2018-02-11: Fortunate Ones

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=============================<* Great Aveh Desert *>==============================

The heart of the Republic of Aveh is its great desert. The rolling dones and blistering heat here are infamous, and all but the most foolhardy would ever dare to cross it on foot. Most do so via the great rail lines running north to south, east to west, leading as far as Krosse and Adlehyde. The ones who do cross it on foot will find the heat isn't the only danger. Mirages can lead men astray, oases are few, and great and terrible beasts sink beneath the sands until they find their prey.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddOSJ8571M
DG: A party led by Lunata Croze is now entering Fortune Gear.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Matter of Luck *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A house of wealth long buried within time's clutches.                         
 A mechanical monstrosity of technological bounties untold.                    
 A parlour of fate, attracting noone but the most avid of gamblers.            
                                                                               
 Whatever the case may be, you have decided to strike out for 'Fortune Gear',  
 a Ruin of mysterious origin -- but quickly come upon a common problem for     
 those who seek it out: Its entrance does not appear to stay still. One        
 Drifter says he simply wandered the desert and stumbled upon it by chance;    
 another says it emerged near a train station she decided to visit on a lark.  
                                                                               
 Proper to its name, Fortune Gear is a Gear-sized shifting mechanical mansion  
 that burrows beneath the sand. It only avails itself to those who are         
 comfortable enough to submit themselves to fortune. But the only question     
 remains:                                                                      
                                                                               
 How long will it take you to realise that?                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

Those at the CaraKin would've heard the story the other day -- of how Lunata and Shalune... accidentally found... the source of the Statue of Luck, belonging to Chapapanga. And their account was -- curious, indeed, a stroke of luck! For they went camping somewhere at the Krossian plains and woke up to a giant mechanical manor burrowing out of the earth the next morning...

...and then it left again, afterwards!

With only more mysteries to add to the nature of the strange Dig, Lunata's urged Jay to drive towards the vague presence of the area, though given that they've already ate...

The only soup of the day is one sitting on the kitchen sink with dishwashing soap inside of it...

Alas, no soup for today. But--

"So should we just... use that One Gella Coin of yours, Jay?" Lunata asks as she looms around the driver's seat. "I'm not really sure how this works..."

DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Matter of Luck.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

It feels like Catenna has spent half a lifetime chasing Statues at this point. Half of them are still out there. For all she knows, they're not even in Ignas.

She'll have to count on Lunie to drive them there.

Lunie is, admittedly, a better driver than Catenna.

Sitting in one of the passenger's seats, the priestess leans forward a bit, hands on her thighs as she squints out the front window of the CaraKin. "I am not sure how it works either," she murmurs, "but I would suspect that nothing we try to do to force the issue will matter. Chapapanga is the Guardian of Luck and Chance. It is not his way to be easily pinned down, even by those who will try to cheat fortune."

She clicks her tongue as if to deride that thought.

"Keep on driving," she urges Jacqueline. "And keep your expectations very low. Expecting to be lucky has a way of preventing luck."

DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Matter of Luck.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

This time... Shalune is prepared!

By being as unprepared as possible!

Take that, Chapapanga!

Rather than do anything sensible like look out for the mansion, the pink-haired mechanic is currently sat up in the Carakin cockpit - at least, if you count 'draped over Lunata's shoulders in a loose hug' as sitting up - cuddling onto the other Lunie with a lazy, sleepy yawn that doesn't seem to want to stop. "Mmnnn. Did we haveta get up this early...?"

DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Matter of Luck.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius should be spending the next day or two resting up after narrowly avoiding death (but not another concussion) from Berserk. Then he heard a certain duo journeyed about the Krossian plains, and he was compelled to come. After... a Potion Berry. And a half. Two Potion Berries. He remains sore and somewhat sluggish, but the matter of the geography in regards to recent intel means he has to take any claim about weird things they find in that part of the Badlands seriously.

Ethius is up near the front. He has been for a while. He generally gets hands-on whenever the CaraKin starts driving anywhere near confirmed military activity. He inspects the Spectral Lens to make sure it has cleared its fog from use from the previous landmine check.

"I will be performing another check for landmines." He informs, dutifully, casting that usual Symbological spell. He brings the lens up to one of his eyes...

"Regardless of the circumstances, that is a matter I will not be leaving to chance."

DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, A Matter of Luck.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

This myserious mansion was of interest to Jay. It was said to contain the Statue of Luck, and from the sounds of it, Luck played a large part in even finding it. Lunata and Shalune had said they woke up to find it outside their tent, and rumors seemed to indicate it could appear anywhere...

This complicated things, certainly.

Catenna speaks, and Jacqueline nods.

"Yeah...I know. That's why we just have to rely on luck." She says. They drive onward...and eventually, Jacqueline brings the Carakin to a stop, then begins rummaging through her bags...and eventually, she draws out a coin.

"I told the Lunies about this, but...this is the first gella I ever made." She says. "...So. Let's let the coin tell us where to go."

And thus, Jacqueline flips the coin...

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Matter of Luck.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Matter of Luck *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A house of wealth long buried within time's clutches.                         
 A mechanical monstrosity of technological bounties untold.                    
 A parlour of fate, attracting noone but the most avid of gamblers.            
                                                                               
 Whatever the case may be, you have decided to strike out for 'Fortune Gear',  
 a Ruin of mysterious origin -- but quickly come upon a common problem for     
 those who seek it out: Its entrance does not appear to stay still. One        
 Drifter says he simply wandered the desert and stumbled upon it by chance;    
 another says it emerged near a train station she decided to visit on a lark.  
                                                                               
 Proper to its name, Fortune Gear is a Gear-sized shifting mechanical mansion  
 that burrows beneath the sand. It only avails itself to those who are         
 comfortable enough to submit themselves to fortune. But the only question     
 remains:                                                                      
                                                                               
 How long will it take you to realise that?                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
=========================<* Fortune Gear - Round 1 *>=========================
========================< Results - A Matter of Luck >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunata Croze                        0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Spectral Lens                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shalune Amira                       0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Lunata Croze                0 --(15)--> 15                 Pass
Conditions: Bad Luck(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Lunata Croze has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

... and the Gella Coin lands on: Tails!

