2018-03-13: Here There Be Dragons
- Log: Here There Be Dragons
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Malfi, Seraph Ragnell, Neriah Parringer, Seraph Nimue, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Tintagel Ruins - Depths
- Date:2018-03-13
- Summary: What happens when 4/5 of your party are either in disguise or invisible? Strangeness, that's what!'
========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Depths *>========================= The depths of the Tintagel Ruins first require negotiating a sealed door. The inside of the ruins are nefarious. Doors can seal themselves with frightening ease, requiring complex efforts with pressure tiles and pushing statues to reopen. Arrow slits stil function, threatening to pepper those who cross them with ancient bolts. The worst, however, are the many monsters that can be found crawling in these depths. However, the rewards are worth it, for Tintagel once housed ancient sorceries and ancient knowledges from the fabled Asgard Empire. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nia76yH7wOo
DG: That party is not open to new members. DG: That party is not open to new members. DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering Tintagel Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Seal of the Forged God *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Tintagel Ruins' ground floor is an old and dusty place with little worthy of
note. It could make a good hideout, perhaps, for some enterprising merchant
assassins, but that's too niche to really be feasible for anyone, right?
Right. What the ground floor -does- have, however, is a door. At least, it
looks like a door. A series of concentric stone semicircles compose the far
south wall of this place. There's no key, and it's a thick enough door that
trying to break through it would likely be too time consuming or exhausting.
But if one looks closely, they might just be able to see some upraised floor
tiles scattered throughout this room, secreted away in hidden places.
Depressing a tile causes a soft click to fill the air; finding all of them
may well get you your way in. You might, of course, need to find them in the
right order, because no secret dungeon developer would dare be so boring as
to put in a puzzle where you just have to step on a small number of very
obvious things with no hidden tricks, right? ... Right??
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
SOME TIME AGO
A young woman with long hair and plain traveler's clothes gives a small bag of silver to the captain of a merchantman running from Meribia to the northern coast of Glenwood. The image she's put together is of a traveling scholar from an unspecified place that isn't here--and she wants to go to Glenwood to study ruins.
All of this is true. One thing the Metal Demons taught Ida during their infiltration is that people will cheerfully make assumptions about you if you give them enough to get their brains going.
NOW
A cloaked figure makes its way down into the depths of the Tintagel Ruins, having passed through the Sparrowfeathers' camp without attracting much notice. Their distinguishing features? A long, mottled-grey cloak, leather gloves, riding boots, and nothing but the vague outlines of a face under the hood, no matter the lighting conditions. It's a little eerie.
The figure stops before the sealed door, holding up their torch to inspect it. As they do so, their foot depresses one of the tiles, which makes an audible 'click'. The figure tenses, ready to spring at the first sign of trouble--they clearly know what a 'click' means in a ruin like this--but there's no horrific trap. They consider the tile a moment. Something small and metallic falls out from under their cloak, and unfolds--then there's the metallic click-click-click of something scuttling along. That something, in the torchlight, is the silhouette of something vaguely metallic except for the single blood-red eye on its back, which it has turned on its surroundings.
It smells faintly of Malevolence. The cloaked figure does not.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
She looks so ordinary, this girl, and that is by design. By carefully-shapeshifted design. In reality she is Malfi the Metal Demon monster huntress, who has laboriously made her way from the northern ice, working odd jobs here and there for money because she desperately needs sustenance and, most importantly, caffeine. Now posing as the human "Cynwen," she's exploring ruins to make money fast; it's also something she had experience with on Filgaia. So far Lunar is proving to have monsters she's never seen before, and she's dutifully recording them in her scanner. The scanner's not what's needed for this perplexing doorway, though. She pauses for a coffee break while looking for any patterns in the raised tiles. There was bound to be one...
DG: Cynwen has used her Tool Portable Scanner toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Seal of the Forged God *>===================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Tintagel Ruins' ground floor is an old and dusty place with little worthy of
note. It could make a good hideout, perhaps, for some enterprising merchant
assassins, but that's too niche to really be feasible for anyone, right?
Right. What the ground floor -does- have, however, is a door. At least, it
looks like a door. A series of concentric stone semicircles compose the far
south wall of this place. There's no key, and it's a thick enough door that
trying to break through it would likely be too time consuming or exhausting.
But if one looks closely, they might just be able to see some upraised floor
tiles scattered throughout this room, secreted away in hidden places.
Depressing a tile causes a soft click to fill the air; finding all of them
may well get you your way in. You might, of course, need to find them in the
right order, because no secret dungeon developer would dare be so boring as
to put in a puzzle where you just have to step on a small number of very
obvious things with no hidden tricks, right? ... Right??
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The greatest foe of all explorers... remains... Door...
Ragnell had run into Gwen in Lastonbell, and after asking her if she's seen Sorey at all, asked her if she wanted to check out "some really cool ruins," quote unquote. Nimue was in the area, TOTALLY by coincidence, and so the three of them headed into the Volgran Woods over to the stone ruins Ragnell had indicated. Details up to the individual.
"So yeah, you can see there's this sorta... restin' area, where you can just chill," she says as they head down the ladder and stroll into the ruins proper, "an' then there's--huh." She stops, pausing, when she sees a couple of figures have gotten here ahead of them. She doesn't recognize either of them, not immediately, but she /does/ smell a whiff of Malevolence from something the first figure has...
Ragnell glances back at Gwen and Nimue, nods, and begins to stroll on over. She notes the /click/ of a foot meeting a floor depression, then turns her head around towards... ah. Yeah. There's a few other depressions in the floor. She pats Nimue and Gwen on the shoulders, then moseys on over to press another one with the heel of her boot. Nothing new happens, but hey, maybe if they keep doing it, something interesting will happen!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
An entirely new world.
An entirely new promise.
It's so saccharine and pure. I hate it.
There was fog near the camp of the Sparrowfeathers early in the morning. It passed with little incident.
Within the ruins, nestled deep within a shadow far behind the dubiously malevolent figure at the ruin door, there is a very subtle glint of something. It passes quickly, but for just a split-second, it was as though a hint of light caught the edge of a tiny glass lens.
It's gone within a heartbeat. But from somewhere in the dark, a pair of pale blue eyes, like cold ice, watch the figure at the doorway, and the doorway itself. They narrow as Cynwen arrives.
So someone from Filgaia has made a local friend, thinks somebody in particular. Interesting. Wonder who that is under there.
Ragnell, of all people, makes her appearance. From nowhere in particular, cold eyes follow her. The Seraph may feel it, of course - the sense of being watched.
A few feet behind Ragnell, something clicks softly. A look around would reveal that something is weighing down one of the tiles.
It's a handful of gella. There's no sign of who may have placed it there.
Someone seems to be getting the group started on the puzzle.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Excavator's Lens toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Seal of the Forged God *>===================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Tintagel Ruins' ground floor is an old and dusty place with little worthy of
note. It could make a good hideout, perhaps, for some enterprising merchant
assassins, but that's too niche to really be feasible for anyone, right?
Right. What the ground floor -does- have, however, is a door. At least, it
looks like a door. A series of concentric stone semicircles compose the far
south wall of this place. There's no key, and it's a thick enough door that
trying to break through it would likely be too time consuming or exhausting.
But if one looks closely, they might just be able to see some upraised floor
tiles scattered throughout this room, secreted away in hidden places.
Depressing a tile causes a soft click to fill the air; finding all of them
may well get you your way in. You might, of course, need to find them in the
right order, because no secret dungeon developer would dare be so boring as
to put in a puzzle where you just have to step on a small number of very
obvious things with no hidden tricks, right? ... Right??
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue managed to get bored of Lastonbell pretty fast, and proved downright eager to skedaddle and check out literally anything else. At some point during their trip out of the city, she had a thurible. She now instead does not have that thurible, and indeed it may never have made it out of town.
Finding a new vessel is hard.
