2018-02-11: Something's Rotten in Krosse
- Log: Something's Rotten in Krosse
- Cast: Loren Voss, Yarobeleedt, Jean, Lydia Seren
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: February 11th 2018
- Summary: Things are amiss in Krosse. Loren gathers a pair of likely-looking Drifters to go investigate the checkpoint further. He's joined by a Special Guest. Things go about as well as they usually do.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss 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=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Something's rotten in Krosse. According to the Major, they lost contact with all their agents beyond the borders, which would be troubling even under the best of situations. Not a single one has been reporting in.
Already, he's had his finger at least close to the pulse of the nation as he has traveled within the closed borders of the country.
False papers get you everywhere.
He's learned a few things. One is the state of the people alone -- paranoia and distrust run high.
Another is the fate of those from other lands caught within the borders -- shuttled off to checkpoints, apparently not to be seen (by the locals) again.
The orders that came in were straightforward: investigate the checkpoint, and don't run afoul of the ones running it.
They might not be able to spare resources for a rescue, or anything more direct.
He'd done what any pragmatic medic-turned-investigator would do in his position:
He'd gone and drawn recruits from a pool of Drifters*.
(*meaning the only ones he could find)
The wooden walls outside the checkpoint are high but not impassibly so, and even more importantly, have breaks every so often, allowing access into the compound. More to the point though: the soldiers on patrol just outside the fortifications.
"That's the Royal Guard," 'Thomas' murmurs, squinting through the brush a distance away. "They're certainly sparing a bunch of them, all the way out here..." He touches a hand to the frame of his glasses, watching the movement of the soldiers carefully.
The way he'd put it, he'd lost contact with a friend of his, suspected he'd been taken into custody by the soldiers here, and wanted to try a rescue if the man could be found.
This is, at least on paper, a rescue mission.
"Watch your timing. We might be able to slip past them and through one of the breaks. Assuming, of course, that all goes well. ...I suppose at least they probably won't kill us if we're caught."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The involvement of one person here is, as far as they themselves know, completely separate of any actors. There's been a whole lot of talk about the humans of Krosse acting all weird and defensive. Normally it's a great thing when humans are at each other's throats, for Metal Demons to cackle at the lack of cohesion among the human species. It makes things easier! They can go about their conquest of Filgaia by hunting down the statues while the humans fight one another.
Then Yarobeleedt wonders. What if they're holing up because they found a statue? Previous excursions around the area did not turn up anything like that, but that's the only reason in the tunnel vision that is his mind at the moment. Must be a statue! Better go break it!
The foul half-melted creature burrows underground, out of sight of the others. He already has seen how thick the checkpoints are. So he'll just dig underneath them and nobody will be any the wiser... aside from the more perceptive among them feeling tremors of movement underneath.
Or someone using a special sight tool to see some kind of slug-bug-snake-whatever thing burrowing through the dirt a ways underneath them.
Hopefully they didn't pound some big heavy metal stakes too deep into the ground, or something, to just incidentally stop this otherwise easy route deeper into Krosse.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean, of course, does need money--living off the grid, living on the outskirts, it requires supplies. It requires a lot. ...And that's not just her booze, either, though that's a factor. But that, ultimately, is not why she took this job working with Loren.
She took it because people disappearing without a trace is very much her business, and she treats it with gravity. ...But now she's here, dressed in seemingly civilian clothes, with her fans, lithe and ready to move. Her hair is back under her cloth.
"That is str--" Jean stops, and frowns, closing her eyes. "...Something..." She feels it moving, frowns. "Just be careful. Even if they're not going to kill us, I don't exactly relish being a prisoner. ...We can fight our way out if we have to, but..."
She'd prefer a peaceful solution, anyway. "I'll take your lead here. I'll just sneak like usual... All this infiltration stuff..."
It's not actually over her head. But she doesn't like to think about it.
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Directly Indirect.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia owes Thomas Blackwell one even if he is kind of an ass, but he is an ass that stopped her from committing suicide when in those baskar ruins (well sort of he wasn't talkign to her but nevertheless)--so there's that. Her horn has even, somehow?, healed since the encounter with Berserk but nobody around now was here there so it's probably nothin' anyone is noticing anyway.
"Ugh, I'm so done with being a prisoner." Lydia tells Jean. She lets Schrodinger (the cat) down and lets it wonder towards the guard station.
Is... is Lydia trying to distract the guards with a cute meowing cat? It's probably not the worst plan.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Schrodinger the Cat 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Schrodinger the Cat 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Jean, he's met before. One of these days, he ought to try and ask her a few questions. Even if there are some amidst command who don't seem to want to listen when it comes to rumors of people from the moon.
Even if he can't, considering, blame them for that.
"I don't plan on getting caught, and I would hope you wouldn't, either." He'd never live it down. "But it'll cause a problem if we fight our way out." He grimaces. "What a pain..."
Lydia, on the other hand, still doesn't have a face he can place -- but there was the way she moved in Fortune Gear that nags at his memory. He's been watching her, with mild interest. "...Like I said, try not to cause a problem," he tells her. "...Really, a cat?"
Schrodinger the cat sallies forth.
"Meow."
"Hey, what was that sound?"
"Sounded like a cat! Let's go check!"
Loren, back behind cover, slowly facepalms. "Come on. Move quickly," he urges Jean and Lydia, tugging at the former's wrist, before ducking low and making a dead run for the break in the fortifications.
Underground, Yarobeleedt meets no obstacles. Despite the relatively recent construction of some of these fortifications, no one has jammed anything deep into the earth. What a relief!