Lunata pauses, before she has to admit, "... we didn't actually decide what Heads or Tails meant, did we? But maybe in a way--" she pats Shalune as she limpets on her and yawns, "--that helps make it more Chapapang...ish?" She keeps driving, having some experience built into her from driving the Rephaim and... honestly, also from unfrozen memories instilled into her from the distant past through the Wheel of Spirits.

It's kind of frightening, but it comes in handy, admittedly.

But perhaps Chapapanga is laughing at Ethius, because as they drive up towards what seems to be a random outcropping, the Spectral Lens begins to beep several times--

Nine, ten, eleven... my god, there's a glut of landmines around here. It's close to the Krosse border, so that probably explains them, but... good thing Ethius was checking out for landmines for once!!

In fact, the landmines seem to ring a structure deep underground, he identifies. And once they clear the mines and disarm them, the mechanical manor would burrow upwards, as if to indicate 'puzzle solved'.

Is this just... the Guardian of Luck's trolling?

DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================================<* Fortune Gear *>===================================================
======================================<* CHALLENGE - A Cup to Shake the Heavens *>======================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 The entranceway to Fortune Gear is shrouded under a thick layer of earth,     
 though some supernatural presence retains its ostentatious appearance even    
 after the ages have rent upon it. A ghostly koto and shakuhachi sets the      
 mood as you step from sand to half-rotted bamboo mats, mechanical sliding     
 paper doors unfurling in order.                                               
                                                                               
 The parlour beyond is enormous, featuring a large clay cup at least twelve    
 feet in diameter... and a set of two giant dice, seemingly better sized for   
 a Gear than human hands. A large stone basin rests in the centre of the       
 room, and a gold, sealed door rests at the back.                              
                                                                               
                                  EVEN or ODD?                                 
                                                                               
                                                                               
 The instructions are clear. Only one problem remains: Do you have the         
 strength to lift the dice?                                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

That minefield discovery (and resulting impromptu game of it) was so hair-raising that Ethius refuses to let anyone else go in first for matters of 'safety' and 'not explaining that first part about safety,' which is to say he just goes in first the moment they clear the surrounding dirt. He grunts in pain as he thrusts out his right palm forward, past the sliding paper doors whose mechanical operations - luckily - continue to function with the occasional ear-splitting whine while the party walks upon half-rotted bamboo mats...

Out into a gaudy shrine to excess and avarice. Gold and other precious metals, as far as the eye can see, but more importantly, a giant clay cup twelve feet in diameter... and two very large push-blocks with dotted indentations, their number and arrangement differing on every face of the...

Oh. Those are dice. Ahead of them is a gold door, gleaming tantalizingly with a single question.

EVEN or ODD?

"It would appear this chamber wishes to play a game of chance." As luck would have it, he's right. He rests a hand up on the giant push-bo-- die. Giant die. "I assume we are to play with these."

These things that are so huge, so heavy, that it may not be possible to move them into the cup. Or at all.

Ethius rubs at his right shoulder as he draws his quarterstaff. HE shouldn't be doing this to his arm. Nonetheless, he begins to consider whether or not he might be able to shove a die with a precise blow, and so, goes for that ultra-precise lunging technique he is fond of.

"Far Point!"

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Cup to Shake the Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

"Yeah... I guess a game of chance is appropriate to Chapapanga, isn't it?" Lunata sounds just a little bit shook that landmines actually turned out to be a thing for once. She should've expected it, given how obsessive Krosse has become about protecting its borders, but still...!

She peers towards the dice as they head on through, Ge Ramda... Ge Ramda still staying within her pack. "We're here again, Ge-Ge..." she looks towards Jacqueline and Catenna. "I think Ge Ramda has some kind of connection to the spirit that runs this place... this minister-ly looking guy. He called her... 'daughter'..."

A puzzled expression, as Lunie logic shines on through: "Does this mean Ge-Ge was once a skeleton baby??"

The matte black cube rumbles in despair inside her backpack. But nonetheless, Lunata reaches for her earring and concentrates on it, going, "And here's the next--!"

Meredin's earring explodes in a shower of elemental power, rocking another of the die to fall into the basin.

DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Meredin's Earrings toward her party's challenge, A Cup to Shake the Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna has given up trying to understand Ethius, to be totally honest with you.

She also has given up on the idea of pushing those gigantic die before she even tries, again to be totally honest with you. Looking up at them, Catenna makes a few mental calculations of just how much sheer mass she'd have to bleed off to give the group even a chance of joisting these things into the cup.

Ethius tries anyway. The priestess brings her fingertips to her temples and lets out a rush of breath through her nose.

"Chapapanga was always the most annoying Guardian to me," she mutters. Then, with a blink at Lunata, she nods. "...I see," she says as she begins to weave a spell. There's a low shimmer in the air as she sets to work trying to lighten up those big die, though she can't really take away that much of their mass. It'll mostly be up to the others.

DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Cup to Shake the Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline had been debating inwardly on whether or not she should decide what Heads and Tails meant beforehand, but...a part of her felt that would be cheating. They just needed to flip it and go with the feeling they got...though the crazy amount of landmines does put Jacqueline on edge a bit. Fortunately they're dealt with, and soon after, the mansion appears.