The wind seraph sticks close to Ragnell the whole way there; it's not quite uncomfortable closeness, but it's a /little/ weird... When they at last arrive, Nimue, too, hears the click -- and realizes very quickly what broad type of activity they've discovered here in the ruins, as well as the fact that they're not alone within. Her response?
She trots over to one corner of the room, pulls out a big cup with a cap on it. Inside is soup. Soup, in the cup. Cup, in the Nimue-hands, with the soup, in the mouth, in the Nimue! Works for me.
Bye bye, puzzle.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Food toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Seal of the Forged God *>===================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Tintagel Ruins' ground floor is an old and dusty place with little worthy of
note. It could make a good hideout, perhaps, for some enterprising merchant
assassins, but that's too niche to really be feasible for anyone, right?
Right. What the ground floor -does- have, however, is a door. At least, it
looks like a door. A series of concentric stone semicircles compose the far
south wall of this place. There's no key, and it's a thick enough door that
trying to break through it would likely be too time consuming or exhausting.
But if one looks closely, they might just be able to see some upraised floor
tiles scattered throughout this room, secreted away in hidden places.
Depressing a tile causes a soft click to fill the air; finding all of them
may well get you your way in. You might, of course, need to find them in the
right order, because no secret dungeon developer would dare be so boring as
to put in a puzzle where you just have to step on a small number of very
obvious things with no hidden tricks, right? ... Right??
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The first experience Gwen had of Lunar was Meribia. It was lively, active, full of life, bounty, and... a general miasma of Malevolence, which never seemed to go away, pulsing like the scent of faint rain from a far away storm. Not enough to even get the skin damp, but noticeable, all the same.
There were also guards. Very suspicious guards, which is very understandable considering she and a random grouping of acquaintances just teleported into existence in the middle of the square.
It got worse from there.
Which is why Gwen is here! She just got away from a planet where she had a bounty, and she didn't need another.
"Pretty interestin'," Gwen observes, walking in behind Ragnell and Nimue. "And oh hey. Guess we're not alone here." As Ragnell fiddles with the tiles, Gwen cocks her head towards the disguised Ida, feeling the strange thread of Malevolence from her. "Hey, you snoopin' around for somethin'?" She peers over, caution slowing her steps as she comes over to examine Ida.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seal of the Forged God.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Seal of the Forged God *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Tintagel Ruins' ground floor is an old and dusty place with little worthy of
note. It could make a good hideout, perhaps, for some enterprising merchant
assassins, but that's too niche to really be feasible for anyone, right?
Right. What the ground floor -does- have, however, is a door. At least, it
looks like a door. A series of concentric stone semicircles compose the far
south wall of this place. There's no key, and it's a thick enough door that
trying to break through it would likely be too time consuming or exhausting.
But if one looks closely, they might just be able to see some upraised floor
tiles scattered throughout this room, secreted away in hidden places.
Depressing a tile causes a soft click to fill the air; finding all of them
may well get you your way in. You might, of course, need to find them in the
right order, because no secret dungeon developer would dare be so boring as
to put in a puzzle where you just have to step on a small number of very
obvious things with no hidden tricks, right? ... Right??
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
=========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 1 *>========================= ======================< Results - Seal of the Forged God >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Loyal Demon Eye 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Portable Scanner 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Excavator's Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Stolen Food 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
As the little automaton(?) gets to work, the cloaked figure slowly turns to regard Cynwen and her coffee. They say nothing--they just look at her for a long moment, before turning to regard the three people approaching the door. In particular, the figure turns to look at Gwen a moment, considering her, thoughtfully. There are many strange things here, such as someone they recognize from voice but not appearance, and a handful of silver coins of a make not found on Lunar. Gwen asks a question, but the figure does not answer--they just incline their head.
Inwardly, Ida is sweating, and the tension is doing nothing to help her keep the Malevolence gagged down. This looks much easier than it is!
Ragnell's insistent poking of a single tile doesn't do much but make a steady, annoying rhythm. Cynwen's scanner reveals a network of strange metaphysical linkages beneath the tiles, confirmed by the Malevolent spidery whatever-it-is, and the lens of the mysterious invisible onlooker.
With that out of the way, it's easy for the figure to press a few more panels, and then gesture at the remaining panels for Gwen to press. The whatever-it-is folds itself into a more compact shape, which the figure snatches up before anyone can get a good look at it. Hopefully.
DG: Seraph Nimue has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Dragon's Claw *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Draconic imagery suffuses this place. It is in the architecture, in the crumbling art -- even in their traps. Take, for example, this one you just so happened to trigger now. A large statue of a dragon groans with the activation of crude, automated mechanisms just above you and the exit you approach. One of its massive claws, held threateningly above it, begins to descend, covering too much ground to successfully escape in time without injury. You're going to have to wreck ancient, draconic artistry before it attempts to squash you like a bug. Fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Suffer===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue gets up from her impromptu meal, standing up and stretching out as a path forward reveals itself; she rolls her neck, saying, "Great! I'm so glad you found a super boring puzzle and a bunch of weirdos instantly! These ruins are the best and this totally won't be a huge waste of time!"
She ambles forward easily, walking with the pace of someone who has never really cared about what they're doing and certainly doesn't intend to start now. There's a good amount of walking to be done, at that -- down a hallway, turning, along a slightly sloped and slightly curved corridor...
... and near the end of that corridor, Nimue steps on a switch. Nothing happens for a moment --
-- and then a statue near the end of the corridor starts to fall toward her. The wind seraph screams, falling onto her back and pressing up with wind magic. "BREAK IT BREAK IT BREAK IT BREAK IT" she shouts, incessantly.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The weight of someone's gaze settles upon Ragnell. Ragnell feels it on her skin, and she turns her head slightly to glance in its direction. She doesn't see the specific person watching her, but she does see and hear the gella clinking onto one of the tiles nearby her. She grins toothily, then tips a two-fingered salute off the brim of her hat before turning to Gwen and Nimue.
Nimue, comma, who has been sticking to her like a burr on a coat. Ragnell doesn't seem to mind it, openly. She does take a whiff of that delicious-smelling soup, though, before half-smiling to Gwen. "I'll leave socializin' with the fleshies t'you," she drawls.
One hand scoops up the gella on the floor, which vanishes into a pocket. She looks over at the cloaked figure--hmm, look pretty secretive, don't they? At least, they sure were in a hurry to put away whatever it was Gwen was trying to get a better look at. Ragnell will have to remember that.
Then Nimue complains, and Ragnell rolls her eyes. "Whatever, it was close by. This place still has traps an' shit a'plenty." Or at least she's pretty sure it does. Regardless, the group moves on through the ruins, until they reach the end of a corridor, and there are draconic reliefs /everywhere/. Ragnell frowns slightly as she looks around at a dragon statue that HOLY SHIT IT STARTED MOVING and now Nimue is screaming while throwing wind at it. Ragnell helps by pulling a grenade from her poncho, pulling the pin, and hurling the grenade into the statue's mouth. Hopefully it explodes before it squashes them.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Lightning Grenade toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
Cynwen can't hear Nimue's instructions because she can't perceive Seraphs, but the falling statue certainly gets her attention! Unable to dodge in time, she desperately tries parrying the statue with her sword, for once regretting not carrying a shield. Good thing she's hardier than a human! That dragon claw looks HEAVY!
DG: Cynwen has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dragon's Claw *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Draconic imagery suffuses this place. It is in the architecture, in the crumbling art -- even in their traps. Take, for example, this one you just so happened to trigger now. A large statue of a dragon groans with the activation of crude, automated mechanisms just above you and the exit you approach. One of its massive claws, held threateningly above it, begins to descend, covering too much ground to successfully escape in time without injury. You're going to have to wreck ancient, draconic artistry before it attempts to squash you like a bug. Fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Suffer===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The group moves on. All five of them.
