2018-02-21: In the Name of Love and Peace
- Log: In the Name of Love and Peace
- Cast: Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Vash the Stampede, Maya Schrodinger, Noeline, Kaguya, Matilda Whitehead, Ambrosius
- Where: Lost July
- Date: February 21st, 2018
- Summary: In a trance, Riesenlied wanders off to Lost July. Her friends go looking for her, including some unlikely faces...
===============================<* Lost July *>================================ The Seed City of July was once one of the strongest of them. Built near the mountains, it was scenic and imposing (for the Badlands). Fifty years ago, though, a mysterious event destroyed it. Now, Lost July is shattered. A crater is carved through half of the city. The city's streets are a tangle of broken and collapsed buildings. The few souls who venture here are often dangerous, mad, or both. Some whisper that Lost July is a refuge for those who would rather not be caught in civilization. BGM: None.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It almost seemed like Wayside would have one, just one -- one full day without something terrible and unusual happening, like the Quarter Knights barging in to destroy everything, or an ancient evil of primal origin threatening to barge up to destroy everything, or Val's vodka distillery threatening to barge out to destroy everything.
Almost.
It came seemingly out of-- nowhere, while Riesenlied is recuperating and feeding the kids a special treat of melted chocolate chip and mint cookies--
--the baking tray clatters to the ground, cookie dough splattering everywhere as the Hyadean clutches her hands to her forehead. "Ah...!"
Again... again... what are you trying to tell me?
Her expression has contorted into one of excruciating pain, as the visions and memories come rushing through. It feels more distinct, this time, more vivid and sharp than ever before--
A mother runs for her life, carrying her child in her arms as she turns from the light--
A young man barely gets the chance to sit up from his bed as he peeks at the horizon--
A good dog sits, waiting faithfully for his master when his water bowl flashes--
The tray wobbles and lies flat on the ground. Footsteps are heard in the distance.
"Mom?" Mikaia asks, looking around, cupping her mouth. "Mom! MOM!"
---
Lost July was transformed into a crater of glass some fifty years ago, a cataclysm that gave the man known only as 'Vash the Stampede' his nickname: the Humanoid Typhoon. The destruction visited upon the city is plain to see -- an explosion of such force that it simply turned civilisation into ashes, turned sand into glass, turned skyscrapers and bustling city streets into ruins.
It didn't take long for Mikaia, Janey and the other orphans to raise the alarm and beg for help-- it wasn't the first time this kind of thing has happened...
And it didn't take long for the Ebony Wings to spot the possession-prone Hyadean heading northwest-ward, towards the Seed City, either.
By the time people have arrived, Riesenlied is nearly keeled over in front of what looks like a ... grave marker? It would be familiar to one man, who may be lurking in the shadows, or perhaps has heard of what happened at Wayside.
"They want us to... know..." she whispers, in the midst of near inconherent babbling.
This is... a problem, because she's currently surrounded by the shadows of bandits nearby who're quickly marching in on her location. "Looks like we got a stray, eh? Should be easy pickins..."
"Wait, I've seen her before--! In the bounty posters... heheh, we'll dinin' rich tonight, boys!"
They're more armed than regular bandits, carrying rocket launchers, ARMs of inappropriate size and other kinds of absurd explosives. But then again...
You're not regular Drifters either, are you?
DG: A party led by Elhaym van Houten is now entering Lost July. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================<* Lost July *>=================================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The Glass Crater - Bandits *>==================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The entrance to the ruins of Lost July is through the crater where the
greatest devastation here. The ground here has been blasted by some force so
mighty that it rendered the crater into glass. The path onward requires
crossing it, which is a treacherous thought.
It may not seem so at first. A rope descends downward, with pitons hammered
into the glass -- and the rock beneath. Someone else came here first. Those
someones are down on the base of the crater, which is when they spot you. A
loud whistle breaks the air -- then shots from gunsmoke ARMs, as a crew of
bandits begin firing upon you. And one of them, it seems, is loading a
rocket launcher to fire on you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Sometimes Elly thinks that she's been cursed to live in interesting times. Why couldn't she have lived like eighty years ago? Literally nothing happened in Solaris in that period except some unusually high quality animation that came out of the versificator. (Some of the merch still sells in the 2nd class second hand shops.)
Elly had suffered from a bad attack of fatigue that had kept her from joining Fei in further deep adventures into the ruined city, and had opted to take it easy in the protected nook where they had struck camp. Previously they had agreed: if separated, meet back at -- well, there are fallback locations, mostly public, all with Memory Cubes. It wasn't that dangerous unless you were taken by surprise.
So Elly's late morning was only somewhat marred by the worry that everyone she knows and loves got eaten by ruin monsters. She fried an egg, put it on a slice of toasted bread, ate it, and had gone to a natural catch basin to wash her hands and generally clean herself up. Emerging from this piece of wreckage, she is confronted with the fact that Riesenlied has appeared in the small cleared space she passed through.
"Riesenlied!" she says.
Then, because Elly sometimes gets a little weird on her own, she says, "I was just thinking of you the other day!"
The fact that she's laying on a grave makes more sense to Elly now that the location is something she notices, rather than just 'a rock'. (She, of course, is not fundamentally used to headstones and similar markers.)
"Are..."
Elly's mind slowly expands to accomodate the bandits.
"Are those..."
Elly points with a finger, apparently too dreamlike to feel fear right now. "Are those rocket launchers?" she asks.
Bad things will happen very shortly. To them.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
Before
An operating table. The air is sterile. A man you thought had the answers.
"Please..."
A scalpel. You're being cut open. He stares at you, impassive.
"Please... stop -- stop this, I can't--"
Power. Uncontrolled. Burning white.
"PLEASE! YOU NEED TO STOP!"
Everything is drowned out in white and the world burns.
"KN--"
Now
It's hard to forget things, when memories are all you have to keep you company.
And they are all he has had, for a very long time.
Lost July. They'd found it. 'Lost' had always been a bit of a misnomer. After the destruction, after everything had been leveled into so much dirt and fear and nothing, there was simply no recovering it. But now, attention has been thrust upon that dead city once more. Opportunists. Scavengers.
But they wouldn't find much here. Not on the surface. So why call attention to it...?
He's almost drawn here, by the news. Like he could not be anywhere else BUT here. Drawn back to memories, buried but far from forgotten. Drawn back to his sins. And he is here, lingering, on the fringes of the glassed crated of dust and soot and sand that was once a thriving, flourishing land, near a stretch of ruined, cracked architecture that he remembers whole, when the sound of gunfire draws him out of the lost reverie of memories he almost drowns in.
Beneath a tattered, tan hood, his head turns, sea blue eyes staring off into the distance. He sees the people. The gravemarker.
Left behind for lives he'll never be able to make up for.
And slowly, his dust-encrusted hand falls away from that crumbling edifice.
...
Shots ring out, one after the other, as those who have come here to find and protect Riesenlied from the vultures of Lost July come upon their destination, ready to fight. It's hard to place where they come from, but each one shoots fierce through the air, targetting not the bandits themselves -- but each one of their ARMs, in turn, one after the other, in rapid-fire motion. It's hard to make him out, in the swirl of sand, but the faintest signs of an arm shifting just a bit, the sight of a tattered, tan cloak of a very tall man with spikey blonde hair and sea green eyes is all too visible as the dust settles.
He can't bring himself to theatrics, right now. Not here. There's only naked concern.
"Is everyone alright?!"
Vash the Stampede has joined your party!
DG: Vash the Stampede has used his Tool One-ARMed Man toward his party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The panicked shouts of young children are one of the few ways to get Maya's attention faster than any tales of gold and glitter, or buried riches. It would be a cold ear that pretends not to hear the confusion and fear in such innocent voices, indeed. And as pragmatic as the mimicking heroine might make herself out to be, she is hardly heartless. Or indeed, as curt as she might think.
Why do you help her?
There's no time to saddle a horse, or find another ride. What if disaster finds the Ebony Wings' frail leader first? Wayside's inhabitants are briefly treated to a soft *BOOM* as the blonde weirdo who changes costumes a lot explodes out of the stables, headed for Riesenlied's last known position as if shot from a cannon. But humans can't fly, can they?
Because it's right.
A similar *BOOM* echoes from not far away. Somewhere out in the dunes beyond the city's limits, a plume of sand roiling into the sky briefly as something lands nearby at one hell of a pace. It is, of course, the odd woman named Maya, who brushes the sand from her sleeves and marches over the unsteady ground as if it were concrete against her boots. She tugs on a glove that doesn't yet exist until she thinks about it, and it materializes over her hand silently. Like a mirage coming into focus. "Where'd you go, boss lady...?"
But there is no profit in it, no glory.
Maya's question is answered soon enough: Riesenlied staggers, kneels, and prays. She can't hear it, but she can see it, the unmistakable silhouette of the horned lady clasping her hands. More to the point, she can see the looming figures of human vultures come to make a meal of the beleaguered Hyadean. Sapphire eyes dart from figure to figure. Handgun. Rifle. Rifle. Underslung launcher. Rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Vibro-sword.
And why do you care?
Gloved fingers slide a cartridge coloured day-glo orange into the breech of what looks like a sawn-off shotgun, but is likely more devilish because the word ARM is involved. The gunslinger crests the dune before her as a sprint, emerging above the bandits like an avenging angel clad in the colours of day and sunshine. "Hands off!" her cry heralds, well,
It is curious, to see you change.
Fire and fury from above. But she's not the only one.
Time slows as Maya watches a veritable storm of crossfire from every direction no doubt unfolds.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Tankbuster Cartridge toward her party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has led the Ebony Wings charge in pursuit of Riesenlied, as she so often has in the past; to be honest, given her speed and her better health, there's every chance she could have caught up to the Tainted leader and done her best to shake Riesenlied out of her fugue state earlier, but...
... she wouldn't actually do that, even if she had the option. She's well aware that the things that call to Riesenlied are often important, whether in their own right or from Riesenlied's point of view, and so her natural inclination is to at least see what shakes out of the spiritual connection. Besides, she doesn't know the first thing about how this all works - and for all she knows, forcibly pulling Riesenlied away from her link might do a lot more harm than good.
A couple of stray laser shots bolt over the shoulders of the chuckling bandit; it isn't initially clear where they came from what with the direction of the sun, but then a spherical metal shape about a foot across suddenly bonks into the bandit's forehead, apparently trying to peck him with a fake cucco beak as it flaps improvised wings. (Trouble has been having some identity problems, lately, and it seems that Janey and Mikaia were happy to help out.)
Just above, a slim and rather short figure in an over-the-top dress of red and black is sliding down the side of the crater with remarkable abandon, somehow managing to balance and stay upright despite her reckless descent. Part of it might be the way in which her crimson scythe is lodged into the side of the crater wall, shearing a thin pinpoint-line down the glass as it slows her progress; part of it might be the way her arm is stretched out for both balance and as a guideline for her other pod to begin spitting bolts of light forward into the bandit's number.
