2018-04-04: A Mission Diverted
- Log: A Mission Diverted
- Cast: Hiro, Riesenlied, Seraph Ragnell, Jean, Noeline, Fei Fong Wong, Lemina Ausa, Fei Fong Wong, Lemina Ausa, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Zulan Village
- Date: 4/4/2018
- Summary: When Lucia's party lands in Zulan Village due to side quest shenanigans, Lucia's devotion to her mission is forced ahead of her growing feelings for those she's come to know. Separated temporarily, Hiro and his friends go to the mountain to rescue the Mayor's daughter and son-in-law. When things get dangerous, it's Lucia that comes to the rescue, coming to terms with the strange new emotions forming in her heart.
==============================<* Zulan Village *>=============================== The largest settlement in Meribus's northern regions, Zulan Village serves little purpose other than as a place for the trappers, hunters, and other individuals populating the Massif to exchange their works for goods from the south. Located at the foot of the mountain of the same name, Zulan's chief features are more snow than anyone should see in a single life. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54PlUl6avjw
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro, Jean, Lemina and Lucia have gotten themselves involved in something that JRPG fans would know as sidequest hell - an endless quest chain with shifting objectives.
Some of you may have joined early on. Others later. Others had no part of this nonsense and just happened upon the group on their way back. But it all started with a guy who knows a guy who can maybe smuggle them out of Azado to Pentagulia. But first they must...
*Retrieve a book all the way back from Grandpa Gwyn. Which then had to be given to-
*A lovestruck young researcher in East Nota. Naturally he cannot full on his end of the bargain unless a-
*Woman in West Nota receives the token of his esteem. Needless to say the group had no idea that she was-
*Engaged in a political marriage that will unite East Nota and West Nota. And cannot accept it leaving the heartbroken young man-
*Only reluctantly fulfilling his part of the bargain, who offers them an alchemical research formula-
*Collecting the ingredients one by one. Naturally this happens in a ten part sidequest that takes them to Jean's caravan then all the way back to Vane.
*Thinking they have it all - they're about to finish it when it's revealed - there's one left missing.
*Which is allllll the way back at the Mystic Ruins - and in the end they get it.
*Only on the way back through to Vane through a Zulan Mountain pass-
A CUTSCENE.
It starts with the blizzard becoming intolerably fierce and blustery - on the edge of the town limits they're approached by a shadow that turns out to be a guard.
She ushers them inside the Mayor's home. Well on the bright side it's warmer. It's also desolate of feeling right now. The atmosphere is just grim. Everyone seems to be casting the group dubious looks - as if these people are devoid of hope.
It's to the point where the desperation from the mayor, a middle-aged man in his forties is palpable.
"Adventurers - they actually!? Oh thank the Goddess! She's heard my prayers and sent you to save us. Our v-village, it's been plagued by a terrible snowstorm for many weeks but it's not natural weather! A terrible creature has moved into the mountains above us - it's the cause of all this! It has to be! Several groups of adventurers have tried to exterminate it but all they managed was stopping it for a while before it came back and... and..."
The man's posture just slumps, "... my granddaughter. She fell ill. She's got the Rime Ague, which means we need medicine, not healing magic. And my daughter... and her husband... they both went up the slopes to look for the herb needed to make it... it's called Snowsprout. And... we haven't seen neither since."
The granddaughter must be the infant in the cradle in the other room.
"Please... I'm begging you. They're both missing. My granddaughter is sick... and I'm powerless. Please save us..."
Lucia's face might as well be carved out of stone for all the emotion it shows. She hasn't broken into tears since the Elw ruins. She's tolerated all of this sidequest drudgery very well in fact when it's directed towards her mission and yet... And yet
"Hey you don't have to beg. Don't worry about it. If they're still alive - we'll save them. And we'll find a way to take care of the beast."
Hiro is smiling, and Lucia turns to look at him not in surprise, but resignation. As if she'd known this was coming. Had known it for some time in fact.
"Hiro. On the Blue Star I allowed all of this because we had no way of knowing when we'd get back. And I've tolerated everything necessary because it was getting us where we needed to go. But now we're wasting valuable time. Our mission is to stop the revival of Zophar. How can the needs of one village compare to that of two worlds?"
Hiro looks startled, and immediately starts trying to talk her down.
"Hey... Lucia... it's not going to slow us down that much you know? These people need us now. And even once we get done here... we're not going straight to Azado. Jean and Lemina... there's things they need to do too. And the others - we owe it to them to do something back for them. Help them with the things which are important to them. Surely we can take a little time for them right? They've fought as hard as anyone for your mission..."
Lucia's expression hardens notably, as if working herself up to something.
"If any of you really understood - then we wouldn't be delaying at all. You cannot comprehend the terror that is Zophar! If you're determined to help these people... then I have to keep on my own. Our..."
She pauses, as if reconsidering that, before looking to the others.
".../my/ mission is too important. I will find a way to Althena on my own."BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UioSu2j8K1c
If this is what all of you choose... then I'm sorry - but we must part ways. Thank you for your assistance up until now."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has been rather busy with the many voices that call inside her head, but she's rather sympathetic to the Fiends' plight. And so, it's with them that she travels, though she hasn't quite had to make the trip through Zulan's mountain pass... and especially not in blizzard conditions--
"...... how nostalgic," comments a frozen corpse as she crosses her legs on her throne. She gazes up towards the sight, as the fierce cloud of ice starts to blot out the sight of the town behind them.
Riesenlied presses her hands to her chest as she listens to the townsfolk's plight. The light of the Dragon's Tear is wan in the blight of snow as she places a hand on the man's shoulder. "Please, be at ease. We'll find your daughter and her husband... we'll find the herb, don't worry..."
The corpse lowers her head with a blithe little chuckle. "Back then... I wasn't sure if you would make it out of that blizzard..."
Her eyes widen, however, as Lucia speaks. Her eyes widen slowly. "Lucia..."
How can the needs of one village compare to that of two worlds?
She bites her lip gently, as she lowers her head. Her eyes widen as she insists that she must press on. Something hurts inside of her heart--
"'It is but one kingdom, Riesenlied. One kingdom, for the global peace and benevolence Mother shall show us,'" the corpse quotes. She slumps on her seat to one side.
--she looks just a little rattled as she says, "Lucia, please... it isn't through separation that we've come this far. We would not have been able to activate that teleporter on our lonesome...."
She bites her lip. "... and if we lose sight of what we think are little things, then our mission may truly be compromised already..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
As an honorary(?) Vile Fiend, Ragnell travels with the others from time to time--she's done less of that since everyone returned to Lunar, considering all the other things she has to do and people she has to look for, but when she ran into them again recently, she stuck along. She'd been to the village of Zulan already and not found what she'd sought, so in truth, when Lucia basically says that this is a waste of time and she's leaving, Ragnell gets it.
She leans on the side of the house, arms folded over her chest, garbed in her Lunar tunic and trousers rather than the poncho and jeans she preferred on Filgaia. (Still wearing that hat, though.) Her gaze is impassive as the villager pleads with the group to save his daughter and son-in-law for the sake of his granddaughter, and it flicks over to Lucia when she announces she's going to go do her own thing from now on.
"Maybe so," she remarks to Riesenlied, "but get too caught up in the details, an' you'll lose sight of the big picture." She nods to Lucia. "Lu's not sayin' don't go save that villager's family. She's sayin' she needs to focus on her own mission, so she's bowin' out. An' frankly, none o' you have a right to stop her, no more than she'd have a right to stop y'all."
Ragnell pushes herself off the wall and strolls over to the so-called Lord of Calamity. "In the end... we all have to decide for ourselves what's right an' what's most important."
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
At least Jean doesn't tend to mind running around--usually, anyway. There are things she has yet to do, important things... But she's got to get ready for them. Going to Meribia when her past is known to some isn't the easiest--handling it at all given what she's had to do isn't much better. So letting herself get caught up in other peoples' troubles...
That and a few drinks and she can help the group. She knows it's got to be soon, but there are things they can do now.
So here they are in the village, and Jean waves back to the people, trying to show a friendly front to make things alittle better. ...But there's the story. A story of medicine, of--
Jean blinks, at the harsh words, and then looks to Lucia--but it all make sense very quickly. Hiro starts talking her down...
Jean watches Lucia. "...Is that really how you feel?" she asks. She made a promise a long time ago, without even having to word it--to accept Lucia for who she is. For what she is. There's a sad cast to her expression as she watches her. Riesenlied speaks up...
"...If that's what you feel you have to do, I can't stop you," Jean says. "We can still help you." She stops, and sighs, shaking her head. "I..."
What can she say, though? She has been delaying what needs to be done. Helping these people is good, but the people she means to help...
