the most innocent girl in the whole world. All of them, time and time again, the figure in White Armour, and the name...
"I won't allow it."
Okay that's a lot more grim than Noeline is about it but it's personal this time, buddycakes!!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Once they get safe -- something Matilda wasn't entirely anticipating; she had almost considered pressing into Krosse proper, but... that's Matilda -- Matilda elects to just... listen, for a while, rather than join the questioning of the freshly-released prisoner(s). When she hears the answers, though... her expression sours.
"I can inform the CaraKin as well," Matilda says, eventually, when Fei mentions getting everyone else together for this. "If -- if this is the same sort of thing that happened in Lahan, in Wehaca... /why/? Why keep creating these -- awful... /breeding pits/ for this... misery?"
Matilda pinches the bridge of her nose as she attempts to even... /try/ to understand what's happening here.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a falling look on Riesenlied's face for a while...
... before Fei reassures her, in a way that buoys her up again. She blinks a few times, and can't help but smile warmly as she says, "You're right... of course, I-- I am not foolish enough to try to fix everything on my own, even if I may be stubborn and foolish enough to desire to do that..."
She cups her mouth for a moment, and closes her eyes as she listens to Noeline. "You're right as well..."
She places her hand to her chest. "... K.K. told me to spread my wings and take flight. And it would be doing them a disservice to ignore this. I have to follow what my heart tells me."
The Hyadean glances towards Matilda and expresses, "Twice now... the Trial Knight has created massive, lumbering monstrosities out of the bodies of the fallen... but as to what their objective is..."
She falls a little bit more silent. "That, I am not so certain... yet I know that they mean to test humanity to its limits, in the most miserable way they can imagine. They told me... what Filgaia lacks, Lunar has in abundance. And until recently, Malevolence has not been seen on this dying world..."
She glances to the Silver Star, in the far distance. It seems like a barren rock in the skies... yet they know the truth now, of Duras Drum's deception.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "You can do them a disservice, you know. But you're the judge of whether you're overextending or not." He sounds a little annoyed which probably means he's more annoyed than he's letting on. Considering the circumstances it might be understandable. He obviously doesn't care for Riesenlied's relationship with K.K, whatever it is, and he isn't even sure what it is. He just knows he doesn't care for it. Why does she care about what K.K thinks of her actions? They're as cruel as Grahf.
"I don't really care what they're trying to test us for." Fei says. "But if murdering villages is their way of going about it, I won't even feel bad about snapping their neck. The way their 'tests' are going, half the planet'll be Hellions within the year."
Fei generally DOES feel bad about violence and murder but K.K seems to have managed to be an exception on that list.