Someone watches, and waits for them all to slip through the door before beginning to move. They keep out of sight. The door closes behind the five, and does not open again.
In the room beyond, a statue begins to fall, whether through gravity or some obscure mechanism. Seraph Nimue, it seems, is about to get splattered into ghost pulp.
And then there is a sudden screech of tortured metal - and sparks gush from the back of the statue. Some mechanism inside it creaks in protest.
Driven into the back of the statue is a long-handled shovel, sunk into the mechanisms within up to the blade. A ribbon of black silk has been wound around the shaft of it. The sparks spewing from the mechanisms catch the trailing edge of that silk ribbon, beginning to set it alight.
A heavy rustle of fabric crackles in the air as a dark shape boosts down from... somewhere. A figure suddenly drops into place behind the statue. The shape is in view for just a moment - enough for one to make up dark blue-violet robes and a deep hood patterned in broad white geometric patterns. Seizing the shovel, the figure turns its head for a second.
To make eye contact with Seraph Ragnell, before yanking the shovel out and hurtling back into... somewhere. Somewhere out of sight.
Somehow.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dragon's Claw *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Draconic imagery suffuses this place. It is in the architecture, in the crumbling art -- even in their traps. Take, for example, this one you just so happened to trigger now. A large statue of a dragon groans with the activation of crude, automated mechanisms just above you and the exit you approach. One of its massive claws, held threateningly above it, begins to descend, covering too much ground to successfully escape in time without injury. You're going to have to wreck ancient, draconic artistry before it attempts to squash you like a bug. Fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Suffer===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Oh God, she's going to have to talk, isn't she? Gwen is right there, and so is Ragnell, and both of them know what she sounds like. Ida has a distinctive accent that's even more out of place on Lunar, and while she's been working on hiding it, it's an imperfect science. More magic? That might risk letting the Malevolence loose, and that would be bad.
The figure, meanwhile, holds stock-still, perhaps deep in thought. Then they turn on a heel, nodding once as Ragnell mentions the 'traps 'n' shit. And not a moment too soon.
Nimue goes prone. The figure, somehow, now only recognizes that she's there, but interposes themself between her and the toppling statue, even as they look up and process what it is.
Oh, Ida thinks. That's a dragon. It feels surreal to see that iconography here, on another world, despite knowing from Talise that dragons are entirely different on Lunar.
The figure pulls back a clenched fist and drives it forwards with shattering force. This might be only a statue of a dragon, but it is not the first dragon they have punched.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Blue-grey eyes follow the path of the strange automaton, as well as its strange, almost semi-organic shape, as it leaves its point of origin, which seemingly is the quiet nondescript cloaked person. "Ah, so you're a shy type, eh? Well, I can introduce myself, then!" She looks to Cynwen, then back to Ida. "I'm Gwen Whitlock. Su-... uh, visiting person of noninterest for now." She clears her throat, then looks to Nimue. "C'mon, y'can't say that if you haven't even looked."
And... she likely looks like a crazy person to the 'fleshies' present, something Gwen can only try to rectify by laughing nervously. "See, my friends are shy too." THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF HELPING
Further into the ruins they go, and Nimue tries her hand at the next obstacle. The statue nearby obliges the Seraph by falling down on top of her. "Whoahwhoahwhoah!"
And in comes another cloaked figure to save the day with a magical... shovel? Gwen squints, unable to make its shape all that clearly in the darkness. She doesn't get much time to examine the newcomer, instead directed towards the fact that the statue isn't just falling, it's /moving/ "Hold on! I'll try to smash it!"
In what she'd realize probably looks like the actions of a crazy newcomer trying to punch a metal dragonic statue, Gwen dashes forward, pulls her gloved right hand back, and /slams/ it into the mechanized structure, letting momentum and the impact of ARM metal against foreign metal do the rest. "Hah!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Dragon's Claw.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Dragon's Claw *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Draconic imagery suffuses this place. It is in the architecture, in the crumbling art -- even in their traps. Take, for example, this one you just so happened to trigger now. A large statue of a dragon groans with the activation of crude, automated mechanisms just above you and the exit you approach. One of its massive claws, held threateningly above it, begins to descend, covering too much ground to successfully escape in time without injury. You're going to have to wreck ancient, draconic artistry before it attempts to squash you like a bug. Fun! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Suffer===========================================
=========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 2 *>========================= ==========================< Results - Dragon's Claw >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(15)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass Lightning Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 5 --(15)--> 20 Pass Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Suffer(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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> Seraph Nimue has posed.
The mysterious figure that pops in for a moment pulls that shovel back out of the statue -- and slows it a lot, for that matter. Cynwen can at least hold it back for a few moments, though wind whips around her as she does so --
-- joined by lightning a moment later, and two crashing fists a moment later still. The statue shatters, at last, and Nimue kips back up as if nothing had ever happened, save that she looks completely exhausted by her experience.
"Iiiiii hate it," she says, twirling around exactly once and throwing a V-for-victory. "Let's keep going, mysterious weirdos I've never met, plus my friend, and her friend, and a mysterious teleporting pile of purple rags!"
... You get used to it. After a century or two.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Pillar Pouncing *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These underground ruins are filled with multi-tiered walkways and halls that wind from one level to the next. Falling to the bottom floor when you want to be at the top would no doubt set you back a ways -- so thank goodness the cultists of the Tintagel established nice bridges for you to traverse! ... and then left giant gaping holes in between each supporting pillar such that it's really more of a series of stone, moss-encrusted platforms you kind of need to... hop across. Like a bunny. Fun, right? Right?? Well. ... Get hopping! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
A shovel with black silk... Doesn't that look familiar? Ragnell looks sharply towards the figure that drops down behind the statue, and for her efforts, makes eye contact for a brief moment. There's a motion behind that cloak, and Ragnell half-smiles, then winks back. She doesn't remark on the figure beyond that, though. Especially since the /other/ cloaked figure present hauls off and PUNCHES that dragon statue, possibly into little bitty pieces.
Ragnell snorts at Gwen's comment on shyness, both of that figure and her friends, as well as her self-description. "Yeah, /that/ doesn't sound shady," she drawls. (She is fully aware of the irony.) "Nice punchin', though!" She pats Nimue on the shoulder when the Wind Seraph hops back to her feet. "You hate everything," she drawls. "C'mon, let's get goin'."
She glances at 'Cynwen' as she passes by, though. They tried to parry that huge statue with a sword... That takes a lot of guts. Interesting. She turns her red eyes forward and strides onwards, making note of who tracks her movements and who doesn't.
The hallways going forward are even more winding and obnoxious than the ones they just passed through. Ragnell manages to work through them okay without having to fall to a lower floor or anything, but then the group comes across a series of pillars... with no actual connecting bridgework.
She eyeballs this, then takes out a couple of chocolate rusks and breaks them into pieces. She shoves one piece into her mouth, then tosses a few more out, one for Gwen, one for Nimue, and one casually into midair around where she last saw what Nimue called a purple pile of rags. She crunches that tasty chocolate twice-baked bread, then swallows, allowing the snack's effects to--well, not so much bolster her speed but protect it. That'll be handy when trying to hop across the moss on those pillars. They look slippery.
"Last one across is the last one across," she drawls, then runs and jumps for the first--and ensuing--pillar heads. Hop to it!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Wherever the robed figure went, they don't seem inclined to say hello, much less travel with the group just yet.
But the shovel's gone - and what's left behind is a sense that may raise the hairs on the backs of necks.
The feeling of being watched, closely.
The winding hallways again lead where they will - to the pillared jumps. As Ragnell begins to bound across, though, she may notice something on the other side.
Someone's standing there who wasn't standing there before. The robed figure doesn't hide itself this time. The robe is long enough that the train of it pools out around the wearer's feet, as if the figure has somehow been poured out of the ground, upwards. A few small charms weight the edges of the robe down.