She finally manages to skid to a halt next to the disoriented Hyadean, resting a hand gently on her shoulder - not forcefully so, not enough to wake her should she still be subsumed by whatever called her here. Just to offer a little support. "You're welcome to try," she comments dryly, with an amused and bright smile on her face and a distinct glint in her eyes. "But I promise you, we've seen through worse." A pause, and much of her humour leaves her at the sight of the ruined, blasted city. Time to take a leaf from her partner's book, perhaps. "... is this really where you wish to meet your last?!" she calls, voice carrying over the opening shots that mark the start of the fight.
Her words might carry more weight and gravitas were Trouble not still squawking electronically in their faces, but, y'know.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya has not been to Wayside since before the incident with the Statue of Lucadia. She has not seen Riesenlied in some time. ...She's been in Krosse for a while, actually. But she finally decided to come back, finally decided to drop by, a dangerous choice considering that she'll be in some trouble if she helps them against the coming invaders, but...
She arrived in time to hear about Riesenlied's disappearance and sighed, heavily. Quite a few people insisted to her that she stop and rest, rather than going after her--she looks worse than usual, after all, eyes terribly sunken with dark circles beneath them, cough worse than even usual, having to lean heavily on her cane--but she saddled up and got going. She is,a fter all, still on the Ebony Wings payroll, so to speak. She makes sure to check her ARM a few times on the way, checking ammunition, firing, clearing...
But they reach the Seed City eventually, and Kaguya stares out at it. Her pointed ears stick through her hair, her draping garments brown and green, mostly brown, and she narrows her eyes as she sees the bandits. They are... Not very normal, no.
But Elly shows up. Vash starts shooting. So Kaguya, from where she is, pulls something at a cord hanging around her neck, taking a deep whiff of the strange scent within, its powerful effects on her unusual physiology near immediate.
"Heheheheh..." She looks up, sees the shots still going, "We gotta stop meeting like this!"
Going far faster with a cane than a girl has a right, Kaguya rushes up towards the Drifters as they focus probably on more dangerous-looking people, pupils dilated--And...
Sweeps out with her cane at the back of his legs and dives elbow-first straight into a guy's chest if she gets him down. It--It won't end nicely if it works. She is not much nicer than the others.
"Only thing you'll be eating is your own teeth~!" the small Veruni sing-songs.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
The leavings of the Humanoid Typhoon... this is a story Matilda's heard a hundred times. Growing up in West Ignas, you always hear this story when something senseless happens. 'At least it wasn't Lost July.' As if that would heal anything. To actually be there, though -- to stand at the crater, chasing Riesenlied -- puts the whole thing in perspective.
"This... it's worse than I'd ever imagined." Matilda stares at the city's remains for a moment -- only to be snapped out of it by the glint of large-scale, high-explosive ARMs. Immediately, her whole demeanor, her whole approach changes; she takes a few moments to assess the bandits' ARMs. Mostly explosives -- hard to aim, slow-moving...
Matilda charges in behind Kaguya, ducking low and moving at a zig-zag. A prolonged shooting battle favors someone who only has to point, rather than aim, and no one's gonna self-detonate willingly. Once she reaches one of the bandits, she goes for a quick throw to the ground followed by a stomp to the face. There's a flash of worry for just a split second, but --
-- everyone has seen you this way, Matilda, she reminds herself. You're fine.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Except for a brief encounter for the sake of one Neriah Parringer, Ambrosius had been distant from the people of Wayside ever since the day he struck out against the Mountain Palace.
He had wounded Riesenlied - with his own bullet, he drew blood. If it was anyone else, it wouldn't matter - but that woman...she would not raise her hand against another, unless absolutely necessary. It was for the sake of his people...but it still left him feeling conflicted.
However, today he received something interested - a request for help. Riesenlied was missing.
They must have been desperate, if they asked him, but when he read further and realized where they thought she was heading, it made sense - Lost July had become a hotbed of activity of late, and was already a fairly dangerous place to be, besides.
And so, he is here.
He happens upon Riesenlied, eventually, kneeling - or maybe almost passed out? - in front of a grave marker...and surrounded by unpleasant-looking humans.
His eyes narrow.
No one quite notices when he appears, but suddenly, he is marching in a straight line right for the man bearing the rocket launcher. He reaches for it...and aims to simply grasp the ARM he carries and crush it, as if it were a tin can. As he does so, however, he spots a familiar face.
"...Miss Kaguuuya...are you alriiight...?" He asks, a hint of concern in his voice.
He doesn't acknowledge the others yet. Hey, a Veruni's gotta have his priorities.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Glass Crater - Bandits.
================================<* Lost July *>=================================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The Glass Crater - Bandits *>==================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The entrance to the ruins of Lost July is through the crater where the
greatest devastation here. The ground here has been blasted by some force so
mighty that it rendered the crater into glass. The path onward requires
crossing it, which is a treacherous thought.
It may not seem so at first. A rope descends downward, with pitons hammered
into the glass -- and the rock beneath. Someone else came here first. Those
someones are down on the base of the crater, which is when they spot you. A
loud whistle breaks the air -- then shots from gunsmoke ARMs, as a crew of
bandits begin firing upon you. And one of them, it seems, is loading a
rocket launcher to fire on you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
===========================<* Lost July - Round 1 *>============================ ====================< Results - The Glass Crater - Bandits >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maya Schrodinger 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Tankbuster Cartridge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vash the Stampede 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass One-ARMed Man 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Strange Potpourri 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Elhaym van Houten 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It is an overwhelming bevy of activity that overtakes the ruined street of Lost July--
Riesenlied's eyes are glassy as she first pulls up to stare at Elly. She isn't her usual self; no, the way she kind of rattles, her shoulders tense as she curls her arms up towards herself rather indicates something terribly, horribly wrong.
... I don't understand ...
The rocket launcher first emerges, and Elly is in a whirlwind of action as she visits violence upon them, probably in the form of an anemo bolt or another flavour of Ether magic. Or maybe they'll get the combat rod? One can only see.
And then there is the one who lives in memories. It is ironic, perhaps, when Riesenlied has been brought here by lingering memories -- by wraith-like and wrathful spirits that grapple at anything and everything they can find their hands on -- Riesenlied's mind an open pasture for them...
She looks up towards Vash. She's nearly shot, before the two bandits next to her are disARMed -- literally -- in a whirlwind of flurry from the tan-caped man coming to her protection. There's an exclamation from what looks like one of their leaders, wearing a tall pink mohawk as he desperately and frantically shouts:
"T-there's no way that's--!!"
"B-boss, it's... there's only one family called Schrodinger!"
"No you idiot, I mean--"
... who is he ... ?
And then he collapses, because Maya Schrodinger has come to save the day, distracting the bandits for long enough for Trouble to fire away at the bandits, including the one with the brilliant idea to turn the Deceiver in for her bounty. Trouble arrives next to Riesenlied, and even in her torpor state, she can still announce, in the midst of having a head-lull:
"...Cucco..."
Noeline arrives next to her, placing her hand down on her shoulder as she plants her hand near her horn. She makes her proclamation, which makes the bandits pause at just how outmatched they suddenly are--
"R-retreat-- retreat--"
... all of these lives ...
--and wham, wham! It's with a viscous trail of gore that Kaguya's elbow pierces through, her Veruni strength outmatching any human bandit can possibly muster. Right next to Kaguya, of course, Matilda is always at her side. Much like her partner, she doesn't waste time in going for the quick takedown, splatting another bandit to the ground... possibly less lethal, but none less painful.
The Veruni's display of might does not end there -- for one of the rocket launchers remaining simply gets grabbed and crushed, into nothing more than a bent pipe that causes the bandit to drop to his knees, paling in fear.
"...t-that red coat... that strength-- no way--"
He stares directly at Ambrosius.
"You can't be VASH THE STAMPEDE?!"
A certain black cat curls up with a :3 face in response to this.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Lost July *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Interpreting a Train Schedule *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A light rail was the primary means of getting around July, until the
incident occurred. However, light rail stations still dot the parts of the
city that stand, and offer maps of the city. Abstracted maps, to be sure,
and ones that don't factor in the massive crater that takes up a full half
of it. But, maps nonetheless.
Some interpretation may be necessary. There are six major lines:
east-to-west has the Red, Yellow, and Blue lines. North-to-south has the
Green, Gold, and Silver lines. However, the Silver Line becomes the Purple
Line for part of its route every other weekday. Additionally, between 4:00
p.m. and 8:00 p.m, there are also the Orange, Magenta, and Periwinkle lines.
On weekends, one can take the Red Line's alternate route, represented by a
dotted line. Except, of course, on Sundays, when it is the Blue Line's
alternate route.
Shouldn't be too hard. Right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly didn't give 'em the rod. LIT2 all the way. It's area-effecting even if FIR2 and ICE2 are stronger! Having done this, Elly stands there, staring at other people arrive in some force. Some she's seen before - Noeline prominent among them - and some of them she hasn't - Kaguya, though she may have misremembered her in the passing of ages.
Elly leads a busy life.
But when the dust clears, Elly is blinking, for a single man stands, towering and blonde. Elly narrows her eyes but when he speaks all illusion is removed - "Ah!" Elly says, and points in shock. "You're that man who had the trouble with --"
A revelation.
"Vash the Stampede?!"
Elly gazes at Ambrosius with a dawn of surprise that shades into a slightly contemptuous understanding. "... I've heard of you... What are you doing here?" she asks him.
Having had the singular and accidental fortune to be pretty close to Riesenlied when all this fracas began, Elly hustles closer to her and crouches down to help her up a little. There is abundant room for others, but Elly hears something first, it seems, or most loudly. "... Further in? What?" Her head then turns.
Zoom out. Elly's improvised washroom, the gravesite, all of this took place directly below...
OUTSKIRT STATION. There is a faded map protected behind some clear plastic that has thus far resisted dust, gunfire, stray Chu-chus, and anything other than the harsh exposure of Filgaia's sun. This means the lower third of the map is badly faded, but the rest not so much. "... It would honestly be easier if we followed the rail tracks," Elly says. "If nothing else we'd have the advantage of height."
Elly then squints at the map again. "Um," she says, hopefully. At least the route info isn't in Zeboim or some other heathen tongue.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
All Riesenlied can really contribute right now are faint and scant mumblings, broken words in the midst of one of her spiritual reveries that rather indicate that her conscience is somewhere high in the clouds. "... fragments ... cloud-walking. Carriage ..."
She gazes up towards the station, and lulls her head back down. Noeline or someone else is apt and liable to carry her, because she doesn't seem to be particularly able to move under her own power at present.
Her gaze scans across to Vash for a moment, but it is not Riesenlied's usual, kind, gentle gaze. It's an otherworldly gaze, the kind of mirroring look of one long gone...
... and then she looks away, as that moment of strange clarity passes, drooping once more.
"...wandering in light..."
