2018-03-30: Making the Most of It
- Log: Making the Most of It
- Cast: Loren Voss, Layna Manydays, Lan Lilac
- Where: Azado
- Date: March 30th 2018
- Summary: Interested in what Althena's Guard is involved in, Loren obtains the assistance of a pair of Drifters. Thrills, chills, and a damn fine sandwich ensue.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Azado Quarry. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================<* Azado Quarry *>=============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Shift Change *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your arrival is perfectly timed with a change in Althena's Guard shifts. At an assignment like this, discipline during shift changes is a little lax, too; both the arriving and retreating sets of guards are moving all at once, leaving key entrances and exits unchecked. If there's a time to slip into the quarry proper, it's now. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The orders had been plain. They were to set out, identify resources and threats, collect materials where possible -- in order to see the Tzadkiel repaired -- and collect information.
Particularly on the Church of Althena, native to these lands.
A little asking around had ultimately pointed him in the direction of the quarry -- allegedly the site being excavated for stone for a new temple complex for the goddess, he'd been able to dredge up a few stray rumors.
Things like worker riots at the site.
Hauntings.
Unexpected archaeological findings.
And as always, the heavy presence of the Guard's soldiers.
It would be risky going on his own.
Technically speaking, though, he's not on his own. For one, there's that Baskar girl -- the one he made a deal with. Then there's that pirate woman he crossed paths with a few times on Lunar. Between them, he supposes he has a useful enough hand for this -- familiarity coupled with a certain speed.
The only downside is that he'll have to watch his persona and his demonstrated abilities.
At any rate -- the approach to the quarry proceeds without incident. From their current vantage point, they have a good eye on the entrance closest to them.
All he had said to them -- at most -- was that he'd heard there was something strange going on in the quarry at the church's hands and wanted to take a look. Reconnaissance, of a stripe.
He fidgets with his glasses, watching on for a moment as the guards move away and towards that close by entrance, then gestures to his companions (...of a sort). "Shift change," he says by way of explanation, taking a hop down the slope of the quarry and doing his best not to lose his footing. "Come on. We won't have long."
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Shift Change.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna Manydays was no friend of Althena's Guard, that's for sure. Where they frequented, trouble was definitely afoot, that was something she was certain of. When someone asked her assistance investigating them...well, how could she say no?
From their vantage point, Layna keeps an eye on the Guardsmen, her telescope drawn. Watching them carefully, trying to identify any possible weakness.
Loren's the one to catch it first, and Layna sends him a nod.
"Aye." She collapses the telescope and returns it to her waist then begins to move in, as swiftly and silently as possible. She's not very good at the latter, so hopefully for them her skill in the former proves to be enough.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Shift Change.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
'A deal', indeed. For Lan it's simple expediency - she wants to learn more about this place in order to survive (and hopefully go back home eventually, even though the moon is very nice so far). It's also, somewhat, a matter of personal interest. Whoever 'Althena' is, her worshippers are a little... intense.
And rigid, and singleminded, and honestly a little intolerant if she's going to be honest about it. Just from what she's seen, Lan could be in big trouble if anyone from the church found her out.
Her clothes are a little more covering than usual, the cooler weather of the moon not lending itself well to Lan's usual attire. This means 'a gauzy poncho-looking thing over her normal shorts and blouse'. Lan is a simple creature.
"Good luck to us," she hums, noting Thomas's focus. She looks down, notes the placement of sturdy-looking stones, and starts down the steep hill, hopping from boulder to ledge to 'hopefully well-anchored branch' with practiced confidence.
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Shift Change.
===============================<* Azado Quarry *>=============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Shift Change *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your arrival is perfectly timed with a change in Althena's Guard shifts. At an assignment like this, discipline during shift changes is a little lax, too; both the arriving and retreating sets of guards are moving all at once, leaving key entrances and exits unchecked. If there's a time to slip into the quarry proper, it's now. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
==========================<* Azado Quarry - Round 1 *>========================== ===========================< Results - Shift Change >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The way is clear, as Layna can see. Whether this is an honest blindspot for the Guard or not, there are no groups lying in wait outside, no watchmen up on high looking for exactly the stunt they're attempting now.
They have that rarest of things: the perfect opportunity.
It's but a few seconds. Get down the slope and through the door before the incoming shift spots them and all hell breaks loose.
In that timeframe, the following happens as the three descend the slope.