Loren, of course, has a certain affinity with that same element. Between that and the lenses in his glasses--
He doesn't pull up and stop until they're behind cover near the fortifications -- to do otherwise would be suicide of one type or another.
"Something's under us," he says to Jean and Lydia, voice low. "I doubt it's friendly. I hope you're armed."
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
============================================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>============================================ ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - The Dogs of War *>============================================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Not all of the guardians of this place are human. Not even all of them are particularly natural. Warhounds, raised and trained by the chief magical officer of this Royal Guard detachment, are typically dangerous all on their loneseome. But now, as the telltale signs of Malevolence broil off them, as they begin to warp into more monstrous, Hellionized forms -- the danger of these creatures have grown in a much more profound way, especially in the implications of their existence. Questions to be asked later, perhaps; for now, it's probably best to deal with these Hellhounds before they deal with you. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The trio above find themselves in a more lightly defended part of the military checkpoint, which is good for them. It gives them time to get together, strategize over the lay of the land, and figure out their next move from there. Thanks to Lor-- Thomas, pardon. Thanks to Thomas' astute observations, he can keep watch on the thing that's wriggling and digging about underneath them...
And then, rapidly, surfacing to an explosion of upturned soil and rock, as some metallic ochre naga-slug-whatever surfaces, brandishing two mismatched arms that terminate not in hands, but bladed weapons that further reconfigure themselves into other weapons of a nature that is not important other than to convey the issue of an inhuman issue inbound.
"Fufufu. Hide? So much skin in one place! So can see. Easy easy." The thing... Yarobeleedt... cackles, rubbing their forearms together with ear-splitting screechy grinds. "Finder, keeper, loser, weeper! Weepest. Is both chaff and weep."
The foul thing turns around to the three of them and rises up with a startle. "What!! You here? You hear? Here hear? Hear here?? Nononono. Not if ear go here." He raises a scythe-arm, feeling especially emboldened in the moment by Yarobeleedt standards, when...
Barking that echoes in a deeper and more guttural growling unnatural to any living creature's throat. The Metal Demon looks over his shoulder, towards a set of three warhounds whose fur coats are aflame to the purple blaze of Malevolence. They begin to circle, barking and gnashing their teeth as liquid Malevolence seeps out their jaws.
That incomprehensible Yarobeleedt promptly decides to just go back down underground anyway, because those warhounds are loud and also now no longer his problem.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, The Dogs of War.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Yeah, fair," Jean says to Lydia, looking her over again. ...She has things to talk about with her, especially given her... change, but they haven'thad the chance yet in this. It's at least good to see her intact. But the cat--well. The... cat. It's not the worst plan. However--
Jean finds herself dragged along by a Loren who seems very concerned about her. ...And very troubled by all this. "Hey--" She stumbles a little when jerked, turns her ankle just slightly, but grits her teeth and gets going. Until... They... End up somewhere more lightly defended, and Jean stretches a little. "Mm," she says to Loren about something here. "...I'm armed." It comes off as somethingof a sigh; she's not relishing this. ...She's relishing it less when something rushes out, and Jean's eyes narrow.
"What...?" Her lips sort of curl in surprise and disgust and a little confusion, seeing them until--Malevolence.
Jean travels with the Lord of Calamity. Jean understands Malevolence better than most.
...So when faced with the danger, she looks to the others for a moment, and--certainly to Loren's chagrin--pulls a flask. "Well," she says, and uncaps it, tipping it back and taking a long drink before putting it away with an "Ahh..."
She grins a moment, putting on the facade, and brings out her fans. "Come on, then."
Jean dives straight into combat.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Emergency Liquor toward her party's challenge, The Dogs of War.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Nobody can resist a cat," Lydia tells Loren. "Even people allergic to cats will risk it if it's a cute enough cat. That's a fact." And then there's a run.
When it's done, Lydia adds to Loren. "I'm really more a biter than a fighter, but I can use the power of the Guardians. I mean, you know that. This is our third time adventuring together."
Schrodinger reappears back into Lydia's hands as the warhounds appear and hiss at them. Naturally, this prevents her from contributing much to the upcoming battle.
"Good luck Jean!" Lydia says. "You can do it!" She realizes that maybe this is something she wouldn't even want to bite anyway.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Dogs of War.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Apparently, no one can resist a cat.
It's a little strange to him, honestly.
"A biter?" he echoes, looking faintly appalled. "How animalistic. You-- what?"
She sort of confirms his inward suspicions as to her identity. But if that's true, her appearance--
It's a question to await another time. Some sort of horrible melted naga slug man erupts from the depths of the earth first. Loren stares for a moment.
Oh, good. He'd been thinking this had been going a little too smoothly.
He draws a gunsmoke arm from a holster hidden beneath his coat but keeps the muzzle directed towards the ground. He'll only use it if he has to; one shot of this thing and all the soldiers will be upon them.
Emperor-damned surface ballistics weapons, he thinks furiously.
Perhaps Jean will do the honors first.
Oh, wait, it can talk.
There's a pause wherein Loren... attempts to parse what it just said. He hesitates for a moment. "...What?"
Any further questions may need to wait. A purplish haze -- darker, more intense than any previous impression he might have had of the stuff before -- makes itself known.
The hound are riddled with the stuff.
There isn't much time to lose. He unfastens the catch on his bag with his free hand and -- digging deep into the bag -- draws out a handful of vials.
He has enough time to see what Jean's doing.
"Really?" he utters, as he lets the handful of vials of what passes as wound medication down here on the surface fly in expert arcs.
"You're drinking now?"
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, The Dogs of War.