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Cucco Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Lots happens. The cacophony of gunfire. ARMs flung from bandit hands, sentient cutie-orbs knock guys that look like extras from Fire Emblem on their ass with blasts of light. Brutal wrestling moves. Lots of brutal wrestling moves. Some dumbass recognizes and respects the orange, and the Schrodinger family name. Just a whole lot of good stuff going down at once.
"Is everyone alright?!"
It's a good question. Maya is still falling in a long tumble, a whirl of sorts, and winces in shock as things turn violent. It never used to turn her stomach, why does it now?
"I'm--fine." the blonde lady is still wired on adrenaline, glancing from person to person. There are more surprises in the crowd who've come to protect Riese than not. Kaguya can probably hear the thudding of the human girl's heart in her chest and hear the wrinkle of her gloves as her hands clench, and unclench.
Not here. Not now. Be grateful. Be mindful. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Focus.
Maya briefly catches a glimpse of the actual Vash the Stampede's green eyes and remembers everyone coming together to mourn all those lost at Adlehyde. That was a bad day though, so she can't remember why it reminds her of that. But it makes it easier, somehow. She exhales in a long rush and reaches behind her back with her gun-arm. The gun is gone when her hand returns to her side.
"Thanks for the help. Filgaia'd lose a real precious gem with this one gone, you know?" she refers, of course, to the stricken Riesenlied. Not a trace of sarcasm or wit in her voice, strained as it might be.
***
Going deeper in seems like a horrible idea, but Maya isn't known for making clever decisions. After all, she's here. Leaving Noeline and Elly to help Riese walk, keeping pace at the tip of the spear (so to speak). "I wouldn't take what idiots like that have to say too sincerely," she pipes after a time, peeking around a corner of shattered concrete. She casts a glance back at Ambrosius, who is definitely the strangest thing she has seen in a week and change.
"You wear something on that side of the rainbow, and everyone thinks you're the big man with the big bounty. I guess people are desperate, huh? To grab that bounty and step out of this nightmare of a life for just a little while..."
Wow, grim. Satisfied that no more rocket launchers are lying in wait, Maya appears by Elly's side and is checking the map out with her. Her voice is instantly recognizable to her as the weird lady with the knight cosplay she met in Wayside once. However,
"... but even if we know where we are now, where the hell do we want to go from here?"
She is much less helpful.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"I love it when you stomp jerks," Kaguya grins to Matilda. ...Unfortunately she's very likely to forget that she says it as she gets up with gore on her elbow, because she's in the grips of her drugs, but she might not--they're starting to lose potency, or rather, she's starting to build a tolerance. She sure doesn't mind it. But... Well, this is pretty dangerous.
"I'm terrible!" Kaguya proclaims cheerfully to Ambrosius in the meantime. ...But the battle winds down, they start running, and Kaguya shakes her head, coming off of the initial high. Except--that... Wait a.
"Vash the what now?" Kaguya asks, lifting an eyebrow, before thinking better of it and shouting, "YEAH! He's Bash the Lamplighter and he's gonna KICK YOUR ASS!" to the retreating bandits. She grins. "Better now," she admits to Ambrosius. She looks to Elly, thinks. Hmm... Cute redheaded human...
Nah, doesn't ring a bell.
"What the..." She thinks. "Trains..?" Pause. "Yeah, she's important..." Kaguya looks to Maya and shakes her head for a moment. But, "I say..."
She points to the map. "This is the closest to the heart of things. We can get there if we try, maybe. Worst case, we just, y'know, throw one of us down as bait so the others can get away." Pause.
"...I'm kidding." Is she??
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline lets out a rather loud snort as Elly identifies the tall Veruni as Vash the Stampede - but it becomes clear in record time that she's not about to gainsay that idea, if only to wait and see what becomes of it. What she does instead is keep her hand on Riesenlied's shoulder as long as she can, waiting to see what the blonde makes of her current state and staying alert for any other bandits that might want to come and disrupt things.
Accepting a victorious Trouble back to her side, she slowly nods her head towards those assembled there - the man in red gets a motion of respect first of all, because she can recognize that something's up with his demeanour compared to their first meeting, and then she's studying Kaguya with an unusually quiet and thoughtful kind of air. Whatever she's thinking on that front, she seems quick to let it go, slowly shrugging one shoulder to herself instead.
"... I would call this 'mission successful', but--" But Riesenlied droops as if her strings are cut, and the metal demon carefully hoists her up in both arms, the cucco-pod roosting in place amidst blonde hair. Those who were more directly drawn here from Wayside get a nod of recognition and thanks, even as she heaves out a sigh and looks forward towards the ruined horizon. "--I dare say we're going to have to go further in to find what plagues her."
Her gaze lingers on the blasted buildings, crumbling and decrepit. She's heard the rumours of Elw devices hidden underneath the City, certainly - keeping up with the news is one of the jobs she's assigned herself - but the look on her face pretty clearly wonders why anyone would ever choose to pick through this sort of place. Still, she starts to work her way upwards to the rails, hopping upwards carefully as she manages Riesenlied's weight.
"We might as well go inwards and start from there," she decides in answer to Maya, and turns her eyes forward to where the line of steel disappears amongst fallen masonry. "Somewhere central would be my guess. Worst comes to worst, we let Riese guide us the best she can. ... what a waste," she adds, unable to stop herself. At least there's much less bite than her usual quips, her voice carrying a note of genuine respect. "So different to Adlehyde and Arctica, and yet... well."
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
The mere cries of "Vash the Stampede?!" get Matilda's blood pumping and her posture extremely guarded -- but the moment passes, fortunately. ... besides, the most important thing right now is keeping pace with Riesenlied. If the Humanoid Typhoon is really here, well... either they can attend to it when it becomes a problem, or they're already dead, right? At least she has time enough to appreciate Kaguya's compliment.
Ambrosius joining the party gets a small smile from Matilda, though it's short-lived as Riesenlied starts her Wander Mode up again. Matilda immediately hurries along behind her, and then finds...
... a train schedule. Oh Lord. "Hmmm... well -- I think the first thing we should do is discern which /station/ we want to get to, and then/ assess the map itself..." Or at least, that's what /she/ thinks. Matilda purses her lips, reaching into her coat and pulling out a book. ... she's mostly using it as a straight-edge for the map....
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
The man stares --
You can't be VASH THE STAMPEDE!
Directly at Ambrosius.
Standing right behind Mister Arashbamalash.
Who is definitely not Vash the Stampede.
Slowly, those sea blue eyes look behind the blonde man. He blinks once. His head tilts.
"... Really??"
But somehow, for some reason, he can't muster up the energy to be completely, cartoonishly bewildered by this revelation (?).
Dressed in the tattered remains of what was once a desert cloak, the glimpses of his red coat beneath rare, Vash the Stampede (the real one) just takes his time to look over those assembled one by one, to make sure each are alright. His smile to Ambrosius is almost apologetic, for some reason -- the one of recognition he offers Elly never quite reaches his eyes.
Concern is more in his expression as his gaze catches Riesenlied's. That stare, so vacant, caught in the past, reminds him of something. His smile fades just a bit at the sight of it.
"... Come on. Maybe there's something to help her further in." He would not come back here if he could help it. He doesn't deserve to.
But, providing one last, lingering look at that grave marker... he just hopes the people lost here can forgive him for it.
He follows, ever on the peripheries, no cheery tunes or antics from the man always so prone to them; Vash simply stays an arm's length apart from the others and eyes the shifting, crumbling architecture with a distant stare, until they arrive at the station. He looks around for a moment, head tilt to the side.
And as the others postulate and wonder, he turns his gaze westwards, and simply points, with a harmless little smile.
"How about this track?"
It's been a long, long time.
But maybe he still remembers.
DG: Vash the Stampede has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
'You can't be VASH THE STAMPEDE?!'
Ambrosius gives the man a blank look, but with his eyes being shadowed by his hat, it might be a lot more intimidating than he intended. He simply lets the rocket launcher fall to the ground next to him, crushed into uselessness.
This blank look is soon turned toward Elly as she speaks to him. He assesses for a moment, as if considering what to say. Eventually he decides on,
"My assistance...was requeeested..." He replies, his arms disappearing into his poncho once more. "I hope that will...not be an iiissue..."
Kaguya exclaims that she's terrible...then calls him 'Bash the Lamplighter'. He raises an eyebrow at that, then nods at her, before sending Matilda a nod of greeting.
As he looks toward Riesenlied once more to confirm her condition, he can't help but spot but spot a man of similar height to himself dressed in a tattered cloak and sending him a smile. He offers the man a nod of acknowledgment before moving onward with the others.
Ambrosius takes up the flank, in hopes of warding off future attackers who might try to take advantage of the situation. Eventually, they arrive at what seems to be a...
Train schedule?
Ambrosius stares at it.
In a way it's a map of the city...but he has no idea what those lines are supposed to mean. Humans truly had some unusual ways of communicating information...
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Interpreting a Train Schedule.
================================<* Lost July *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Interpreting a Train Schedule *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A light rail was the primary means of getting around July, until the
incident occurred. However, light rail stations still dot the parts of the
city that stand, and offer maps of the city. Abstracted maps, to be sure,
and ones that don't factor in the massive crater that takes up a full half
of it. But, maps nonetheless.
Some interpretation may be necessary. There are six major lines:
east-to-west has the Red, Yellow, and Blue lines. North-to-south has the
Green, Gold, and Silver lines. However, the Silver Line becomes the Purple
Line for part of its route every other weekday. Additionally, between 4:00
p.m. and 8:00 p.m, there are also the Orange, Magenta, and Periwinkle lines.
On weekends, one can take the Red Line's alternate route, represented by a
dotted line. Except, of course, on Sundays, when it is the Blue Line's
alternate route.
Shouldn't be too hard. Right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless========================================
===========================<* Lost July - Round 2 *>============================ ==================< Results - Interpreting a Train Schedule >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maya Schrodinger 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vash the Stampede 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 5 --(7)--> 12 Pass Portable Library 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Elhaym van Houten 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Fright(1)|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"What?" Elly says to Maya. Then she raises a philosophical question and Elly has no clear answer. "Cloud-walking," she answers Riesenlied, looking back at the map.
Kaguya raises a solid point. But not a happy one. Elly frowns slightly; her response is, "I actually know some other people who are travelling through here. We might run across them, at least. In case there's something really nasty, I mean."
I wish I could just bring out the tablet and photograph this map, Elly thinks. Maybe if we have eyes overhead... Elly glances at the sky for no clear reason as she thinks of this. Or if Fei were here, to draw a copy of this map into that sketchbook of his...
"Well; if you don't mind me asking," Elly says to Ambrosius the Stampede, "What exactly happened here then? I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but it's kind of become myth and legend." And then a fine tip is raised. The westward line? "Ah... that should work... the old rail line is just up these stairways, here. We were making camp in what I suppose was an old supply building..."
SOON ENOUGH
Everyone gets up on the station platform and heads west.