Jean looks away, arms lowering.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's been somewhat reluctant to disappear into the depths of Zulan up until now; it's clear that something is wrong further up the mountain pass, but she can tell that the snowy landscape is having a somewhat debilitating effect on Riesenlied, calling up old memories and uncertainties. If she had to be honest, she's even feeling something similar, a bittersweet feeling as she looks on the snowy town. Lunar is a long, long, long way from Arctica, and yet...
Shaking the thoughts away, Noeline huffs softly to herself. Still in her 'knight's uniform of light black plate, she has at least made a concession to the cold by adding a scarf wound around her neck and upper shoulders - in a vivid crimson, of course. Some things never change.
For a long moment, she digests Lucia's protests; a smile almost seems to flicker across her features, but she holds it back out of a sense of tact. It wouldn't do to go into a delicate situation like this guns blazing, after all. "... humans cannot strive towards one thing forever, single-minded and unwavering in purpose. Not without taking some time for themselves every so often," she advises after a moment, and pauses for long enough to reach for ans lightly squeeze Riesenlied's shoulder.
"Sometimes, everyone needs a moment to do what they want to do - whether that is curling up in the warm, indulging their curiosity, or simply heading out to do a little bit of measurable good in the world. Grand designs are all well and good - but they don't tend to offer much along the way to help people feel that they're doing something worthy."
She shrugs one shoulder, and this time she does lightly grin. "I am not trying to stop you, of course - simply pointing out that ultimatums like that often do more harm than good in the long run, especially on this Malevolence-soaked moon. Be absolutely sure that the ends really do justify the means, because that's a very slippery slope."
She shrugs lightly, knowing that she and Riese are headed up the mountain no matter what, and instead tries to picture a Malevolent Hiro, torn up between wanting to help Lucia and wanting to help everyone else. ... even with her warning, it's hard to imagine. Malevolent Ruby, on the other hand . . .
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is wearing a baseball cap saying 'WEST NOTA WARRIORS' on it, a giant foam hand that says '#1' on it, and has a large bag full of souvenirs purchased from the Caravan that he thought Elly would like, and lord knows what else. He doesn't even know how he got all this junk, it just gradually accumulated throughout all the sidequesting. He is, frankly not unlike Lucia, kind of stonefaced about all this though judging by the frequent looks Lucia-wards, he is expecting some kind of shoe to drop even if he doesn't say so out loud.
"A blizzard now..." Fei murmurs. "What luck. Now we have to wait it out..." But then it becomes apparent that they can't wait it out because the blizzard...isn't natural to start with. He is ushered into the mayor's home of all places and he looks flustered as he hears the town. He gives a long look towards the sick child in the other room. Needs medicine. An old story. A tale as old as time: Poor health care systems means preventable tragedies.
He glances towards Riesenlied, quirking his head to the right in mild perplexment, but he doesn't vocalize anything. He just rubs at his eyes and lowers his hands after. It's only then that he turns his head to Lucia, eyes widening as a different overt nature seems to overtake her. It's hard to disagree with her words. "Hey... I get what you're saying, but that's a sick baby in there." Fei begins, but Lucia speaks again most quickly. No, he thinks, she was preparing for this. This isn't an off the cuff frustration.
This is practically scripted. Lucia was preparing for this.
"Zophar?" He asks. "With a p?" He hesitates. "Hey, not to put too fine a point on it, but something in Althena's court has it out for you, you can't just waltz in. We can try to hurry along but--"
We know what it's like, eh junior? Women rushin' off to martyr themselves?
Fei's fingers curl inward. "...Is this really about that?" He asks. "Or is it just an excuse to run away from your crew?"
Man. Ice cold. heh.
Fei grimaces suddenly, as if he heard something really horrible.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Though she complains about it a fair bit, Lemina seems to actually kind of... enjoy, being in sidequest hell. It's hard to hide the fact that she actually kind of likes helping people, though she makes exactly enough requests for payment that she manages to maintain her internal coolness.
Maybe that's the reason that Lucia's decision to depart from them, after so long together, actually kind of rattles her. When Lucia finally speaks up, and says that they're wasting time... Lemina has a hard time arguing against it, but also...
... frankly, Lemina can't be mature enough for a hot second to part with a smile. "Well, whatever," she says, with a roll of her eyes. "We'll catch up with you in Pentagulia, I guess." She shoots Ragnell a Look for encouraging her, but doesn't actually engage her directly -- she makes a good argument, but...
"Well, I guess we're doing this! Time to climb this mega-awful mountain!" she declares... though as she gets ready to climb, she looks to Jean. "Hey, she'll be fine," she says, though without too much enthusiasm.
She takes the opportunity to fiddle with her bag full of magical goods, rather than engage emotionally too much more with this particular... moment. The tension between their decisions is one that doesn't sit as well with her as she'd like.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Riesenlied makes an appeal against separation, and Lucia answers it calmly.
"It is true that all of us were needed to overcome that but the little things cannot compare now that we are here again. None of those things will matter if Zophar is revived. Complacency is not what defeated it last time... and our indolence will only allow it to grow in strength."
Ragnell however agrees with her. "Huh!? Ragnell? Hey I get that it's important but... these people need us." And Lucia nods at Ragnell as if she takes this for granted that a creature with a sliver of Althena's power would understand. "And this is what I know is important. It's what must be. If you understand this as well - you're welcome to come with me Ragnell."
Jean however asks how she feels... "How I feel is... There's hesitation there, "...irrelevant - Jean."
And Noeline, "I do not require petty validation that what I'm doing is worthy. What could be more worthy a cause than defeating the Destroyer?"
And to Lemina as she says they'll catch up, she actually sounds a touch sad - "No." She promises, "You won't."
But Fei - when Fei says that she actually looks stunned. Like he'd slapped her. Whereas Hiro notably pales. Because what Fei said struck home to him too. For a moment Lucia's eyes are wide and her expression hardens with determination, "I don't need to justify why I do what I do to you - I shouldn't have to justify what the cost might be to the world. I am running away from nothing. I am moving forward - towards my destination." And then she adds something point blank, "And I believe in Althena."
Hiro has been silent, stunned into it by the realization that this might be it.
"Lucia... please..."
Her eyes slide onto him.
"You promised me you would follow me wherever I go - if I'd have you. But if this is where you go now I cannot follow you."
"I know I... Lucia... don't leave..." The words of the Sky Guardian echo in his head. He cannot escape them.
You put her in danger for lesser causes every day. You sacrifice her all-important mission that you claim to respect and support so much on the altar of your morality and act like you're so certain you're correct to do that.
Because you think you can have everything, and do everything and everything will just turn out just how you will it. You're a child who can't actually make hard choices. Your choices are simply running away.
And yet even knowing he'd have to face them. He still doesn't want to. His throat feels like it's closed up every time he tries to cite how they should help these people. Lucia has started to leave already and all he can do is ask plaintively.
"...please... let's talk about this?"
"... ... ... Goodbye." She'll wait for a time to see if Ragnell comes with her, but she does not delay otherwise.
Hiro just looks more and more despondent as he watches her leave. Whereas Ruby starts complaining into the whole group.
"I can't believe her! She's actually turning her back on these people! And Ragnell...just..." Ruby lets out a miserable whimper. "... I understand she thinks it's important but how could Lucia just leave us - after all we've done for her."
The Mayor just looks confused by this whole exchange, as he prompts desperately.
"You'll still help us... right?"
In the other room an infant starts to cry - but the cry sounds pitifully weak.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks dismayed -- while she does not necessarily disagree with what Lucia has said... ...there is certainly something to be said for what the big picture actually is. She looks to Jean and Lemina both, feeling the pang of anxiety in her heart at watching friends be at odds. She forces the thoughts out of her head and shakes her head, with a quiet shiver as Odjn suddenly pulls up from where she was checking--
I was not checking on that baby!!
--my apologies.
"Ah, don't take it too hard, Ruby... that's just Seraph Meatsauce for you," Odjn muses. "She's a big believer 'n freedom and alla that. Really hates it when people tell others what to do."
Riesenlied places a hand to Hiro's shoulder and says, "... Hiro... if you want to follow her, I won't mind. I'll help these people. Because this is my mission... this is Wayside's mission."
To help those that have been left by the wayside.
The Tear flickers again, and she bites her lip as she feels it emanating the conflict and sorrow about her. She looks to Noeline and the others, then looks to the air. "We'd best leave soon if we're going -- these aren't ideal conditions, but we're in a race for time with people lost in the blizzard."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Not long after there's a tremendous crash on the other end of the village-
A stunned guard comes into the Mayor's home shaking off snow and announces - "Lord Mayor! Some lunatic just collapsed the pass out the West Gate for no reason!"
-Oh.
