2018-02-21: Hand of Vengeance
- Log: Hand of Vengeance
- Cast: Layna Manydays, Talise Gianfair, Sephilia Lampbright, Tethelle Cirdian
- Where: Krosse Catacombs
- Date: February 21st, 2018
- Summary: In retaliation for the raid on Fortnight Cove, and all the abducted foreigners, Fox Company infiltrates the Krosse Catacombs, to reclaim those that have been lost...
========================<* Krosse - Sunlight Square *>======================== Krosse is a walled city, and the killing grounds inside the entry to the castle have been given a much nicer spin than is typical. Known as the Sunlight Square, it is a wide-open plaza with a fenced-off grassy park in the centre. The square occupies the same sort of role as a village green, and residents of the city frequently gather to socialize, work, or even kick off their boots and enjoy a nap in the sun. Small shops surround the edges of the Sunlight Square, offering a variety of goods and services to travellers. A three-story building in the northwest offers lodging at a reasonable price, and a stone cathedral in the northeast is one of two surviving houses of worship of the Warrior of Light remaining on the continent.
DG: A party led by Layna Manydays is now entering Krosse Catacombs. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Sealed in Suspicion *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are no guards holding vigil over this particular entrance to Krosse's catacombs, long forgotten by most. But not by everything. Malevolence clings like viscous adhesive to the hinges and gaps of this gate, sealing it tight within a palpable morass of discordant ooze. It whispers its forgotten thoughts of fearsome futures into the air as you approach, a song that grows louder the more you try to pry it open. Passing will require breaking past that Malevolent sealant -- a worrisome portent of just what might lie within. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
It still felt like only yesterday that Fortnight Cove was attacked. The Royal Guard marched on them, attacking in great numbers. The damage to the Cove was severe, and in the end, the Quartermaster Dahlia, as well as a number of other crewmembers, were abducted and taken away.
In the intervening time, it had taken all of Layna's effort - plus the jobs people kept sending her way - not to charge in, guns blazing, in the hopes of rescuing them.
Finally, however, the spies she had sent in had returned. They had studied the maps they had claimed from the checkpoint, infiltrated Krosse, and began searching for the best way inside. And, they had found something that seemed fruitful.
After taking a few moments to plan, Layna gathered her friends - or, at least, those that would answer her call - and headed in to Krosse itself.
The spies lead the party to the entrance they had located - remote, forgotten by most, and most importantly, unguarded. It would be the perfect infiltration point...if it weren't for the Malevolence clinging to it, forming a seal that would take more than a little brute force to break through.
It doesn't seem to bother Layna. She marches up to it, and hauls her fist back before slamming it right into the gate. There's a grim look on her face, a sort of barely-restrained fury.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sealed in Suspicion.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The absence of Ida worries Talise more than a little. It worried her enough that she stopped at the general store and picked up a box of Mrs. Mumford's, as if she could set out some kind of Ida trap and bait it with biscuits. Ultimately, though, she decided that her saddest friend is still a big girl, and wherever she's gone, she's made her own choices.
And as Talise slips through the catacomb entrance into corridors thick with viscous Malevolence, she can't help but murmur, "Suddenly I'm glad Ida's missing this."
She doesn't touch it. She doesn't even go near it more than she needs to. Talise may not be the most brilliant person on Filgaia, but she knows enough about Malevolence to know that it's bad news when it congeals enough to take on the properties of physical matter.
Sliding her hands into her gauntlets, the swordswoman bunches her shoulders, internally belting off a quick prayer to Althena to protect her from the congealed despair and malice she's about to deal with. Not that Althena's been good to her lately, but hey, there's a chance.
With a snap of her arm, Talise proceeds to backhand the gate as hard as she can, trying to rattle it loose. Then she grabs ahold and begins trying to wrench it violently off its hinges.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sealed in Suspicion.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia Lampbright is still subdued about what happened at Fortnight Cave. She'd never really let herself think of the place as home, not really, but it was as close as she'd come since arriving on Filgaia, and having it violated and taken away from her like that left the girl shaken.
She's got Chauncey with her, of course, and Chauncey hitting big, immovable objects is a really good way for Sephy to let off some steam.
So he hammers at the door, as Sephy vents her fury by screaming at it.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sealed in Suspicion.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle wasn't present when Fortnight Cove was attacked - she's never been there, having come too late to the party to have ever had occasion to be invited.
That didn't mean she didn't come when Layna asked her now, though. Krosse is... concerning. And for multiple reasons, at that.
"I don't like it," Tethelle says, looking at the gate with a frown. She's seen Malevolence on beings before, but rarely has she seen it cling to a door like this, clearly blocking it off. Does it naturally accumulate like that? Or did some Hellion have the ability to place it, 'gluing' it closed?
Tethelle refuses to touch the gate with her bare hands. Fortunately, she has gloves for this situation, the ones she uses when she's swordfighting to protect her hands rather than the heavy gripping work gloves she sometimes has. This seemed like a fighting day.
She applies her strength to the gate, joining in behind the others. She doesn't hit so much as push, sustaining pressure while the others rattle and bash at it to try to pop a weak point that she can shove open.
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sealed in Suspicion.