In the hot sun.
No shade.
Just ruins.
At least there's no critters up on the old rail bed.
AFTER A WHILE
The track kind of peters out at a dead end facing towards the wasteland.
Elly's cheeks puff out in frustration.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese kind of absent-mindedly looks at Elly and puffs her own cheeks out, through some kind of instinct.
A cucco next to her also puffs out to similar roundness.
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Beaten to the Punch! *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The rumors that an Elw ruin sits underneath Lost July have prompted no small number of Drifters to come here, and some are not so friendly. As you round the next bend -- or perhaps enter a building that has some appeal -- you come across a group of them, who turn and look at you. Scowls dance across their faces; several ARMs come out, while one from Lunar starts to summon lightning. Negotiation is unlikely -- as they send a hail of bullets and sorcery careening towards you! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Bad Luck========================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
- -1 ARGUMENT OUT OF RANGE takes rather a while to pick their way back to where they started, and then longer still to where they can make their way back down amongst the ruined city streets. Noeline doesn't really seem to mind the heat on her skin, thanks to being a metal demon and all, but she's certainly prepared to low-key complain about it if only to pass the time. It's kind of a nice walk, if you don't have to worry about sunburn and heatstroke.
"... I never had the opportunity to see this city, you know," she comments out of the blue as they finally step down towards ground level, picking their way through a ruined structure with three levels and what appear to be a collection of blasted, hollowed-out shops. It's not even clear whether it was the blast or looters that got to them last. "I passed it on my way out, and was still on my way back from the west when I heard about the news. By all accounts it was a thriving sort of place."
She glances at Elly as she says it, apparently having voiced it as an answer to her question. "What I can tell you is that this wasn't Metal Demon work, at least. It should be rather obvious from Adlehyde that they tend to prefer a more chaotic approach. In comparison, this is almost..." A pause, and even she has the grace and respect to bow her head to the empty buildings around them as she fishes for the improbable word. "... 'clean'."
She rounds the next corner, Riesenlied's form cradled against her - and comes immediately face to face with a man with ash smothered across his face for camoflage, the pair of them both so surprised to find another person here that they freeze for a moment, eyebrows raised.
And then Noeline - with rather better reflexes - drives a knee into his gut.
"Incoming!" she calls, short and sharp; the next moment she's dived back around the corner, pressing herself against the wall and sliding down it as she tries to find a way to put Riesenlied down and safely fight back all at once. Thankfully, she does have a way - and Trouble and Strife dutifully bleep in tandem as they flit back and forth around the corner, spreading suppressive fire in their wake.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's lull rather makes her a difficult conversation partner for Noeline, even though by all rights and accounts, she still seems to be attentively listening to her partner in life. Trouble, in her cucco getup, appears to be the perfect companion for her to sit on, given that Noeline can't just lift her through this entire dangerous city in her arms (no matter how much Noeline might like to).
"... to be known..." Riesenlied simply whispers, through a moment of scant lucidity. Before she explains afterwards, she-- pauses and hitches, a breath lost as her eyes widen when a man rounds the corner around them--
Trouble rushes off to join the fray, and through the dust cloud Strife also pursues and leaves her tumbling to one side, twitching a little as she tries to pull up to her knees.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Non-Action toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Despite the heat, and the nerves, and the strange company, Maya does not slouch or slump or otherwise look defeated as everyone is forced to get on the Footfall Line to Nowhere. In fact, someone who doesn't sweat to this degree in the sun is probably at serious risk of something. But get this: the heroines don't sweat in the books, so why should she?
Kaguya jokes that someone should be human bait. The blonde lady in the heavy dress and jacket just gives her a suspicious look askance. "Ah, pragmatic. But the rest of the pack would no doubt come running, and--" and then the tiny Veruni points out that she's kidding, and Maya looks very silly for trying to interject. "Oh."
Further support conversations are blissfully cut short as a bolt of blue lightning punches through a nearby window and strikes the Drifter square in her chest, which has less of a lethal-looking impact than one might expect as she goes, eloquently: "Ur--HRK!!" and clutches at her chest, swatting at it panickedly for fear of going into cardiac arrest. No, nothing so serious. The expensive brooch on her collar glowing red-hot is probably more of a threat than that.
It pays to get your clothes embedded with crest sorcery, folks.
"Ithinkthenoiseisdrawingtoomuchheat--" funnily enough, it is very difficult to speak well after being hit by magical lightning. Maya ambles in Matilda's direction as if she actually needed protection from some of this, while producing an extremely fat and long reolver from the holster at her side.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Tankbuster Cartridge toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
What exactly happened here then?
"..."
Vash the Stampede's head dips. The question, he knows, is meant for Ambrosius. But he still answers as he journeys west, the way his hands clench into fists hidden behind the veil of his tattered cloak.
"Something that will hopefully never happen again."
He walks on through the dry desert heat without complaint. He's done so many times before. Here, even.
And then it turns out his memory isn't quite as good as he thought it was.
He looks at Elly for a long moment of tense silence. A tumbleweed blows past it, a black cat with a tragically large head tumbling after with a shrill meow the only thing to break the quiet.
"... Ahahaha... it seemed like a good idea at the time?" he suggests, his usual energy and vigor subdued.
...
"Please don't kill me."
And so they travel on, as Vash lingers, taking up the rear and watching out for any potential threats. He listens to them talk, his gaze always wandering back to Riesenlied between his vigils, as if keeping a careful eye on the woman. Noeline calls this clean. And behind his lips, Vash bites his cheek.
Instant. Devastating.
But clean...
"It wasn--"
His words are cut off with the sound of a bang. Sea blue eyes widen. He looks at those Drifters, standing right in front of them, catching them by surprise --
And Vash the Stampede's reaction is instant: -leaping- ahead of the fray, he interposes himself between those ARM-wielding Drifters and the others, trying to draw their attention towards -him-. Bullets rip through his cloak. It isn't the first time. A bullet bites his shoulder. He ignores the pain. He just -drives- himself forward. No guns.
Just driving the leather-bound elbow of his left arm into the sternum of one man as before gripping him and -throwing- him into the direction of the other like he weighed little more than a ragdoll. He hates violence; but this should catch their attention enough--
"Leave!" he commands, that often cheerful and oblivious voice somehow dangerously commanding in that moment. "Now!"
DG: Vash the Stampede has used his Tool One-ARMed Man toward his party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The roundness of the cucco fills Elly with determination.
"What news?" Elly asks Noeline, before trailing off and remembering that Noeline is like, hundreds of years old. She nods a little at the news of the Metal Demons not being responsible for this. Then she looks over towards the new person who joined--
Wait a minute. That's another bandit!
Elly, tired out from walking, deals with this matter by narrowing her eyes and -- Ice wall! Yes, the ambient atmospheric moisture produces a sudden chest-high lump of glacial ice, which Elly ducks behind, possibly giving Noeline space to maneuver or otherwise reorient her assault.
Maybe Vash is a good influence. Unlike Ambrosius the Stampede...
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya glances to Noeline, but doesn't stay with it. ...She watches Riesenlied instead, and finds that she has nothing else she can say; she sort of... avoids, talking to Noeline for the moment, staying soo close to Riesenlied. She avoids that entirely. Instead... Well, they start walking. They definitely start walking. Kaguya, unlike Maya, totally sweats. She leans heavy onher cane. She leans on Matilda. She complains. For example:
"Ugh, this sucks. Who actually lives like this? What's with all this wwalking? I hate it. It's--" Pause. Clean. ...Clean, huh? "It doesn't look clean to me," Kaguya mutters. But then, well--The corner comes. Maya is talking.
"Oh yeah no I mean there's nobody here I'd really--" She pauses, looks at Vash. "..." Before she can say something monumentally unkind, she's saved by the sudden appearance of combat. Kaguya gets shot! "Ow, fuck!"
She frowns, and Vash's command comes to mind for her... But Kaguya, instead, pulls the strange pouch again, puts it to her face. "Heh heh heh..."
Kaguya charges the one with lightning, pulling her ARM along the way, and aims a blast of hardened light straight for the mage's stomach as she starts whirling around to headbutt another with an ARM. Ranged weapons in melee?
Don't tell Kaguya it's not how it works.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius stares directly at Elly. It's hard to tell if he realises that she's come to the same conclusion the bandit from before has...but if he has, he seems to have no interest in convincing her otherwise.
"I am afraaaid...I cannot tell you..." He replies, shaking his head.
The path they'd chosen...seems to be a fruitless one. Ambrosius marches on all the while, as stoic as ever. His expression barely changes as Noeline lets out a call of warning.
Instead, he extends his arm out. Water begins to swirl and converge around it...before rising up in a powerful geyser beneath the Lightning Lunarian and their allies, soaking them to the bone. While it would certainly hurt, he had another intention in mind.
...They'd probably want to think twice about using any more lightning magic, while they and their allies were drenched with it.
This may be a moot point, though, if Kaguya has her way.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"... I'd have agreed with that assessment evne if you hadn't said anything. The timeline wouldn't seem right, either," Matilda muses to Noeline, as they walk. She keeps her eye on Riesenlied, even if she's in a bit of a lull; it's... hard not to be at least a little concerned about her, even despite the complexities of their shared past.
Kaguya gets the most attention, of course. "This place... wasn't always this way. I think at this point it's mostly drifters and others like us here..." She purses her lips, then frowns at the implications of her phrasing. "It's -- different, from Adlehyde, at least."
Then Vash pleads for mercy. "Honestly, this is a comparatively tame bit of accidental wandering... I wouldn't fault you for this," Matilda says to Definitely Not Vash The Stampede, shortly before they head forward and -- into another group of Drifters.
She immediately moves in front of Maya, drawing her combat knife.
The compounder closes the distance, leaping forward and going for a quick grab-and-stab on one of the gunners. It's not intended to be instantly fatal, so that's... something?
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Beaten to the Punch!.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Beaten to the Punch! *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The rumors that an Elw ruin sits underneath Lost July have prompted no small number of Drifters to come here, and some are not so friendly. As you round the next bend -- or perhaps enter a building that has some appeal -- you come across a group of them, who turn and look at you. Scowls dance across their faces; several ARMs come out, while one from Lunar starts to summon lightning. Negotiation is unlikely -- as they send a hail of bullets and sorcery careening towards you! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Bad Luck========================================
==========================<* Lost July - Round 3 *>=========================== ======================< Results - Beaten to the Punch! >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Tankbuster Cartridge 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vash the Stampede 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass One-ARMed Man 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Strange Potpourri 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 12 --(5)--> 17 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Elhaym van Houten 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Exhaust(1)|Reckless(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten 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> Noeline has posed.
It's something of a scrabble to manage to catch Riesenlied in her arms before the demon can meet the ground; Noeline kind of goes down heavily on one elbow as she does so, wincing at the rather abrupt translation from pacing through the ruined town to fighting to recovering for Trouble's overenthusiastic mistakes. At least she's older and wiser these days - not nearly as worried at the idea of keeping up appearances as she helps the blonde up to her feet, happy to let her pods take the brunt of the assault.