============================================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>============================================ ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - The Dogs of War *>============================================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Not all of the guardians of this place are human. Not even all of them are particularly natural. Warhounds, raised and trained by the chief magical officer of this Royal Guard detachment, are typically dangerous all on their loneseome. But now, as the telltale signs of Malevolence broil off them, as they begin to warp into more monstrous, Hellionized forms -- the danger of these creatures have grown in a much more profound way, especially in the implications of their existence. Questions to be asked later, perhaps; for now, it's probably best to deal with these Hellhounds before they deal with you. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
=======================================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 2 *>======================================= =============================================< Results - The Dogs of War >============================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 5 --(15)--> 20 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass Emergency Liquor 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 15 --(10)--> 25 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Before the Malevolence warped these creatures, they were among the finest of their kind for this part of the Badlands. They bite, they claw, they burn, they otherwise seem to see it fit to overpower the group with an unrelenting thirst for violence, blood, and - in one stand-out case - an attempt by one of the transformed creatures to get at Jean's flask.
By the time there's a break in the action to get some distance, Thomas' medication handouts are well-warranted. They have no choice but to give up ground and go wide, find some other opening to probe through in which to investigate this checkpoint further.
In the distance, there is another awful set of screeching noises as a Warhellionhound seems to be dragging off some kind of oversized yellowish metal snakey thing by its pulsating, blobby lower half. That's two less things to worry about... for now.
DG: Jean 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> Jean has posed.
"Now's as good a time as any," Jean answers Loren with a grin. "I told you, lighten up. And hey uh..." Pause, look to Lydia. "You sure you still want to bite things? You don't know where they've been..."
Regardless, the cheer is good for her, and she pumps her fist to acknowledge it as she rushes forward. However... These things are just a little too strong to take down head-on. In the end she performs a dance to try to misderect them... and rushes the opposite way with the others. To... Well.
Take some medicine. Then they keep going. "Well that sucks," she admits, shaking her head. She thinks about the blob. "...Hey, there's an opening here." She starts towards it, and for a while it's pretty good; they have a way in. But then... Then, they turn the corner.
Archers. Jean's eyes widen as they start to draw back, looking--to see no easy way out. "Get back!" she says, since the door closes behind them, the wall seals up, and pulls her fans immediately. The archers begin to fire...
Jean steps forward, into the arrows, and adopts a dancer's stance--before twirling in place, starting to bat arrows out of the air before they ever touch her, almost too quickly even to follow, springing around, in fact running up a wall and flipping back as she gracefully hits more.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Twin Fans toward her party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Jean just earns a long look, before 'Thomas' judgementally shakes his head.
It soon becomes clear that they don't have the power necessary to force the tainted dogs back.
Or at least not, Loren tells himself, without seriously tipping his own hand. "Pull back -- and head left! There's a door there!" He holsters the sidearm and wastes no time fleeing himself.
Hopefully within the fortress they can lose the dogs and infiltrate deeper.
It occurs to him as they make their way through the corridors that an escape from this place may prove difficult.
Particularly
since
they're expecting visitors.
He mouths something foul in a language no one here should know, biting back on the actual syllables.
Jean might opt for acrobatics. Loren can see a light in the end of the tunnel, so to speak -- the door on the other side -- and opts for the direct approach. While she's distracting them, he's going to try to press through and get the damn door over there open.
Doing this might take some time.
"Hurry!"
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The arrows fly down the corridor. Whoever or whatever is behind the recent actions of the Krosse military, they must be commended for preparing the army as well as they have. Highly skilled archers let numerous arrows fly out, ensuring almost every square inch of this narrow hallway will find purchase in a warm body.
Almost unseen, comically considering matters of mass and coloration, that half-blob, half-snake, all-gross creature can be seen flattening themselves horizontally against the wall they are climbing, ensuring arrows pass by them almost harmlessly. A Warhound dangles precariously from the end of their half-melted lower body, threatening to peel Yarobeleedt off the wall at any given moment as arrows embed deep into the hateful, Malevolent creature's flesh. It is undeterred.
Some of the batted arrows get redirected into him, and there is another unwelcome screech as Yarobeleedt loses his grip on the side of the wall and collapses, probably to suffer even more arrow puncture wounds. While the Warhound still chews on his anatomical equivalent to a butt.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Clutch Harness toward its party's challenge, Kill Box.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia considers Jean's words. "Well," She says slowly. "Not those things." Actually she is kind of leery on biting people in general after she ended up 'biting' another person entirely. And uh. Maybe eating too much honestly.
Anyway she doesn't bite dogs, not even hot dogs. You don't know what goes into making a hot dog even though htey're very delicious.
Instead, Lydia draws out her portal pistols--which Loren might again remember, or not, and launches a pair of portals out, diving into one to pop up out the other side of the door past the arrowy death.
Or at least that's the idea. This does require quick aim while running while trying not to get hit by firing arrows, but even on the worst case scenario it should get people MOSTLY out of the place before getting shot to death! And that's what matters, your A effort, more than anything.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Portal Pistols 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 3 *>=================== =============================< Results - Kill Box >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 20 --(5)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Clutch Harness 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Twin Fans 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 25 --(5)--> 30 Fail Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 25 --(20)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Cripple Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean doesn't seem very fazed by the judgement. ...She keeps her flask to herself though. Bad dogs. And Lydia--"Yeah, definitely not those." But... Here they are. Here they are,a nd here's the creature again.
So here is how this goes; Jean is batting away arrows, a one-woman storm of movement, while Yarobeleedt screeches and collapses. ...He's still getting chewed, still getting arrowed, but he manages to move forward. Lydia... Misses her aim at first; she has to try again a few times before she can manage it. And Loren, cursing, has trouble with the door. Eventually it opens, but not as quickly as he would like.