"This is it, I guess..." Jacqueline says, emerging from the Carakin and heading inside. She can see what Lunata meant about its aesthetic. Lunata explains when she meant before, though Jacqueline does kind of hesitate when she goes straight for 'skeleton baby'.

"No, um...I don't think that's it..." Jacqueline replies, as gently as possible.

More importantly...the giant dice ahead of them. She has no idea how they're actually supposed to move them. Physical strength was never her forte. Still, she does pass out a supply of bright red strength-enhancing potions before drawing out a Crest.

A pillar of earth shoots out at once of the dice, hoping it would be enough...

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, A Cup to Shake the Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

"Wagh!--" blurts the mess of pink hair as one of the landmines impacts at the wrong moment, thanks to the vibrations of the caravan driving across the sands. The detonation isn't close enough to catch them, thankfully - but it certainly wakes Shalune up, sending her bolting in surprise away from Lunata only to trip and fall into a mildly pained heap in the back of the cockpit. When she lifts her head again she's swirly-eyed, and having some trouble catching up to speed. "Baw..."

She doesn't look all that better as they move through the mansion's grounds to make their way inside, only perking up to cheer in surprise at the sight within. "Wah, so pretty - though it's kind of way too much at the same time, huh? But I guess we really did manage to find it again, hehe. That's CaraKin luck and Jay's super saving ways for you, huh?" she offers to Lunara with a bright grin--

--before stiffening at the sight of the earring in the palm of the waitress' hand.

"E-ehh-- is that thing really safe indoors--" asks the biggest hypocrite in the room before Ethius' Far Point blast goes off, sending the dice bouncing up into the air only for Lunata to follow it up. With tiny blobby tears in her eyes, Shalune's suddenly ducked low and scrabbled off towards the room's edge, trying to stay clear of the gigantic dice getting blasted around in several directions.

"I-I don't think this is how you're supposed to do it!" she wails, but even she bobbles briefly before flinging her own mini-explosives forward to join the pile. Maybe it'll be more random that way, right?!

DG: Shalune Amira has used her Tool Soup of the Day -Shalune Ver.- toward her party's challenge, A Cup to Shake the Heavens.
===================================================<* Fortune Gear *>===================================================
======================================<* CHALLENGE - A Cup to Shake the Heavens *>======================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 The entranceway to Fortune Gear is shrouded under a thick layer of earth,     
 though some supernatural presence retains its ostentatious appearance even    
 after the ages have rent upon it. A ghostly koto and shakuhachi sets the      
 mood as you step from sand to half-rotted bamboo mats, mechanical sliding     
 paper doors unfurling in order.                                               
                                                                               
 The parlour beyond is enormous, featuring a large clay cup at least twelve    
 feet in diameter... and a set of two giant dice, seemingly better sized for   
 a Gear than human hands. A large stone basin rests in the centre of the       
 room, and a gold, sealed door rests at the back.                              
                                                                               
                                  EVEN or ODD?                                 
                                                                               
                                                                               
 The instructions are clear. Only one problem remains: Do you have the         
 strength to lift the dice?                                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
==============================================<* Fortune Gear - Round 2 *>==============================================
========================================< Results - A Cup to Shake the Heavens >========================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunata Croze                        10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Meredin's Earrings                  1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   5 --(10)--> 15                 Fail
Brewte Force                        1   Brute   Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             10 --(10)--> 20                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shalune Amira                       5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Soup of the Day -Shalune Ver.-      3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Lunata Croze                15 --(35)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Treasure(1)|Vault(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Lunata Croze has passed this challenge! The party gained 35 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

As the five of them lack the direct muscular strength to properly lift the dice, they all have to improvise. That the first die Ethius strikes moves appreciably (and dangerously, holy crap it could have crushed someone if it rebounded off the wall hard enough), which emboldens the rest to use their own means. Catenna and Jay help set up the rest of the effort through means of gravitational control and a pillar to help get one of them up in the air... then the matter turns towards getting it all inside the cup.

Then Lunata and Shalune bring upon the explosives, and things get crazy for a while as the giant dice roll all over the place. There are brushes with death as the dice bounce off the rim of the basin mockingly, at such speed that they at last...

...embed themselves in the nearby walls.

The door opens anyway. It comes to Ethius' mind that not one of them really tried to call 'even' or 'odd.' As chance would have it, 'getting the dice stuck in the wall' counts as a match for 'neither.'

That or Chapapanga found it too funny and just wasn't going to call them on it.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Bet on Red... Blood *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Sand trickles before your eyes; within mere moments, a large stone garden     
 has surfaced from mesh slats. A giant board sits in the middle, a five by     
 five board, with... your faces in the centre, and other kinds of monsters     
 all around you!                                                               
                                                                               
 A nearby Tatzelwurm devours a poor Balloon -- and a red mark appears on its   
 square! This looks like an all-out violent race to form a horizontal or       
 diagonal match... with your life on the line!                                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Suffer, Injure=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

That's just how luck works sometimes, after all. Sometimes you manage to trip right into the solution. It looks like they're not going to get away with it that easily, however - as the party progresses, sand from the surrounding area starts to fall around them...and soon, a large stone garden emerges from beneath them. There's a giant five-by-five board of some kind present in the middle.

Their faces are in the center. It's probably not a good idea to question how it got their likenesses. More importantly, they're suddenly surrounded on all sides by all kinds of monsters.