The figure waits on the other side of the jump, but as Ragnell leaps, whoever it is lifts a slender, feminine-looking right hand.
She - is it a she? - points silently at one of the jumps in front of Ragnell. The Seraph might find that particular pillar-top thick with wetter moss that won't provide as stable a footing.
Be careful.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
Cynwen frowns and pulls out her scanner as she spies pieces of chocolate rusk redistributing themselves, apparently of their own accord. The scanner shows nothing unusual. (It can't pick up Seraphs, Malevolence, or other spiritual forces). This is puzzling, but there's no time to dwell on it now -- she's got pillars to cross. She manages the hopping, if a bit awkwardly -- and with a few heart-stopping near-misses, thanks to the slippery moss. Worse, it's leaving nasty stains all over her only outfit! Heights, ugh!
DG: Cynwen has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Pillar Pouncing *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- These underground ruins are filled with multi-tiered walkways and halls that wind from one level to the next. Falling to the bottom floor when you want to be at the top would no doubt set you back a ways -- so thank goodness the cultists of the Tintagel established nice bridges for you to traverse! ... and then left giant gaping holes in between each supporting pillar such that it's really more of a series of stone, moss-encrusted platforms you kind of need to... hop across. Like a bunny. Fun, right? Right?? Well. ... Get hopping! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida doesn't get more than a glance at the last member of their little party before she vanishes again, but it's unsettling.
The figure follows along, openly and rudely watching Cynwen--she hasn't said much of anything so far, and perhaps they've decided that soft pressure might work. The other cloaked figure reappears, a little ways up the path, and the entity in grey watches them out of the corner of their eye as they point out the moss.
"A solution," the figure whispers. Their voice is soft. They reach into a pocket beneath the robe, pull out something, and then tuck it into a crack in the wall. There's a soft pulse of Malevolence, and then--
A tangle of thick, sturdy roots shoots out of the wall, barely missing Cynwen as it stretches across the room, grabbing onto columns and walls and anything non-mobile in its path. Malevolence lingers around it, much like that strange object from earlier. The figure grips the roots firmly, and vaults up onto them, clambering across the pillars using them as a makeshift catwalk.
Oddly, they've sprouted white lotus blossoms.
Shit, Ida thinks, a moment after she realizes Gwen might recognize them.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stainless Lotus Seeds toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Listen, if everything weren't so hateable how would we know we were even alive?" Nimue shoots back to Ragnell, as they advance. When they come to the pillars, Nimue accepts the rusk, looking at the expanse of pillars before them while eating. "That sure is a bunch of pillars," she says, before hopping up into the air.
Nimue's jump is floaty. She doesn't hover... it's more like the sort of jump one gets when one is particularly mystical, or is Kirby. She doesn't use the roots at all, nor does she pay attention to the warnings of the robed figure; Nimue... is gonna just Nimue her way through this one, it looks like. The wind seraph looks particularly uneasy about the white lotus blossoms...
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Pillar Pouncing *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- These underground ruins are filled with multi-tiered walkways and halls that wind from one level to the next. Falling to the bottom floor when you want to be at the top would no doubt set you back a ways -- so thank goodness the cultists of the Tintagel established nice bridges for you to traverse! ... and then left giant gaping holes in between each supporting pillar such that it's really more of a series of stone, moss-encrusted platforms you kind of need to... hop across. Like a bunny. Fun, right? Right?? Well. ... Get hopping! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Hey, uh, is this a thing that happens down here often?" Gwen asks to Ragnell, one hand out to catch the chocolate rusk, though Cynwen is also a good candidate for answering too. "The cloaked figures, I mean. Not that I don't mind em', don't get me wrong! Very helpful." Just... very confusing in their motives.
But it wouldn't be the first time she's traveled into the depths with a being whose identity is hidden by their garb of choice. Though, in K.K.'s case, it was armor, not a cloak.
Gwen just munches on the rusk, happy for the snack. That probably looked like it came out of nowhere to everyone else, if they lack the sight needed.
The bridge that stays before them causes Gwen to hesitate, the redhead taking a moment to press the last of the rusk into her mouth. This looks... tricky.
Thankfully, one of the friendly cloaked figures is there to lend a hand. "Oh, thanks!" Gwen chirps to the disguised Ida. Maybe the cloaked person is warming up to them?
There's not much time to think on it, as the 'solution' takes root, literally. The courier whistles in appreciation at the strange plant life, her boots stepping onto the makeshift catwalk in Ida's wake.
She pauses.
These white lotus blossoms...
Her eyes travel back to the back of the cloaked person. She steps forward, a cocked smile on her face.
So she's here too...
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perilous Pillar Pouncing.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Perilous Pillar Pouncing *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- These underground ruins are filled with multi-tiered walkways and halls that wind from one level to the next. Falling to the bottom floor when you want to be at the top would no doubt set you back a ways -- so thank goodness the cultists of the Tintagel established nice bridges for you to traverse! ... and then left giant gaping holes in between each supporting pillar such that it's really more of a series of stone, moss-encrusted platforms you kind of need to... hop across. Like a bunny. Fun, right? Right?? Well. ... Get hopping! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 3 *>========================= =====================< Results - Perilous Pillar Pouncing >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Stainless Lotus Seeds 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Chocolate Rusk 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Blackest Coffee 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 25 --(10)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 25 --(10)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Over the centuries, trap-makers in both Filgaia and Lunar alike have grown
very fond of the boulder as a simple yet elegant solution to the 'how do I
flatten intruders in a cost-effective way' problem. The boulder became not
just a beloved implement of death, but an artistic statement, with many
fine, artisanal boulders created over the ages to best exemplify the
symbolic values of the ruin it would be used to crush people underfoot in.
Take, for example, this fine specimen of boulder craftsmanship: expertly
sculpted, it is made to look like a fearsome dragon of old, a tribute to the
raw power such creatures wield. Its features are cannily-lifelike, its body
molded into a rounded, nigh-perfect, Arma Dylan-grade (who??) curl. It's a
true masterpiece, worthy of being marveled and wondered over.
I mean, maybe not now, because it's currently rolling at you at high speeds
to elegantly and artistically crush you underfoot in a stylish yet
cost-effective way, but.
Maybe later. If you're not dead.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Man, Nim, even /I/ don't hate /everything/," Ragnell drawls back at Nimue. "Hateability's got nothin' to do with feelin' alive an' you know it, you little ass."
Did the shadowy figure manage to get that piece of rusk? Well, if she did or not, it's all good. Ragnell sees the spot where that lithe hand points, and avoids it as a result. She tilts another smile towards the figure as she makes it across, then turns to see the others' progress.
The other hooded figure does something that results in both Malevolence and lotus blossoms and roots that serve as makeshift catwalks. Very pretty. Very uneasy. Nimue floats haphazardly, to the point where she nearly doesn't make a few of the jumps, but she gets across in the end, thankfully. Cynwen is much the same, except far less floaty and far more awkward, but she at least makes it across in better time than Nimue or Gwen. Speaking of whom--
"Happens a lot 'round your planet too," Ragnell points out to Gwen, meanwhile. "You jus' more often see 'em in big face-coverin' hats and oversized ponchos an' shit. You get those kinds everywhere, y'ken?" Handy for Gwen that she can use those lotus catwalks, but that smile-- "Somethin' funny 'bout one of our quiet friends?" Ragnell asks, looking at the others.
Whether Gwen spills the beans or not, they all make it across unharmed and in pretty good condition. How about that!
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The good news is, Cynwen's sensors will read the figure in the robe as an unremarkable human female.
The bad news is... what might it not be detecting?
The other cloaked figure unleashes a pulse of something. The one in the robe tilts her head shallowly to one side. Ida can feel someone watching her with intense interest from beneath the hood.