...But they do make it through, Jean behind at the end, looking around. "Is everyone all right?"
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Bringin' Down the House *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- People can often go to extreme lengths when they're desperate. Especially if they're desperate and gripped by some kind of unnatural paranoia and xenophobia combined with a frankly unhealthy mob mentality. Case in point: as you enter this room in the checkpoint, it rapidly becomes very clear that you are not alone when a thin, older man dressed in the robes and regalia of a ranking mage in Krosse's Royal Guard shrieks something about intruders. One loud thunderclap and spark of Symbology later, and the man is bringing the roof down on top of you. Avoiding it is the easy part. Getting through the rubble before the Guard catches up to you thanks to the checkpoint's chief magical officer running around screeching bloody murder? Slightly more complicated. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Those pistols are familiar. He had only seen one person use those before. Which... means...
He can't focus on it now. The door's jammed, and they're getting shot at.
It does at least finally give and allow them an escape out, though not as quickly as he would like, particularly considering that there are a lot of archers, and that Jean can't distract all of them...
There's no time to waste, wounds or no wounds.
And, Loren notes, that thing is back.
"What are you?" he asks, just before he quickly rounds a corner down the hall, approaches the sole door sitting there and waits a moment before opening it.
They need somewhere to hide. There's sure to be a whole squad on their heels. They--
The room is not empty after all. Loren, hand lingering on the doorknob, freezes as he locks eyes with the thin aged robed man.
The man stares back, before slowly lifting a shaking finger to point at them.
"Intruders! Intruders! Foul interlopers! Back, I say! Back--"
Lightning arcs between his hands and explodes in a fusillade of electrical force.
Naturally, this knocks the ceiling right down.
The good news: this can be avoided as simply as backing out into the hallway, which Loren does.
The bad news: it's destablized the foundations which continue to break and fall in, even in the hallway.
The really bad news: the shouts from the end of the hallway.
Also the mage isn't dead and is a still screaming:
"Raise the alarms! We are under attack-----!!"
"Oh, of course," 'Thomas' mutters under his breath. His hand touches the wall as he readjusts the stress points in the wall, sending another quaking shudder up through the foundations. Risky, yes, but perhaps his best chance of quickly getting the rubble out of the way (and possibly also burying the mage and the very potent risk he presents alive. Two birds with one stone).
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Bringin' Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"What? What is what! What about what?!" The creature is taken aback by the confusion of the matter, but also just might be stunned from shock because he is being pelted by a whole lot of arrows. Metal Demons are not so soft as to be able to be felled by a single volley of arrows.
...Or ten, as the case may be, as the word 'pincushion' is added to the random word bucket of things describing the worm-naga thing as he seems to be under threat of being left behind.
Things happen ahead, they duck back out to avoid the debris-- and in their own way, the awful alien creature (who still has a Warhound chewing on their hiney) is a very good indicator that there is about to be trouble coming up them from behind because he's already screaming and trying to bowl past them into the next chamber with the fallen ceiling.
"Nonononono! Not keep out! Not keep in! Not keep atoll!" 'At all,' he means, as an odd sizzling device is taken in... hand? In scythe-arm? Held. Let's stick with held.
An odd sizzling device is held, looking much like a key, as it is jammed into the pile of rubble. A great wave of heat is injected from it, washing outward and threatening to turn this problem of loose rubble... into a melting pile of goo that is its own problem... but will almost assuredly solve the first problem while adding a new one.
For being a fearsome creature that is affront to scholarly men like Thomas, Guardian devouts like Lydia, and basically the sort of 'person' that Jean might not have much moral objections to doing awful things to, the yellowish metallic monster thing looks positively pathetic for kind of towering over just about any human there is out there, nervously scraping their weapon-arms while waiting for the whole mass to melt down just enough so he can hurriedly crawl through the first opening and also forget to answer Lore-- Thomas' question in the process.
While still bearing a Warhound chomping on their butt.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Melting Key toward its party's challenge, Bringin' Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "I'm alright!" to Jean.
Like three arrows are embedded in her arm. Lydia plucks them out and silver fluid briefly spills out before solidifying.
"I'm mostly alright." She adds to Lydia.
And then MORE MONEY MORE PROBLEMS. The ceiling starts tumbling and Lydia has to rush over to try and help by hitting the wall with her baseball bat. Of course maybe this might disrupt Loren's calculations woops.
"So if we get captured, someone will hear about it and rescue US right?" Lydia asides to Thomas. "I can't even breathe in here for a second without something trying to kill us!!"
"Meow!" Schrodinger agrees.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Bringin' Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"That's--" Jean blinks a moment, and pulls out a berry to hand to Lydia. "Yeah, mostly. Just... Be careful."
Yeah, that thing is here, all right. Jean, once the others are through, is rounding the corner with them. Shes watching the... thing, until the door opens and that aged man lifts his shaking finger. She frowns. "...Oh, come on," she complains, and leaps back immediately as the ceiling breaks when it... gets.. worse.
But this guy is here. Yaro. This... creature. Jean is sort of still disgusted by him, frankly, but--"Hey this is not--" She stops, shakes her head, "We've got to go through, not just melt it down. Get moving!"
...But it's a living creature, sort of, and it's pathetic, so...
Jean steps forward, and when presented with a pillar fallen, takes a breath--and delivers a hard kick straight down at it, an axe kick dropped from above with precision and force to crack it--and start to fall to either side. She lifts her hands, and gets to work making a path.