============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Sealed in Suspicion *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are no guards holding vigil over this particular entrance to Krosse's catacombs, long forgotten by most. But not by everything. Malevolence clings like viscous adhesive to the hinges and gaps of this gate, sealing it tight within a palpable morass of discordant ooze. It whispers its forgotten thoughts of fearsome futures into the air as you approach, a song that grows louder the more you try to pry it open. Passing will require breaking past that Malevolent sealant -- a worrisome portent of just what might lie within. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=======================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 1 *>======================= ======================< Results - Sealed in Suspicion >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tethelle Cirdian 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Tethelle Cirdian has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Striking the Suspecting *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Malevolent paranoia runs thick through the underground, making everyone here wary of even their closest comrades. It has already affected the Royal Guard stationed in the catacombs in earnest: take, for example, the Hellionized Guard members you come across in this chamber. Some lizard-men, some werewolves, some living suits of armor to those who can see the Malevolence that grips them, the Royal Guardsmen who -should- be on patrol duty are currently arguing amongst themselves, throwing accusations this way and that and just barely avoiding boiling over into violence. Maybe you can help them with conflict resolution and remind them of the importance of the bonds of friendship! By getting the drop on them and beating them to hell! Hurray! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna doesn't like it either, Tethelle. She deals with it by punching the door, repeatedly. It...doesn't really accomplish much of anything. She and Sephilia are both venting their frustrations, but the different is that Sephilia has a Chauncey, who nobly begins hammering away at the door.
The door does eventually start to cave in, with Chauncey hammering and Tethelle pushing. Eventually, Talise steps in, giving it a strong backhand that finally causes the door to come free of the Malevolence sealing it shut before simply ripping the door away.
The way forward is clear, now...with only a nod toward the others, Layna starts to make her way inside.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
"Thanks," Tethelle says. She's pretty sure she couldn't get that door open herself.
As they advance, Tethelle seems on edge. Not that she wasn't before, but it's getting worse. As a shaman, she is spiritually sensitive enough to detect the Malevolence as an aching discomfort, something just wrong at the edge of her perceptions even when there is no single Malevolent being in her sight. This place is thick with it. Every once in a while, she touches the small stone she wears as a pendant, almost as a nervous habit or a touchstone.
Because of that, she's perhaps rather attentive to sounds. "I hear someone," she says, slowing down slightly. She hears more than one someone, and as they round a corner and advance, it's clear why - multiple guards, all Hellions, arguing with each other about something. She'd listen in, but she's pretty sure they'd spot her if she tried to get close enough to hear the whole conversation.
So she advances the non-subtle way. You know, the way with greatsword drawn, at a dead run as she charges toward the heaviest armoured of the Hellions. She has been trained to fight armoured beings - admittedly Metal Demons, but living armour Hellions probably count too, when you have a sword heavy enough to crash through.
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Icon of Equites toward her party's challenge, Striking the Suspecting.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia Lampbright isn't satisfied by the door's ignoble demise. It's time to take out some of her fury at the people who did this to their home, and kidnapped their friends. "GO, CHAUNCEY!" she yells, following Tethelle from Chauncey-back. It kind of makes the approach even less subtle.
Armor? Meaningless. Chauncey will smash! Sephy will shout! Anger will be vented!
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Striking the Suspecting.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Malevolence hangs in the air like a haze at the hour of gloaming. Talise shields her nose and mouth with one arm instinctively, but she's pretty sure it won't do anything.
Because they're already lost. She glances towards Sephilia. The Witch's been working on her for months. I bet she's going to turn around and slaughter all of us. Because of course she would. Of course I would miss the signs. Just like I missed them with Rosaline.
Talise pauses for a moment, then doubles back on the thought and frowns. What the hell was that?
MOre than that, there are guards bickering ahead - and Tethelle's rushing forward. Probably to join her friends.
Again Talise doubles back on the thought. Damn it... it's the Malevolence, she realizes with a hiss, pushing aside any untoward thoughts about Tethelle and replacing them with some of the more compelling ones.
Talise grins a slightly lopsided but otherwise somewhat cat-in-the-cream grin as she loads some shells into her shotgun and fires on a couple of those guardsmen, taking advantage of their more Lunar-esque equipment to just gun them down. She keeps nice thoughts front and centre.
"Suddenly I feel pretty okay about all this," she remarks.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, Striking the Suspecting.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna pauses, as Tethelle warns them of voices ahead. She quickly moves up against the wall, giving it a moment, until Tethelle charges in, her sword drawn. Well, that was a good a signal as any. At any other moment she'd have a wild grin on her face, but her expression barely changes as she follows behind her and Sephilia.
She takes advantage of the chaos, grabbing one of the werewolves by the throat and slamming him violently up against the wall, backhanding one of the lizardmen as he tries to attack her from behind in retaliation.
She's not actively trying to kill any of them...but she's not really holding back, either.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Striking the Suspecting.
=============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Striking the Suspecting *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Malevolent paranoia runs thick through the underground, making everyone here wary of even their closest comrades. It has already affected the Royal Guard stationed in the catacombs in earnest: take, for example, the Hellionized Guard members you come across in this chamber. Some lizard-men, some werewolves, some living suits of armor to those who can see the Malevolence that grips them, the Royal Guardsmen who -should- be on patrol duty are currently arguing amongst themselves, throwing accusations this way and that and just barely avoiding boiling over into violence. Maybe you can help them with conflict resolution and remind them of the importance of the bonds of friendship! By getting the drop on them and beating them to hell! Hurray! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
========================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 2 *>======================== =====================< Results - Striking the Suspecting >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Trench Sweeper Shotgun 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tethelle Cirdian 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Icon of Equites 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Layna Manydays 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Like Layna, Tethelle isn't intentionally trying to murder all of them. Having them in no condition to follow would be plenty; having them surrender would also be okay (but she has never seen a Hellion surrender unless they were encountering people they knew well before changing, anyway - even then she hasn't seen it, but she has to believe that because of Rosaline).