DG: A party led by Hiro is now entering Mount Zulan. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Snow Shoveling *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The villagers of Zulan built a path into the mountainside, hauling slabs of carved stone into place to serve as stairs. They've done their best to keep them clear, but the cold has been especially fearsome in recent days, and the path is completely buried beneath a massive snowdrift. You're going to have to clear it out if you have any hope of continuing, but luckily, the villagers are willing to provide you with shovels. Get shoveling! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"These people need help. They don't need y'all, specifically," Ragnell points out to Ruby. "Meanwhile, this is what Lucia's been strivin' for from the start. This is literally the only thing that's ever mattered to her. Y'all are the ones who're actin' like this is somehow comin' outta the blue." Her eyes narrow as she frowns. "An' it's insulting to watch. Were you people only followin' her around for the fun of it?"
This might come extra-hard coming from Ragnell, who is, in fact, following Lucia and friends around for the fun of it.
Lucia invites her to join her. Ragnell nods back at her. "Sure. I 'spect you'll have a bit o' trouble adjustin' to goin' it alone again. I can tag along for a while." She tips her hat to Hiro and the others; Lemina's Look is met only with a blase shrug. "Good luck with the baby an' them lost folks. What you're doin' ain't wrong. Here's hopin' for Lucia's sake that you'll come to understand that what she's doin' ain't wrong either."
Then she leaves with Lucia. Not long after, the West Gate collapses...
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
She'll be fine, huh? Jean looks to Lemina, and nods slowly. "Ruby..." Ruby is going on, and Jean shakes her head. "Don't."
She look to Ragnell, and doesn't say anything. Instead, she listens to the baby... and speaks up, "We'll still help."
And suddenly--
"She didn't--" Jean sighs, gritting her teeth. "Looks like there's only one thing for it now. Come on. We've got lot to do."
She walks up to Hiro, at that, puts a hand on his shoulder. "...Come on. We spend time thinking about what we might've done, and nobody gets helped. We'll have to trust her for now."
She gets that it's hard. It's hard for her, too. "...Let's go."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei listens to Lucia. He sighs afterwards and says, "You don't." in agreement. "Do what you want. Just...blind belief is..." He trails off. "No, nevermind. Sorry. I can be an asshole sometimes."
He looks towards Hiro though. Some part of him waits expectantly. Waiting for Hiro to come up with some kind of third option or admit to practical reality. Perhaps splitting forces, perhaps some other scheme... but it doesn't come and instead...Hiro's just watching. Helplessly. Fei watches Hiro. Rush out to her, they think, do something, do anything, don't let go of her or you'll regret it. You'll lose her. You can lose everything you care about so quickly, don't you get it? It's there kindness that dooms them so you must be cruel
But no. Hiro just watches.
I hate him
I hate that little prick.
All hopped up on his own righteousness. When her corpse lays at his feet, he'll wonder why! It's because you tried to hold more sand in your hands than you could carry and now it's all gone
I'll make them pay
RED SYMPATHY ABILITY ACTIVATED
Fei is jarred out of his thoughts by Ruby. He smiles at her. "You're a kind dragon, aren't you, Ruby?" She can tell that he's more troubled by what happened than he's letting on. "But this is how it goes for drifters, I guess. Sometimes you have to part for a little while. I'm sure we'll meet up again."
But then the baby is crying.
"We shouldn't dally though. The sooner we save that baby, the sooner we can try and catch up." Fei says.
His smile vanishes utterly when the west pass is eliminated as an opportunity.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
... Noeline's response to Lucia's rebuttal is quiet, but there's a definite glint of amusement in her eyes. "I didn't mean you, Miss Lucia. Will you consign your followers to succumb to Malevolence, rather than let them help someone for a few hours? For that matter, do you have any sort of plan?" she begins to chime in the silence, but Lucia's slipped away much too quickly, and it's all the spy can do to shrug lightly to herself with a chuckle.
"If she wishes to get captured by the Guard immediately, that is an excellent way to go about it," her reply to Ragnell is delivered to the open air instead, pitched with a carefully carefree aplomb of someone who's only been on the group's periphery. "Wayside lived only because we'd forged bonds with people - bonds that we could call on when we needed it. In my experience, fanaticism doesn't go terribly far."
She seems content to leave it at that, letting other people react in their own way as she nods to Riesenlied. "I got a few things ready, in case you wanted to look into the problems in the area. Some warm gear, some climbing tools. Strife and Trouble might not be enough to get around up there--" she adds, and then breaks into a disbelieving laugh as the news is delivered. "--really! I never thought she'd be the jealous type under all that."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied flinches as she hears the destructive noise of the West Gate, closing her eyes for a moment. Ragnell's harsh rebuke isn't lost on her -- and she wonders if she will ever undertake such a specific mission again. The Riesenlied who was focused on her missions and tasks, whether it be pursuit of the Demon of Elru, or...
"Jean is right..."
She shakes her head. She glances towards Fei and is silent for a moment... then nods to Noeline as she looks towards the pass. It's time to act.
She raises her softly gleaming flute, and plays a short song upon it. The whispering, soft woodwind notes are nearly lost in the harsh weave of the blizzard, but...
Wark!
It is heard, nonetheless.
There's a comical falling noise... and a familiar and massive yellow bird of rotund quality lands from the bleakness of the blizzard sky, coincidentally in time to just crash onto the snowed-over pass. BOOM!
"Thank you for coming, even in such harsh weather, Loccy..."
That sure is a yellow cuccobo...
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"It's not like that at all! Huh!? Hey listen who are you to tell us that when you're so easy-going all the time!"
Hiro just looks profoundly ashamed as Ragnell points out all of it. That it's insulting to watch. "It's not... that I think it came out of the blue... I mean she's..."
Left before. And he watched it happen.
Hiro doesn't sense anything amiss with Fei - but Ruby sure does as she lands on his shoulder, "I guess it's just... I understand being a little pragmatic... but we have the power to do something here... so it feels like we should do it - or the world is just gonna become more and more like what Zophar would want it to be like anyway.""
But the announcement comes - "Really!? Wasn't that a bit excessive Lucia?" Hiro's shoulders raise as Riese tries to comfort him, then fall as he exhales - and says- "No. Even if I could catch up to her... I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want me to now... I mean... I broke my promise to her..."
And he looks sidelong at Jean as she puts a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah... Let's do what we can."
The snowstorm doesn't abate as they go back into it. Even the path up the mountain is so perilous that one can't see more than a few meters ahead. They get to the gate leading to the pass only to see a wall of white. "This... is the pass up?" Hiro asks as he gawks at it. And one of the guards - "Yep." Right before he tosses him a snow shovel. "We've tried to keep it clear but... you see how that's going for us."
Hiro rubs his chin - then juts out a hand with a chant, "Ferocious Wind!"
And uses his tornado cheat code - as a vortex of swirling wind churns up snow and at least tosses it mostly out of the way.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lucia abandons them -- and Lemina winces. Not a moment later, the pass to the west collapses... and Lemina lets out a long-suffering sigh. It would seem their path is now set -- not by any sort of choice of their own remaining, but sheer... well... Lucia.
The abruptness and urgency of Lucia's mission always sort of throws Lemina -- even a year into it, it's not something she's entirely used to. Fei's comment about being sure they'll meet again gets a wince. "Did you not hear her? She's mega-permanently ditching us," she chides him. "Which, well. Whatever. I still have plenty of valued suckers -- er, friends -- right here!"
She nods to Jean next, saying, "Yeah -- exactly! We're kinda... stuck, now, doing the whole... mountain, thing. They gotta clear the pass anyway, right? So let's just... do what we can for now."
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
In the end, Noeline has followed the others out to take a look at the devastation of the newly flattened gate positively buried in snow. She still manages to move nimbly through the white, despite the rougher footing and the effort it would normally involve; it's not as if she's particularly prone to the cold, after all.
"... well, really. It's been a very long time since I had to shovel any snow," she chuckles to herself, shaking her head as she watches the yellow cucco crash-land in the midst of the snowbank, sending a flurry of white in every different direction. Trouble seems overjoyed at the sight, immediately rubbing up against the rotund creature's side before disengaging to-- attempt to show off? Whatever the motive, the little ARM is burning around the snowbank in wide circles, letting its engine melt some of the more solid areas of snow.
The demon is offered a shovel of her own - and she just looks at it glumly for a long moment. "Oh, please," she huffs afterwards. "I can handle this sort of thing with my own tools, thank you very much." A moment's concentration summons a familiar weapon to her hand, the almighty slab of metal appearing there as if it were part of her. (Technically, it is.)
Last time she used it, it was cover to hide behind - this time, she rams it down into the snow, braces herself, and heaves. The flat of the blade is about the same size she is, and the demon simply shoves it against the snow, pushing great chunks of it off to one side as if she were a Hyadean snowplough.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
--ELSEWHERE--
As luck would have it, those translators that worked on the books Gwen brought had a favor to ask of her. A few deliveries later. and Gwen just so happens to be in Zulan Village. Just need to go through the West Gate onto that one hermit down the way, and then onward to the thing that's beyond that, and man, it's just like when she was just starting out. Why was Gwen even overwhelmed by Lunar in the first place? It's even smaller than Ignas!