"I mean, maybe?" Jean says. "My friends would come after us, anyway!"
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Bringin' Down the House.
========================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Bringin' Down the House *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- People can often go to extreme lengths when they're desperate. Especially if they're desperate and gripped by some kind of unnatural paranoia and xenophobia combined with a frankly unhealthy mob mentality. Case in point: as you enter this room in the checkpoint, it rapidly becomes very clear that you are not alone when a thin, older man dressed in the robes and regalia of a ranking mage in Krosse's Royal Guard shrieks something about intruders. One loud thunderclap and spark of Symbology later, and the man is bringing the roof down on top of you. Avoiding it is the easy part. Getting through the rubble before the Guard catches up to you thanks to the checkpoint's chief magical officer running around screeching bloody murder? Slightly more complicated. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
===================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 4 *>=================== =====================< Results - Bringin' Down the House >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 30 --(15)--> 45 Pass Melting Key 4 Brute Effects: Efficient and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Weaken(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Possibly, possibly not. I suppose it would depend on who even knows we're here," 'Thomas' comments to Lydia.
Or more to the point, what the various risk factors would be of leaving an officer in enemy hands, vis a vis threat to ongoing operations and intelligence networks and honestly, he doesn't have the ability to fully consider the length and breath of facets for this right now.
Particularly when the paranoid mage starts intoning the words of YET ANOTHER SPELL.
Before Loren's ether drops a section of the remaining ceiling down onto the Symbologist... along with more of the ceiling in the hall.
The muffled groan from beyond the former doorway suggests that the mage is probably not dead.
Jean's decisive kicks, on the other hand, don't do much except loosen some of the stonework cluttering the path. The same sadly goes for Lydia's repeated thwacks with a bat. What does cut them a path is the production of that strange hissing weapon by the even stranger creature, followed by a glowing molten hole cut straight on through.
Crawling through will hurt.
And judging from the now louder footsteps behind, the soldiers have nearly caught up.
DG: Yarobeleedt 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> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Ouch, that hole stings and burns, and one suspects that maybe it was never intended by the creature with the dog-butt-parasite-pal to have them follow him through. The level of ruin extends longer than first appears, and it is a lengthy, painful, tight climb as they come out into a four-way intersection facing to the north. They can all hear the sound of armored footsteps from all directions. As gates open, there is a more pronounced set of descriptions. To the north, a squad of Krossian swordsmen.
To the east, a squad of Krossian lancers.
To the west, a squad of Krossian axemen.
To the south... well, they just came from the south and they already know what's up from there.
The craven Metal Demon creature has somehow found a way to affix themselves to the ceiling, save for the growling and snarling Warhound that continues to chew on their behind as it leaks unpleasant-looking droplets of liquid that leave behind hissing noises and tiny plumes of smoke as they bleed on the hard brick ground.
"Is no thing! Just ^Okay Nine^." A canine. The creature's dangling lower end sways to and fro. "^Okay Nine^ is here. It is do a ^Okay Nine^ thing. Is not strange."
...
Pick a direction and go through. This is a distraction that is not going to work, or end well for them.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
This is...
Already turning into one of the worse investigations Loren has taken part in, and that's saying something already, right there.
At least unlike some of the others, he has means to reduce the extent of the burns he suffers crawling through, but there's little he can do to make it an easier crawl.
He emerges, hot on the heels (pun unintended) of that equally unintentionally helpful... creature, only to find out they've had soldiers waiting here, just for them.
"Oh, good, the welcome committee's already here," he says, tone as flat as a dead man. "I don't suppose either of you," meaning Jean and Lydia, as he glances upwards at the creature hanging from the ceiling, dog and all, then over at the advancing soldiers, "have any ideas?"
Well, maybe they can use the creature as a distraction. But first:
"Take it, and get moving!" he says, shoving another pair of vials their way.
And then: he'll -- as carefully as he can, as surreptitiously as he can -- plant a hand against the rockpile behind him and try to bring the archway over the gate to the east down. Cutting off the branches, perhaps, or creating another distraction--
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia hits the wall with the bat a few more times just for fun.
She also doesn't have time to actually dive through without hitting the still cooling molten wall, and she howls briefly at the sudden sensation of pain, but she gets through with no serious injury. She glances at Yaro periodically and thinks that this guy, this guy has tried to literlaly kill her before right? She's not mad, she's just kind of like... perplexed by it. Don't act in hate, she remembers.
Lydia is given a vial. She swishes it around and studies it curiously. Huh. Is he an alchemist like Jay, she wonders.
She just swallows the whole thing why not.
She kicks a rock towards one of the gates, trying to knock it over or at least, throw a rock. Lydia is again not super combat intuitive and typically prefers far more planning time than she is being provided.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alert (!).
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
That hole sure does sting. Jean frowns though, at the thought of what mut have taken out the man... but she climbs through, crawling on her way, not making a sound at the painful, tight climb. She says nothing about it at all, despite coming through dirtier for it, finding the creature on the other end who is... strange. But to the eat, and to the west, and to the north... All directions. The squads. One direction.
"Yeah, I've got an idea," Jean agrees, taking the vial--but pulling her flask again, downing the rest of it in a go, wiping her mouth as she looks forward. "...And it's an idea I don't like very much."
Loren works on the gate to the east--but Jean lunges west, downing the vial too on her way through, pulling her fans and immediately launching into a strange, magical dance, striking ill a number of the soldiers--as she charges past their guards and drives the heel of her hand into one's throat.
She attempts to go non-lethal, but she doesn't make it not painful.