This is one thing Jacqueline doesn't want to leave to chance. She backpedals quickly, to get closer to the others so there's less risk of any of them getting separated. And then she draws out a Crest, invoking tendrils of earth that shoot out and seek to strike at the monsters that are closing in on them.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Bet on Red... Blood.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Oh, damn it. it's a board game. Catenna doesn't like board games. Staring at the giant board, the priestess begins to move her hand towards her sword.

And here comes the Tatzelwurm, going after the Balloons - violently slashing away to try and form a line on the board. Catenna immediately seizes up as she realizes what the game is.

Butcher her way to victory.

The priestess closes her eyes and clutches her hand at her collar. "This is wrong," she murmurs. "Chapapanga, what manner of cruelty is this, to expend the lives of these beasts as though they were mere pieces on a gameboard...?"

There are many reasons Catenna dislikes Chapapanga; this is just another one on the list. Nevertheless, she begins to muster up a spell. Drawing in her breath, she chants a few soft words -

And aims her spell not at the monsters in front of her, but across the room, at the Tatzelwurm. The power of gravity seizes the creature, struggling to drive it to the ground and hold it there. She may be in no hurry to slaughter monsters, but Catenna can at least slow down the competition for those who are a little more comfortable with wanton butchery* than she might be.


* See Hesiod, E.

DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, Bet on Red... Blood.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

"This Ruin can pick you out, somehow," Lunata mumbles a little as she stares towards their faces. "Just be careful, or it might reveal secrets about yourself you'd rather not..." she shivers for a moment, as if some horrible and ungainly secret about her had been revealed. Or perhaps it has... in Lunata's eyes. Be careful, Chapapanga...

She draws that mask that they'd been decorating, slipping it on as she stalks towards several of the closer monsters. "That one! We just have to defeat enough to form a line, I'm sure!"

The gasmask is strangely ghastly, with a skeletal feature that would be menacing... if it weren't just plain ol' Lunata from the neck down, and the aesthetic doesn't really mesh. Still, she charges forward, her katana drawn -- and cleaves through the nearest Tatzelwurm, a little 'ding!' popping up on the bingo board.

DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Ghastly Gas Mask toward her party's challenge, Bet on Red... Blood.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius takes notice of their likenesses on that center square of the board, and his expression darkens noticeably. Maybe this whole matter might have been a trap, all along...

But the theories can wait until later. He isn't a particularly interesting participant beyond Catenna's precaution being well-warranted as Ethius gets to work on casting a heat-element Symbology spell to try and horribly melt (or at least exhaust) one such distant creature in order to continue to form a proper bingo line as appears to have been decided upon.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

Eventually, the smoke clears, and a tiny pink blob has curled up into the foetal position, her hands clasped onto the top of her bobble hat. "I-is it over?... uuu..." she burbles, swirly-eyed still as she staggers through the door and reaches for Lunata to cling onto her arm rather hard. "Y-Y'know, it kinda feels like this run-through is a lot more hectic... maybe that's the price for pushing our luck or something?" she burbles almost to herself.

Fortunately, she's the sort to bounce back quickly, and by the time the board of pieces makes itself clear under them, she's brushed herself down and picked herself up - especially when she beams in surprise and recognition. "Oh! --I remember this one, yeah! Try to clump them up if you can? Lunie, you should go around to the right of that one and push him down! Mr. Hesiod, can you do a line of boom?" she directs, pulling out the Little Dipper for good measure.

It might not be an Agility challenge, but she's still got the ability to hover high enough in the air that she can see the whole board, calling out instructions to those below.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Bet on Red... Blood.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Bet on Red... Blood.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Bet on Red... Blood *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Sand trickles before your eyes; within mere moments, a large stone garden     
 has surfaced from mesh slats. A giant board sits in the middle, a five by     
 five board, with... your faces in the centre, and other kinds of monsters     
 all around you!                                                               
                                                                               
 A nearby Tatzelwurm devours a poor Balloon -- and a red mark appears on its   
 square! This looks like an all-out violent race to form a horizontal or       
 diagonal match... with your life on the line!                                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Suffer, Injure=====================================
=========================<* Fortune Gear - Round 3 *>=========================
======================< Results - Bet on Red... Blood >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunata Croze                        15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Ghastly Gas Mask                    1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             20 --(5)--> 25                 Pass
Celesdue Medium                     2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shalune Amira                       10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Lunata Croze                50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Maim|Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Lunata Croze 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

...Secrets? Jacqueline didn't like the sound of that. Not that she really had any world-shattering secrets, but...it was still a matter of privacy!

Chapapanga doesn't seem to be about to provide an answer to Catenna's question, however. Her spells do prove fruitful, however, in slowing down the monsters - it allows them the party to lead them around much more effectively, so that - with Shalune offering them directions from the air, they can more easily dispatch only the ones they need to in order to form a line.

Eventually, as Ethius melts the last poor unsuspecting monster, a line is formed across the board. It lights up with a 'ding-ding-ding' and sand - no wait, confetti - falls around the party as the stone garden and the board return from whence it came, and the way forward is opened.

DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Fortune Gear *>================================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Now You're Just Riiching *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The floor drops as the manor rearranges itself, bringing you to a large       
 table layered in green carpet sits in the middle, with comfortable floor      
 cushions to seat the players. Rows upon rows of ivory tiles with various      
 characters are stacked in the four cardinal directions: depicting the         
 Dragons, depicting the Winds, depicting suites of bamboo, dots and            
 characters... It would seem that there is a pattern to this game, but it is   
 unlikely that it has survived to see much play in modern Filgaia.             
                                                                               
 You won't have much time to figure it out, however -- groups of ghostly       
 gamblers, resembling a lanky man in a yukata with tattoos covering his arms   
 -- emerges to challenge you. And they have perfect knowledge of how the game  
 goes.                                                                         
                                                                               
                                     "Chii!"                                   
                                                                               
                                     "Pon!"                                    
                                                                               
                                    "Tsumo!"                                   
                                                                               
                                                                               
 There's even a language component to this game!                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

'ding-ding-ding-ding'

Catenna looks up with a certain suspicion as confetti begins to fall around the group. She doesn't especially feel like celebrating.