Once everyone has crossed the abyss, the robed figure... remains with the party. With a simple nod, the figure turns and heads through an arched entryway behind her, then down a short corridor. The figure's steps come with the low click-click that suggests at least a modest heel to their footwear, though nothing's revealed with that robe trailing down as far as it is.
The short spur ends in a much broader corridor, angled downward and ending quite a distance away. The robed figure squints down the length of the hallway, then looks over to Ragnell.
The Seraph gets a glimpse of a delicate hand slipping a piece of chocolate rusk beneath the hood.
There's no further delay. The figure nods,, beginning to move down the hallway at a slow pace.
Until the wall behind the group swings around to reveal something huge. And shapely. And expertly-sculpted. A fine, delightfully-rounded Arma Dylan-grade...
...frigging boulder.
The massive rock begins to trundle towards the party. The robed shape doesn't stick around to trifle with it. She picks her speed up to a flat run -
And ratchets up the speed even more. Shadowy after-images trail behind the robed shape as some magic begins to work itself upon her, like smokestains in human shape that fade and melt away not long after they're left. A subtle current of magic tugs at the senses.
The magic, to the sensitive, is not Malevolence - but it's something dreadful in its own right.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'Somethin' funny 'bout one of our quiet friends?'
A dull sort of dread settles in the pit of Ida's stomach. The Malevolence coiled within her, unseen, grows hotter as fear and anger war within her--it feels, almost, like her heart is being squeezed by white-hot chains. The cloaked figure misses a step, grabs a root big enough to support her in its entirety, and takes a moment to just breathe. As soon as the group is over, the figure plucks a head-sized lotus blossom off the far end of the bridge, and crushes it between their fingers; the blossom dissipates into ethereal motes of Malevolence, leaving behind a fistful of lotus seeds that would be ordinary if they weren't tainted with the same.
Mercifully for the Seraphim, they're upwind, metaphysically, when it happens.
A crash. Something starts to roll towards the group. The figure has no time to appreciate its craftsmanship--they just slam another of those seeds into the wall, infusing it with another pulse of Malevolence before taking off at a sprint. Their momentary lapse seems to have passed, since there is no contradictory emotion contesting 'run for your life'.
Neriah gets a look, though. A cold shiver runs down Ida's spine.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stainless Lotus Seeds toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
Cynwen also flees from the big-ass boulder, no matter how cowardly that course of action is. She has nothing to stop anything that massive, or even slow it down. Being run over might kill her, or it might not -- but if it didn't, it would mean a long and painful regeneration. Best not take the chance! She barely has time to think, What is it with all the dragon-themed traps in this pit, anyway?
DG: Cynwen has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno *>==============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Over the centuries, trap-makers in both Filgaia and Lunar alike have grown
very fond of the boulder as a simple yet elegant solution to the 'how do I
flatten intruders in a cost-effective way' problem. The boulder became not
just a beloved implement of death, but an artistic statement, with many
fine, artisanal boulders created over the ages to best exemplify the
symbolic values of the ruin it would be used to crush people underfoot in.
Take, for example, this fine specimen of boulder craftsmanship: expertly
sculpted, it is made to look like a fearsome dragon of old, a tribute to the
raw power such creatures wield. Its features are cannily-lifelike, its body
molded into a rounded, nigh-perfect, Arma Dylan-grade (who??) curl. It's a
true masterpiece, worthy of being marveled and wondered over.
I mean, maybe not now, because it's currently rolling at you at high speeds
to elegantly and artistically crush you underfoot in a stylish yet
cost-effective way, but.
Maybe later. If you're not dead.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Listen, it's a whole thing!" Nimue insists to Ragnell, substancelessly, as they advance. "Sometimes you just gotta hate things! If you let it get pent up and get all weird you turn into a dragon and that sucks!" She lands on a particularly wet, awful patch, falling on her back at one point. "See? Awful! Everything, bad!"
She has barely enough time to get over the last bit of annoyance before the new one starts, though. As the boulder rolls toward them, Nimue shouts, "I ALSO HATE THIS!!" as she breaks into a dead-on sprint. She corrects course a couple times, weaving to one side of the dread chasing behind their hooded acquaintance.
"Why did we form up with a bunch of spooky weirdos!!!" she shouts, before letting out a more generalized, and easier to articulate while running, "Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell grins to see that piece of rusk in probably-not-Neriah's hand, but once again, refrains from comment. There's just more Malevolence from Mystery Figure #1, more Dark Power from Mystery Figure #2, and-- Well. Before them is a wall, that turns around nicely enough, except...
Ah.
Yeah.
Ragnell has a brief flashback to the Ruins of Memory before she turns and sprints in the other direction. More chocolate rusk pieces get tossed about, though it might be a little late for anyone to get to chow down. A couple pieces might even fly Ida and Cynwen's ways, if they're lucky. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right? Right??
""At least if you were gonna dragonize, this is the place t' do it! A ruin left behind by a buncha spooky weirdo cultists is jus' the place for a buncha spooky weirdo adventurers!" she calls over her shoulder back at Nimue. Yes, while they're both fleeing for their lives. Why not?
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno *>==============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Over the centuries, trap-makers in both Filgaia and Lunar alike have grown
very fond of the boulder as a simple yet elegant solution to the 'how do I
flatten intruders in a cost-effective way' problem. The boulder became not
just a beloved implement of death, but an artistic statement, with many
fine, artisanal boulders created over the ages to best exemplify the
symbolic values of the ruin it would be used to crush people underfoot in.
Take, for example, this fine specimen of boulder craftsmanship: expertly
sculpted, it is made to look like a fearsome dragon of old, a tribute to the
raw power such creatures wield. Its features are cannily-lifelike, its body
molded into a rounded, nigh-perfect, Arma Dylan-grade (who??) curl. It's a
true masterpiece, worthy of being marveled and wondered over.
I mean, maybe not now, because it's currently rolling at you at high speeds
to elegantly and artistically crush you underfoot in a stylish yet
cost-effective way, but.
Maybe later. If you're not dead.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
'Somethin' funny 'bout one of our quiet friends?'
Gwen Whitlock says, "W-what's this... about... dragon eyes?!" Gwen yells between breaths as they run. "You guys turn into dragons too?!""
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
'Somethin' funny 'bout one of our quiet friends?'
Gwen nods to Ragnell. "Well, less that n' more that I like the flowers." It comes easily, when the statement is, in itself, a truth. "But I get what'ca mean. People just wanna hide things."
Again, it probably looks like she's talking to thin air, but with how people seem to accept it, she doesn't try to justify it anymore.
Especially when there's a boulder there. Hello, boulder. Glad to see things are pretty similar in terms of giant boulders on Lunar as they are on Filgaia. It's like the Ruins of Memory, all over again!
Especially with the frantic running, the yelling, and the wait what did those two Seraphs say
"W-what's this... about... dragon eyes?!" Gwen yells between breaths as they run. "You guys turn into dragons too?!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno.
===============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Over the centuries, trap-makers in both Filgaia and Lunar alike have grown
very fond of the boulder as a simple yet elegant solution to the 'how do I
flatten intruders in a cost-effective way' problem. The boulder became not
just a beloved implement of death, but an artistic statement, with many
fine, artisanal boulders created over the ages to best exemplify the
symbolic values of the ruin it would be used to crush people underfoot in.
Take, for example, this fine specimen of boulder craftsmanship: expertly
sculpted, it is made to look like a fearsome dragon of old, a tribute to the
raw power such creatures wield. Its features are cannily-lifelike, its body
molded into a rounded, nigh-perfect, Arma Dylan-grade (who??) curl. It's a
true masterpiece, worthy of being marveled and wondered over.
I mean, maybe not now, because it's currently rolling at you at high speeds
to elegantly and artistically crush you underfoot in a stylish yet
cost-effective way, but.