DG: Jean has used her Tool Emergency Liquor 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 5 *>======================================= ================================================< Results - Alert (!) >================================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 45 --(15)--> 60 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 50 --(15)--> 65 Pass Emergency Liquor 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 50 --(20)--> 70 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 55 --(10)--> 65 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Vault(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The east gate finds itself blocked off thanks to decisive action by Thomas. This changes the odds from 'overwhelmingly against you from three angles' into 'overwhelmingly against you from two angles,' which is a... negligible but real improvement to work with.
Jean takes the west, and her martial arts skills are almost without peer. Her hesitation in which to allow herself to kill is all that holds her back - these are issues the fighters from the west do not have. They do not manage to overpower her, but it takes her everything in order to help clear off that section.
Lydia tries to kick a rock to the north. She gets someone's helmet off. The dude looks mighty upset as he directs his crew of swordsmen to all come at them.
...In so far as the Yarobeleedt goes, it would seem that any methods that actually help them out any are a complete accident. He is a Metal Demon. He is their enemy. It just so happens that he has done a terrible job of scouting out the nature of the threat and is, in a weird way, just as caught in the middle as any of them.
It'll take a bit more additional fighting and maneuvering to get everyone out through the north - except Yarobeleedt. They're taking turns trying to sword the kinda-goopy metal pinata with the dog on it. (Any excuse to ditch him is one someone ought to take!)
DG: Jean has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Masters of Disguise *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Patrols through the Krosse military checkpoint are regular and dogged, like the Guard here are compelled by the fear of what might happen if they -didn't- keep a hawkish vigil. This is particularly true of this segment of the checkpoint; perhaps the guards are on higher alert, perhaps there's things more in need of being watched here. Regardless, maneuvering through without calling too much attention to oneself might be a bit tricky -- but there are ways around this. Take, for example, the relatively empty barracks here, and the plethora of Guard uniforms and other useful equipment to be used in sneaking past the patrols here. Could be useful. Possibly. Mmmmaybe. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
It's definitely not ideal. The army is waiting. But Jean in fact, had ideas. Once they make it through--once they're finally through what soldiers they can be, fighting and maneuvering... Jean doesn't really stop for Yarobeleedt. She thinks about it, but totally skips it. And once they run past that hallway, and another, and another, and sneak through a door that they close behind them, they approach... Another room.
One with lockers. "Huh," Jean says, looking around, thinking. The guards are on allert, but... The barracks are empty, and there's... quite a bit of stuff.
"Change of clothes...?" Not that Jean knows much about how to pretend to be from Krosse. She frowns a little. "These are kind of ugly, though..." Sigh.
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Masters of Disguise.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren has what might be considered a minor success under the circumstances.
But it's not good enough. The story of his life, honestly.
Particularly not with the press of armed soldiers coming in from the north, where -- as he can suddenly sight -- lies the path they need to take.
"Great," Loren mutters. Force briefly blurs about his body (he takes a split second to move his hand as it invoking some minor Symbological spellcraft) before he charges on ahead as 'the creature' (Yarobeleedt) shifts and moves in such a way as to provide... well, it's a distraction, so he'll take it.
It's not a fun direction to go in. Even with an etheric barrier, Loren's somewhat worse for wear, and with no time or space to stop and check exactly how bad it's gotten. It's forward, through the corridors, all the way.
This is going so, so well.
They stumble at last -- having managed, for now, to lose their pursuers -- into a locker room of all places.
There's quite a lot in here. Enough that a possible disguise might be managed, he thinks, touching his fingers to the frame of his glasses as he runs a quick investigation of the barracks they're in.
"I don't think this is a good fit," he says at length, lifting one of the pieces of armor from a locker and inspecting with more care, "but I suppose they're all idiot enough to be tricked by this."
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Etheric Lenses toward his party's challenge, Masters of Disguise.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia hits someone in the head with a rock. It's good enough for her. When your expectations are low, you are never dissapointed!
"Keep watch for us, okay kitty?" Lydia says, setting her cat down and turning to face Jean, and then over towards the clothes. She takes a long squint at them before looking back to Jean. "Hey." She says. She looks back to the clothes. "Um." She tilts her head. "...Is there..."
She trails off before looking back to Jean. "Hey, can you help me with my disguise? I mean, I don't think with how I look I'd be pretty good at a disguise on my own so..."
She shifts her weight from foot to foot. Schrodinger licks its paw periodically before wandering up to Thomas Blackwell to rub against his leg and then headbutt it repeatedly.
"Aww..." Lydia says.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Schrodinger the Cat toward her party's challenge, Masters of Disguise.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
And so, they leave that monster to their deserving fate in the face of a bunch of frightened, frenzied humans who are - in this very specific circumstance - justified for being so hostile and willing to bring down overbearing numbers and force. A Metal Demon's appearance is no laughing matter, even when they have the bizarre and silly circumstance of having a Warhound dangling off their derriere. All that said, they can't be just paranoid about a Metal Demon attack. It's just good that they were prepared for that one.
Whatever else is going on cannot be good for anyone. They saw the Warhellhoundions.
As everyone works on their disguises, a certain creature peeks their head up from a shallow crawl space used as an emergency escape for those in the barracks that he appears to have burrowed into in order to escape being sworded to bits. Their unfocused eyes blink irregularly, watching them dress up.
"Silly humans." They murmur. "Put on new skin? Know how skin look. Fufufu. Human skin not shiny. If make skin shiny, think not human? Easy easy. Then fined a statue~"
They disappear back under the floorboards. While they all occupy themselves with fitting, covertly, Yarobeleedt snatches a fine-looking cloth with one rapid, faster-than-the-human-eye-can-see movement. He keeps crawling around underneath until he can find another opening in which to be supremely sneaky, and then, in a series of precise, rapid, deadly swipes of this newfound cloth weapon...