But they still have to be taken down, hard, to ensure they stay that way, and Tethelle puts her strength behind her blows, cracking armour along with Sephilia while Layna slams several and Talise gets to shooting. Fortunately, this team is... very good at it.
"We should keep going," Tethelle says afterwards, voice low. "I don't want to be here when they come to, and I'm sure you want to find what you're looking for."
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Hanging Cage Dash *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
This isn't the first time Krosse's catacombs have been used as a prison; its
positioning and defensibility have made it an ideal location for such in the
past. It's unclear -what- era this particular section of the catacombs come
from, but you find yourself in what looks like a ledge overlooking a fairly
sizeable pit; rusted cages hanging over the ground below you likely served
as some sort of unpleasant prison in the past, with the exit taking up the
ledge on the opposite side of the gap. The bottom level, fortunately, is not
too far down; likely the safest route would simply be to climb down and then
scale your way back up.
It'd be a great, safe, idea, if the chamber didn't start to rumble a mere
handful of seconds after your arrival.
Which is EXACTLY when the blackened, Malevolence-oozing form of a shrieking
Crypt Wurm EXPLODES from the bedrock in angry, hungry pursuit of you,
glowing, tendril-filled maw -snapping- at your heels in hot pursuit of a new
meal. Traversing those hanging cages might be your best bet to avoid
becoming a tasty snack. Better hope they're not -that- rusty.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
This team may not be especially intelligent, but they sure are good at smashing. Talise punctuates the point by blowing smoke away from the barrel of her shotgun. You idiot, you're just a barbarian without Ida and Rosaline here, aren't you?
Talise slings her shotgun with a huff and snaps her fingers. "Fuck off, purple me," she mutters to her inner voice with a forced smirk.
She moves to keep close to Tethelle, pushing down a stairwell. A short length of dusty, foggy corridor later, and Talise is kicking a door down and stepping forward - and letting out a startled shout, her arm held out to bar anyone else from falling off the narrow ledge waiting on the other side of the doorway.
Her earlier bravado fades as she looks up, first at the cages suspended over the huge pit below; bones and gobbets of blood and darkened flesh still cling to some of them. As something rumbles in the pit below, she follows the sound downwards.
At which point masonry and bedrock give way as a massive, blackened wurm erupts from the earth, shrieking and lunging towards the ledge, tendrilled maw splitting into four fanged flaps as six Malevolent tongues protrude from it. "LOOK OUT," Talise shouts as she jumps to one side --
Regrets, again, not bringing her hookshot, as she falls short of a cage and hits the pit floor. There's another door on the far side of the pit, but the wurm is already wheeling to pursue the group, screeching and biting and flailing.
Talise fires off a couple of shotgun blasts to try and buy herself time. "Hurry!" she shouts. "I think it's hungry!"
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hanging Cage Dash.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy screams, this time in terror, and leaps, terror driving her on. "PLEASENOPLEASENOPLEASENO"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hanging Cage Dash.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
If Tethelle is being affected by the Malevolence beyond being increasingly uncomfortable, she isn't showing it much. She is keeping Equites firmly in her mind, though; there's a reason she's touching the pendant, a small stone engraved with a simplified version of Equites' Medium symbol.
Tethelle does not walk out into empty space because, one, she's generally careful around ledges, and two, Talise has just barred her way. It looks... "I'm really not looking forward to climbing down and up," Tethelle says. "It's - "
Surprise! Whatever it was before, it's a Crypt Wurm now.
Tethelle yells, gathering her cape - it's a white feathered mantle that looks like it matches her skirt, actually - before leaping off into space. "After me!" she yells. "Don't fall behind!"
Tethelle's cloak catches... well, it's not really wind in here, but air. Her jumps are drifting, far longer than they should be, and when she touches down on the rusty cages she barely seems heavy enough to rock them, though when she leaps to the next they rattle all the same. Anyone who follows her gets a similar treatment, friendly winds assisting them through the dank, Malevolent environment.
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Feather Cape toward her party's challenge, Hanging Cage Dash.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna similarly seems to not be showing much signs of Malvolent influence. She's charging right on through with a single-minded determination. She does nearly reach out to grab Talise and pull her back when the taller woman, thankfully, prevents the lot of them from diving headfirst into the floor way below.
Of course, it's not too long after this that a giant thing bursts outward.
Layna knows she wants nothing to do with this thing, and that fighting it would probably be unwise.
So she follows the others, jumping from cage to hanging cage, using the winds provided by Tethelle's cloak to keeping going.
As they move she reaches into her coat, drawing out a bottle of liquid. She takes a deep swig before tossing it next to anyone else who might need it.
Even on a rescue mission, it was important to stay hydrated.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Hanging Cage Dash.
==============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Hanging Cage Dash *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
This isn't the first time Krosse's catacombs have been used as a prison; its
positioning and defensibility have made it an ideal location for such in the
past. It's unclear -what- era this particular section of the catacombs come
from, but you find yourself in what looks like a ledge overlooking a fairly
sizeable pit; rusted cages hanging over the ground below you likely served
as some sort of unpleasant prison in the past, with the exit taking up the
ledge on the opposite side of the gap. The bottom level, fortunately, is not
too far down; likely the safest route would simply be to climb down and then
scale your way back up.
It'd be a great, safe, idea, if the chamber didn't start to rumble a mere
handful of seconds after your arrival.