That's when she sights Lucia, accompanied by Ragnell. "Oh hey! Something up?"
------
There's the sound of someone running up. "Heyhey! Wait up!"
Some explanations later, Gwen is rubbing the back of her neck, laughing sheepishly. "... So I'm just kinda stuck here until we're able to move on. But hey, why not let Lucia do what she needs to while we take care of this? This Zophar guy's real powerful, right? This'd be good practice for us. We need experience, and Lucia pounds the ground lookin' for things, and Ragnell's with her, so things should be good, right? It ain't perfect, but we got the best of both worlds! N'-"
Oh. That's... a lot of snow. "Well, maybe it's probably a good thing Lucia went ahead. We're gonna be here a while." Grabbing a shovel, Gwen attacks the snow with gusto. "C'mon, this is how arguments go. It ain't gonna mean she's not gonna change her mind ever. 'Specially if we're comin' back to help her. Don't worry 'bout it for now."
DG: That Tool has no remaining uses. You'll have to use something else! DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei seems a bit more at ease with Ruby in close proximity. The universe makes a little more sense, a little more comprehensible. "I don't disagree at all. We can't trust what the Gods would have for us, however well intentioned. Even if we can't carry the weight of the world, we can at least carry the weight that is placed before us." He glances to Riesenlied but doesn't comment vocally. He doesn't comment on Noeline's words either, since she's essentially flippantly throwing out his deep essential fears that shake him down to the subconcious level and beyond.
But he does look towards Lemina who is less faithful. He considers them for a long period and then shrugs. "Wouldn't be the first reunion I had with someone who talked like that."
But, of course, there is that worry this might be the last time they see her alive. If that's true, what would become of Hiro? He looks towards him for a bit but then--
SNOW!
"Does the cold bother you?" Fei asks of Ruby as he ducks down to help dig. "If it bothers you, I can try to find something in my bag to warm you up. I think there's a warming potion I saved up... Just in case."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Meanwhile-
As the snow still settles behind Ragnell and her - Lucia is silent on the idea that she needs someone to come along with her until she's used to being alone.
After all she was alone for a long time. And she was powerful enough that the idea of needing anyone else was foreign.
Even after malevolence smothered her power - she didn't even seem to understand.
She's walking with a nearly single-minded focus. And the cold doesn't seem to bother her much.
Despite all the malevolence surrounding her - her presence is a strangely calming one.
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cd9t5u504Q
However Lucia is less like herself today. She's not stopping to stare at the sky - or anything at all really. But after a time - she strangely does start to slow, and she places a hand upon her chest. "I wonder..."
There's this long pause, as if she's debating something.
"... was it because... she could not understand the pain she felt."
It may not seem to make much sense in their current context.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina lets out a small sigh, and turns her attention to the snow. "... You know what," she says, with a shake of her head. "I think Hiro's got the right idea. Digging is for suckers." She starts a long, slow chant, and then:
Everything is extremely on fire. Or at least, the snow is, which is to say, the snow is doing whatever cold things do. In fire.
Sometimes, you just gotta melt the problem.
She glances off to the west, again. "... She's gonna be fine, right? Ragnell's with her -- she'll be... fine. It's -- fine." It does not sound fine. At least, to hear Lemina tell it.
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Snow Shoveling.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Snow Shoveling *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The villagers of Zulan built a path into the mountainside, hauling slabs of carved stone into place to serve as stairs. They've done their best to keep them clear, but the cold has been especially fearsome in recent days, and the path is completely buried beneath a massive snowdrift. You're going to have to clear it out if you have any hope of continuing, but luckily, the villagers are willing to provide you with shovels. Get shoveling! =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Round 1 *>========================== =========================< Results - Snow Shoveling >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lemina Ausa 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Hiro 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Hiro 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> Hiro has posed.
Lucia had offered an absent. "Gwen."
Hiro waves to Gwen as she walks on up - though he seems a little - not himself. "Gwen! Boy are we glad to see you. Wait were you doing deliveries in this weather!?" After it's explained-
Hiro allows himself a small smile, but his eyes don't show it. "... Yeah... she's got Ragnell looking out for her." But he can't quite say she'll be fine, because he can't... believe that.
A yellow Cuccobo splats down, flattening the snow out of the pass. It then immediately cuccowarks up to Riese with Doe eyes - looking for pats, or treats for a job well done.
Noeline simply summons trouble - plowing through great chunks of what's left of it.
Ruby says- "Nope! I'm okay!! The desert didn't bother me either! Red Dragons are just that hot-blooded!" It's totally obviously a front though because while she did well in the desert, she's definitely shivering a little. Though she seems less affected than everyone else. Hiro wraps a tiny little scarf around her neck that she forgot to put on.
Hiro then leans over and murmurs to Fei, "She'll accept it if you act like nothing's wrong."
In the aftermath Gwen cleans up with elbow grease - everyone wonders if it's because of her arm ARM. Maybe.
"Huh? It seemed like a little more than just an argument Gwen!"
The tornado churns away and then both Jean and Lemina hit it with a one-two combination of fire and karate. Somehow the Karate blows away all the snow. Because she's Jean.
Take that snow.
Soon enough they're making their way up the mountainside.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Inconvenient Icicles *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The path ahead tucks under an overhang as it loops around the side of the mountain. Water has dripped down the rock face, forming a series of thick, pillar-like icicles that make passage extremely difficult. Clearing them out would make things a lot easier for you, and for other travelers. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Loccy the cucco and absolutely not a horsebird from another continent warks in a soft panic as both wind and fire start to erupt around itss immediate location, and flees the scene of the path with Trouble in tow, looking terribly joyed to have its friend come out once more.
"... Fei--" Riesenlied starts, before biting her lip and perhaps thinking she doesn't have the right words to console him. Besides, he seems to be happy distracting himself with taking care of Ruby, and maybe that's what's best at present.
Odjn sighs and shakes her head, before toothily grinning to say, "Oh, hey, Gwen! Been a while, how's my favoritest courier been doin'??"
Riesenlied smiles at the courier too, nodding gently as she drapes her arms a little closer around herself. Now that they'd started going, things felt a bit better, even if only so that they can put their minds to the task.
They proceed up the mountain path, still surrounded by the storm that continues to impede their movement. After a while, outdoors progress is just impossible -- but fortunately a nearby cavern path seems to offer them some passageway...
... at least, it would, if the giant icicles that have formed weren't in the way. "Icicles... we'd best use something like magic to slowly melt these -- too much force might rupture the ceiling ahead," Riesenlied speaks as if from experience.
Four hundred years ago, a gasping young Hyadean's arms quake as she holds onto a jagged piece of rock to try to break free of the impromptu prison bars that'd formed in front of her overnight. Smash! Smash! The icicles crumble, and then...
rumble...
"... why do I get the feeling that you mean--" Odjn pauses, before huffing to float up and start to gently breathe fire onto one of them. "Hey Ruby, let's have a firebreathin' contest!"
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei starts rummaging through his bags and pulls out a woolen Ruby sized pointy eared hat of some kind that is almost certainly not a cat ear hat but is in fact a dragon cap, but he lowers it back down, "Well if you insist." Luckily Hiro gives Fei some advice for next time and he gives him a smile. He tries to make it as reassuring as possible considering the circumstances. He fails at this, but it is at least an honest smile. He's happy to go fight snow monsters in order to save a village. The small villages matter to him. For some mysterious reason.
"You okay, Riese?" Fei asks since Riese said his name. He looks over to hetr and says, "Oh hey Odjn--" in order to give Riese the out that she seems to desire. "If the cold's botherin' you, don't worry, I made a second one." He looks to Riese for a moment before electing to punch fire at the icicles in order to help melt them. He's getting fairly confident in his fire enthused chi techniques.
"That's a good idea." Fei says. "But I'm willin' t'bet that Ruby will win this one."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Miss Whitlock," Noeline nods in greeting, letting out a faintly amused sigh. "Even here, you are buzzing around all over the place. It's good to see you're adaptable," she chuckles brightly, though she has to pause and glance towards Gwen's arm, wondering if the piece of technology is going to be alright out here on a significantly less technological Lunar. "I hope things have been well enough?"
She says this while sweeping her sword around, taking its weight and the weight of the snow it had shifted with far too much ease for someone of her side; job done, she lets the slab of metal wink back out of her hands as if it were never there in the first place. Ever so slightly, she snorts at Fei's choice of words - but closes her eyes, content to just begin striding up the hill and into the pass proper.