...shine their boots.
Because if their boots are shiny, that is clearly not human skin. Ergo the newly-disguised humans will be confused for as infiltrators, and they will be tackled and dealt with and allow himself further access with less trouble.
This... makes sense? Somehow? Look. If an alien biohorror wants to shine someone's shoes, that's... probably... not the worst thing that can happen today.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Masters of Disguise.
=======================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Masters of Disguise *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Patrols through the Krosse military checkpoint are regular and dogged, like the Guard here are compelled by the fear of what might happen if they -didn't- keep a hawkish vigil. This is particularly true of this segment of the checkpoint; perhaps the guards are on higher alert, perhaps there's things more in need of being watched here. Regardless, maneuvering through without calling too much attention to oneself might be a bit tricky -- but there are ways around this. Take, for example, the relatively empty barracks here, and the plethora of Guard uniforms and other useful equipment to be used in sneaking past the patrols here. Could be useful. Possibly. Mmmmaybe. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
==================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint - Round 6 *>================== ======================< Results - Masters of Disguise >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 60 --(5)--> 65 Pass Etheric Lenses 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 65 --(5)--> 70 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 65 --(10)--> 75 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 70 --(5)--> 75 Pass Schrodinger the Cat 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
That sure is a glowy blur on Loren. ...But Jean has bigger things to worry about than asking about it, for the moment. Still... HEre they are, with all of these things, in this locker room. Jean is still considering it as Loren mentions idiots, "Well, that's cheerful--"
Before Lydia looks up to Jean. The kitty is doing a good job of keeping watch. But Lydia==
"...Yeah, sure. I think for you..." She considers what she's seen of Krosse fashion, "Let's see, I've got a scarf here we can wrap around your horns--and then a hat to go over it. Some women around here wear those. Then..."
Jean works hard on her and Lydia's disguises, and... Unfortunately, turns out to be rather more fashionable than your average Krosse guard. Lydia's disguise is fine, but Jean stands out a bit more than she'd like.
...It's fine. At least they all have shiny boots.
DG: Loren Voss 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===================================================
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Despite what he says, Loren's actual thoughts run something like this:
This is a really bad idea.
Particularly at the point when he wastes a moment or two attempting to get the armor on right. ...Lamb armor is weird, and much heavier than it looks, he decides, taking a moment to readjust the helmet from within the locker.
This set was meant for a somewhat taller person than he is. But the overall look should pass casual inspection. If they look busy and keep walking, he considers.
A cat rams its head into his leg. "What? Hey, you," he starts to say, waving the cat off.
He sees, in the process, something reach up from under the floorboards and give the heavy boots a shine.
"...Fine," is his sole reaction to this turn of events. Fine, he's in a world now where weird metal slug creatures shine boots. He's through protesting about this.
"Just keep moving," is his suggestion to Jean and Lydia, once they're relatively well disguised and together. "Don't look at any of them or say anything. Act like you belong."
For the most part, this charade works, as they exit the barracks and start to move along across the courtyard beyond it.
Loren had thought, almost, of escape, but to go to all this trouble and leave empty-handed... it'd be a hard sell in a report.
And right ahead here, in the middle of the checkpoint's fortifications squats an important-looking structure. He heads towards it, without checking to see if Jean and Lydia are keeping pace with him.
A bear of a man appears in the doorway across the distance, his movements erratic and strange as he lumbers down the short flight of wooden steps from that structure and towards them. By the insignia on his armor, he must be a Captain.
A burbling laugh escapes his lips with a spray of spittle. "Heh heh hehhh. Thought you could outwit me, did you? You outsider scum. I saw you coming already, I did!" He lurches forward, swaying now. Purple smoke bleeds from his armor for any so attuned to such manifestations, rising in a sickening plume. "Well, too bad for you lot. Your run of luck ends here. Now! Face me and perish--!"
With a snarl, he lunges.
With a roar, he transforms -- visible to those so attuned to such things -- a crackling crunch announcing his full and terrible transformation into a parody of all things knightly. When he opens his mouth again, the scream is hardly human anymore.
"What... in the..."
Loren rolls back, ducking out of the way of the wild swing the once-Captain presents with his sword. "--world?" he finishes, almost belatedly. He throws his gaze in a wide sweep, searching for something that might help. Not much comes to mind.
But this courtyard is a wide, open place.
"Get in behind him!" he shouts, digging in his bag to retrieve then swiftly hurl another pair of vials towards Lydia and Jean.
The third and final volley is something a little more unorthodox: a flask of disinfectant. This is hurled for the thing that was the Captain, an ad hoc attempt to distract without tipping his hand, and hopefully provide an opening.
Here's hoping they hit him before he hits me, 'Thomas' thinks distantly, sizing up the Hellionized Captain.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"It pays overtime!!" The Metal Demon cackles to himself as the three of them are spotted by an intense man moving... weirdly... coming down the steps as he shadows the other three. As far as he cares, his plan to mark them as 'not belonging' by making their shoes shiny was a resounding success! Beyond his wildest dreams (while, paradoxically, in reality remaining within that very realm of his dreams). He's so elated by this scheme of his working that even the Warhellhoundion munching on his tush seems to celebrate, or... no, they're a spiritually poisoned creature who only knows to attack and kill, and is attempting to continue its attempt to chew down this stringy squishy metal thing. Anyway.
The creature slithers around the perimeter of the courtyard, coming up behind the Hellionized Captain with another 'fufufu' as they draw back a scythe arm in order to try and cut this latest obstruction down to size and reassert that he will be the one to find his objective at this place today.