Which is EXACTLY when the blackened, Malevolence-oozing form of a shrieking
Crypt Wurm EXPLODES from the bedrock in angry, hungry pursuit of you,
glowing, tendril-filled maw -snapping- at your heels in hot pursuit of a new
meal. Traversing those hanging cages might be your best bet to avoid
becoming a tasty snack. Better hope they're not -that- rusty.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
=========================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 3 *>========================= =========================< Results - Hanging Cage Dash >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tethelle Cirdian 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Feather Cape 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Conditions: Cripple Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Sephilia screams. Grimly, Talise stops running and turns, shouldering her gun and drawing Rastaban with a hiss. Her mail shirt - and the extra layer in her coat - jingle as she plants a heavy heel against the stone of the pit, both hands on her sword as she prepares to face down the Wurm and buy the scared girl some time.
Tethelle and Layna have the right idea. The pirate captain's hit of schnapps gets her to the other side on a bit of a buzz. Tethelle makes it about two-thirds of the way... until a cage she alights upon suddenly begins to fall as a rusty chain snaps, sending the shaman tumbling into the pit.
It is, by now, a very bloody pit, because Talise is going head-to-head with the Crypt Wurm to try and buy the terrified girl a minute or two to reach safety. Air and flesh divide in front of Rastaban as the Bladesinger strikes at the creature a few times; chain link buckles and pops free as the wurm lashes fangs and tendrils at her. Finally it manages to hit her hard enough to hurl her violently away. She lands with a jingle and rolls, groaning, then pulls herself up and begins to run.
It worked, at least. Sephilia manages to reach the doorway; Talise and Tethelle aren't far behind. By the time they get there, Layna will have time to get the door open.
"Welcome to our luck with falling off the fuggin' ropes," Talise grumbles to Tethelle. "Or the chains or the cages or whatever."
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Nightmare Lords *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This place was once -- and still is -- a catacomb, and while it has served many functions over the centuries, at one point it served as a tomb for those who have come before. And while the spirits of these dead may or may not yet linger, their sentiments certainly do. It is that which Malevolence clings to in this particular section of old, forgotten tombs, seizing whatever lingering, negative sentiments of nightmares gone by still linger in this place and forging them into Hellion spectres, black, angry phantasms that emerge from the tombs of the long gone to assault you with their malevolent magic the very second they sense the presence of those who do not belong. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Once Talise, Tethelle, and Sephilia are through, Layna shuts the door behind them quickly before moving on. The path through takes them further down into the Catacombs, leading them to a chamber where forgotten tombs surround them.
The area is thick with Malevolence, clinging to the lingering sentiments of the dead.
With the warmth of life brought into the tomb, where only the dead belong, the room itself seems to turn hostile. Skeletal spectres, their bodies covered by ragged black cloaks and bearing long, bony digits, claw their way out of the shadows surrounding them.
They do not speak, but they don't need to - their very presence radiates the betrayal, the fury, the anguish that has been festering here for an untold amount of time.
They lash out with dark sorcery, tinged with Malevolence. Layna backs up as an ethereal scythe slashes out from the shadows, narrowly avoiding what might have been a nasty wound. She retaliates with sorcery of her own, blades of wind flying out toward one of the phantoms in hope of dispersing it.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Nightmare Lords.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"This is just not a nice place," Sephilia observes. "I hate this Malevolence stuff...it's...it's so wrong!"
She gets Chauncey back out as the phantasms appear. "I hope that it isn't spreading like this back home..."
With that, now much less shouty and screamy, but every bit as smashy, Chauncey and Sephilia set to work. Smashing.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Nightmare Lords.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Again with the purple haze, all in Talise's brain.
She breathes out slowly and gives herself a shake, pausing only to nip down a heal berry. She doesn't have time for a biscuit because the shadows seem to be moving in ways shadows should not move.
Colour drains from the sunkissed cheeks of the tall swordswoman as nightmares congeal from Malevolent meory into the shapes of the damned. "Vile," she hisses, her voice barely audible - and then, that dark sorcery lashes out. With a yelp, Talise throws herself to the ground and rolls as a blast of darkness rips a hole through a pillar behind her.
She comes out of her roll - and a shadow sickle bites into the ground an inch from her face. She actually lets out a squeak as she realizes just how close the reaper is to her.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" she exclaims as she whips her shotgun out and starts spraying the nightmare with buckshot, hoping to at least break up the sorcerous shadow clouds. She throws herself backwards, hastily loading a few more shells before firing again, not daring to get into melee combat with enemies with no substance. Shotgun shrapnel chews through crumbling stone and blasts through eddying Malevolence as Talise proceeds to try and clear the air of nightmares and get herself room to breathe something that's not purple.
Excuse her while she kisses the sky.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, The Nightmare Lords.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
"It's not my first time," Tethelle says to Talise, once she's landed and resettled herself after briefly having a heart attack when people fell down. "Why do you think I brought the cape?"
Tethelle ensures the door behind them is going to stay closed after Layna shuts it, jamming it with a piece of fallen stone and really wedging it in there; it can be removed from this side, but it would take effort from the far side. Anything that slows down the wurm is fine by her.
The Malevolence is thicker in here. Tethelle scowls, even though it's arguably a good sign that they're getting closer to the source. She agrees, "I'm not exactly fond of it myself," as she looks around, eyes tracking left and right - "Watch it!" It's not a ghost, Tethelle realizes; it's an echo, a memory of a ghost stamped in Malevolence. Just like the ones at Hope Springs -
Which means, unpleasant as it is, she knows what to do.
Tethelle pulls out a stone tablet from where she typically keeps it; strapped on the rear curve of one hip, over her shorts but hidden under her skirt. It is, of course, a Medium of Equites, the full symbol of the Sword Guardian engraved on it, and it starts to blaze as Tethelle holds it up. "RISE!"
Radiant swords strike up from the ground, blazing with righteous fury as Tethelle draws upon the Guardian's might. She may rarely use sorcery in favour of her sword, but she does know how - and when she needs to burn away something dark, it's the appropriate tool for the job.