Layna descends with all speed, her footfalls barely crunching against the rock as she makes her way down and through the door.
Like a butterfly, Lan practically floats unnoticed across the rocky makeshift path down.
Loren...
well, steps on the wrong rock and what had been at first a decently paced descent turns into a swift outright plummet.
He at least doesn't make much sound but a faint 'wouf' as he's unceremoniously caught at the end. Pride bruised once more -- but with the lot of them still unseen -- he says absolutely nothing once on his feet and breaks for the quarry entrance.
That was... incredibly embarrassing. At least one of his tactics instructors back in Jugend is probably burying their face in their hands at this moment without knowing entirely why.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
=================================<* Azado Quarry *>================================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Hey, Free Lunch! *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ An abandoned table has the remnants of a lunch that looks unlikely to be returned to any time soon. Now's as good a time as any to take a breather, eat something, and get a sense of the lay of the quarry as a whole. ... Better keep an eye out for the Guard, though -- though they're not here now, this table sits near the vein of a central patrol route. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan grew up playing on the rocky hills and mesas that surrounded Little Firelight. This is just a different kind of rock!
Thomas, however, doesn't seem to be as at ease in the great outdoors as she or Layna - he hits something wrong, and all Lan gets the chance to see is the poor guy stumbling, then falling--
She doesn't even go for her ribbon, just exchanges a glance with the other girl before adjusting her course. Hop, skip, jump, grab!
And then he doesn't even say thank you. White people, Lan thinks.
They hurry away from the site of Thomas's near-disaster. There are plenty of shadows to hide in, and some of those shadows are cast by the most interesting things...
"Hey," she whispers to the other two. "Check it out, we can hide behind here and get a better look at everything before we decide where to go next!" Wow, lucky~!
She doesn't even bother telling anybody not to take food, because who would do that?!
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hey, Free Lunch!.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Lan, unfortunately, has got it in one -- he's simply not as at home in the outdoors even with a year's worth expeditionary experience under his belt. Some things take more time to account for than a single year can make up for, and a childhood playing (and studying) among the sterile halls of Etrenank has its pitfalls.
Nevertheless: they're not caught. They slip into the tunnels, with nary a thanks or a glance Lan's way to be had.
No one's here.
"Hmm." 'Thomas' approaches the table, eyeing the apparently abandoned lunch thoughtfully. "They didn't finish eating. That seems strange. Wouldn't a shift change be timed to allow them to finish eating?"
This he wonders aloud, surreptitiously -- slight of hand is a useful talent to have -- downing the contents of a single small plastic vial before picking up a sandwich, giving it a cursory sniff, and taking a bite.
It's usually better to take this stuff with food, and he's forgotten lunch somehow anyway.
Following Lan's lead -- with purloined sandwich in hand, he then ducks into the shadows, watching for signs of life.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Modafisol toward his party's challenge, Hey, Free Lunch!.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
It pays to be a pirate, in more ways than one. Layna's comfortable on her feet, moving about on difficult terrain. She notices that the fellow who had asked for her help on this matter about to fall, but the other girl is already on her way before Layna has to do anything.
Layna sends her a nod, then continues on through the gates themselves. It looked like there were people here just recently, with an abandoned meal laid out on a table. Layna looks it over.
"Well, well...ain't this a stroke o' good fortune?" Layna comments with a grin, then shrugs toward Thomas. "Maybe these folks took their sweet time with it. The Guard can be a lazy bunch when there's no one around for them to harass."
There's unlikely to be any booze, which is unfortunate...but there's still plenty of perfectly edible food here.
Sure, it was someone else's food, but the Guard had taken people's property before, themselves. This was a victory for the people, really.
Layna makes sure to confiscate some of it. She's enjoying this...perhaps maybe a little too much. Someone should probably stop her before she got too carried away, though.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hey, Free Lunch!.
=================================<* Azado Quarry *>================================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Hey, Free Lunch! *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ An abandoned table has the remnants of a lunch that looks unlikely to be returned to any time soon. Now's as good a time as any to take a breather, eat something, and get a sense of the lay of the quarry as a whole. ... Better keep an eye out for the Guard, though -- though they're not here now, this table sits near the vein of a central patrol route. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
============================<* Azado Quarry - Round 2 *>============================= ===========================< Results - Hey, Free Lunch! >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Modafisol 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: ==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Nobody comes to retrieve their lunch, interrupted or not. Lan looks mildly put out by the fact that people are stealing food - they're not in such dire straits that this is called for, are they?? - but doesn't raise too much of a fuss other than a mildly reproachful look for Layna and Thomas. ...Still, maybe they're hungry. She should've asked before they left if they'd eaten.