"Left!" she tries to blurt to Maya as the hairs on the back of her neck go up; she's just a little too late to be able to deliver the initial warning, wincing in sympathy. Fortunately, a metal beam appears to have grounded much of the spell away, leaving the Drifter with a clear shot at the overextended mage. Vash's shoulder-barge and throw, all the more effective and imposing given the sheer height of the man's frame, is enough to knock one of them unconscious and send the other sprawling in fear and pain. The man scrabbles back on his hands, then breaks for it.
Elly's wall of ice mingles with the sudden swell of water, strengthened by it sufficiently that the next volley of bullets simply bounce off of it - before the whole wall tears itself apart and upwards, swirling amidst the sudden geyser that sends bandits flying every which way, water in their eyes and sheer confusion at the power of the group they've tried to cross. In the wake of the attack, it's easy for Matilda and Kaguya to race through the remainder, neutralizing them in... one way or another.
When all is said and done, Noeline carefully picks herself up off the ground, letting out a long and slow breath of relief. She makes sure that Riesenlied is stable, then dusts herself off with a rather prim air about her, frowning at the dust on her gloved hand. "... I certainly don't mean that literally," she notes, her voice remarkably quiet and curt. It might be odd for a Hyadean to be so affected by the ruined city, but-- well, Noeline has always been someone who loved civilization above all else.
"What I mean is that metal demons - bandits, raiders, whoever you like - they prioritize. Many of them revel in it. It is discerning, and often cruel. This place has simply... been left empty. I could almost believe it was some kind of technological accident, if one on an enormous scale."
Noeline pauses, brow furrowing - then she shakes her head, and helps lead Riesenlied back onto Trouble's back. "Let us press on."
DG: Maya Schrodinger has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================ =================<* CHALLENGE - Tactical Espionage Action *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Some Drifters had the bright idea, while raiding this place, to sneak in a Gear. The thought process was likely something about overwhelming firepower and a decision to not worry about reprisal, this far from civilization. As you round the corner, you see one such Gear there. It stands tall, looming over a half-collapsed building -- while a trio of Drifters works the inside. However, the Gear seems busy, because it is shining a spotlight built into its head into the building. You might be able to sneak past, without starting a fight. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Bad Luck=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The wind whistles ominously in the wake of another frenzied outburst of violence, fine grains of ancient glass and sand tickling the cheeks alike. Because, really, there ain't much difference between the two, innit? It makes for a fitting backdrop to the hushed conversations about ruin, looting, how this somber, fading echo of human culture came to be.
Maya no longer forms the tip of the exploratory spear, because she is significantly more dusted up than she first anticipated. This is good, because it gives her time to take it slow and drink in the sights and sounds of such a famous disaster. One such sight is spotted through a crumbling hole in a stucco wall, the pitted grooves of which the Drifter is using as a handrail rather than embarrass herself using someone else for support.
"Uh--psssst!" the beleaguered gunslinger raises a finger to her lips and turns to the unlikely assembly who all came to save Riesenlied. For that alone, you know, she oughta help them out a little more. "Giant robot--Gear! Right there!" she's trying to do one of those ineffectual shout-whispers and is pointing urgently through the hole.
Sure enough, there is a military-spec Gear one building over. Well, where a building used to mostly be. A dull, grey beast of a thing with a slightly conical face and spotlights mounted above the 'eyes', looking slowly back and forth in a canned, predetermined overwatch program. Light filters through the hole Maya was pointing at, and she looks rather worried about this.
'AROUND' the drifter mouthes at the party while pointing at an adjacent street. Of course, this assumes one can lipread and figure out what she is trying to point at. The distant buzz and chirp of radio-filtered conversation is probably either unintelligible or encrypted, but suggests a worrying level of organisation or ambition, doesn't it?
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out another quiet gasp as she holds onto her forehead, staring and trembling ever so gently against Noeline as her Hyadean partner holds her tight against her. There's something approaching -- recognition, perhaps, as she whimpers softly at the sound of bolts and bullets flying and whizzing past them.
Leave! Now!
The command is nearly enough to rattle her out of her reverie, as she gazes up towards Kaguya and Ambrosius as they join the rest in melee and also with a very familiar deluge of water. It seems to twig something in her.
As the din of combat fades, she looks just a little rattled as she tucks in against the flecks of glass hitting them-- wincing a little as she places her hand to one side.
"Ahead..." she suggests. "A voice... calling me..."
This would be about as helpful as she gets, however, because a Gear emerges not several moments later, her eyes widening further as she kind of tucks her head down and stays close to Noeline, having associated her with a sensation of safety.
"... an... old voice..."
This is probably really not the time, Riesenlied.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed an Infuriatingly Cryptic Action toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
Clean.
Like some piece of technology gone wrong.
Maybe that's more accurate than he'd ever care to admit.
There's no real joy in Vash the Stampede's eyes when the last of those bandits falls. Blood oozing from his shoulder, he only takes to look Kaguya and Matilda's way as they deal with their targets with such brutal efficiency.
That stare, subdued as it is, just reeks of a gentle kind of sadness.
He only waits long enough to make sure none of the people here helping Riesenlied are hurt in any serious way. And then, disregarding his own injuries --
*shrriiiiIIIIIIP*
Vash the Stampede tears off a piece of his own, ripped cloak, to start binding the stab wound of the man who Matilda had came upon.
He won't follow the others. Not immediately. No -- Vash takes his time here, crouched amongst those fallen Drifters, treating their injuries one by one until he's sure they'll be able to make it out of here alive when they come to. He doesn't ask for money, or even gratitude. He doesn't even talk to the ones still conscious as he tends to them.
He just makes sure they are all safe before he leaves, murmuring a simple, but heartfelt "sorry" as he goes.
He is late to arrive where the others have stopped, but he is no less quiet for it. He looks up towards that Gear. Blonde brows furrow. He knows the make. Military grade. What are they looking for...? He looks back towards Maya, as she points to the hole, mouths those words.
Someone is here for a reason. For a purpose. It worries him.
But for now, he can't let those worries distract him from the real reason he's here -- there's something drawing Riesenlied to this place. They need to find it. They need to help her. And it is that which remains on Vash's mind as he tilts his head, and begins to silently make his way towards that hole, attempting to avoid the glare of the Gear as he goes.
DG: Vash the Stampede has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is not really concerned with being nice to their foes. ...She's pretty vicious about it. But at least she has her good buddy Ambrosius nearby. The talk of cleanliness though, o what is meant here, Kaguya shakes her head as she comes out of it, and... "...Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Mm..." A belated pause too, "I guess it's different, yeah. But--" She tilts her head. "You think we should be nice to him?" she says about Vash. "I guess. He's got nice hair."
She glances at Noeline next, shakes her head. Kaguya... is a little uncomfortable, herself, looking at the ruins. It's easy to miss, but it's definitely the case. "But as Maya leads ahead--well, not quite leading--they walk and they see--a----oh.
"A...bound?" she asks. "Mom, he--" Pause. "I mean, Riesenlied..."
She shakes her head, looks forward, watches Vash as she was staring before, as he was sad. She looks back at him where he was, again. She frowns. "What...?"
Well, Kaguya will start to go around, too. Carefully, keeping the sun in mind. But she gets close to Vash, and wonders, quietly, to the man so much taller than she is--
"...Why bother with them?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For a long moment, it seems like Noeline might almost stay behind and wait for the tall figure to be done with bandaging the bandit's wounds - but in the end, with a curt nod, she opts to go onwards. It doesn't seem like it's something she should interrupt, and it doesn't take her long to catch up with the others, even doting over Riesenlied as she is.
Her head snaps up when Maya signals the presence of the Gear, and with an affronted wince, Noeline furrows her brow. "This is surely a little much, isn't it...?" she mutters to herself, shaking her head. "Whatever might have been here has had five years to be picked away. Old voices aside," she adds with a soft huff of air, automatically stealing lower in posture in an attempt to hide behind an outcropping of rubble, "Some people could learn to leave well enough alone."
It's a little bit rich, perhaps, coming from her.
Either way, she slips to one side, some power sparking quietly around her. She's not about to summon the Guardian en masse, but a little of Duras Drum's power might hopefully be able to shadow their path, and cloak them in a shimmer of illusion that's just enough to get by.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
If Ambrosius were a different man, perhaps even the man certain individuals believed him to be, he might feel sorry for that group of Drifters.
He is not that man, however.
As soon as the battle is finished, he moves forward, putting them completely out of his mind. Their injures are of no concern to him - that's just what happens when you challenge someone who's so completely beyond you.
Their travels come to a stop when Maya whispers to them, alerting them all to a Gear just up ahead.
Ambrosius frowns.
There were many ways they could go about this. If they had to, all of them together would probably be capable of bringing it down. He didn't doubt that. But with Riesenlied...incapacitated as she was, bringing more trouble on themselves was...unwise.
Still, it was best to be prepared. His hands hidden within his poncho, he reaches into his bags, pulling out and piecing together his ARM.
Just in case.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda cleans her knife up. It's... not entirely nonchalant, but it's... definitely practiced. Matilda notices Vash's look, and for a moment, she ends up mirroring it; there's a quiet sort of sadness in her, too. She watches Vash bandage the wounds; once she realizes it's not just the one she left, she's... more than anything, she looks weighted-down. It takes her a little bit to catch up, and she has to move at a run.
She's almost caught up, not far behind Maya, when Maya points out the Gear; she pulls a face almost immediately, then chews on her lips. "... We could try to steal it," she muses, very quietly. "It's often very possible for those in Gears to simply miss their... actually..."
She reaches into her coat, pulling out another book -- this one on Gear repair. She flips through to sensors, then looks up at the Gear itself. "... There's a few blind spots on the Gear's right side -- one of the weapon mounts on the right is where a sensor is on the left... if we can take the long way around, we'll be able to explore more easily in the long run..."
Mostly, though, she's just sneaking along.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"In the past, a train would be running down this way instead," Elly calls to Kaguya over the din of war. Her eyes cut back to Ambrosius for a moment. "You wouldn't walk -"
The question of just how and what happened here fades. Hanging in the air like a smoke cloud, Elly tries not to think about it, despite the massive looming evidence in the background. It's too much, too big. She doesn't want to consider the scale of such actions. They're bad old history, not the present day. Right?
A voice is calling Riesenlied.
She keeps on trucking, Elly letting herself drift (ha ha) closer to Riesenlied. Then --
She ducks down at the gesturing. She goes still.
After this she follows the lead of the group. The Gear, she thinks. It's so huge. Could I really -
She silently misses Fei, for several reasons.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action. DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tactical Espionage Action. DG: You've already acted for this round. Please wait for the round GM to push +act/complete.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese does... stop, glancing towards Vash as he reaches for his own injury, but more importantly reaches for the injuries of the Drifters they've just fought. Something inside of her stirs as he watches him work, like the consciousness inside of her wishes her to go and assist as she normally would.