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Icon of Equites toward her party's challenge, The Nightmare Lords.
============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Nightmare Lords *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This place was once -- and still is -- a catacomb, and while it has served many functions over the centuries, at one point it served as a tomb for those who have come before. And while the spirits of these dead may or may not yet linger, their sentiments certainly do. It is that which Malevolence clings to in this particular section of old, forgotten tombs, seizing whatever lingering, negative sentiments of nightmares gone by still linger in this place and forging them into Hellion spectres, black, angry phantasms that emerge from the tombs of the long gone to assault you with their malevolent magic the very second they sense the presence of those who do not belong. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
=======================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 4 *>======================= ======================< Results - The Nightmare Lords >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Trench Sweeper Shotgun 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tethelle Cirdian 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Icon of Equites 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 55 --(20)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Tethelle Cirdian has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Tomb of the Phobic King *>====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
This hall is a dedication to the first King of Krosse, built within these
catacombs ages upon ages ago. The great stone statue of the man who
established this kingdom stands tall, and resolute, a massive bust of his
upper body carve from and into the bedrock itself. Great. Glorious.
Until ichorous Malevolence starts to bleed from its stone eyes. Until violet
light throbs like veinwork along its stony figure. Until it starts to -move-
with the great groaning shift of rock, possessed by the irrational phobias
that grip this subterranean tomb, one mighty fist -pounding- the ground with
a tremor. Its stone maw opens, and from it, your worst fears out themselves
within the hideous scream that reaches deep into the dredges of your soul.
Fighting the colossus would take too much time, too much resources -- but
there is a way out of here, above the shifting stone king. A passageway on
an upper level that can be accessed if one dares to try to scale the stone
walls -- and the mighty, thrashing figure of a dead king's monument brought
to horrible life. Scale the colossus.
And try to ignore the fear and paranoia that tries to seep into your soul...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Ghosts, as a rule tend, to be rather resistant to most physical means of combat. These, however, are not ghosts. As such, smashing is a perfectly acceptable answer here - Chauncey bashes right through them, the nightmare phantom disappearing into thin air in the wake of his mighty arms.
Talise's shotgun fire sees similar results - it punches holes right through the spectres, interrupting their spellwork before they can unleash more of that dangerous, malevolent magic.
Just as effective are the blades of light Tethelle calls upon, invoking the power of Equites to burn away the darkness. They let out a fearful wail as they're dispersed - a wail that is silenced by a sorcerous cyclone invoked by Layna.
And so, the sounds of battle disappears as the tomb falls silent. Layna waits a moment, to determine whether or not more will appear...
...But they seem to be safe.
For the time being.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle replaces her Medium once she's done using it, handling it with some reverence as the light within it fades. "Thank you," she says, apparently to it. "Come on, Let's keep going."
Tethelle leads the way, now, as she often does; she can take it, after all, if something goes bad. It looks like they've made it to the source, or nearly the source. It's thick. Tethelle can feel it pressing in all around her almost like it was something physical now; it's like oily fog, leaving a residue on everything it touches.
And it looks like the only exit is up. Tethelle looks inside the room, then back to the others. "There's an exit past it," she says, "but we have to climb. I don't see any other way. ...Be careful. I can feel the Malevolence here." She strides into the room, unafraid but careful.
She should have been afraid.
The statue starts to move as Malevolence trails from its eyes, throbbing along its body. "Come on!" she yells. "Fast!" Tethelle suits words to actions, sprinting into the room as the horrible roar washes over her; she squeezes her eyes closed to try to drive it off, still running but now unable to see where she's going.
Her thoughts tie themselves in knots; they're not even very consistent. She has no reason to be here. She's here because - why? They needed extra hands? Because Talise likes her, and Sephilia likes her stories, and Layna likes her booze? What does she, Tethelle Cirdian, matter? She could die right now and be forgotten and almost nobody would care. Her crusade to protect people from the Metal Demons would end, and someone else would do it. The lost histories of her tribe would remain forgotten, but nobody would care. Her village doesn't matter anymore; they stopped interacting with the world hundreds of years ago.
Nothing about her matters. She lied, just to get here; she made herself seem something more than what she truly was, pushing against fate just to be here. It's a lie - and she's not important, really.
"Shut up," Tethelle growls. She had this argument with herself, once, under Equites' gaze. (She lost it.) She lets that feeling burn within her: that she might have come from nothing, but she can be something. She opens her eyes before she slams into the statue and starts to climb it even as it moves under her, the cape lightning her weight as she pulls herself up, gripping with more force than is strictly necessary as if she was fighting back against the statue.
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Feather Cape toward her party's challenge, Tomb of the Phobic King.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy feels like crying. Why is everything so hard? Why can't she have nice things? She's pretty sure she'll never have a home again and never see her Mom and Dad again and it terrifies her, almost to the point where she can't move.
But she must move. She has to. Because her friends are counting on her; because if she doesn't she definitely won't see her family again; because she's not a little kid who just curls up and cries.
Even when she wishes she could sometimes.
So, she clenches her jaw and makes her way forward, around, and up.
It's the only way.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tomb of the Phobic King.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The first thought in Talise's mind is that this hall is far, far too splendid for something that is supposed to be part of a network of catacombs. It must be ancient.
Her second thought is that the statue of that great king is beginning to weep tears of Malevolence. "Shit," she says, before that stony maw opens and all the horrors in the depths of her heart pour out.
Her mail coat jingles behind her as she sprints towards the nearest flight of stairs. She's not the fastest one in the group - she does wear quite a bit of mail - but it's not the armour that's burdening her as she leaps every second or third stair, trying to gain more height.