She's quick to help Riese on their climb upwards, a hand around the other demon to steady her. "I would offer Strife to sit upon, but I'd rather have them scout ahead where possible, see if they can spot anything," she explains with a slightly apologetic tone, before glancing up at the point at which the pass comes to a rather blocked halt. The idea of going over it is appealing, but all it takes is a hand in the air for her to figure out that balancing on her pods is not really going to be an option for her, let alone for Riesenlied.
Through the cave it is instead, and Noeline frowns slightly at the icicles that bar their way instead. She doesn't need a full explanation to understand the way in which her partner's words trail off; she's lived through Arctican winters, after all. "Carefully does it, then. Ideally we could just slip past, but--..." A shrug, and she's produced an ice pick of all things, carefully chipping away at one of the icicles.
Unfortunately, Trouble is not entirely on board with this strange thing you call 'careful', and in its excitable state just crashes straight into one of the pillars of ice to try to dislodge it.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean doesn't have that much optimism in her right now, but she's not going to make things harder for everyone else. She nods again to Hiro as they go, and... digs. Digs, digs, digs, and digs. When Lemina mentions her friends, says they're stuck, at least, she smiles at her. "It'll be okay."
She doesn't entirely feel it... But here they are. She is not really dressed for the cold herself though, and is definitely... definitely starting to feel it. The fur lining on her dress is nnnot sufficient, and while discipline is handling her...
"Why do people live in snow," Jean mutters to herself, shaking her head as she works with her shovel. ...And then gives up on the shovel. And does karate at snow because why not?
...It's a tthat point that she starts to limber up, stretching to keep the cold at bay, walking along with the others and continuing to move. Fei... Fei has fire chi. That's convenient. Ruby has fire breath. Jean... does not have those things.
She considers the cave instead, and then nods, after a moment. "Mm... all right, I can do careful." Jean sighs, shakes her head, as if about to do something she doesn't much like... Because she is.
She has no fire, to melt the ice. But as she approaches, she sets a hand on it, ignoring the burn of frost as she focuses--and starts to channel chi of her own. ...Slowly, keeping her pace, enduring--
Jean channels death into the ice.
DG: Jean has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"I-Is this a present to me!? Fei... what will Elly think?" Ruby allows a little giggle but mostly seems delighted.
"Whoa!? Have you managed to improve any Odjn? Well sure! I'll pit my pride as a red dragon on the line!"
And that's when Ruby goes right up to it - heaves in her chest and - "FIRE DRAGON'S EXPLODING FLASH FANG!"
And suddenly there's a gout of flame - that's slightly bigger than usual but only slightly.
A damage value pops up from the rock. 4
Come on doesn't she even get fire vulnerability bonuses!?
"I guess the same reason people live in the desert Jean." Hiro says as if giving actual consideration - but it sounds a little absent. He's still not himself.
He has a fire technique, but he doesn't exactly want to use it here out of the fear that it's too much force behind the fire.
"Hey Lemina - better you handle this. I think... I'd just muck it all up trying to swat a sword at it."
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Riesenlied suggests slowly melting the icicles in the way. Lemina... looks skeptical at that for a few moments, truthfully; she has to take a moment to really consider her approach, though. She looks up at the icicles with a few taps of her chin, tring to figure out if there's a route through them that isn't practically integrated into the structure, at this point.
She does not seem to find such a path. that gets her to frown big. Hiro suggests that she handle it, though, and that gets her to smile. "All right, let's take a crack at this..." she murmurs.
Control has never been as much her strong suit as power. She turns to Jean as she attempts to form the magic in her hands, saying, "RIGHT? That's what I keep thinking! Why do you live in snow? There's like a whole million other places to live! It's mega-stupid." Then she focuses on chanting for a few seconds...
... and then starts melting everything. She targets the ground, rather than the icicles themselves, conveniently dodging the whole issue of 'having to control the heat all that much.'
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
GS: Hiro has attacked White Knight Leo with Rubyvention! GS: Hiro has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: White Knight Leo guards a hit from Hiro's Rubyvention for 43 hit points! GS: White Knight Leo has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Hiro's enthusiasm- or specifically, the smaller amount of it he has right now, does not go unnoticed by Gwen. At a moment when she's close enough, and when she thinks no one's able to notice, she reaches out, giving the young adventurer a solid hand on his shoulder and a sympathetic smile.
For all she tries to put a positive spin on it, it still can't get around the fact that this is probably the first time Hiro and Lucia have fought over just about anything at all.
With the snow gone and the path cleared, Gwen finally has a chance to finally look at the group, which includes a few faces she hasn't seen since she'd landed on Lunar.
"Riesenlied! Noeline! Odjn!" Gwen's expression brightens as she finally sights the three, then another, just beyond. "Fei, you're here too? Man, seems just 'bout everyone I know came along for the journey." Noeline's question draws a noncommittal answer at first, the courier distracted by the two mini-dragons attempting to outdo each other at the icicles. "I'm managin'! Doin' a lot better than I did first comin' here. I even got my wagon and Gulliver! Everything's good as gold! Gulliver's gotten all fat on the greenery here, tho. Probably wouldn't even be able to recognize him until I manage to slim him down somehow."
This is said as she, of course, loads a few wads of metal into her ARM, aiming, and, with careful delibration, shooting. "I'd say there's a lotta reasons people live here, tho. Lot easier to keep food fresh, for one." She loads another pellet. "No nosey warm weather types comin' in and ruinin' your parade. Natural defense against bandits n' thieves, too. Mostly." She shoots again. "N' lots of water! No goin' bone dry."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Icicles.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Welcome folks, one and all, to the annual Grand Ice Prix!!
Fei Fong Wong summons fireballs from his hands, as Ruby and Odjn get set to breathe fire on individual icicles! The martial artist has the raw advantage in chi and power, but don't count the Red Dragon of Lunar out quite yet! She's got a bite to her flame that'll leave you reeling!
Incredible, Bob! Ruby's pulling out all the stops with her 'Red Dragon Exploding Flash Fang' technique! It's like I'm front seats at a Blue Master Lunn martial arts exhibition!
But-- speaking of, here comes an unannounced fourth contestant?! Here comes Trouble, and it has no qualms doing anything but bonking into it! Raw and unabashed force, folks, but will this strength-filled approach backfire--
Hold on a sec there Bob, Dancer Jean's just smashed into the fray! And she ain't using fire like our traditional contestants, she's using-- Death! DEATH, Bob! Taking a page right out of Filgaia's last ice sculpting contest!
Amazing! Lemina Ausa, daughter of the Premiere, is opting for a bottoms-up approach of taking the heat straight to the ground! And as we all know, hot air rises up, folks! That's science for you right there!
W-whoa, hold yer horses! Gwen Whitlock, Super Courier, is just about to upend this entire contest! She's usin' bullets in a Lunarian contest! Bakow, bakoww, it's all goin' downn...
...
...
... an' that's why people live in snow," she adds for Lemina and Jean, "For the thrill of watchin' an icicle-meltin' contest," Odjn finishes. Nevermind that apparently all the would-be contestants just got buried under snow, according to her long-winded monologue of, indeed, how the Grand Ice Prix would go.
Riesenlied shakes her head with a polite little smile at Fei, though it's a bit nervous. "N-no, I..." A pause, as she doesn't quite feel like lying and saying she's okay. "I just hope we can find those people quickly. Hypothermia is not something to take trivially."
"You would know," the corpse inside Riesenlied faux-rolls her eyes, given that her eyelids are frozen stiff.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Inconvenient Icicles *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The path ahead tucks under an overhang as it loops around the side of the mountain. Water has dripped down the rock face, forming a series of thick, pillar-like icicles that make passage extremely difficult. Clearing them out would make things a lot easier for you, and for other travelers. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Round 2 *>========================== ======================< Results - Inconvenient Icicles >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lemina Ausa 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Hiro 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Hiro 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: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Albino Baboons *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- These aggressive, white-furred primates are an unfortunately common sight on Mt. Zulan these days. The unnaturally long winter has made them both bolder and hungrier, and they're more than happy to attack unlucky travelers. They have nasty bites, and some have learned how to blind their prey with thrown snow. A pack of them has taken an interest in you, perhaps thinking you easy prey! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Maybe to get away from all the trouble." Fei quips back to Lemina. It's not the worst possible answer. The worst possible answer is 'because they like snow cones obviously'. "Though uh since Gwen showed up, maybe it isn't as isolating as I'd think." He throws a wave her way. "Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night shall stay a courier from their rounds, eh?"
Ruby does seem to like the hat so he will pop it on her head, barring protest. She is now ... slightly more guarded against the cold than she was before!
"Elly'd probably love it." Fei says. "Actually, I'm hoping to teach her a bit about sewing." That's not really knitting exactly but it's similar enough that the thoughts connect.
Fei nods to Riesenlied and seems to largely buy her answer. "Don't overdo it yourself," He suggests. "A lot of expeditions like this end with there being extra victims of the blizzard."