"... kind..."
Kindness? It makes her recall something he said to her a long time ago, at Descartes' base--
You're a kind person, Riesenlied.
She trembles for a moment, as if some lapse of memory just washes over her--
--and then she's suddenly moving to his side to take her own somewhat battered and abused capelet, the better for her to tie it around Vash's own wound. Cloaks are in high demand as makeshift bandages, it would seem.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================ =================<* CHALLENGE - Tactical Espionage Action *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Some Drifters had the bright idea, while raiding this place, to sneak in a Gear. The thought process was likely something about overwhelming firepower and a decision to not worry about reprisal, this far from civilization. As you round the corner, you see one such Gear there. It stands tall, looming over a half-collapsed building -- while a trio of Drifters works the inside. However, the Gear seems busy, because it is shining a spotlight built into its head into the building. You might be able to sneak past, without starting a fight. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Bad Luck=========================================
==========================<* Lost July - Round 4 *>=========================== ===================< Results - Tactical Espionage Action >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 22 --(12)--> 34 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 22 --(12)--> 34 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vash the Stampede 22 --(12)--> 34 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 22 --(7)--> 29 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 22 --(7)--> 29 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 22 --(7)--> 29 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 17 --(12)--> 29 Fail Portable Library 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Elhaym van Houten 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Talk is hushed, now. Understandably so. Who wants to risk finding out if the Gear up ahead, worth so many hundreds of thousands (if not millions, I don't know the going rate on giant robots) of Gella is equipped with a bog-standard directional microphone, foiling their journey thus far?
I thought not.
Maya bites her lip and waves a hand, ushering Noeline across first. No problem, and also no sound. The looming figure of Ambrosius next, and then the much smaller Kaguya. So far, so good.
Where things go pear-shaped is when Maya herself takes a breath and starts to edge across the gap without waiting her turn, because she isn't thinking very clearly. There is a loud, but not obnoxiously-so clatter of rock collapsing underfoot.
Now this is probably what Matilda failed to account for in her assessment of the Gear's sensor package. Be it some nation's special forces or just really rich bandits for some private dolt, the distance between People and Gear isn't far enough for that to go unnoticed, and the searchlights all beam through the shattered buildings onto the remainder of the group.
!ALERT!
"Grk."
Maya freezes on the spot and rather stiffly looks at the very sneaky Vash and his much sneakier getup than hers, because she is a dolt who wears bright orange on stealth operations. A beat. She's probably more detected, per se, than he is. "Hoof it!" she suggests at a shout, and immediately produces a comical looking sphere of black with a fuse attached to it. She dashes it at her feet and two things happen.
1: A thick plume of smoke quickly fills the surroundings, soon masking people's visible form from the giant robot.
2: A hail of vulcan fire fills the air with a terrible, distant buzzing thump.
It's time to take another path away from the giant robot. Maybe through the buildings. Maybe through the park. But not in the direction of the gunfire.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Lost July *>================================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Barred Door *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Sometimes, obstacles have collapsed and blocked the pathways through the streets. The buildings, however, offer shortcuts, as sometimes paths have been cut through. You reach a place where a collapsed building might be circumvented by going through a building on the other side of the street. The door, however, has been barred shut -- debris having knocked it in place. The door has to be forced open... without collapsing the building. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Weaken=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
A little too close and a hair too loud -- unfortunate, to put it delicately. When Maya shouts, Matilda is off like a shot -- and immediately, she identifies the hardest target -- a tall building, all steel, and equal parts protected and obstructed by another fallen building nearby. "Over there!" Matilda shouts, breaking into a sprint toward it.
The collapsed buildings near it provide a bit of a buffer zone, and a short-term reprieve -- though one that won't last if the Gear repositions. ... the intact one, however -- the one Matilda was hoping to actually use as an escape path -- is inaccessible thanks to its own internal debris. Through one of the windows, the group can see that the obstruction isn't drastic -- just a collapsed ceiling beam. (The window itself is, unfortunately, too small to be a path in.)
"... Right -- we'll need to get the door off the hinges, and then find a way to move the beam inside so we can pass... there's an exit on the other side, I think." Matilda has no tools for removing a door or a collapsed ceiling beam, so she is unfortunately no help save for logistics.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
Why bother with them?
It's a question that makes Vash the Stampede pause, as Kaguya addresses the taller man. He is about to respond, when Riesenlied approaches, binding his wound with that capelet. He blinks -- and then smiles for the briefest moment, a rare, genuine thing when he has been so possessed of solemnity this entire time. Leather-wrapped fingers lift, and lower, to ruffle through Riesenlied's hair in an almost brotherly gesture.
"We're going to get you better. Promise. I wouldn't let my sidekick down, right?"
That smile lingers as he turns to address Kaguya -- but they are spotted not seconds later. Blue eyes widen. And instead of answering, he is -moving-, intent to take Kaguya with him if he has to with a simple shout of, "RUN!" carrying through the air. He'll make himself a buffer if he must -- he's making sure the rest manage to escape alive. No matter what he has to do.
That run eventually takes them towards the ruin of collapsed buildings, caked with dust. He looks at it, assessing the damage on the inside. It might still be unstable. But it's also their only way through.
For now, he waits, and watches. And if tools don't do the work, or if they require more effort to move that door and shift the heavy support beam that impedes them, well --
"It's because they have the same right to live that we all do. No one deserves to have that taken from them. Maybe that's a silly way to live, but..."
And with a simple, kind sort of smile for Kaguya, Vash makes his way forward, to try to help slowly push that beam aside.
"... it's just how I am."
DG: Vash the Stampede has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
V W E E P
What the hell did Maya just throw? Elly has no idea. She books it, though, sensing that the jig is up as they say and that only a fanatical and furious footfall flurry can save her from getting blown straight to hell without a single opportunity to say what needs to be said.
She coughs once they're close enough, thanks to the dust, but she's also digging into her purse as Matilda expresses a need. Something is drawn out, tinkered with, and Elly says to Matilda, "Here - is this what you need?"
'It' seems to be a wood-handled screwdriver, if a rather short one. The handle is thick. What may seem peculiar to Matilda is that the wood feels funny to the touch and that the screwdriver head is a perfect fit for the attaching points on the hinges.
"Oh, um - this is some graphite, it's a good lubricant for these things," Elly adds, handing over a small foil tube of graphite. This one isn't spy gear.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya waits for the answer--she really doesn't get it. ...But when Vash is so nice to Riesenlied, she finds she ends up quiet for a moment--until she's abrubtly picked up and carried. "Whaaa--" Alert. Well... It's... it's definitely something. But they get moving, until Kaguya is finally set down, and blinks a little, stretching and leaning on her cane. She watches Vash a little longer, despite the fact that she's interested in what Matilda is saying.
"...Don't we all get it taken anyway, though?" Kaguya says. "Sooner or later. ...Usually sooner. And they're the ones..."
She turns, and looks to Riesenlied. That kind smile... it lingers. SHe doesn't like it, shakes her head. "Here, I've got a solution," Kaguya says. Elly works on a very useful plan, while Kaguya...
Cla-CLACK. She finishes loading a strange, green-glowing cartridge into her ARM, steps forward. "Whatever's left when you're done..."
It'll be waves of concussive force, from this shot. Usually more than enough to pulp obstacles.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The blonde gunslinger reflects on the soft-spoken words from the other sunshiney-haired individual who has been by their side the whole time through this nightmarish little escapade. For one cloaked so mysteriously, and so adept in the arts martial, his philosophy unsettles her by way of self-challenge. Maya contemplates whether she has, in fact, forsaken the right to similar views through her cavalier taking of life. Whether the argument of 'self-defense' holds any weight, when one looks oneself in the mirror bereft of excuses.
She also examines the .50 size hole in her skirt and feels incredibly queasy. Nothing is spoken about it, because--well, it would feel wrong. Like she doesn't belong in the same world as something so pure and simple.
Disquieting.
With no time for any further expository moping on Maya's part, she hunkers down on one knee while Matilda outlines what's going on: they need to get through the door. Weak points are the hinges. Now that's a problem she's come up against before, with a simple solution that's worked every time. But this time, setting off explosives in this kind of proximity is probably an awful idea so that solution is gonezo.
So, Maya Schrodinger produces a small glass vial from the leather pouch at her side and flicks the cork from it, before upending the contents onto the doors hinges. They sizzle with appreciation. Or from the rapid-onset oxidation that occurs. It's a good thing her brother is an unstable pyromaniac with attachment issues as well as an expert chemist and compounder. Maybe that will help loose the door, though this does nothing for the fallen beam.
"It--should work quick. Promise."
Fingers crossed.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline definitely catches that ruffle of Riesenlied's hair - and for a moment, she puffs up in a uniquely human sort of moment, her cheeks pouting out as she plants her hands on her hips. She doesn't seem about to belay or break the motion up, at least, and the action is anything but serious; perhaps even she sorely needs a moment of levity here in the middle of destruction and decay.
So it's a bit of a shame that they immediately have to run, the Crimson Nobl-ish bolting across the empty space with her typical sort of agility, scooping up her partner as she goes. "... it's a perfectly good way to live, if you ask me," she mutters once they're into immediate cover, beginning to feel a little irritated at just how many bandits are picking over these ruins. "Too many people can't leave well enough alone. And yes," she adds with a self-amused chuckle. "That counts for both sides of Filgaia, I dare say."
Carefully, she eyes the obstacle in front of them. In any other situation, she might try to simply apply her strength to it, but-- she's got some precious cargo. Not to mention the door is currently being assaulted by any number of ways to tear it apart in ways you don't exactly wish to interrupt. Instead, as the last of the others' tools die away, she snaps her fingers - and Trouble wings down in front of her, flapping its fake wings eagerly.
The little pod whistles once in an electronic call that's suspiciously like a 'cluck', and then races full speed for the remnants of the door-- just as a bevy of cuccos burst in behind the group, seemingly coming out of nowhere to more or less demolish anything that still stands in the way of their path.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It might be hard to figure out exactly what Mister Hamandspamasplash means when he refers to Riesenlied as his 'sidekick', yet to Riesenlied, it only seems like yesterday when...
MONTHS AGO
"Aaaaand one more time! Loooooooove! Aaaand!" Odjn bellows from the bottom of her belly.
Riesenlied wheezes a very shallow breath of air from where Vash and Gwen are shoulder-to-shoulder with her, arms linked as she holds her fingers up in the approximation of a V-sign.
"P-peeeace...."
Riesenlied collapses.
NOW
"... yes..." Riesenlied answers, to that ruffling of her hair-- and her eyes widen as he shouts and they're tugged along, no doubt spirited away by Noeline when they're spotted by the Gear and have to book it. She peers towards the door as they're brought into the collapsed buildings, and looks around for a quiet moment...