And then something clicks below them. Catenna looks down this time as a growing realization builds in the pit of her stomach.

"Chapapanga, you are the worst," she says, before the floor swings out from beneath the group and everyone goes falling down a very, very long shaft, plummeting deeper into the mansion.

Only some trick of gravity prevents everyone from going splat; the landings are a bit rough, but manageable. Catenna hits the ground on her knees and groans, before blinking as she realized she landed on a cushion. In fact, there are several cushions, and they're arrayed around a green carpet. Several ivory tiles are scattered about, depicting various characters, from bamboo shoots to dots to Dragons.

Catenna blinks a couple of times before something calls out:

"Chii!"
"Pon!"
"Tsumo!"

A ghostly gambler and his entourage appear, grinning expectantly.

Catenna lowers her eyelids deeply. "Chapapanga, I hate you," she says flatly.

DG: Catenna has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Now You're Just Riiching.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

Lunata rubs at her rear as Catenna's magic just scarcely prevents them from going splat and more just 'oww', wincing as she says, "Thanks, Miss Catenna... this place is really somethin' else, I wonder how much it cost to build?"

The quiet rumble from inside her backpack seems to indicate 'too much'. Catenna's not the only one not having a good time, it seems.

"I... seriously don't get this game... there's so many games that aren't played nowadays," Lunata admits. "Is it like... cards? And what's a 'Chii'? Or a 'Pon'?"

One of the gamblers goes, "Riichi!"

Lunata perks up. "I know what a Lich is! Ge Ramda is one!"

DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Now You're Just Riiching.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

Still on the back of the Little Dipper, Shalune has to yelp and immediately point the nose of the craft downwards, gunning it down after the others as the mansion bizarrely warps around her. She barely has time to take some glimpses of the mechanisms at play before the group as a whole come just short of slamming into the floor of the next room - and she too bobs in place as the Little Dipper's engines whine oddly against the impaired gravity, just about managing to throw herself off before her scooter clatters across the floor.

For a long moment, she stares at the tiles and hands arranged in front of her, going momentarily cross-eyed at the sight. But it's obviously some kinda code, and if it's a code she can-- oh--

"Oh! It's like Rummy! Y'know, with playing cards? So if you collect sets of three and four--"

A mechanical arm hinges out of one wall next to her all of a sudden, making her jump; it twists, and then swings up to reveal a small flag in a very warning shade of red, with 'FURITEN' written across it. Undaunted by the way Shalune shrinks back, it plants it amongst the weave of her bobble hat. "Weh-- what? A-aw, come onnn~!"

DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Now You're Just Riiching.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius' landing is, similarly, rough but doesn't pile on to the list of recovering injuries from that encounter out in that unwelcome ambush from that brutish Quarter Knight. When he hears names call out... 'chii,' 'pon,' 'riichi,' a hand goes to his forehead...

He gets that Spectral Lens out again on reflex, but there are no strange, sneaky traps or mechanical devices in connection to anything dangerous he can see. Just those pieces. Those designs. Those words. Those arrangements.

This is his first time here. By his recollection, going back about as far as two years around this time, he does not remember encountering anything like this. This place, those (former) people, the tiles, the designs... his eyes narrow, then shut closed as he lowers the Spectral Lens away from his face.

"I believe I understand the game that we are being challenged to play." Which direction is the party being seated? He believes he understands, but it troubles him as to the hows or whys of it all. It was strange enough with football - both the idea that he knew how to play it, and that others knew how to play it - it's even stranger now with this.

Once Ethius is clear on the present flow of the game (anti-clockwise), he comes to a realization although he does not have the context behind these thoughts other than the thought itself...

They may be in position to rob a Kong. That would be a welcome play.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Now You're Just Riiching.
================================<* Fortune Gear *>================================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Now You're Just Riiching *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The floor drops as the manor rearranges itself, bringing you to a large       
 table layered in green carpet sits in the middle, with comfortable floor      
 cushions to seat the players. Rows upon rows of ivory tiles with various      
 characters are stacked in the four cardinal directions: depicting the         
 Dragons, depicting the Winds, depicting suites of bamboo, dots and            
 characters... It would seem that there is a pattern to this game, but it is   
 unlikely that it has survived to see much play in modern Filgaia.             
                                                                               
 You won't have much time to figure it out, however -- groups of ghostly       
 gamblers, resembling a lanky man in a yukata with tattoos covering his arms   
 -- emerges to challenge you. And they have perfect knowledge of how the game  
 goes.                                                                         
                                                                               
                                     "Chii!"                                   
                                                                               
                                     "Pon!"                                    
                                                                               
                                    "Tsumo!"                                   
                                                                               
                                                                               
 There's even a language component to this game!                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Click.

Jacqueline looks down as the floor suddenly falls out from before them, causing them to plummet down, down, down into a deeper section of the mansion. She loses track of how long they're falling, she only knows that when they do finally stop, it's...surprisingly less fatal than she expected.

In fact, she finds herself landing atop a comfortable cushion. Not that it did anything to lessen the impact of the landing.

As such, Jacqueline ends up a little dazed upon, her glasses askew. It takes her a second to recover, straightening herself up as she stares up at the ghostly gambler and his entourage.

"U-um...?" Jacqueline starts, confused. It takes her a moment to look over what it is they're doing...though Shalune makes a comment that helps a bit.