He reaches into his pack and withdraws an RPS Badge, watching it for a moment when--!
A white-blue furred monkey leaps through the air and snatches it out of his hand.
"Eh... Ehh!!" A small swarm of monkeys burst out of hiding and attack by throwing snowballs at the party, while the other monkey tries to escape with Fei's most precious item.
"Hey!" Fei runs ahead, bouncing on the heads of a few monkeys as he tries to catch up.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"More seriously: Because they like snow cones, obviously!" Odjn glibly answers without a trace of guile.
Riesenlied drapes her arms a little closer around herself, huddling around her extra-thick capelet as her horns wilt and get snow all over them. Not to mention her head and... strangely enough, the errant lick of hair that seems to have enough tensile strength to hold all that snow up by its lonesome.
"Ah--!"
Riesenlied gets splatted on the face with a snowball and starts rolling down the hill.
"F-farewell, Riese, we won't forget your sacrifice..." Odjn begins, before pausing to go, "Yikes! Riese!"
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"It is a matter of adversity, as well," Noeline notes with some amusement to Jean's complaint, and the growing sentiment. "You might as well ask why people live in the deserts of Filgaia, or in the seas around the Thames. They do so because it's home," she points out with an overly bright grin.
"Besides, if you ask me, you haven't lived until you've come in from the snow to sit down in a very fat armchair in front of a roaring fire, with a bowl of stew in front of you." How... down-to-earth, considering the one who's actually saying it is about as far from that image as you can get most of the time...
The icicles cleared, Noeline moves to assist Riesenlied in moving forwards - but the moment they resume their trek, they're beset by some of the local wildlife. Snowballs aren't exactly the most threatening thing around, but Noeline seems to prefer to duck and weave around them regardless, huffing out a breath when one impacts against her shoulder.
"--that's a little rude, surely?" she grouses aloud, but then winces as she lets the next one hit her, which turns out to have a small rock embedded inside of it. Foul play, of the direst sort, and the twintailed demon furrows her brow. "... well then, if that's the case..."
Her scythe is out in her hands in no time at all, spun lazily in her hands, except-- the companion is suddenly not next to her, and the spy blinks behind her in abject confusion at the way in which Riese is tumbling downwards. "Riese!" she calls in that awkward sort of tone that says 'I'm worried but I'm also worried about avalanches', and plants her weapon against the ground to push off of it, sending her skidding downhill to try to catch up with - and just catch - the other Metal Demon.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Hehe - it feels like we should do this more often Jean!" Ruby adds when it comes to doing things in the snow to Odjn before "Hey Gwen's right! Think of how much easier life would be if we could keep our food preserved a little longer!"
And at Fei's gift - "Huh you think? Well her hands do look like they'd be good at that kind of hard work..."
A monkey steals the RPS badge - Only for that monkey to meet Ruby in the face, "HEY THIEF! YOU GIVE THAT BACK TO FEI!" It makes a flying leap over her - "Hey don't jump over red dragons! Do you know how insulting that is!? You primitive little-! I HAVE AERIAL SUPERIORITY!"
She gives chase alongside Fei.
Hiro however - throws a boomerang at the group of snowball throwing monkeys, hoping to get multiples of the little buggers at once.
... And then looks Riese and Noeline's way - he'd go after her but Noeline looks like she has it - and uh well...
He's seen Riese survive way worse than a snowball ambush. And then a strange idea occurs to him as he catches his boomerang and readies it again-
"Uh Gwen... does electricity run through ice and snow?"
DG: Hiro has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Sure, sure," Jean allows about why people would live out here, shaking her head. "I guess. It's pretty, there is that. This kinda thing gets all homey. But it boxes you in too easy."
They're all... doing okay, well enough. Jean at least is using her skills on inanimate objects and not people, so that's a step up. But Odjn... Odjn says..
"Uh-huh." Trouble makes more sense, and Jean shakes her head again. "Sewing, huh? Well, it's definitely something worth doing. You know that outfit I used to wear? That was one of the costumes I got from our caravan. She's great at those--She says she's got another in the works..."
There--suddenly--monkeys...?
"I dunno about that, Ruby--" There's a whole group of them. And Jean.. considers, before she kneels down and starts packing snow. "Hey, two can play at this..."
That's right. You brought a ninja to a snowball fight.
DG: Jean has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
One perfect melt of icicles later, Lemina strides bravely forward. "I don't think that's how it works," Lemina answers Fei, with a shake of her head. "I mean, we're here, right? So like... how isolated can it be?"
Clearly not isolated at all: the group, courtesy of a bunch of albino baboons. Lemina lets out a noise that isn't quite a squeak and isn't quite a shriek as they descend upon the group; she gets blasted right in the face with snow, and her nose scrunches up underneath it. "Ugh, come on!!" she shouts, flailing around a little bit.
She attempts to track the baboons by sound until the snow falls off her face, and totally misses Riesenlied starting to fall; eventually, she realizes there's a much easier solution to this whole situation.
Step 1: Rub snow off of face
Step 2: Everything is on fire.
It's funny how useful fire magic is in the middle of the snow!
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Omigoshomigoshomigosh!" cries Gwen as the snowballs pelt the side of her raised right arm, as well as the top half of her face, when she chances a look above it. "Their little hands... n' the little fingers... n' the little snowballs... n' the white fur!!"
Hiro makes a logical question in the middle of Gwen's own very scientific offerings. He's met with a look of horror. "B-but look at them! They're so... so... _cute_!" She pauses, then adds quickly, "But not as cute as Ruby and Odjn, of course. Besides, I'd just end up electrocutin' the whole lot of us on top of it if I got anywhere. I reaaallly don't wanna chance things right now."
'Right now'. "Because we're on a mountain," she adds again, thinking better of it.
She thinks of a solution, then, with a sigh, draws out a bag of dried jerky from underneath her poncho. "... I'm gonna be so hungry after this..." Hoisting it into the air, the strawberry blonde raises her voice. "Heeeeey, monkeys! Look at this delicious stuff in my hand! Wanna trade~?"
It's more just for the effect of her making noise and trying to get their attention, but part of Gwen almost wonders if they'd somehow understand human speech,
Hey, it's Lunar. Anything's possible at this point!
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albino Baboons.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Albino Baboons *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- These aggressive, white-furred primates are an unfortunately common sight on Mt. Zulan these days. The unnaturally long winter has made them both bolder and hungrier, and they're more than happy to attack unlucky travelers. They have nasty bites, and some have learned how to blind their prey with thrown snow. A pack of them has taken an interest in you, perhaps thinking you easy prey! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Round 3 *>========================== =========================< Results - Albino Baboons >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lemina Ausa 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Hiro 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Overzealous(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Hiro 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Everybody gets up to some monkey business.
Fei and Ruby chase after the RPS Badge. In the background of this scene, Ruby and Fei are chasing after the thief from one side of the screen to the other and then back again. Periodically, Ruby lights the monkey's butt on fire which is satisfying but has the reprecussions of making the monkey run faster.
Jean meanwhile packs some snow into some snowrikens. She throws several snowrikens out, sending them slicing into the hides of the monkeys, sending several packing. Meanwhile Hiro throws an electricity powered boomerang which electrocutes a pair of monkeys trying to hide behind a snow barrier. Lemina tries using FIRE but--yeah--it does weirdly seem like these ICE TYPE MONKEYS are fire resist! Still, it's pretty satisfying to see them running around on fire shrieking up a noise. Well maybe the noise is the bad part.
Gwen tries to reason with the monkeys. A monkey takes the whole bag of jerky, runs back to its fellows, and then they 'trade' snow balls in her direction. These monkeys have no honor.
Riese tumbles to her doom but Noeline can save her just so! Or join her in the snow pile that Riesenlied is making. Up to her, really.
Eventually the team is able to chase off the monkeys and Fei returns to the group, covered in snow and grinning, "I got it back!" He holds up the RPS Badge before pocketing it once more.
"Thanks for the help Ruby!" He looks at Jean and her snowrikens for a moment before adding, "You're really impressive too, Jean."
He looks at the snowrikens a bit longer. "..."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Mount Zulan *>================================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Lost Forager *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What you thought was a rock at a distance turns out to be a person in furs and leather, curled up to try and resist the cold--a lost forager from Zulan Village. They're wounded, but still conscious--though they need a source of warmth and medical attention if they're going to stay that way. They /must/ know something about the area, though, which could be very helpful if you manage to keep them awake to tell it. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Treasure=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
---A FEW DISHONEST MONKEYS LATER---
Gwen stomps up the trail in front of the group, venting loudly. "Guardians, I can't believe they took my entire stash of jerky! I swear, if I see another monkey I'm gonna just scream-" She holds up a hand as a signal to the group behind her, her gaze narrowing in on what seemed to be a small boulder just up ahead.