She shivers a little, left in her sleeveless shirt underneath her capelet. It has to be cut in such a way to allow for her wings and the deformities of her body. "... not far now... beyond--"
Her expression brightens up considerably for a moment as a swarm of cuccos emerges, summoned by Trouble. "Cucco...!!"
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Very Happy Action toward her party's challenge, Barred Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
For a moment, Ambrosius considers firing upon the Gear. However, the others seem to have other plans. Notably, Matilda seems to spot a possible pathway around.
Well, he supposes that if that's what the others want to do, he'd join them. He does not disassemble his ARM, instead shifting it under one arm as he moves along with the others.
They come upon a door. This would be no problem, if the building it was attached to wasn't so perilously close to collapsing. They would need to be careful here...but, fortunately, Ambrosius was capable of precise movements. He extends a hand forward, and water converges again - this time into a sharp, bladed disc that he sends flying.
His control may be surprising to some - it goes slicing through rubble while leaving the support beam untouched, and even the cuccos that come flooding in will find themselves merely getting a little wet from the water coming off of it.
He knew all too well to be careful around their type.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Barred Door.
================================<* Lost July *>================================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Barred Door *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Sometimes, obstacles have collapsed and blocked the pathways through the streets. The buildings, however, offer shortcuts, as sometimes paths have been cut through. You reach a place where a collapsed building might be circumvented by going through a building on the other side of the street. The door, however, has been barred shut -- debris having knocked it in place. The door has to be forced open... without collapsing the building. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Weaken=============================================
===========================<* Lost July - Round 5 *>============================ ===========================< Results - Barred Door >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maya Schrodinger 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Schrodinger Special 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vash the Stampede 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Elhaym van Houten 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten 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> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Not today, door!
Matilda accepts the screwdriver from Elly, though handling it gets her to pause a moment and give it a big squint. She tries to unscrew the hinges, but one of the screws seems to be stuck -- maybe it's bent inward or something from the calamity. Matilda frowns, and hands Elly back the screwdriver. "... well, better some than none," she offers.
Maya annihilates the last hinge in exactly the way Matilda would've if she'd brought the right tools, and that gives her cause to smile. ... the doorframe seems warped, though, and the door remains stuck -- until the cuccos annihilate it. Ambrosius clears a path to the other door with water, while Vash calmly pushes the beam aside, providing enough space for everyone to head in. Vash doesn't get it quite far enough for the entire party... but Kaguya settles that right quick.
"... Okay, let's move," Matilda offers, ducking low a little to squeeze through the space between the beam and the door, then toward the other exit.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Barred Way *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It has not been easy to locate the rumored Elw ruins. However, it seems that
you may have found the way. Inside a building, a stairway made of stone
instead of concrete or rusted metal leads down into a long, narrow chamber.
The air is cool here, and less dusty and smelling of decay. The hallway leds
on for a very long way, until you come to the end.
There was a doorway here. However, someone has beaten you to it. Instead,
you find the way ends in a massive pile of rubble. The rubble is much too
focused. It fills the way, floor to ceiling. This was done deliberately to
block the way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied clutches at her head for a moment, trying to not get sprayed by the residue of Ambrosius' deluge. She watches Vash and Kaguya's display of prominent strength and precision with a measure of awe, looking towards Noeline for a moment...
... and it isn't long before they get to the other side--
--and her eyes widen for a moment as she gasps, "There...!"
She's suddenly hurried towards a seemingly nondescript looking building, a corner store that she hurries towards the back of and reveals that there's a staircase headed downstairs. Soon, the air is cooled, the smell of dust and decay not reaching this ancient-feeling passage. It seems like it would be minutes as they traverse down the infinite staircase that... they reach the end.
There is a deep and ancient presence here, though it is barred -- a massive pile of rubble has collapsed before the doorway, and is impossible to slip through. Whoever's done this has done a very thorough job... and has made sure that no one would come in--
--or out.
"...?"
Riesenlied blinks for a moment, and-- plants her hand against her head, whispering, "What are you telling me?"
She drops down to her knees for a moment, whispering, "Just a little more..." Her head perks up gently. "... it calls from beyond here..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline sets Riesenlied down the moment she starts to become more lucid - even if the extent of that lucidity is more or less a single word, there's still obvious significance in the way the Hyadean scurries forwards towards one of the buildings in particular. Noeline knows to trust that sort of impulse, and she's quick to hurry after the other demon.
They're halfway down the seemingly endless staircase when she deems it fit to cut the silence, sounding genuinely impressed at the sheer distance they've come. "... whoever built this desperately feared an attack," she comments, mildly awed. "Did they know what might have been coming, I wonder? Were they simply exceptionally secretive or paranoid?" She raps on the stone for a moment, and raises her eyebrows. "Finding foundations that run this deep is exceptionally difficult on Filgaia."
Not deep enough, apparently - their route bottoms out and pulls level, only to be immediately blocked by an enormous pile of rubble. For a moment, Noeline sucks in a quiet breath, and places her hand on some of the fallen stone. Something is back there - even she can feel it, not even faintly attuned to the spiritual but piggybacking off of the Medium inside of her like a champ. "... well, then," she decides after a long moment. "I suppose we are going through. Trouble, if you would once more?"
The question is light enough, and the little pod dutifully moves forward to assist. The real question is how all those cuccos managed to follow the group obediently down this many stairs without once tripping into a mass roll of feathery bodies.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
With the pathway cleared, the way forward is open...or, at least, that's the way it seems. Riesenlied runs off...and Ambrosius is quick to follow after her alongside the others. Eventually, they find themselves traveling down, down, down a seemingly endless staircase...
Ambrosius, as always, is quiet throughout, even when Noeline tries to break the silence. They find themselves coming to a complete stop, however, as the path ahead is barred, floor to ceiling, by a massive pile of rubble.
Ambrosius glances toward Riesenlied. Beyond...?
"...Very well..." He replies. Once more, he invokes the Aqua Cutter - it goes flying through rubble, cutting it into smaller, much more easily manageable pieces. That should simplify things.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
"We all get the time we have," says Vash, that mild, quiet voice still somehow managing to carry through the groaning sound of beams and work of water and concussive strength.
"But someone once told me, 'life is a gift that we must treasure for as long as we have it.' I can't take that gift away from anyone."
PLEASE! DON'T! KNI--
"... No one should."
He pushes past only when he's sure everyone else has gotten through, his tall body bending downward at the waist in order to slip through the cracked and crumbling passage. He looks out, feeling the sun beat on his skin with a faint feeling of relief. Relief that doesn't last long. He knows this place.
Before it was dilapidated and dead.
I've never seen output levels like this. Something's wrong--
"... Why...?"
It's a question that he can't hold back, mumbled under his breath as he watches Riesenlied rush off to that simple cornerstore. The woman who worked the cash register there was nice. She shared a story with him. He told her a joke. It was a bad one, but she still laughed. And then she--
He isn't sure, when the memory's faded, how long he's been standing there, staring at that rubble. He knows the very second his thoughts return what he's looking at was intentional. Someone barricaded the way here; someone didn't want people getting past this point. But why? What was here?
Was it related to him--?
Vash is uncertain. And uncertainty breeds caution that he would otherwise do a better job hiding. He doesn't. He can't. He just offers a simple, "Be careful. Look out for her," to Noeline as he gives a single glance Riesenlied's way --
--and then pushes forward, to start tearing free chunks of rubble with a strength that, frankly, even a man of his size should not possess.
DG: Vash the Stampede has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
It's amazing how far we've come, Elly thinks as she watches everyone begin unscrewing and then blasting the door open. She can remember when a door would have been a barrier to progress, an obstacle to anything but determined assaults. And yet -
- when did it become we, instead of they? Elly wonders. She takes her screwdriver back and tucks it away. Her hair is stirred in the breeze of Kaguya's explosive gunshots. She seems to be thinking.
"... It's been a long time, hasn't it, since that time with the horses," Elly says to the tall man, speaking just perhaps a little too loudly as they move forwards. "I hope you've been doing alright. I don't think we were ever introduced..."
Soon enough they reach a dread portal. Or rather, the conspicuous absence of access.
Elly stares at the cuccos as they move to start their labor.
She is in some ways beyond exhaustion, and instead of using graphite or thermite or some other cunning spy connivance, Elly muses on when the 'they' became 'we'...
And tosses pieces off of the rest of her waybread forwards. (One crumb probably bounces off Vash's forehead as he moves to start with the heavy labor, but that's an accident.)
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Spy Purse toward her party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Door after door after door after door... it is the way of a Drifter.
As Matilda comes upon the door, her lips purse and she thinks for a moment on the question Noeline gives her. "It's possible that this foundation wasn't this high, ages ago. If my intuition about the center-point of the desertification is right, and quite possibly if it isn't, this could well have been greener lowland millennia ago, swept over..." ... Matilda thinks a lot about how Filgaia is dying, in both specific and general senses.
Unlike the last situation, which required some delicacy, this one mostly just requires explosions. Matilda sighs exasperatedly, takes off her coat, and pours her satchel out into it on the ground. "I know I have something in here I can use to synthesize an explosive," Matilda says, looking at vials. She also pulls her holdout revolver out of an internal coat pocket, pulling apart a bullet and pouring out the gunpowder. Something about what Vash has said keeps weighing on her, though... she seems distracted, as she puts vials and plant stems back into her satchel, taking a couple and putting them into what appears to be a napkin, which she tosses onto the rubble. "... Someone else shoot that," she offers. "But try to stand clear."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"..." All the time they have, huh? Kaguya glances way from Vash as he works, as she prepares her shot. "...You can't, huh," Kaguya says quietly. "I dunno. I think it's pretty easy to do. ...It's not like what we're given is enough in the first place." Very, very quietly, just loud enough to be heard.
That is... a lot of rubble. Kaguya, for one, doesn't like it much. She frowns, wrinkling her nose at all the dust. "Ugh," she says. But Riesenlied is saying it's there, whatever it is... And, well, since she sort of shot her, the least Kaguya can do is indulge Mom in her fever dream search for whatever it is down here, right?
"Could be both," Kaguya says to Noeline. "...Humans do kinda fight amongst themselves a lot..." She pauses. She decides it's fine. She ignores the hypocrisy given how warlike Veruni are. Besides, "And there's a lot of things to be afraid of..."
'We'. Well, there is that. The cuccos move. The barricade is in the way. And Kaguya, watching Vash tear things loose, tilts her head. "...As strong as you are," she says, "And you don't want to use it...?"
It's weird. It makes her uncomfortable. Cla-CLACK, violence is prepared again. "Maybe," Kaguya says to Matilda. "It might've been different. But..."