Loren's sandwich is delicious and really helps the medicine go down.
Layna's sandwich has a particularly gross condiment that is neither mayonnaise nor relish, yet somehow combines all the worst characteristics of both. Be strong!!
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Azado Quarry *>============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Dieclops *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- From a side cave emerges what appears to be a cyclops at first, some seven feet tall, with a single blinking eye. On some blinks, however, a more unnerving truth is revealed: that blinking outgrowth is both eye *and* mouth, with some blinks revealing the sensory organ and some revealing the biting teeth. Its gaze is paralytic, but its teeth are sharp -- which one is worse is hopefully a question no one has to answer. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Tire==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
It's...not a particularly tasty sandwich. And yet, Layna powers through it. This was what her revenge had wrought, she might as well stick with it.
...At least until, not long after they leave the table, something emerges from one of the sidecaves, at which point one might get a good idea as to why the table had been abandoned. A creature, seven foot tall with a large, unblinking eye stares at them.
Layna stares back...and then, thinking quickly, hurls the rest of the sandwich at that eye...which promptly opens up to reveal a mouth with massive, terrifying teeth which consumes the sandwich whole...before advancing toward the party aggressively.
Layna freezes for a second.
"...Uh. I'm just gonna punch this thing until it stops." She concludes, and then rushes forward to do just that.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dieclops.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
There is a very big, very no-sense-making creature in front of them. Suddenly the empty table makes all the sense in the world.
Lan has the decency to point at it without shouting 'AAAAAAAAAH, MONSTER!'. She whispers it instead. "aaaaaaaaaaaa, monster!"
Somehow, feeding it the terrible sandwich makes Lan feel sorry for the thing. Layna charges in and Lan looks over her shoulder at the presumably defenseless nerd they brought with them. "Here goes nothing! Thomas, stay back where it's safe."
Just avoid the teeth while aiming for the eye -- uh, maybe Lan's going to need a better strategy...
She leaps over the monster, lands in a spin, and drives her heel as hard as she can into the back of one of its knees.
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dieclops.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Maybe," Loren allows, punctuating Layna's assessment with a short shallow shrug. "I still think it's suspicious."
Because he's a soldier, and there's no way he would leave a meal behind unless something absolutely dire had just happened. Granted, his situation may be a little unique. Ether requires fuel, of a sort.
'Thomas' receives a reproachful stare. He doesn't stop chewing, maintaining eye contact with Lan the entire time, as if to silently ask 'and what are you going to do about it'.
This might skirt the lines of their agreement, a little bit.
...It's actually a pretty good sandwich, he notes to himself in passing.
Perhaps for once things might be looking up?
Following after the women, he keeps close to the wall, casting a glance back behind himself before taking one step forward--
He stops for a second. Just a second.
Well. That's certainly a reason why they might have abandoned their lunch in a hurry, runs the thought.
Lan might drop to a whisper -- it's thoughtful, really -- and take a stance in front of the poor defenseless (??) nerd (??? -- wait, no) behind her, and honestly, 'Thomas' doesn't precisely protest this.
He instead instinctively consumes the last of his sandwich at a perhaps alarming pace. He's alert now, aware of the trailing edges of the dosage he's just taken. It's almost calming -- as if he could reach for anything right now and seize it.
And reach he does, shedding his ego and sinking his will into the rock below their feet. The creature might just find that, as Loren shifts stone below, it's become a little more difficult for it to find its footing.
Anyone hitting it may find it a more pliable target.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dieclops.
==============================<* Azado Quarry *>============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Dieclops *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- From a side cave emerges what appears to be a cyclops at first, some seven feet tall, with a single blinking eye. On some blinks, however, a more unnerving truth is revealed: that blinking outgrowth is both eye *and* mouth, with some blinks revealing the sensory organ and some revealing the biting teeth. Its gaze is paralytic, but its teeth are sharp -- which one is worse is hopefully a question no one has to answer. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Tire==============================================
=========================<* Azado Quarry - Round 3 *>========================= ============================< Results - Dieclops >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 20 --(23)--> 43 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 15 --(23)--> 38 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lan Lilac 10 --(23)--> 33 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Tire(2)|Wound(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
In theory, it was a solid plan. But this creature is feared for a reason - a creature with an eye that big has to be capable of defending itself effectively. Lan leaps over it to try to bring it to its knees with a heel kick to the back of one of its legs, but it retaliates with a strike of its own, attempting to knock her into a wall.