"Oh, I see..." She murmurs. It's even more of a surprise when Ethius says he understands.

Of course, while understanding helped, they still had to win. That was another matter entirely, and Jacqueline isn't entirely sure she's up to it...

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Now You're Just Riiching.
================================<* Fortune Gear *>================================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Now You're Just Riiching *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The floor drops as the manor rearranges itself, bringing you to a large       
 table layered in green carpet sits in the middle, with comfortable floor      
 cushions to seat the players. Rows upon rows of ivory tiles with various      
 characters are stacked in the four cardinal directions: depicting the         
 Dragons, depicting the Winds, depicting suites of bamboo, dots and            
 characters... It would seem that there is a pattern to this game, but it is   
 unlikely that it has survived to see much play in modern Filgaia.             
                                                                               
 You won't have much time to figure it out, however -- groups of ghostly       
 gamblers, resembling a lanky man in a yukata with tattoos covering his arms   
 -- emerges to challenge you. And they have perfect knowledge of how the game  
 goes.                                                                         
                                                                               
                                     "Chii!"                                   
                                                                               
                                     "Pon!"                                    
                                                                               
                                    "Tsumo!"                                   
                                                                               
                                                                               
 There's even a language component to this game!                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
===========================<* Fortune Gear - Round 4 *>===========================
======================< Results - Now You're Just Riiching >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunata Croze                        20 --(20)--> 40                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   20 --(20)--> 40                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       15 --(20)--> 35                Fail
Spectral Lens                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             25 --(20)--> 45                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shalune Amira                       15 --(20)--> 35                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Lunata Croze                70 --(10)--> 80                Fail
Conditions: Treasure(1)|Vault(1)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Lunata Croze 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> Catenna has posed.

Catenna stares at Ethius and Shalune as if the two of them had just told her their hovercrafts were full of eels.

With Lunie, Jay and Catenna really having no idea, it's up to Ethius and the other Lunie to win the game for Team CaraKin. The gambler ghost sits down at the table and waits for the two of them to make their move.

Shalune gets the FURITEN for her trouble. Okay, so I guess it's up to Ethius.

The gambler looks at him.

And then pulls out an arm-mounted device of some sort, completely switches games on Ethius, and starts playing a children's card game, complete with a three-headed white dragon with blue eyes. The rules change every round. Within three rounds, the ghost gambler is slapping down his t-t-t-TRAP CARD.

The ivory tiles begin to turn red in sequence. Something goes buzz far overhead.

Catenna lowers her eyelids. "Chapapanga, you are literally the divine equivalent of a manchild," she says, before letting out a scream as the entire room turns sideways and the wall opens up to dump the CaraKin team towards Chapapanga-knows-where.

DG: Shalune Amira has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Final Round *>=======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 No matter how small or large one's winnings are, gamblers all go to one       
 place in the end: to the cashier, to cash in their chips to claim their       
 hard-earned prizes.                                                           
                                                                               
                                   "Not yet."                                  
                                                                               
                                                                               
 ... that would, at least, be the plan -- if it weren't for a malevolent (but  
 not Malevolent) spirit rising out from the cashier booth. He resembles a      
 finely dressed man with a tall hat and refined, flowing robes.                
                                                                               
               "A gambler shall always play until the last round."             
                                                                               
                                                                               
 The spectre raises his arms, and a swarm of ornate matchlock pistols and      
 jade-tinged blades rise to surround him. And i that weren't enough, a         
 barrier of coins tinged with the power of greed manifests around his ghostly  
 form.                                                                         
                                                                               
                     "My final bet... is my soul! Ante up!"                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

Whether or not Chapapanga deigns it, the game eventually devolves into something vastly different than it started -- and eventually dumps the group in a particularly grandiose chamber, whose quality is vastly more well-constructed and maintained than the rest of the ailing Ruin.

It is a large chamber of reds and golds, of opulent sitting rooms and drinking tables, with a cashier's counter at the end. Ge Ramda emerges from the cube and manifests as a spirit once more...

... and a column of purple smoke rises to meet her. The spirit within is an old man in his 50s, dressed in refined robes fitting of a magister's... from some kind of kingdom or country that doesn't exist anymore, complete with a tall hat that's as long as his face.

"You are not fit to besmirch these grand halls, daughter," announces the spirit.

Ge Ramda glowers, as Lunata winces to go, "H-hey, if this is a family problem, we can resolve this peacefully, right...?"

"You turned your back on this house!" he accuses. "I built this manor with my mercantile skills and guile, with my own two hands! You turned your back upon me in favour of your faith..."

He hisses, as an array of opulent weapons -- jade-tinged katanas and gilded ARMs -- surround him.

"You have no right to stand here! Begone, all of you!"

Lunata winces and slips the mask on again, hissing, "I guess not!"

DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Ghastly Gas Mask toward her party's challenge, The Final Round.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

This time, Shalune is more prepared for it - she feels the room start to lurch and rolls with it, instinctively identifying the juddering motion that signifies the mansion's architecture starting to shift and grind. The whole room suddenly feels as if it's in sideways motion, and the pink-haired mechanic flattens against the back wall - before the sudden deceleration throws her forwards into another diving roll and a push brings her back up to her feet. She's got just enough time to reflexively pull one shoulder forwards and up, letting her barge rather unceremoniously through the door.

"Ah-- it's here!" she blurts at the sight of the treasures around them, glancing back to Lunata before looking to the others with wide eyes. "This is the centre! Uh, the treasury, or the throne room or somethin'! Somewhere at the back there's a big--"

Whatever she was about to say is cut off by the spirit's appearance. In response Shalune immediately cowers, glancing across at Lunata as the angry spirit lets slip just a little more in the way of information about Ge Ramda's past - but at the same time she grits her teeth, and slips her staff out of her pack to extend it into its full shape.