Maybe later. If you're not dead.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
==========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 4 *>========================== ==================< Results - My What a Fancy Booooouuhhhgodno >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 25 --(15)--> 40 Pass Stainless Lotus Seeds 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 30 --(15)--> 45 Pass Chocolate Rusk 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail Blackest Coffee 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 35 --(15)--> 50 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 35 --(20)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Cripple Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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. DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Squirreltastrophe *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
They're coming for you. Skittering through the ventilation of this place.
Chattering with their horrible teeth. Staring at you with their gleaming
eyes. Ever on the peripheries of your vision, they are. Watching. Waiting.
And then you find them.
A bunch of... adorable squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels that just took down a giant
Hellion ten times their size without issue and oh my god they're coming for
you FIGHT OR FLIGHT FIGHT OR FLIGHT
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Wound, Vault=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
There's something different about the feeling, for those who've felt feelings like it before. Something... more controlled.
The massive, picturesque boulder does not care about dread powers and creepy ghosts, though. It's just out to smush people flat. Ragnell tosses out chocolate rusk but a few pieces of it land in the path of the boulder.
There are now chocolate smears on the boulder, marring this priceless work of art eternally. At the end of the corridor, there's a closed doorway. Ragnell, Ida and Nimue are able to get there quickly enough to exploit it; they can open it up and wiggle their way through, but it's a fairly narrow one, and it'll keep the rest of the group waiting. All the while, the stone bears down. It looks like it's about to crush Gwen, Cynwen and whomever else is there.
The robed figure turns, then levels two fingers at the boulder - and something horrible begins to build in the air. Black energy wells at those slender fingertips, forming a surprisingly radiant black spark dancing at those fingertips.
The spark explodes outward into a single, shrieking RAY that splits through the air with a screeching wail like the damned about to rip their way through the gates of Hell. The RAY slams full on into the boulder.
The rock explodes, spewing rubble and debris through the corridor. Chunks of rock pelt Gwen and Cynwen; a few hit the robed figure, who doesn't flinch or even move. The rocks seem to stop before hitting flesh, as if some eldritch field were deflecting them away.
Finally, the dust begins to settle. The robed figure begins to turn, moving a little slower, but still with the group.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
A ray of... something dark, unfamiliar yet familiar to Gwen comes out of the outstretched fingers of one of the two helpful cloaked figures, splitting the boulder into several pieces.
After lifting her right arm to shield her face against the debris that speeds at her face, Gwen can only do one thing in response: she whistles.
With the door now open, (skitter)
the group is free to proceed forward into the darkness.
chitterchitter
What dangers lie (skitterskitter) just beyond,
in the waiting darkness that awaits them? chitter
A bunch of furry, adorable little things, coming straight towards the group, with bushy tails, cute, beady little eyes, and, if someone has the proper sight,
hellish, purple-laced things with bright sharp fangs and predatory eyes, too numerous to be a simple nuisance, one motive in mind.
And just beyond that, isn't there another Hellion? It's alright. That one's dead.
The squirrels killed it already. Very considerate, really.
"What the heck?!" Gwen yells as they crowd towards the group, fangs bared!
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The cloaked figure catches the chocolate rusk out of the air with two fingers, and pops it into the shadows beneath their hood, presumably into their mouth. They press themselves flat against the door, allowing Nimue and Ragnell to squeeze through--all the while, they fumble for another of those seeds, even though the first did nothing to stop the boulder.
A flash of horrific power, and the boulder explodes. The cloaked figure turns to the other stranger, watching.
The group moves onwards.
The figure in the grey cloak stands up a little straighter as the telltale sensation of Malevolence filters into the air. Their right hand curls into a fist, as if in preparation--they scan their surroundings, following the sound of skittering that they can just barely hear. And then suddenly--
Ida lets out a sudden hiss of breath as Malevolence wafts off the dead Hellion's corpse, seeking her. Chi goes with it, a gust that forcibly repels the wayward taint before it can do something horrible, like get into her body when she has no idea where it came from or what it was originally part of. That is the lesser of the two problems.
The figure tenses, and meets the flying, shrieking squirrels with a flurry of lightning-fast punches. One of them gets punted for distance when it gets too close.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Chitter chitter. Chitter chitter.
Horrible hellionized squirrels come bounding towards the group, and the figure in the robe --
Pauses and looks on in what can only be disbelief.
Hellionized... squirrels.
Whoever's behind that robe has to resist the urge to shake her head. After all, they did kill that other Hellion back there.
The squirrels come chittering in; the robed someone-or-other doesn't move. One of them jumps - and collides with a globular field that has suddenly sprung to life around the stranger.
The field pulses with a steady current of power. Eldritch symbols and patterns shift across its surface, barely followable by the mind, much less the eye. Another squirrel slams into the shield, the first one slashing madly at it, but the field does not give way. Each strike against its surface sends ripples of ruddy colour eddying through the eldritch patterns.
The figure draws in a breath behind the field - and after a moment, the shield seems to vapourize as whoever is under that robe inhales their own forcefield. They level a slender right hand just as the Hellionized squirrels lunge.
With a sweeping movement, the figure unleashes an immense wave of horrific energy. It's sufficient to strip the flesh from around the soul, pumping through the room in a furious, rumbling crescent that rattles the cavern and shakes dust and pebbles loose from the ceiling.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
Cynwen charges forward to meet the scurrilous squirrels head-on, whooping with glee, whirling, twisting, careening, her sword carving a broad swath of destruction. The rodents perish by the tens, the dozens, yet more keep on coming. She's bitten in several places, unable to completely demolish the swarm by herself. "A little help here," she calls, hoping no one will recognize her voice. -- or notice that her wounds are seeping silver. Good thing they're small!
DG: Cynwen has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell manages to squeeze through with the others and get away from the boulder. That's all well and good, but there are soon even bigger problems. It begins with echoes through the vents. Skittering. Chittering. It continues with beady red eyes. Watching. Waiting. And it ends with a Hellion, a rather big one, that has apparently been skeletonized.
Ragnell stares at the squirrels.
The squirrels, much like the abyss, stares back.
"/CHITTERRRRRR/," the little Hellions chorus as one just before pouncing.
"THIS IS WAY TOO FUCKED UP FOR ME," Ragnell bellows as she opens fire as fast as she can on the adorably fluffy abominations.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Squirreltastrophe *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
They're coming for you. Skittering through the ventilation of this place.
Chattering with their horrible teeth. Staring at you with their gleaming
eyes. Ever on the peripheries of your vision, they are. Watching. Waiting.
And then you find them.
A bunch of... adorable squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels that just took down a giant
Hellion ten times their size without issue and oh my god they're coming for
you FIGHT OR FLIGHT FIGHT OR FLIGHT
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Wound, Vault=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue looks back at the boulder, once they're away from it -- and finds much of it annihilated. "... I wanted to see if it was Arma Dylan-quality round and cute," she laments, pelted with debris. "Everything is super unfair today. Ughhh. Okay, ambulatory pile of rags, weird flower creeper, weirdo I don't know, and people I do know, let's keep goin'!"
... skittering and chittering begins, and Nimue starts to feel... uneasy. Her shoulders roll back and her whole body feels... twitchy. She withdraws her sling staff, without really knowing wholly why...
... withdraws one of her remaining Filgaian grenades from her pack...
... and then she sees the squirrels. "AAAHH! NO! TILT ME SIDEWAYS AND SHOVE ME INTO A CANNON /NO/!!!" she screams, before hurling the grenade into the middle of the pile of Hellion squirrels. "HATE IT!"
... kind of weird that Nimue has cannons in her verbal repertoire despite Filgaia being past field cannon and Lunar not having them (at the moment???), huh...
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Gadgets toward her party's challenge, Squirreltastrophe.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Squirreltastrophe *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
They're coming for you. Skittering through the ventilation of this place.
Chattering with their horrible teeth. Staring at you with their gleaming
eyes. Ever on the peripheries of your vision, they are. Watching. Waiting.