Layna tries to capitalize this, going in for one of the promised punches...but it turns its gaze on her and she finds herself frozen in place. A look from this creature could paralyze those who weren't expecting it...and with Layna frozen, it grabs her arm and hurls her violently at Loren, aiming to knock him to the ground.
However, in the act of doing so, it finds itself losing its footing thanks to Loren's machinations and collapses forward onto its face.
It'll probably be angry once it's gotten back up... Now might be a good time to run.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Azado Quarry *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Sheer Quarry Wall *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- From your current position, it's a little tricky to actually get any deeper into the quarry. Work to one side, a patrolling Guard unit to the other... looks like the only way down is an awkward slide, climb, or jump down the quarry wall. There's enough of a slope to it that a slide is possible, but risky compared to the other options... decide quickly, though! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It... doesn't go well. Perhaps he should have realized it was only a fleeting turn of good fortune. Layna is picked up and hurled right at him; he of course is sent scattered himself to the floor of the chamber.
But all is not entirely in vain.
The dieclops does fall on its face, but it's far from felled.
Picking himself up off the ground, Loren takes one look at the struggling thing and -- the drug still coursing through his veins -- soon sights and points towards an alternative passageway. "That way. Move! No time to put it down, we'll have the entire platoon on us!"
After all that noise, he's positive of it.
They get perhaps all of about twenty, thirty feet before the side passage cuts out entirely, dropping into a steep slope here. A sheer drop there. This is probably not the way that the laborers use to get deeper into the quarry.
Nevertheless, as shouts ring out from behind -- they've sighted the monster after all it seems, not them -- there's no time to make for a better route.
Unslinging the pack from over his shoulder, Loren unwinds from within it a length of rope, and from there loops it around an outcropping of rock. He snaps the carabiner hooked onto one end around it, making a sort of knot, then, poised to take a leap over the side turns and extends a hand.
"Come on!"
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Rapid Evac Kit toward his party's challenge, Sheer Quarry Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Sorry, lad." Layna grunts, then hauls herself to her feet. It was pretty quick, all things considered. She braces herself to continue to fight...but the dieclops's state doesn't go unnoticed. She starts to move to take advantage of the situation, but Loren reminds her of another possibility.
She frowns...but nods, and begins to follow him, though not before looking back toward Lan.
"You alright there, lass? Come on, let's get going." She says.
She spots the sheer drop as they're approaching it, but she doesn't slow down. In fact, doesn't she seem to be...accelerating? This may be more than mildly alarming to some, but Layna has in fact, broken into a run. She begins to subtly murmur and incantation under her breath, and when she reaches the ledge she jumps.
The wind picks up, swirling around her to control her descent and to cushion her fall. The latter will be important, especially if she goes down a bit more quickly than she would like.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sheer Quarry Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
At least they tried?
Lan manages to throw herself backwards in time to miss most of the force of the blow, but she's still thrown several yards, landing in a roll. "Oof!" Thomas yells to abandon the fight and Lan... actually totally doesn't blame him. She hoofs it after the others.
"I'm fine!" she replies, running full tilt after the nerd and the pirate. (What does Thomas do for a living anyway? She's forgotten.) "Hey, isn't that a--" Cliff? But Layna sure seems to know what she's doing, and Lan feels something -- the wind whispers joyfully in her ears before rushing past to help Layna fall gently. She can't help but laugh a little, quietly.
Thomas is already snapping the carabiner into place when Lan catches up to him. While he's busy with that, Lan is... letting her hair down. Loosed from its ribbon, the Baskar girl's blonde hair hangs down to her butt, long and silky. The ribbon she's wrapped around her wrist, and it's with that hand that she reaches for Thomas's. "C'mon yourself!" she laughs, and jumps...!
They don't fall like they should. It's like floating, weightless and safe, all the way down. The ribbon glows with a faint, shimmery light...
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Sheer Quarry Wall.