It's the cold, brutal knowledge that none of the people she's with really need her. That nothing she can do is good enough to help them. That she doesn't have the conviction. The faith in her cause that makes Siegfried such a terror and lesser men such pushovers. That not even her enemies care to challenge her, because she is unworthy of having enemies. That not even her goddess loves her, because she is unworthy of being loved.
Talise angles her face towards a wall as she goes rushing up the stairs. It's mostly to hide the tears welling in her eyes and beginning to stream down her cheeks. Oh, please, you melodramatic drama heap. As if your tears could bring back Rosaline. Or bring back Mom and Dad. Or make Althena love you. Or make you somehow worthy of being a Dragonmaster. Or make you worthy of being anyone of note in your life. Face it: You're a bit player. You're a minor footnote in someone else's story and the powers that be will never give you so much as a moment's attention or interest.
B E C A U S E Y O U D O N O T M A T T E R .
"Fuck you," Talise manages, her voice much smaller than it usually is and throaty with tears she hopes no one hears. She clenches her shoulders and swipes her arm across her face as she runs.
Out of the corner of her eye, she catches a flicker of motion. Tethelle, leaping. Someone who came with me not because she had to....
"Tethelle," Talise calls with a bit more fire, barreling up towards the high ground and pursuing her friend with everything she's got.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tomb of the Phobic King.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Past the tomb of nightmarish spirits is a hall dedicating to an ancient King. At least, that's what Layna has to assume. He does have the look of royalty about him.
This isn't really a compliment.
She starts to approach it, but soon...it starts to move, before unleashing a hideous scream that causes even Layna, who usually seems resistant to this grasp, to falter.
She's been charging forward like a wild beast ever since she got here.
She hasn't said a single word to her companions, her friends.
She can feel it welling up deep within her, that fury, that desire to hurt everyone who has wronged her, that desire to see the entire kingdom of Krosse razed to the ground for daring to challenge her, for daring to take away that which is hers.
It's a feeling she's all too familiar with. It's something she fought against once before.
The thought lingers in her head. Something she didn't want to acknowledge.
The realization that she was becoming more and more like him.
Layna reaches into her coat, pulling out another bottle and silencing this thought with a deep swig.
She continues upward, aiding her ascent with wind-enhanced jumps.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Tomb of the Phobic King.
=============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Tomb of the Phobic King *>====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
This hall is a dedication to the first King of Krosse, built within these
catacombs ages upon ages ago. The great stone statue of the man who
established this kingdom stands tall, and resolute, a massive bust of his
upper body carve from and into the bedrock itself. Great. Glorious.
Until ichorous Malevolence starts to bleed from its stone eyes. Until violet
light throbs like veinwork along its stony figure. Until it starts to -move-
with the great groaning shift of rock, possessed by the irrational phobias
that grip this subterranean tomb, one mighty fist -pounding- the ground with
a tremor. Its stone maw opens, and from it, your worst fears out themselves
within the hideous scream that reaches deep into the dredges of your soul.
Fighting the colossus would take too much time, too much resources -- but
there is a way out of here, above the shifting stone king. A passageway on
an upper level that can be accessed if one dares to try to scale the stone
walls -- and the mighty, thrashing figure of a dead king's monument brought
to horrible life. Scale the colossus.
And try to ignore the fear and paranoia that tries to seep into your soul...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
========================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 5 *>======================== =====================< Results - Tomb of the Phobic King >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tethelle Cirdian 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Feather Cape 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Layna Manydays 75 --(0)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
Tethelle forces her way up the statue by sheer determination. She knows it's the Malevolence working on her, but it's still difficult to seperate from herself, because, ultimately, parts of it are very true.
But... Equites herself told her that she could make something of herself, if only she tried, and though it's a struggle, she forces herself onward regardless of what she feels in her heart. Tethelle ascends, vaulting up the statue as it swings its arm and practically throwing herself at the door.
"Through here!" she yells, waving. Tethelle can tell they're struggling too, and though in most cases (except one) she can't guess precisely with what, she doesn't need to; support is what is necessary. She can lean on them, if they can lean on her. Though less physically than she makes that sound.
Eventually, everyone gets up, though Talise and Sephilia may have some trouble with dealing with the moving statue and themselves at the same time. But sooner or later, everyone is going to get through that door.
And then...
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>==============================
=============<* CHALLENGE - The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT *>=============
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The prisons lie just beyond you now, a circular chamber that rings around
the heart of the catacombs. Within is the honeycomb-like maze of prison
cells built into the castle's underground years and years ago -- but to get
there, you must get past the well-guarded antechamber you now find yourself
in. Here stands one of the Captains of the Royal Guard, seemingly at the
ready for you, weapons drawn and his form slowly distorting with the ominous
dawn of a Hellionized shift.
"Not this time! WE WON'T LET YOU DESTROY KROS--"
And what would have doubtless been a very courageous of completely
Malevolence-maddened proclamation is cut off as the ground beneath the
Captain EXPLODES. Bold proclamations give way to the sound of a startled cry
as glowing blue tendrils wrap themselves around the Guardsman, and he finds
himself dragged underneath with a terrified yelp... and the sound of a gulp.
Only seconds later does the blackened form of the Crypt Wurm partially
emergy within the large antechamber, infested with a Malevolence that seems
to have fully Hellionized it now into an even more ichorous monstrosity and
fixates it solely upon you, as if guided, as if compelled to. Its long,
limbless, eyeless body writhes, its jaw unhinges, acidic and Malevolent
spittle flying within its blood-curdling roar before it lunges,
half-submerged, for you all. No more running. No more driving back.