Gwen's courier instincts tell her differently, now that she's closer.
She bursts into a run, collapsing into a crouch next to what turns out to be a shivering, curled up man, barely staying alive against the cold of the mountain weather. "Hold on! We're here! Keep focused on me, we're gonna get you warmed back up!" Gathering the lost forager close to her body, she turns her head. "Odjn, Ruby, Lemina. Anybody with fire magic or somethin' like that- need your help now. Gotta get this person's body temperature up quickly!"
The man tries to speak, but his words are cut up through his chattering teeth.
"We gotcha. Focus on keepin' warm. Things are gonna be okay."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is remarkably, remarkably Shalune-like by the time Noeline catches up to her.
By Shalune-like I mean she's remarkably tumbled in snow encased around her like a cocoon (but not a cuccoon, which she would find infinitely more comfy and endearing and warm). It doesn't take Noeline a lot of time to get her out of her icy prison, but there's a shiver and an 'achoo!' from the blonde Hyadean as she says, "G-goodness, that was a fright..."
She blinks a few times as she looks towards Gwen, perhaps thinking something is a little different about the courier... is it her ARM?
Odjn huffs to say, "Geez... you really have got to be more on your feet than that! Stop monkeying around!"
Fortunately, everyone else is there to keep up, as she watches Jean throw snow-rikens and Lemina casts fire and Ruby also sets a monkey's butt on fire.
But before long, Gwen's discovered a man dressed in furs and leather, gasping as she hurries towards his side to check his wounds. There's a frown, and then she holds onto the Tear as she expresses, "I'll keep him awake and focus his thoughts."
Her intent announced, she concentrates on the Tear as she emanates photons that coalesce around her and the downed victim of the snow, reaching towards his emotions to try to engage him in empathic conversation and keep him from falling unconscious.
"..... back then ... you could get by even without being awake," the corpse muses with a shake of her head. "No matter how many times I'd shake you..."
A faint, and wan sigh as she gazes towards the sight. "Do you remember yet? I'm waiting...."
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Lost Forager.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Cute!? They're attacking us. Well I guess a little..."
"Heh heh no problem Fei! Yeah that's right monkey - a burning toosh is what you get when you steal from one of my friends."
-=-=-
"... they got most of my rations too." Hiro though seems less mad about it. Just sorta resigned.
But then - Gwen bursts into a run and Hiro's soon following - before Ruby flies hurriedly over there. First thing's first, she lands on them because they're furry and can transfer body heat. Second off. "Hang on! Time to get you warm and toasty! Hiro - help Riese out and keep them awake! If they fall asleep they're done for!"
Ruby starts spamming the flame breath, but expertly missing his body. "How should I do that...?"
"I dunno! Read them something - ANYTHING!"
Hiro opens Grandpa Gwyn's notebook to a random page. "Chapter Twenty Five: Submerged Ruins and why I despise them..."
-=-=-
"... and after I went back to the switch that let me change water levels for the Thirty - sixth time! AND SWIMMING TO THE OPPOSITE END OF THE TEMPLE AGAIN ... He underlines that for emphasis. I managed to figure out only that the engineers of Ancient Avarost are some of the most sick and twisted people that this world has to offer. I now have a singular desire to invent a spell to take me back in time just so I can knock them all upside the head."
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Lost Forager.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Once the monkeys are taken care of, Jean crosses one arm over her body, using it to... keep stretching. Keep moving. That's the key, here; not just willing the cold away but acting on it. ...She can do that much, at least. So as Gwen complains, Jean shakes her head. "It is what it is, right?" She looks over to Hiro, shakes her head. "...Thanks. You have to know how to improvise, right? Performing somewhere unfamiliar."
They didn't steal so much of Jean's stuff!
...But when there's this person to warm, to take care of, Jean looks between the two--and Gwen seems to have it covered. There's not enough room for her to get in there, to help. "All right, Riese. ...I'll stand guard. Just in case."
DG: Jean has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lost Forager.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina does not enjoy problems that cannot be solved with ice or fire! There are a lot of them and all of them are bad. ... It's hard not to smile at least a little at Jean's efforts to meet snow with snow, though. Even if how this started leaves a bad taste in her mouth, they're still... well... they're still a team, right?
Or at least, those of them... here are.
"What's that they say about being warm for the rest of your life?" Lemina offers, with some distinctly gallows humor as Gwen requests help in warming the poor fellow up. Nevertheless, she does immediately start working on getting a fire started...
She doesn't offer any comment on Grandpa Gwyn's notebook. The invention of a time travel spell does, however, give her a good laugh.
DG: Lemina Ausa has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lost Forager. DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Medical Kit toward her party's challenge, Lost Forager.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei...reaches into his artist's bag and draws out what looks like a paintcan. What's he going to do with that? Fei? What are you going to do with that paint can? Fei why are you picking up that branch? Fei. Fei. Did you really think this through?
He does glance over to Riesenlied, frowning faintly. He shakes his head a few times to clear it. It's like there's this nagging voice in the back of his head, or a whisper that just keeps dancing out of hearing range. He must be getting SNOW MADNESS.
"I ...may have an idea." Fei says.
He promptly starts banging on the can with the stick.
BANG! "WAKE!" BANG! "UP!" BANG! "STAY!" BANG! "AWAKE!" BANG!
Wait is this going to start off an avalanche? Meh, we can take an avalanche
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Lost Forager.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"--honestly!" grumbles Noeline as she helps extract Riesenlied from the round, white ball she's become; the other demon huffs out of worry as her partner sneezes, and then simply decides to lift the crimson scarf from her shoulders and wrap it cautiously around Riesenlied's instead, wrapping it comfortably tight around her neck.
It's cute, and Noeline seems to know it, the way she blushes and diverts attention away from herself by simply lifting Riesenlied into her arms to carry her back up to slope and back to the others. "What ever would she do without us?" she sighs audibly to Odjn, hanging her head.
"At least the local wildlife seem more inquisitive than outright dangerous, for the time being," she sighs once they've rejoined the others, careful to qualify her statement just in case rather than tempt fate too much. "It is bad enough venturing into climes like this without also being harried from all sides." Says the person standing outside in a skirt - but, well, metal demon rules, perhaps?
On the other hand, perhaps Noeline really is 'cheating' to some extent, because when she hurries forwards to check what everyone else is doing her face instantly falls at the sight of a small pink dragon trying to warm a man up by repeatedly missing him, and she needs a long moment of disbelief before she shakes her head with a sigh.
"Did none of you come prepared? Here," she adds as she reaches into a small pack at her side, extracting several clear packets that look like they're filled with gel; she twists the stack in her hands, rolling them roughly around for a moment, then adds them to Gwen's medical kit. "Back of the neck, under the arms, and at the waist," she directs, left with one last heating pad that she abruptly slips under the scarf around Riesenlied's neck. Toasty!
... ... ... "Fei, with the greatest of respect, I may toss you down the slope," she adds, half-liddedly watching over Riesenlied's shoulder.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lost Forager.
===============================<* Mount Zulan *>================================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Lost Forager *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- What you thought was a rock at a distance turns out to be a person in furs and leather, curled up to try and resist the cold--a lost forager from Zulan Village. They're wounded, but still conscious--though they need a source of warmth and medical attention if they're going to stay that way. They /must/ know something about the area, though, which could be very helpful if you manage to keep them awake to tell it. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Treasure=======================================
==========================<* Mount Zulan - Round 4 *>=========================== ===========================< Results - Lost Forager >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean 15 --(10)--> 25 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lemina Ausa 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Medical Kit 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Hiro 60 --(25)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Reckless(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Hiro has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Missing Link *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- At long last, you've found the beast that brought this unnatural winter to the mountain. It's huge--it stands almost ten feet tall, and its powerfully-muscled body is covered in white fur. It walks upright, sometimes, and with a hunched, knuckle-dragging gait at others. It is terrifyingly strong, and its howl can cause the mountain to send forth an avalanche. It will take all your strength just to drive it off, after the long journey up the mountain. Doing so might buy the people of Zulan a bit more time. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
When one of Ruby's fireballs zoom over Gwen's head, the courier squeaks in surprise, clutching the poor nearly frozen man to her as she ducks down. "H-hey! Ruby, this ain't the way to do that! How about, uh, melt the snow around us!"
Hiro, meanwhile, reads from his grandpa's journal, and Fei bangs a can. Jean just checks out entirely (aka, stand guard in case, you know, a giant snow monster shows up, but what's the chance of that happening??), and Lemina is the one who starts a fire.
That's the scene Noeline comes back to.
It's a miracle everyone's still alive.
From Riesenlied's vantage point, something may definitely be Different about Gwen. Something that had been forming since before their trip to Lunar, almost as far back as the conflict at Krosse. Something drastic, with a part of her becoming more aware of it. Trying to deal with it.