And then you find them.
A bunch of... adorable squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels?
A bunch of... adorable, Hellionized squirrels that just took down a giant
Hellion ten times their size without issue and oh my god they're coming for
you FIGHT OR FLIGHT FIGHT OR FLIGHT
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Wound, Vault=====================================
=========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 5 *>========================= ========================< Results - Squirreltastrophe >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 40 --(7)--> 47 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 45 --(12)--> 57 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 50 --(12)--> 62 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 45 --(7)--> 52 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 50 --(12)--> 62 Fail Stolen Gadgets 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 55 --(12)--> 67 Fail Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Vault(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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. DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - By Fire Be Purged *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Long ago, the Tintagel referred to this corridor as the Cleansing Chamber.
Now, it's just a giant hallway with a bunch of stone dragon heads mounted on
the sides of the wall, but the reason such an ostentatious chamber received
such an equally ostentatious name is revealed the exact second someone tries
to walk past one of those mounted stone maws -- and it proceeds to spew a
gout of broiling hot flames.
And then they -all- start to, in irregular, hard-to-discern patterns. It
seems learning those patterns might be the trick to getting through, if
there weren't -so many heads- that it'd take most peope weeks of devout
study and worship to learn the complexities of their firing rates and
downtimes. So.
Running real fast. That might also work. Maybe try that.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Like the first few waves of a tidal wave, the Hellionized squirrels descend on the group, many of them falling to the strange, eldritch shield of Neriah's, Ragnell's bullets, Nimue's alien grenades, or the cloaked Ida's lightning fast punches. Then there is Cynwen, coming to greet the mob of tiny hellions with the thrill of any hunter against proper prey, hacking and slashing.
There's just so many, and the tide just keeps coming.
"Hey! Here! There's a door!" Gwen exclaims, managing to spot one through the scattering of Hellions blown away by Nimue's grenade. "Gogogogo!" She darts through a seething pool of scampering squirrel bodies, ramming her body against the heavy door to wedge it open. "Now! Hurry!"
Waiting until everyone gets past the door, Gwen /slams/ it shut with her right shoulder, shuddering and wiping some blood from her forehead as she hears the little skitterskitter-ings of hundreds of tiny claws against the stone door.
"L-let's keep going..."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The figure seems to have sustained a hand injury in the altercation, judging by the way they cradle their striking hand--until suddenly, they shake it out. Blood drips onto the floor, but then it's like everything is back to normal.
More dragons. This place has a motif. And yet, it looks nothing like the depictions of dragons on the Temple of Althena in Meribia--those are protective, warding figures, much like some of the statues back home in Guild Galad. These have a more sinister aspect, and Ida does not like the way they're aimed right at the path the group has to take.
The cloaked figure holds up a gloved hand, motioning for everyone to stop. They reach down, picking up a chunk of rubble and throwing it down the corridor. It lands on a tile about halfway down, which goes 'click'.
The first dragon head, which is a good five feet ahead of them, breathes out a withering gout of flame. "Tch," the figure says. They pull out yet another of those Malevolence-tainted lotus seeds, jam it into a crack by the doorway, and let it work its magic--roots erupt from the wall, obstructing some of the dragon heads and choking off others--eliminating some of the outliers from the pattern. Once the seed has finished growing, the figure carefully makes their way down the corridor, on the lookout for surprises.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stainless Lotus Seeds toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
Cynwen dashes down the corridor inhumanly fast, weaving and ducking and trying her best not to get flamed. She has a hunter's instincts and uses the vegetation's cover to best advantage. "Dragons again," she murmurs once she's past the dragon heads. At least it was proper that they breathed fire. She'd seen Metal Dragons do that...
DG: Cynwen has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - By Fire Be Purged *>======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Long ago, the Tintagel referred to this corridor as the Cleansing Chamber.
Now, it's just a giant hallway with a bunch of stone dragon heads mounted on
the sides of the wall, but the reason such an ostentatious chamber received
such an equally ostentatious name is revealed the exact second someone tries
to walk past one of those mounted stone maws -- and it proceeds to spew a
gout of broiling hot flames.
And then they -all- start to, in irregular, hard-to-discern patterns. It
seems learning those patterns might be the trick to getting through, if
there weren't -so many heads- that it'd take most peope weeks of devout
study and worship to learn the complexities of their firing rates and
downtimes. So.
Running real fast. That might also work. Maybe try that.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
We know what we should do, don't we?
The little voice tugs at the robed figure's thoughts. She shuttles it to the side for now. The squirrels are dangerous, sure, but to unleash more than she has thus far would be... disproportionate. She takes a simple, controlled step back, turning to move after Gwen with surprising calm, her shield raised once more.
Squirrels slough off the shield as the figure slips through the door, last of the lot.
Flames fill the corridor beyond as dragon heads begin to breathe their punishment. Impassive behind that eldritch sphere, the robed stranger watches the way Ida chokes off a few of the outliers - if indeed that is Ida under there, for the one in the robe can't tell. Nor can she seem to hear much, the sphere of power seemingly separating her from the rest of the group.
The stranger watches the dragon heads breathe. She counts out a few things in her head. And then, with a simple ripple of movement, she begins to move.
With her shield up.
Reddish ripples radiate over the exterior of the sphere as the robed figure walks through a gout of flame, the fire catching the edge of the protective field. Once past it, the figure in the robe counts a few things out - and then jumps, shadowy shapes of both herself and the shield rippling behind her as she flips over another gust of fire. She lands in the path of another, but bounds smoothly away before she can be touched.
I could never have done this before, she realizes. Is this what that shaman wanted to lock in chains forever...?
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - By Fire Be Purged *>======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Long ago, the Tintagel referred to this corridor as the Cleansing Chamber.
Now, it's just a giant hallway with a bunch of stone dragon heads mounted on
the sides of the wall, but the reason such an ostentatious chamber received
such an equally ostentatious name is revealed the exact second someone tries
to walk past one of those mounted stone maws -- and it proceeds to spew a
gout of broiling hot flames.
And then they -all- start to, in irregular, hard-to-discern patterns. It
seems learning those patterns might be the trick to getting through, if
there weren't -so many heads- that it'd take most peope weeks of devout
study and worship to learn the complexities of their firing rates and
downtimes. So.
Running real fast. That might also work. Maybe try that.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue is swarmed by squirrels and hates it, even as she sprints through the door. "AWWwaaauaguggghh!!" she cries, smacking some squirrels with her stick before the door slams shut. A few of them get extra smacks even though they are extremely dead of being Hellion squirrels by the time she stops.
Nimue looks out toward those gouts of flame, next, chewing at her upper lip nervously. "If I could actually fly, I could just get over this, no problem..." she reflects. She can't, though, so she has to settle for her least favorite thing of all: carefully assessing the pattern of the fire.
... ha ha, just kidding, Nimue can't do that. She watches for a good 30 or 40 seconds and then just tries to slipstream her way through it, practically skating forward on a current of wind. It's graceful, but it's not as fast or flashy as most Wind Seraph tricks...
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
=============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - By Fire Be Purged *>======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Long ago, the Tintagel referred to this corridor as the Cleansing Chamber.
Now, it's just a giant hallway with a bunch of stone dragon heads mounted on
the sides of the wall, but the reason such an ostentatious chamber received
such an equally ostentatious name is revealed the exact second someone tries
to walk past one of those mounted stone maws -- and it proceeds to spew a
gout of broiling hot flames.
And then they -all- start to, in irregular, hard-to-discern patterns. It
seems learning those patterns might be the trick to getting through, if
there weren't -so many heads- that it'd take most peope weeks of devout
study and worship to learn the complexities of their firing rates and
downtimes. So.
Running real fast. That might also work. Maybe try that.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
More dragons, indeed. But it's becoming clear just how all these dragons, while under the same term, really are different beings, from the fluffy, giant dragon form Ruby assumed in that dream world, to the dark fossils of the Metal Dragons, to...these.