It's either you, or it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
And then Talise manages to get through the door and kick it the fuck in, because she's not very subtle.
Beyond the door, a circular chamber lies, a honeycomb-like mess of cells dotting the centre of the catacombs - and it's all laid out beyond an antechamber. One can see it through the open door at the far end of the room.
The room which is occupied. Turning to face the three women, one girl and one stuffed fox, a Royal Guard captain brandishes his great sword. Fell energy cascades about him. The transformation is about to begin. "I won't have it," he rasps as he levels the weapon. "I won't stand by and allow Krosse to be destroyed by the likes of you!" Beneath his armour, his body begins to swell. "All of you... all of you will--"
Then the floor explodes.
Shattered stone smashes into the guard captain and cuts him off in mid-sentence - and with a bloodcurdling shriek, the Crypt Wurm heaves up from the depths of the dungeon. Hideous tendrils grasp the Guardsman. With a shriek, the half-transformed man is snapped downwards into the dusty, rubbley hole - and there's the sickening crunch of bone, then again, and then a spray of violet blood.
"Althena," Talise gasps, throat tightening, as the Wurm comes coiling upwards. Its lily-petal jaws split into four again, tendrils undulating from its enormous throathole, multiple tongues dripping with acidic Malevolence made material.
It lunges. The back wall of the anteroom collapses as the Wurm tears through it. Chunks of brick and stone crumble from the ceiling; the catacombs groan with distress. With a hiss, Talise coils away, bringing her shotgun to bear and firing a few blasts at the creature. "Should've taken you down back there," she growls.
Regrets again. Once again, beating myself up for something I should've done, or that I was powerless to do.
And now I can change that.
And now I MUST change it.
The wurm strikes, tendrils grasping at the foursome, venom balls pounding through the room and sizzling through brick and flesh. Talise lunges away from a couple of bites, cleaves through a tendril, fires her last shell and surges forward, Rastaban coming into her hands. The blade practically sings as she slices through the air itself, delivering a series of rapid, exquisitely skillful strikes.
"It must... CHANGE!" she roars. "HOOOOOOAAAAAAHT!!!"
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia cries out in terror and disgust--and then gets Chauncey biggified and sets to the best defense she knows: A good old Foxington style beatdown. It's all she can do not to hide in his backpack throughout. "Stay calm, Sephy, stay calm..."
Chauncey has no trouble remaining calm, at least. He's good at smashing calmly.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.
This is the source, or nearly. Tethelle is sure of it. This man, the guard captain - he may not have been the origin of it, but he has enough Malevolence that she can tell what is about to happen. "We're not even trying to destroy Krosse," she says, though she doesn't expect it will be listened to. "We - "
OH GOD WHAT IS THAT
Tethelle actually doesn't know what it is for a few moments. It takes that long to realize that the Malevolent crypt wurm from before has changed, and changed further, into some sort of monstrosity. And it's mad, she realizes, from when they hurt it before. It wasn't much, they were too busy trying to get away, but... she can feel its hate.
"Talise!" Tethelle calls, raising her Medium again. The nature of the Sword is to cut, and she draws upon that, focusing her power through the Medium and calling to the Guardian for aid. The nature of the Sword is to cut - but a sword should strike the darkness, cut through and bring light. This is what she wants to do. This is her purpose, as she's chosen it.
Talise - and indeed, the others - feels their power increase as Tethelle imbues the group with the power of Equites. She draws her sword a moment later, the length shimmering silver not with divine power but with Tethelle's own fighting spirit; she swings it in wide arcs, lancing out with cutting lines of chi that leave great rents in the Malevolent aura and the armoured body of the wurm. "BURST STRIKE!"
DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Icon of Equites toward her party's challenge, The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna acts quickly to the sight of a man in the room ahead. She draws her revolver as the man begins to speak and transform...and then fires, hoping to merely kill him here and now before he can transform fully.
Two things happen simultaneously.
There is the sound of a gunshot, and then the floor erupts beneath the man, the Crypt Wurm tearing out from the ground and drawing him deep into the depths.
If he's lucky, Layna's bullet would've killed him first.
And now, they find themselves faced with the Crypt Wurm itself - this time, there is no hope of running away. It stands between it and their destination, and Layna has no intention of allowing it to continue.
The wind begins to howl and twist around her, and her body is coated in a green aura. It twists and spirals around her hands...and then, she rushes forward toward the Crypt Wurm. She joins her friends, unleashing a devastating punch toward it, even as the wind attempts to drill deep into, and through, it's flesh.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT.
==============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>==============================
=============<* CHALLENGE - The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT *>=============
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The prisons lie just beyond you now, a circular chamber that rings around
the heart of the catacombs. Within is the honeycomb-like maze of prison
cells built into the castle's underground years and years ago -- but to get
there, you must get past the well-guarded antechamber you now find yourself
in. Here stands one of the Captains of the Royal Guard, seemingly at the
ready for you, weapons drawn and his form slowly distorting with the ominous
dawn of a Hellionized shift.
"Not this time! WE WON'T LET YOU DESTROY KROS--"
And what would have doubtless been a very courageous of completely
Malevolence-maddened proclamation is cut off as the ground beneath the
Captain EXPLODES. Bold proclamations give way to the sound of a startled cry
as glowing blue tendrils wrap themselves around the Guardsman, and he finds
himself dragged underneath with a terrified yelp... and the sound of a gulp.