===============================<* Azado Quarry *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Sheer Quarry Wall *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- From your current position, it's a little tricky to actually get any deeper into the quarry. Work to one side, a patrolling Guard unit to the other... looks like the only way down is an awkward slide, climb, or jump down the quarry wall. There's enough of a slope to it that a slide is possible, but risky compared to the other options... decide quickly, though! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
==========================<* Azado Quarry - Round 4 *>========================== ========================< Results - Sheer Quarry Wall >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 43 --(8)--> 51 Pass Rapid Evac Kit 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 38 --(8)--> 46 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 33 --(8)--> 41 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Tire(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
(Allegedly, he's a former medical student, but who really knows.)
It's still a long drop here. Hopefully the kit will hold -- he had some basic training in its use, and...
Ah, it's probably the medication catching up with him, he thinks distantly.
No one takes his hand. He stares after Layna as she hardly slows down, as she leaps--
As her magic easily catches her, allowing her a gentle descent downwards.
"What are you even--"
Or rather, no one takes his hand for him to lead the way. Lan grabs ahold to tug him along, and together they plummet.
As he does, falling steadily before the rope takes up the slack. Before he -- ground rushing up to greet him against that enchantment of hers -- squeezes the emergency brake in his hand and takes a step onto solid ground.
A simple pulse of ether as he yanks at the rope afterwards sees it freed.
Then, turning an incredulous look between the both of them, unscathed, he shakes his head. "You're both crazy," he utters, before -- kit loosely bundled and in hand -- he races for the tunnels ahead.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
=================================<* Azado Quarry *>================================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Backtrack! *>============================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ Looks like this whole route is a bit of a dead end, with only a large, perfectly vertical drop ahead of you that's a little too far for comfort. Time to climb back up a little ways, slip around another set of guards, and find a new path. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Hesitate=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Crazy like a fox!" Lan sings, running ahead past a fork in the trail with her hair streaming behind her like a horse's tail. Ah, she loves just running, especially in the cooler air of the moon - it's way less sweaty and exhausting than back on Filgaia! She feels like she could, could just run forever--
Except that there's another cliff, and this one looks like it leads right into a bunch of sharper, pointier rocks. No thanks!! "Hey Layna, you thinking what I'm thinking?" she ponders, tapping her chin as she looks up at the higher path. If they want to take it, they'd have to wait for a party of workers to finish going the other way and hope they don't decide to come this way for some reason... But they don't need to take the long way, do they?
"C'mon, this way!" She takes Thomas's hand in her own again but she doesn't jump. Lan takes off running again, faster and faster, footsteps light...
And runs at an angle up the freaking wall, dragging the hapless guy behind her. She apparently just assumed he couldn't follow her on his own?!
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Backtrack!.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Wind billows out from Layna as she lands, catching her own hair in a dramatic fashion. It probably shouldn't have, but it's more than likely that she caused this on purpose.
Why have wind magic if you weren't going to abuse it for dramatics?
She just sends Loren a grin when he accuses them of craziness, and sends Lan an approving nod. Of course, now that they're here, it's time to move on...but the next drop is one that's much less likely to end well. That's unfortunate, but Lan has an alternative solution.
"Aye, lass, I'm thinkin' I am." She replies with a grin toward her. Layna recites another incantation. The wind begins to whirl around her once more...but this time, she appears to be emitting a subtle green glow.
She takes off toward the same wall that Lan was heading towards and begins practically flying up it, with the way she leaps from foothold to foothold.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Backtrack!.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He has enough time to vent a sour 'ugh' at the both of them -- Layna's grin, Lan's exuberance -- before shaking his head and racing after her, coattails aloft in those brief moments.
Sometimes, you have no other choice but to run. Whether it's away from or towards someone or something, though...
Only to pull up short as the path ahead of them once again vanishes. This turn is far more the treacherous -- nothing below remains.
"...We'll need to backtrack," he states in the end, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Loren has a second's worth of foreboding.
Before Lan reaches out and grabs his hand, hauling him towards her in a quite honest startled stumble, booted feet briefly unable to find any balance at all.
Likely because Lan has just decided that gravity is for suckers with Layna not far behind him.
"Why--"
This is not the throw he would have rather made with the line in his hand. But it'll have to do, the weighted end with the carabiner still looped in upon itself snapping around an outcropping of stone as they accelerate in their rise. At least should gravity reassert itself, here's a safety net of a sort--
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Rapid Evac Kit toward his party's challenge, Backtrack!.