Mother will awaken, and then he will be so richly rewarded by--
--being backhanded by the butt of their Malevolence-filled blade so hard in the chin they go flying into the air and well out of the boundary with one final scream and a stream of silvery ichor spraying from their face.
Yarobeleedt learns the hard way, at last, that he is not the boss fight of this particular dungeon. The Hellionized Captain hurls him through a wall with such vim and vigor that the Warhellhoundion is, at last, dislodged from the rear end of the snake-shoe-shiner-whatever... and then it joins the fray against the remaining three of them.
This is not a good day for anyone involved.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Captain of the Guard.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
A lot of this is a bad idea. Jean, for one, doesn't like being slowed down by armor. It's not her style, and it's uncomfortable. At least she found something relatively light. ...And the cat, well--Jean manages a smile down at the cat as they go. They do keep moving, and Loren's advice...
It sounds pretty good. "Yeah," she says, and then stays quiet. ...SHe draws attention naturally, but at least it works for a while. Until--
"Hold on--" Jean senses the Malevolence before Loren, most likely. She is quite attuned to such things, quite aware, givenher time with Lucia, afflicted so much as she is. And her eyes narrow. He transforms, into a parody, into armor, into something inhuman.
Jean rushes to the side, catching the vial and drinking it quickly, already unbuckling armor to let the breastplate clang to the ground loudly near her. She keeps moving; the disinfectant sees her moving, and the hound--
"Ugh, that nasty thing--"
The Hellhound is here, but Jean focuses on the Captain. Drawing in a steady breath, she knows what she has to do, shutting out the world around her. Instead, she focuses inward, aligning her chi as she moves, adopting an unfamiliar, martial stance. Her movements blur briefly, violet-black--
And she lunges, palm-forward, hand out and fingers outstretched, to strike at the Captain's back, where his heart ought to be. She doesn't like it.
But the Shadow Dragon may be what saves them here. Fight fire with fire...
DG: Jean has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her 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 7 *>=================== =======================< Results - Captain of the Guard >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 65 --(100)--> 165 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 70 --(100)--> 170 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 75 --(100)--> 175 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 75 --(100)--> 175 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 85 --(10)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Yarobeleedt is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jean is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lydia Seren is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Krosse Military Checkpoint! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
========================<* Krosse Military Checkpoint *>======================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Swiped Plans *>========================= |Type: Conclusion |Dungeon Ability: 1 |Challenge Rating: Landmark | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Repelled from the holding station of the checkpoint, it's in relatively short order that the Guards are upon you. Swift timing and quick thinking will let you snatch some assembled, crumpled piles of papers in the room before the imminent presence of the rest of the base's Royal Guard forces you to flee. Whenever you get to safety, those papers you found aren't much -- but they do, at least, seem to have some details about some kind of ancient catacombs built underneath the city of Krosse that might be worth looking into... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren readies that impromptu thrown weapon in one hand, as if quietly calculating the exact arc it'll need to fly a direct hit.
Practical mathematics, though, is interrupted by that strange slug-like monster as it once again makes its reappearance into the stage. Loren's stance shifts, as if he's reassessing his options.
And then he realizes it, a burn of a headache searing briefly across one half of his head in the same second. Where he's seen that thing before.
In the depths, under Wayside. That thing is a Metal Demon. He lowers his hand slightly, prepares to draw in ether after all and--
and, well, has a fleeting blank stare as the Metal Demon is swatted away by a single swip of the Hellion's blade.
...One less thing to worry about?
Loren re-evaluates his ideal thrown object angle, and lets fly.
The bottle shatters across the Hellionized Captain's helmet. With a hot huff of breath, it seems all eyes -- all glowing purple eyes -- are on 'Thomas Blackwell', perfectly ordinary former medical student.
He's fallen into a tensed stance, watching as the Hellion thuds its way towards him, one well-armored step at a time. He backs up slowly himself, watching, still watching. This armor might be able to sustain a hit. Or maybe such a blade will prove too much for it. He has other tricks up his sleeve. But better to avoid using them so blatantly, if he can avoid it. His best bet might be to not get struck in the first place...
And hope the other two have enough firepower themselves to handle this. Otherwise, he'll be forced to resort to desperate measures.
The once-Captain's back is exposed. His attention is on Loren, and it won't be long now before he's upon the 'former student'.
Jean steps into position.
A seven heartbeats-length stretch of time passes. And her hand--
That power is strong enough to with a single strike stop a heart for good.
The sound that escapes the Hellion's lips is half gasp half strangled cry. He slumps forward, collapsing heavily across the paving of the courtyard.
Normally, that would be enough.
But the checkpoint is crawling with soldiers.
Maddened, paranoid soldiers.
See, here they all come now.
And after the trials and treachery strewn in their path, the group is probably not at all equipped to take on what... might be almost all of the garrisoned soldiers here.
Maybe they could take on some. Maybe most. But there would be a point where they would be overrun.
Loren comes to that realization himself quickly. "Scatter!" he shouts, breaking into a run for the building, himself.
Maybe from there, there will be a way out that won't be through more soldiers than he can quickly count.
Or maybe he'll find something, something like what he's looking for.
Information.
Maybe that was the Captain's desk. He doesn't have time to check, let alone read the papers. He just grabs the topmost sheets and shoves them haphazardly into his bag. The time for subtlety is lost.
Now he's got to get out of here.
For once, his luck has a better turn: an alternate exit presents itself as the soldiers start to pour in like a hive full of angry bees.
It's time to get lost.