Something inside of her twists a little at the ghostly merchant's words - it's an unpleasant feeling, and she doesn't really like it. "--no father worth anything would just-- give up on his daughter instead of supporting her!" she yells back. "Did you even try to understand her, or were you too busy countin' coins?!" On impulse, she lifts the staff to her shoulder, braces, and fires a blast forwards.

DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Final Round.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"Owwww," Catenna groans as she lands hard. She begins to pull herself to her feet, wincing. Something shoots through her like an alarm klaxon, and she cringes as she reaches down to press a hand to her hip. Her distaste for the Guardian of Luck is growing by the minute.

And then, that column of smoke arises to meet them - the shape of a magister from a kingdom long past, in a ludicrously tall hat. A man judging Lunata's ghostly companion unfit to be within these walls.

"A family problem...?" Catenna murmurs, her eyes darting towards Ge Ramda as she begins to put a few things together in her mind. But then, Ge Ramda has always been one of the more bizarre manifestations of Guardian magic....

Katanas manifest around the spirit. Catenna hangs back, rolling to one knee and brushing her fingertips over her own Medium. She utters a soft word, unhearable save to those within a few feet of her.

A source of gravity manifests itself in front of her. A persistent pressure begins to act on that orbiting ring of weapons - and one by one, Catenna attempts to steal the Magister's weapons out of the air.

She even tries to grab one of the katanas for herself, because sometimes Catenna's an opportunist.

DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, The Final Round.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius stares at the changing rules of the table, and finds himself at a loss before they're all simply dumped off into another chamber entirely. He was about to have a number of pointed questions. He's sent tumbling along into the next chamber in a tactical roll that ends with him in a crouch as he sees a great big plume of smoke... and Lunata having one sort of one-sided conversation, of some sort, as others join in. Ethius rises, looking about himself as he takes stock of the surroundings. As if anticipating there are openings in which trouble might filter in--

It does, if not in the way he expects, as numerous weapons built for display all are brandished at thin air. Some of them look like - and are - ARMs.

"I'm tossing down cover." Working in concert with Catenna's attempts, he prepares a Powder Grenade through the usual Symbological spellcasting, and flings the smokebomb right into the floating mass of weapons.

With Ethius' assistance, the array of floating gilded ARMs will likely not be an issue - their mechanisms will be too jammed full of dust and other fine granular matter to work.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, The Final Round.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"N-not again!" Jacqueline calls out, as the party finds themselves once more dumped elsewhere. This time, into a large, opulent chamber. Ge Ramda emerges...and so does a column of purple smoke, taking the form of a man.

Jacqueline frowns as she picks herself up off the floor, brushes herself off, and readjusts her glasses.

"I can understand being proud of where your mercantile skills have taken you...but they mean nothing if you don't have anyone to share it with. You shouldn't turn her away. It's a miracle that the two of you are even able to be here talking with each other in the first place, after all this time." Jacqueline says, shaking her head.

...But it seems like he won't be deterred.

"But if fighting is what you want...so be it."

Jacqueline reaches into her bags...and draws out the Coin once more. She flips it high into the air...

...And, in one swift motion before it lands, draws a Crest and random and invokes it toward the Minister.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Final Round.
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Final Round *>=======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 No matter how small or large one's winnings are, gamblers all go to one       
 place in the end: to the cashier, to cash in their chips to claim their       
 hard-earned prizes.                                                           
                                                                               
                                   "Not yet."                                  
                                                                               
                                                                               
 ... that would, at least, be the plan -- if it weren't for a malevolent (but  
 not Malevolent) spirit rising out from the cashier booth. He resembles a      
 finely dressed man with a tall hat and refined, flowing robes.                
                                                                               
               "A gambler shall always play until the last round."             
                                                                               
                                                                               
 The spectre raises his arms, and a swarm of ornate matchlock pistols and      
 jade-tinged blades rise to surround him. And i that weren't enough, a         
 barrier of coins tinged with the power of greed manifests around his ghostly  
 form.                                                                         
                                                                               
                     "My final bet... is my soul! Ante up!"                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=========================<* Fortune Gear - Round 5 *>=========================
========================< Results - The Final Round >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunata Croze                        40 --(5)--> 45                 Pass
Ghastly Gas Mask                    1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   40 --(5)--> 45                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       35 --(5)--> 40                 Pass
Powder Grenade                      3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             45 --(5)--> 50                 Pass
Celesdue Medium                     2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shalune Amira                       35 --(10)--> 45                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Lunata Croze                80 --(35)--> 115               Pass
Conditions: Treasure(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Lunata Croze has successfully explored Fortune Gear!
==============================<* Fortune Gear *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Heavy Scroll *>========================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The spirit hisses into a shower of ephemeral motes and disappears without a   
 trace. A heavy scroll drops onto the floor where he once was.                 
                                                                               
 The scroll's weight is substantial, and the paper is luxurious. The           
 characters are of ancient means and difficult to decipher -- you may need a   
 scholar versed in the Zeboim era in order to interpret this.                  
                                                                               
 (You should send a +Request about this discovery!)                            
                                                                               
 For a moment, just as you're about to leave, you catch a glimpse of a tiny    
 statue -- undoubtedly, the Statue of Chapapanga, the Guardian of Luck! But    
 then it flits out of sight... you will have to return later.                  
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

The battle is short and swift, much like many of the exchanges between gamblers. Lunata gets brushed aside by the overwhelming spin of katanas -- but Catenna weighs down his weapons and makes the spinning blender of death decidedly less... deathy, perhaps even grabbing one for herself!