=================================<* Azado Quarry *>================================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Backtrack! *>============================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ Looks like this whole route is a bit of a dead end, with only a large, perfectly vertical drop ahead of you that's a little too far for comfort. Time to climb back up a little ways, slip around another set of guards, and find a new path. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Hesitate=======================================
============================<* Azado Quarry - Round 5 *>============================= ==============================< Results - Backtrack! >=============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 51 --(5)--> 56 Pass Rapid Evac Kit 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 46 --(5)--> 51 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 41 --(5)--> 46 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken --------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 70 --(15)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Hesitate(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Hey, if you can't have some dramatic flourishes in your life why would it be worth getting out of bed in the morning?
Between the three of them, their amazing skills, and maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic, they get to the other path in record time. "Whew!" Lan breathes, letting go of poor Thomas's hand. "Wow, I love a good shortcut. But, uh..." she turns to watch the workers join the main path, now behind them. "Where do we go from here?"
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Azado Quarry *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Blocked Tunnel *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A side tunnel at the very bottom of the quarry has been excavated and subsequently blocked off. Something glints in the distance inside it, a hint that could be treasure or refuse -- but it's hard to know what without prying off, blowing away, or otherwise getting rid of the barricades. By this point, the Guard is very much aware of your presence, too, so speed is as important as care -- you don't want to bury the path with speed, but you can't afford to waste time, either! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Where, indeed. The Guard has undoubtedly caught onto them by this point, so they need to be quick if they expect to learn anything of importance. Layna starts to take the lead, deciding to let her instincts guide her.
Eventually, those instincts lead them to a portion of the quarry that's been blocked off. Barricades have been intentionally set up. There's obviously something beyond here...but what? An even better question...could they get to it before the Guard closes in?
"Come on, if you've got any muscle, it's time to put it to work!" Layna says, drawing out her drill. The thing whirs to life dangerously and she thrusts it forward, trying to pierce into through as much rubble as she can, as quickly as possible.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Arm-Mounted Drill toward her party's challenge, Blocked Tunnel.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
...It's a safety net that he fortunately ends up not needing, alighting on the edge of the pathway here alongside Lan and Layna. They might had have collectively a fun moment there.
It's not one he shares, taking a quick glance over the edge as he hauls the rope back up, stuffing it haphazardly into his bag and shouldering it again. He seems faintly... aghast, if anything. If that had at any point failed--!
He might not vocalize it this time, but the look in his eyes says it all:
'Why.'
But it's the distant sound of running feet that puts to rest any other protests he might be able to bring forth. Someone's coming in the distance, and he somehow doubts they're feeling particularly friendly. "We should--"
Layna already is.
It's just unfortunate that the way leads to yet another dead end. Or, no... this wasn't always such a dead end.
'Thomas' glances back over his shoulder, as if to take in the advance of any approaching Guardsmen. Not here yet. Which leaves them with the rocks in their path.
With haste, he approaches the wall, looking for all the world as if he was merely attempting to shove some of the pieces loose.
He instead reaches out, ferreting his focus through the rock in a search for weak spots. Something he could jar loose. A crack he can widen.
Van Houten would have already had this wall blown open, murmurs the back of his mind. He grimaces. His focus, briefly, wavers.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Blocked Tunnel.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
They find a dead end. "Another one...?" Lan looks over her shoulder, where she can see in the middle distance the flickering lights of what can only be the approaching Guard. "Damn, it's those creepy church guys again!" Lan kind of just lumps all Althena people together until told otherwise.
Are they not going to find anything here after all? She looks around, but it's Layna that discovers a possible silver lining to this adventure. "Huh-- Okay!"
They can't have long until the Guard gets here and they either have to fight their way out, attempt another clever escape, or ... get arrested maybe? Lan tucks her lower lip between her teeth, closes her eyes, and listens.
"..."
Opening her eyes, the blonde takes two steps forward, eyes what she's fairly sure is a weak point in the wall, and thrusts the heel of her palm forward in a single powerful blow.
please don't cave in on her wrist like that one time her cousin garvey got his leg stuck in a wall
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blocked Tunnel.