"I'll shoot it." Kaguya aims her concussive shot straight for Matilda's vials. It'll... probably go big.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, The Barred Way.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... if you ask me, this is definitely not a human structure," Noeline comments after a long moment, standing well back as she watches Trouble's cuccos mill around Vash as if they were the best of friends. She does at least hesitate, though, to offer a quietly amused breath in the lanky man's direction, even if it doesn't reach her eyes; Noeline is a wary sort, and she can sense that wariness in others. "Of course. I do try."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Perhaps on another day, in another place, the shared approval between Drifters would have given Maya cause to grin, or at least to smile. But she feels a heavy feeling settling around her shoulders, an oppression borne of the eerie circumstances that have led them this far. To say nothing of the dangers, the disquieting banter, and the pain. By the time the door opens, she feels strangely sapped. "Let's." she echoes Matilda, who suggests that everyone get a move-on.
Your usual enthusiasm for the hunt wanes.
Riesenlied indicates that there's something beyond the disappointing pile of rubble that awaits them beyond the door, and it's all the blonde can do not to frown skeptically. However, if she has learned any one thing, it is that the horned lady in search of peace is more in tune with mysterious things than she could ever be aware of. And sometimes, that means you just plum trust in it.
I don't--this is something dangerous. I don't like it.
Maya begins to fret, silently. Threads of projection are getting harder to grasp. "Here, this should vaporize the rubble." she speaks with a dry mouth about the high-pressure squeal of weaponized water. The idea had never even occurred to her that you could use it for such a thing. It makes her stomach churn. The drifter pauses, then leaves her entire satchel lying next to Matilda's compounds with a helpless shrug, and scoots backwards before Kaguya can detonate it--and her with it.
Fearful now, atop everything else?
"That's, uh--that's probably enough." Maya pipes up after a time, feeling increasingly unsettled watching the tall stranger lift small boulders with an ease that reminds her of other human-looking Hyadeans. Or Kaguya. She begins to wonder if the Human percentage of this expedition is smaller than she first realized. Either way,
It's just beyond me. What do you want me to say?
"We're going to try blasting it clear, and it'd be... bad, so..."
Maya clutches the stone tablet in her jacket pocket and glances away, moving to be safe from the blast.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, The Barred Way.
===============================<* Lost July *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Barred Way *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It has not been easy to locate the rumored Elw ruins. However, it seems that
you may have found the way. Inside a building, a stairway made of stone
instead of concrete or rusted metal leads down into a long, narrow chamber.
The air is cool here, and less dusty and smelling of decay. The hallway leds
on for a very long way, until you come to the end.
There was a doorway here. However, someone has beaten you to it. Instead,
you find the way ends in a massive pile of rubble. The rubble is much too
focused. It fills the way, floor to ceiling. This was done deliberately to
block the way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
==========================<* Lost July - Round 6 *>=========================== =========================< Results - The Barred Way >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 39 --(10)--> 49 Fail Spy Purse 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 39 --(5)--> 44 Pass Schrodinger Special 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vash the Stampede 39 --(10)--> 49 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 34 --(10)--> 44 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Elhaym van Houten 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Elhaym van Houten has successfully explored Lost July!
===============================<* Lost July *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Elw Ruins *>========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The path is cleared, and you find that the doorway leads into another
hallway. This hallway, however, has a strange feature. Instead of being
darkened, sunlight spills in -- inexplicably, given the depth of the hallway
-- and lights up the stones here a brilliant golden color. The path leads
ahead, to stairs leading upward, and a double door. It swings open, and
reveals a strange sight: an open sky, seemingly underground. And yet, there
is a shimmer in the air.
Elw sorcery, which has transported you to a place of interlocking platforms
that float in the mountains. The air is cool here, but you can see that the
stone platforms are dotted with trees. Somehow, you have risen thousands of
feet into the air, for if you look down, you can see the ruins of Lost July
below. Even still, the stairway leading down will lead back under the ruined
city.
Welcome to the Pleasing Garden.
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The team get to work in relatively fast and coordinated fashion. 'We', indeed, not 'they' -- no matter the circumstances, the different allegiances and faiths that they walk from... right now, they are a unit-- right down to the swarm of cuccos that trundle along in a gentle little line, piling ontop like a tetragrammaton as if it has some kind of ancient significance.
Riesenlied watches as Vash lifts and tears free the rubble, with a strength that seems hardly human -- Elly's waycrumbs inspire the cuccos to pounce forward, using their cucco pyramid formation to start from the top with the most dislodgeable of debris. Maya and Matilda both lay down explosives in vials and satchels designed just for this occasion. And once they get clear--
Kaguya lets out with a powerful concussive round, causing a blazing conflagration of 'FWHOOM' to erupt around the debris...
And fresh air, light and the crisp sensation of sky awaits in front of them.
...
Yes, indeed, whatever sorcery or baffling magics has connected the door ahead towards a resplendent garden upon the likes which have never been seen before, floating stone platforms of ancient design looming high above the ruined city.
Riesenlied steps forward as the debris clear, coughing gently--
Before holding her head once more. "N-nnh... I..." she jitters for a moment, dropping to her knees, gasping. "... what-- where?"
Her eyes widen as she glances around, then towards the group once more, wings fluttering very gently. "Where is this...? What happened?"
Well, by Noeline's standards, that would be a 'mission successful'... and certainly, by anyone else's standards -- this is truly a staggering find, isn't it?!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
As they step from dark to light in an instant, Matilda... can only stand mystified, baffled. "What -- what is this? How...?" She knew about the rumors of Elw ruins, but this... this isn't a ruin. It couldn't be -- this is the mark of something functioning, something, something...
It's simultaneously humbling and almost -- upsetting? It's a complicated feeling as she looks across the Pleasing Garden.
... She stays quiet.
<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.
All that strength, and he chooses not to use it.
Vash doesn't respond to Kaguya's words -- not immediately. Not until that rubble is cleared away, until the path opens up to him. Wiping sweat from his brow, the be-cloaked gunman (?) looks down that long stretch with an expression almost confused -- like one put in a position they should be familiar with seeing something unfamiliar. Had this always been here, beneath the city? Why didn't he notice before--?
He starts to move. But before he goes, he offers one last look to the much smaller Kaguya, his head tilt and his smile a faint, sad thing.
"It isn't," he says, after a moment. "Everything you've taken away, will take itself from you, too." Easier? Maybe.
But he doesn't live this way because it's easier.
Life is short. Tragically so. And yet, Vash carries on regardless, making his way past that hall into what feels like fresh air, the heated breath, the throb of the sunlight--
"What--"
And Vash the Stampede looks down, and beholds his works.
And he does despair, in that deep part of him that never quite makes it to his features beyond the subtle twinge of pain in his eyes.
Lost July, from a bird's eye view. The wind rushing through his blonde hair, Vash can scarcely believe it, seeing the entirety of everything he's done from an unmistakeably broader perspective. How did this happen? Why?
The questions never quite leave Vash's lips, when Riesenlied comes to, falling to her knees. Blue eyes widen -- but surprise is quickly replaced by genuine happiness. He drops down, staring at Riesenlied severely. He reaches out --
-- and thrusts a donut directly into her hands. And just like that, for at least a brief moment, the gravity that Vash had been possessed of gives away to a reinvigorating, reassuring mirth. Not for his sake. No. The reason why is simple.
"Welcome back, sidekick! Use this tool as a focus for my ritual to help you focus! Repeat after me!! What is this world made of?!"
This life is truly beautiful.
"LOVE! AND! PEACE!!"
Truly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied barely gets a scan of what environs are around them -- she sharply gasps, but not in a malicious manner -- but one of empathic surprise -- when she sees Ambrosius and Kaguya around her. She-- nods towards her daughter, smiling very quietly and towards her missing friend as well. "Did you... both come here--" she pauses, clutching at her head for a moment. "... thank you..." she bows her head.
No matter what's happened... Kaguya and Ambrosius would know, for they know her well, that Riesenlied would not push them away from her heart--
--and then a chocolate-sprinkle donut is on her face!! "H-hawa--" she gasps, staring and-- stammering as she holds onto it, "A--a ritual... the world is--"
She sucks in a breath.
"L-looooove... aaaand..."
Riesenlied's face flushes red as the cuccos surround her, chirping up the syllables to match.
And short of breath: "P-peiiiaaaaaaaaiiiceee..."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Is fear so unreasonable? There are so many things in this world to be afraid of. So, so many. ...In other worlds, too.
Kaguya blinks as Vash starts talking though. "Take itself... from me? I don't get it. There's strong, and there's weak. ...Maybe it'd be nice if it weren't that way, but..." Kaguya shakes her head. She really doesn't get it. She doesn't like it, because there's something, on the edge of her perception--
But it's bright. It's sunny. Kaguya covers her eyes a little at it, blinking ahead. "What..." She steps forward, and there's Riesenlied, falling. Kaguya looks to Matilda, for a moment--reaches out to squeeze her hand--and then steps forward. She drops down, too. There is a... donut. A donut. For--
Oh, whatever, Kaguya kneels down and puts her arms around Riesenlied, putting her ARM on the ground for a moment. "...You make it really hard to find you to talk to," she complains. "Of course I came here for you. You--"
Love... and...
"..." Kaguya takes her arms back, stands up, and flushes slightly, returning to Matilda. "Uuuugh, you guys are such dorks...!"
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Up to this point, Ambrosius has continued alongside the others stoically, barely reacting to the slightest event. And yet, as he steps through the doorway, and into the Pleasing Garden...there is a look of surprise on his face, as he gazes out at Filgaia below.
"...Faaascinating..." He murmurs. To think, they would find a place like this, within the ruins...
And then he hears a familiar voice, as Riesenlied starts to regain herself. He had been worried, so he couldn't help but be a little relieved.
...But he didn't know if he was ready to face her.
He glances toward Vash for a moment as he gives his chant, before, very quietly, without another word...
...Turning to walk away.
Riesenlied's words cause him to stop in his tracks, however. He hesitates for a moment, considering how to proceed, before looking back at her. He still can't quite meet her eyes, but there's a faint smile.
"...No thanks...are neeecessary..." He says, bowing his head slightly.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
A staggering find.
Do such words do it justice? Do any?
Maya shields her eyes as she emerges slowly into the light, clenching nervously to the cravat around her neck. She comes up well short of where Riesenlied has collapsed, and where Noeline where soon no doubt be. The stranger, too, moves to the recuperating lady's side. The part of Maya's mind that remains cognizant of facts, and happenings, is grateful for this.
But it is a small part of an overwhelmed whole. The notion of a flying island and transportation technologies, a hidden paradise floating above a dying world, well...
It's just too much for a lil' old girl from Bledavik who plays with guns to get a handle on.
Maya Schrodinger feels a great and pressing urge to hide--and to think. She retreats silently back through the gateway to the world below and retraces her steps back at top blimmin' speed. Some things, you're just not ready for.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The wind tugs at Elly's hair. She turns to face it, letting her eyes wander around these ruins, these strange and wonderful things.
Am I going to report this? Elly thinks.
She asks a question to which she already knows the answer. Something about the thought is liberating.
"I'd rather be a 'dork', then miss moments like this," she says aloud. Then she laughs a little at the administration of Protestant Communion unto Riesenlied.