"Just look at her now... it should be clear to you what became of her faith!" the spirit roars in response to Shalune, as he recoils from the blast from her shotstaff. He fires not bullets from his guns in return at her, but coins, just in case you didn't understand his greed theme...

...which jams a moment later after the first volley, thanks to Ethius' powder-covered approach resulting in what we may be able to call a stock (market) crash as the coins fail to fire, stuffed full of debris.

"Hmph! You cannot possibly comprehend my mercantile means!" the spirit responds to Jacqueline, but is suddenly struck by her random-casting, which proves... effective! Perhaps it's the power of Chapapanga here...

Ge Ramda lets out a low howl, and suddenly presses forward as he's pinned down. With those spectral claws, she seizes him in one go--

"Just where has it taken you, daughter?! You must lament..."

--and crushes him. Not physically, but on a spiritual level... the Reaper has come to Reap what the father has sown, as it were.

The spirit disappears into an incandescent trail of lines... and a heavy-set scroll in expensive vellum rolls onto the ground... as well as a long, ornate smoking pipe.

Lunata blinks a few times and goes, "Ge-Ge..."

The lich doesn't answer -- she never does -- but she does take a moment... before picking the pipe, leaving the scroll behind, and holding it in a manner that seems... strangely nostalgic to her.

Her roar is low and quietly sorrowful...

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

... and perhaps, Catenna is exactly correct in her assessment, because in the din of that silence...

A shimmering presence pops up before them for a moment -- it's the Statue of Chapapanga! It's about a foot tall, gilded with gold, with a :D face as it bobs left and right--

--and then a little laugh echoes from somewhere, before it flits out of sight, up, up and away! Geez, do you even want your statue sealed, or do you just want it destroyed?!

Jerk.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna does in fact get ahold of one of the weapons. It's a smaller sword, probably of a type Catenna doesn't know how to use all that well yet. Nevertheless, she looks down at it, shrugs, and slips it into her off hand, point to the ground.

The priestess looks on with a quiet frown at Lunata's lich. She stands, brushing herself off without thinking about it. A flicker of sadness reaches her expression, as if sharing in the lich's sorrow without fully understanding it all.

But then, 'not fully understanding it all' seems to be par for the course when one's dealing with Ge Ramda, she reminds herself.

The sight of the statue is just enough for Catenna to widen her eyes, and then narrow them with a flicker of irritation that pushes aside some of the thought she's given to the lich situation. The...

... the lichuation.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius rounds the entire perimeter of the chamber after tossing down the Powder Grenade, both ignorant of the drama of the lich and the lingering tethers of her time alive, and that of the nature of the statue that just escapes them. It may well be that the statue lingers in Ethius' gaze for far longer than most, as if a joke at his expense at being unaware that Chapapanga's popular depictions do put him as being miniscule in comparison to his peers.

That would be kind of funny, wouldn't it. (He's not sure what's so funny, or who's even laughing.)

He keeps a palm sweeped out as though ready to cast another Symbological spell at any time, should anything else leap out from the gold and red walls.

He's still not taking any chances.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline's coin falls to the ground with a ping just as the battle concludes.

Heads.

Jacqueline reaches down and picks it up, looking it over before stowing it back in her bags.

She looks up as Ge Ramda seizes her father...and crushes him. Jacqueline frowns slightly. Was this really the best way for things to end...? Well, it was too late for that.

A scroll and a pipe fall to the ground, the latter of which is picked up by Ge Ramda, who lets out a mourful roar.

"Ge Ramda..." Jacqueline murmurs, and starts to move toward her...but suddenly, there's a shimmer, and a Statue appears before them! As they thought, it was Chapapanga. Jacqueline quickly reaches for her Sealing Rod as the statue dances left and right...and then fliiies out of sight.

Jacqueline sighs, shaking her head. ...Well, that was certainly a distraction, but it does serve a convenient purpose - as she tries to regain her composure from Chapapanga's taunting, her attention is drawn to the scroll.

"...What's that?" She asks. She can't help but be curious. As always, Jacqueline had an interest in books, scrolls, and other such writings.

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

Lunata does kind of cast her eyes away from the lich to give her some respectful pause... she looks to Catenna for a moment, saying, "We found one of those swords on our first time through. It's the same kind of blade Ge-Ge turns into... were you interested in it?"

She does look at Ethius as he scans for further threats, but settles on Jay as she peers at the scroll. "It looks really ancient... knowing him, though, it's probably just a laundry list of his riches and accomplishments..."

A pause. "Well, I suppose that could teach us a thing or two..."

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"I think this one might be a little shorter," Catenna says as she holds the sword out, the flat of the blade resting against her off hand. "It is an interesting weapon... I am not sure I am skilled enough to use it, however. Perhaps it is something I could learn."

Stepping over to Jacqueline and Lunata, she looks over their shoulders at the scroll. "Even if it is, it could explain a few things. But I should think there is more to it than that. At least, I should hope that is the case. Perhaps if we could find someone to decipher it...."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

A laundry list of riches and accomplishments... Well, that didn't exactly sound enticing, but there could be interesting information in there.

Jacqueline moves over to pick up the scroll. She's very careful about, just in case it's fragile. She opens it up, only to find a language she can't understand.

"This is...hm." Jacqueline comments with a frown. "I think it might be...Zeboim? I recognize the writing, but...I don't actually know any of it..."

She shakes her head, closing the scroll again and nodding toward Catenna.

"Yeah. Let's see...we could try asking Lily. She has an interest in Zeboim culture, she might be able to help... Otherwise, we'll have to find someone else. Maybe in November City." She considers.