Only seconds later does the blackened form of the Crypt Wurm partially
emergy within the large antechamber, infested with a Malevolence that seems
to have fully Hellionized it now into an even more ichorous monstrosity and
fixates it solely upon you, as if guided, as if compelled to. Its long,
limbless, eyeless body writhes, its jaw unhinges, acidic and Malevolent
spittle flying within its blood-curdling roar before it lunges,
half-submerged, for you all. No more running. No more driving back.
It's either you, or it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
=========================<* Krosse Catacombs - Round 6 *>========================= ===============< Results - The Captain of the OH GOD WHAT IS THAT >=============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Trench Sweeper Shotgun 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tethelle Cirdian 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Icon of Equites 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Suffer(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 Layna Manydays has successfully explored Krosse Catacombs!
==============================<* Krosse Catacombs *>==============================
============================<* CHALLENGE - The Farm *>============================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
This large series of ringed halls were once a dedication to important
figures of Krosian history. Ages ago, its structure was deemed more
appropriate to be used as a prison for Krosse's most notable and dangerous
criminals against the state. Concentric circles of prison cells dotted with
old architecture and statues of forgotten history stand as testament to this
mixed heritage; but that is not what strikes the senses most profoundly,
here. No.
It is the Malevolence.
It is thick in this place, palpable in the streams of it that flow like
spiritually discordant rivers of black and violet through the air. They wind
and converge and split in branching, Malevolent patterns, whispering almost
beautifully through the stale, stagnant space surrounding these prison
cells. And then you see where all that Malevolence is coming from.
The prisoners.
They line these cells, the outsiders and dissenters and various others who
have been captured by the Guard and brought to the catacombs. All of them
now give off some levels of low-grade Malevolence that lifts off them like
vapor and winds into the air as if it were being sucked away from them even
as the thickness of that spiritual dissonance in the air seems to inspire
yet more Malevolence within them. Like an ouroboros, constantly feeding for
eternity off its own tail. And that is when it becomes most immediately
apparent. This is not a prison.
It is a farm.
And whatever they are harvesting that self-perpetuating Malevolence for
here... whatever grim thing they might want it for... it can be found by
following those trails towards the center of this circular prison, towards a
sealed chamber at the very heart of Krosse's catacombs, where the discord
seems to distort everything that surrounds it the heaviest...
(OOC: This leads directly into the scene on Sunday, the 25th! For the sake
of convenience, assume this Digger ICly happens on that day; if you do not
intend to have a particular alt show up to that scene, or you can't make it,
or anything else, you can have your character evacuate the prisoners or
otherwise go to get help! Any questions, toss them K.K.'s way!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The wurm is quite a bit bigger, and quite a bit more acidic, and it seems to have gained more than a few additional tentacles. Everywhere it hurls that acid, liquid Malevolence seems to devour the very rocks into a noxious fume of nightmares.
The wind is not enough to stir the Malevolence in the air. Layna's fist strikes hardened flesh, and the Wurm simply snares her with a tendril, hurling her into the air and preparing to devour her--
And then the light of Equites shines forth like the sun.
Layna is released to tumble free as the wurm recoils from Tethelle's icon. It gives Chauncey time to violently slam into the hideous hellbeast, and gives Talise time to come in swinging. Tethelle and Layna land blows of their own.
Blades sing in the air. Blood flies. And, finally, the wurm gurgles and slouches back through the hole it created, bleeding from countless wounds, its life seeping from it rapidly.
Panting with exertion, Talise takes a moment to wipe Rastaban's blade clean of Malevolent blood. "...Right," she breathes. "Let's go find those prisoners." She pushes forward --
Into a human Malevolence farm.
As violet haze streams through the air in horrifyingly exquisite coils, filtering off of countless prisoners in various states of low-level despair and abominable malice, Talise can only stare on with her mouth open. The sight of this place is absolutely disgsting. An affront to life itself.
She closes her right hand into a tight fist, so tight she could almost re-compress Rastaban's hilt. "Trial Knight," she snarls.
"You are fucking dead."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna finds herself flung into the air...but with a roar of fury she charges right toward it. She doesn't care if it'll hurt. She'll drill right through it. Fortunately, the others unload on it quickly, preventing Layna from making a terrible mistake. And before long, the beast is slain. And they're able to proceed...
Directly into a nightmare.
The mere sight of it causes Layna's aura to disperse as she stares, in open-mouthed horror.
She clenches her fists tight, body vibrating with rage.
How dare they...? To do something like this...
She doesn't stew in her anger for long. There's something more important to do right now. She charges off. She'll attend to the other cells later, but right now, she's looking for someone specific.
And eventually, several layers ahead, she finds them.
The Quartermaster, Dahlia, is here, limp and chained to the wall. She's seen better days, but Layna doesn't care about right now.
"Dahlia! It's Layna! Can you hear me!?" She shouts, before reaching into her coat, drawing out her drill. There was a reason she chose not to use it within the Catacombs themselves - she could not afford it breaking down before they reached the prison itself.
She takes the drill to the door and kicks her way through, before doing the same to Layna's restraints. The Quartermaster falls limply forward and Layna catches her, letting her drill fall to the floor.
"Layna...you're here...?" Dahlia murmurs, stirring momentarily. "I was afraid...you'd run off...and do something stupid..."
Layna doesn't say anything right away, just standing there quietly.
"...I almost did. Knew you would've been angry at me." She replies, and shakes her head.
"You...know me...too well..." The Quartermaster says with a faint smirk...and then goes quiet again, slipping back into unconsciousness. Layna shuts her eyes tight.
"...Sorry. But I...think I'm going to end up doing something stupid after all."
She would find out who did this. She would break them, dash all of their plans, their hopes, their dreams. They would fear her name.
This would not go unpunished.