These dragon heads, spewing fire. They're not real dragons, but they're dangerous.
The grey-cloaked figure urges them to stop, and Gwen obliges, stepping back as they take out one of those lotus seeds, once more.
She opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but doesn't. Her lack of an answer to Ragnell's earlier question will hopefully present itself as much of a statement as any.
Just as long as they're on the same side.
Trying to use the shielding the lotus plant provides, she races forward, wary of the flames that lick over her head.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, By Fire Be Purged.
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - By Fire Be Purged *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Long ago, the Tintagel referred to this corridor as the Cleansing Chamber.
Now, it's just a giant hallway with a bunch of stone dragon heads mounted on
the sides of the wall, but the reason such an ostentatious chamber received
such an equally ostentatious name is revealed the exact second someone tries
to walk past one of those mounted stone maws -- and it proceeds to spew a
gout of broiling hot flames.
And then they -all- start to, in irregular, hard-to-discern patterns. It
seems learning those patterns might be the trick to getting through, if
there weren't -so many heads- that it'd take most peope weeks of devout
study and worship to learn the complexities of their firing rates and
downtimes. So.
Running real fast. That might also work. Maybe try that.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
=========================<* Tintagel Ruins - Round 6 *>========================= ========================< Results - By Fire Be Purged >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 47 --(5)--> 52 Pass Stainless Lotus Seeds 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 57 --(5)--> 62 Pass Chocolate Rusk 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynwen 62 --(10)--> 72 Fail Blackest Coffee 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 52 --(5)--> 57 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 62 --(10)--> 72 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 67 --(10)--> 77 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Suffer(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has successfully explored Tintagel Ruins!
==============================<* Tintagel Ruins *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Dragon Gospel *>=========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You find yourself in what looks like a library. There are countless books,
and aging papers, scattered throughout this place, many falling apart at the
seams, many more caked in layers of dust. Many seem to go into theories on
the nature of dragons that all seem too eaten away by time to make sense of.
But there are some, here, still intact. Pages largely untouched by time,
looking almost like historical accounts, written in a language similar to
modern-day tongue but just slightly too old, too different, to be translated
here and now. Perhaps a linguist or historian in Pendrago or Lastonbell can
help--?
You should send in a +request about this discovery!
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It's okay if cannons aren't canon. Surely they're used in some form somewhere.
There is a chamber full of dragonheads spitting fire. More chocolate rusks are passed (thrown?) around. Eventually the group makes it through, to find itself in an ancient, dusty library.
Ragnell is just grateful that she doesn't, technically, need to breathe.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The plant might be strengthened with Malevolence, but it is far from fireproof. The cloaked figure makes it to the far end unhurt, a few seconds after Ragnell does, and turns around as Neriah rushes up, shield flickering around her. The cloaked figure makes a forceful 'come here!' gesture, mainly because they see the plant catching fire as the dragon heads' flame overpowers it. Within moments, the hallway is full of flaming foliage, forcing Gwen and Cynwen to make a mad dash for it--they, too, make it to the far end, but not without burns. Nimue has the singularly unpleasant experience of having her slipstream turn into a fire slipstream, but she survives the harrowing experience!
The figure pulls another blossom off as the plant crumbles to Malevolent ash, crunches the blossom to dust, and puts the seeds into a pocket. A moment passes. They tuck into another pocket, pull out three Apple Gels, and toss one each to Cynwen, Nimue, and Gwen. Then...
They start to look around. They seem to immediately realize the value of what they have just stumbled across, and their body language becomes almost... excited. Still wary, but excited. (The contradiction does absolutely nothing good for the Malevolence.) Dragons, Ida thinks. Actual Lunarian Dragons. The ones chosen by Althena, or...
She frowns in the safety of the shadows of her hood.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The eldritch sphere seems to totally separate the robed figure within it from the rest of the world. Flames don't penetrate it even as the stranger moves. In fact, not even sound penetrates it. She can hear nothing more than her own breathing and the ripple of her own clothing as she darts through the flames with startling grace and ease.
Before long, she reaches the end - and that shield pulses, and fades away, the subtle, oppressive air of magic around her fading away until she is once again merely a figure in a robe with a hood so deep that her face is cast in long shadows, out of sight.
The figure watches Ida for a moment longer. She tilts her head a little to one side.
The library beyond is incredible - aging, ancient and deeply profound, from a world beyond the understanding of the one behind the hood. Slowly, the robed entity move along the rows of bookcases, moving with a quiet, curious purpose. From the shadows, someone peruses the shelves with far less understanding than she actually conveys.
"Well now," the stranger says. Her voice is low, throaty and distinctly female.
She reaches up, and takes one of the more intact books.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
No apple gel for Ragnell, never mind that she doesn't really need it so much? /Rude/. She bets Cloaked Figure found it in a toilet anyway.
But hey, they're in a library, and as much as Ragnell might be a big smarmy jerk, she actually /does/ appreciate and value a good book. She chuckles at Neriah's spoken/unspoken comment, notes Ida's (Mystery Cloak #1's) body language, and picks up some of the more intact documents as well.
"Hmmm," she murmurs, red eyes flicking over the text. A moment later, they widen, and she gasps, husky voice strangled. "This is...!!"
<Pose Tracker> Cynwen has posed.
"Thank you," Cynwen murmurs to the mysterious hooded figure as she catches (and uses) the Apple Gel. Burns weren't really much of a threat to her but they still hurt. The gel also nicely heals up the squirrel bites. Feeling much better, Cynwen moves to examine the books. She collects as many as she can carry, some to sell and some -- written in the common tongue -- to peruse. She can carry surprisingly many for a woman her size. Guess you have to be extra fit to swing a broadsword around...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
A very singed Nimue is bumming around and being a general useless waste of space for a while after crossing the flame. Normally, when things like books or puzzles get encountered, Nimue struggles to pretend to care --
-- but one strangled noise from Ragnell and she's suddenly off like a shot, performing a very near approximation of the Wind Seraph Teleport. She says nothing -- but she's just... there. Hovering.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It's close, but thankfully, Gwen makes it, ducking into the next area, her poncho suffering the folly of her bid to try to outrun fire and burning. "D-damn, I guess I'm gonna have to find somethin' else," Gwen groans, wincing as the pain of her burn bleeds through the rush of waning adrenaline. At least she wasn't frozen in fear.
Maybe she's getting a little better with this little... 'fear' she has of fire. Maybe. Or maybe she's just too overwhelmed to even be afraid. Maybe that's how it works?
A hand goes to her chest, feeling the area over her heart underneath her poncho. The apple gel thrown in her direction hits her suddenly raised hand, a thankful glance and grin shot the cloaked Ida's way.
Sneezing from the dust in the air, the redhead straightens and looks around, blinking. "Man, these'd be perfect for-" Her excitement drops away as it approaches the giant elephant that's been traveling with her ever since she realized where she was.
She can't contact Auntie Frea, much less even send her things. How is she doing, right now...? Is she okay?
...
Picking up a few tombs that look interesting, Gwen tucks the tombs under one arm and looks around.
Gwen'll just have to make the most of it. She gives a thumbs up to Ragnell. "Great find as always, Ragnell!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell looks up at Nimue, suddenly hovering at her side. She gives her a wry half-smile. "Suddenly curious now, are ya...? Hmph." She chuckles at Gwen, but there's a bit of tension to it. "I know, I'm just a genius like that, huh? Anyway, I got th' gist of what's goin' on here," she waves the manuscript, then tucks it under one arm, "but this is a dialect I'm not too familiar with. We'll have t' bring some o' these to Lastonbell, get 'em translated proper-like." She eyes Cynwen, gathering texts like they're going out of style. "Before someone else takes 'em all, at that."
The hooded figures, for now, she'll leave be.