==============================<* Azado Quarry *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Blocked Tunnel *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A side tunnel at the very bottom of the quarry has been excavated and subsequently blocked off. Something glints in the distance inside it, a hint that could be treasure or refuse -- but it's hard to know what without prying off, blowing away, or otherwise getting rid of the barricades. By this point, the Guard is very much aware of your presence, too, so speed is as important as care -- you don't want to bury the path with speed, but you can't afford to waste time, either! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=========================<* Azado Quarry - Round 6 *>========================= =========================< Results - Blocked Tunnel >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 56 --(100)--> 156 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 51 --(100)--> 151 Pass Arm-Mounted Drill 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lan Lilac 46 --(100)--> 146 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 85 --(5)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Hesitate(1)|Overzealous(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Layna Manydays is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lan Lilac is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Azado Quarry! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==============================<* Azado Quarry *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Detonation Station *>===================== |Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are apparently plans to excavate even deeper -- and while your investigation mission ends in failure here and now, those plans at least pay off in a minor way. On your way out, you manage to snag some heavy magical explosives. At first, they look like nothing much -- big ceramic pots with a paper seal on the side. Ripping off the seal, however, reveals their true nature, when they promptly explode. If no one's familiar with Lunar's magic, someone might blow themselves up a little bit before figuring out how they work -- but hey! It's still free gear. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The three of them try their best to force a way through, but the barricade proves far too thick. Loren attempts to etherically shove some of the wall loose, but his focus wavers, and debris returns to fill up the weakened section before he can return to it.
Lan delivers a powerful palm strike to the wall...but she has only a second to retract her hand before she sees something all-too-familiar occur.
Layna gets a decent way through...but the encroaching footsteps get louder and louder, and it's clear that attempting to get any further in their digging is just going to end up getting them caught.
"...Right, new plan - we bring this place down and come back later. Leastways, that'll prevent them from being able to get to it." Layna says. She doesn't really give them much of a choice in the matter. She turns and moves away, and as soon as they're clear, she takes a swipe at a supporting beam with her drill and begins to run.
Along the way, however, she notices something interesting.
"...Damn, wish we woulda ran into these earlier, aye?" Layna says, pausing and picking up what appears to be a big ceramic pot from a pile of others. "This would've brought the whole barricade down no problem!"
She pats the side of the pot affectionately. The astute will notice that she's very careful to avoid touching the seal, but she doesn't seem to about to explain why, even as she picks up another.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's not enough. This isn't the way his talents lean.
It's not enough. He keeps thinking of what she's capable of.
Whatever fragmented force he pours into the rock, it just doesn't budge enough to make any difference whatsoever.
Perhaps if they had more time. Perhaps it'd be possible to take the barricade down that way. But it's just not available to them.
...And the last thing he needs is to get caught by the Guard nosing around in here.
Layna suggests an alternative to merely running.
He lifts an eyebrow.
Resourceful. Dangerous, but useful, he thinks, refocusing his efforts towards one of the beams... or more accurately, the rock holding up that beam.
They'll need to move fast once the work's done, lest they bring it down around their ears.
It's on the way out that Layna spots something interesting.
Some pots. Sealed pots. He crouches alongside one, eyeing the mark. "Why? What are these?"
...Some explosive, he realizes, belatedly. He has a careful eye, this one, and it's watching her carefully as she picks up another.
"Careful," he warns Lan, perhaps already expecting the worst on this.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Thankfully, part of punching is yanking your arm back really quick. Lan's hand reains unsmooshed, which is really good because she hasn't seen that simple country doctor since that one time. Too bad, he was really good!
...Bury the shiny thing deeper so they can come back for it another time? "Oh, that's a great idea!" Lan helps by getting the hell out of the way of Layna's drill. That thing's dangerous!
Halfway out of the mine, she's already psyching herself up to potentially talk her way out of getting arrested when Layna finds something else interesting. But what are they? Just jars? "...These look like the pots that jam comes in," she muses, tugging gently at the lid of one. ...Somehow, she doesn't blow them all up.
Yet.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna grins toward Loren. She can tell that he must realize exactly what's in it from the way he suddenly asks Lan to be careful.
"Aye, these'll definitely 'jam' things up good." She says. She sets down the first pot she picked up, then points to the seal on the front.
"What you do is, you grab this little paper here on the front," She demonstrates by practically yanking the seal right off. "Then toss it in the direction of whatever you want gone..."
She gives it a strong, underhanded toss in the direction they came.
"...And then you get the hell out!"
With that, she picks up the first pot and books it.