Something she's not showing at all, except when the man, still stiff as she tries to tend to his wounds, grasps for the area about her lower shoulders, causing her to flinch back reflexively for a moment until the realization dawns on her.
He just was trying to pull her down so he could speak to her, his focus aided by Riesenlied's power and Noeline's instructions.
"There's... th... monster... large... too... strong..." His words fade off, exhaustion settling in his bones as he warms up at the fire. "Too... dangerous..."
"I'd say we bring him back, but I'm scared of wastin' anymore time. Ruby? Odjn? Could at least one of you stay here and make sure the fire keeps going? If we meet this monster, we might need a little time round the campfire too before we head back."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Sure Gwen! You can count on me!"
And then all of a sudden, a tremendous roar shakes the entirety of the mountain - as the blizzard picks up again, suddenly so thick that all of them become shadows unable to even see each other.
"W-W-What was that!?" Ruby panicks. Hiro calls out over the wind, "That had to be it! Whatever it is - it's close. We need to be on guard right now - because anything can happen."
"Where is it!? Where is it!? I know you're out there! And I just wanted you to know - ... I taste bad! Eat Lemina!"
And then the shaking that comes next doesn't sound like the roar at all. Instead it sounds like the mountain itself is angry.
AHHHHH It's an-
Unfortunately with the snow as thick as it is, no one can see where it's coming to react to it. Ruby doesn't even get the chance to say Avalanche.
Some people may stay conscious for just long enough to realize they're being smashed into by a tremendous amount of ice and snow and rock and falling - but mercifully not for too long before all of their senses go dark.
THE END.
Or is it?
"Hiro... Hiro..."
It sounds like a beautiful dream at first... the kind one doesn't want to wake up from.
"Hiro... wake up Hiro... please open your eyes for me."
His eyes open into slits - he's cold and half-buried and hurts all over, but to him the first sight he beholds is still that of a lovely dream.
It feels a shame to wake up from it.
"L-Lucia... I can't... move..."
"Oh! I'll take care of that right away."
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMH965yFls
What happens next feels like a prayer. A litany that's not unlike the power of Althena. Azure power that heals wounds and eases exhaustion. Perhaps not enough that one is one hundred percent... but...
Her hand in his, pulling him out of the snow makes it clear that the dream has not died simply because he's awake.
"Ruby... Jean... Lemina... Gwen... Riesenlied... Fei... Noeline..."
As she calls out each of their names, each of them feels it. One by one by one. A soft and gentle blue light that calls them out of the dark. She's not idle afterwards, Lucia and Hiro both moving to help each one of them out of their perilous state. Even Ruby puts her mouth around the fabric of Fei's coat and tries to tug him out.
"Lucia! You saved our lives!"
"..."
"Why did you come back for us? What about your mission?"
I came back because... when I came to this world from the Blue Star. Finding Althena was my only concern. I did not think... or care about anything else. But I feel differently now. Something has changed... after I left Zulan, and when I was thinking about all of you, I had the strangest feeling. I never experienced anything like it... when I was alone on the Blue Star. It was like a throbbing pain in my chest. As if someone had pressed a thorn into my heart. And the further away from Zulan I walked... the greater the pain... so I came back..."
The smile on Hiro's face could melt snow, even as he wipes away his eyes. "... I really missed you too Lucia."
"You did?"
"Of course I did! I was so worried about you... and I felt ashamed... because I broke my promise that I'd go with you anywhere. And to know you came back for us... even though I hurt you... means a lot to me. More than you know probably. Thank you for saving our lives Lucia..." He swallows, "...and I'm sorry. Just when I saw these people's plight... I guess I lost sight of something... because me being there for them means I wasn't there for you. So... thank you for coming back."
How Lucia is taking this seems a little difficult to say.
"Hiro I..." Closing her eyes, it looks like she doesn't have an answer to that right now. Instead she opens them and then looks at Jean, "Jean... Lemina... Ruby... everyone... I don't feel like we should delay my mission any longer. But I understand now ... I don't want to keep moving forward unless all of you are there... it's strange. Now that I've said that. The pain which I felt in my heart - it's changed to warmth. Why has this happened?"
"Well that's pretty obvious! It's called relief! It's the opposite of what you were feeling earlier!"
"Relief?"
"Well sure! Of course you're relieved now that your friends are okay!"
Lucia's eyes have never seemed wider or more uncomprehending, and yet despite the confusion, there's a warmth in them as she repeats, "All of you are... my friends?"
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
BEFORE THE AVALANCHE:
Jean stares a the coming wall of snow. "...That's not good."
AFTER THE AVALANCHE:
Jean is unconscious in the snow--or close enough to it. The cold presses in from all around her, so cold that it burns, but then... She hears a voice. A voice, and a warm, blue light. It is not the first time Jean has felt this light, just like this. She starts to stir, and as she's helped out of the snowdrift, she looks up, blinking, dusting herself off. "...Lucia..."
The others talk, and the light warms her, les her smile at them. "You came back. ...You saved me again. Seems like you're making a habit of it..." There's somehing in her expression then, something that doesn't need words--serious, and deep. She has to wipe her eyes, too. Lucia and Hiro and Ruby talk, and...
"Yep," Jean answers. "We are. And we missed you, too. All of us. Though..."
She leaaaans over and elbows Hiro, "Maybe most of us didn't miss you as much as he did. Friends, huh? Is that what you'd want to call it?" Jean grins, poking him again with her elbow.
There's more she could say--more she feels--but none of it that she can get out yet. She has things she has to do, too. And Lucia...
Jean starts laughing even as Hiro actually gets a chance to respond to her. It's pretty loud.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has a fairly advanced sense of survival when it comes to mountains and snow, something she picked up after a couple of initial failures when it came to navigating around Arctica. Even now, when Fei starts to bang and yell and Ruby is as loud as ever, she stiffens, glancing around her as she begins to expect the worst. The fact that the rest of the noise is almost immediately joined by the roar of their quarry is just the icing on the cake, but before Noeline can complain there's another rumble, this one far more chilling.
"--shit--" is about all she can think to spit before she twists and dives to one side, her arms going around Riesenlied on the way down to drag the other metal demon down with her, wrapping her free arm around a relatively-likely looking rock in hopes of holding herself in place. "Brace!!" she calls for a moment, and then the world goes varying shades of white, black, and disorienting.
Holding on against the rush of it is impossible, as much as she tries; a jolt of vivid pain up her arm is the only indication she's got that her hand has slipped, buffeted by the snow, so instead she just holds onto her charge with all she's got as they tumble downwards.
* * *
The both of them buried, it takes a while for her to come back to her senses and realize that everything has stilled, with no real concept of where the outside world might be or which direction it might lie in. All around them is blank white - but Noeline is a terribly stubborn sort, gritting her teeth as she feels consciousness filter back in.
"Riese," she mutters muzzily, more to check for a response than anything else; unaware of Lucia's assistance just yet she pushes upwards with her back, doing her best to find some footing with which to begin the slow process of digging their way out. "Riese!" she adds, not certain why she's feeling a tight urgency in her chest, her hand grasping the other metal demon's - but then there's a blossoming light from somewhere above that gives her the strength to grit her teeth and outright claw her way upwards.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's eyes starkly widen, even as she looks relieved as the man's consciousness redoubles in strength when Gwen begins to heal him with her medicinal kit. "Shh... it's all right-- we'll get you out of here..." she reassures, even though she knows they have to press on.
But then-- the roaring starts to echo throughout the mountains.
The corpse grins, her toothy, bloody smirk laced from ear to ear. "Sound familiar?"
The snow descends upon them much swifter than she can handle, as she vaguely hears Noeline's cussing and-- gets thrown aside and together with her partner as they tumble in the snow and everything goes... black...
...
She shakes her head. Reclines on her chair as she glances up towards no one in particular. "This may be the end for both you and I, my friend. Id."
A smirk crosses her face again, as if she doesn't believe that. "I've never quite thought of it... even when you warned me. If she goes... I go."
She shrugs, her cracked, broken fingers dripping with a bit of blood. "And what could be sadder than an existence that never knew the truth before expiring...?"
...
Odjn is not seen, but a black and red tail that sticks out of the ground is as she rolls on her rather round self up, gasps, wheezes, and intones: "And they were never seen or heard from again..." A pause. "It's a sad thing that your adventures have ended here...!!" Another pause. "Whoa-- I just saw a goddess..."
A pause. "Wait, that's not a goddess, that's Lucia!"
Yeah, she might be a bit delirious from her tumble, to say the least.
Riesenlied is far less durable and capable of withstanding punishment than Noeline is, and for the first couple of desperate moments she's cold and limp in the Hyadean's embrace. She doesn't answer her desperate cries out, and isn't moving in the slightest.
It isn't until Lucia's blossoming light comes down to restore her from her unconsciousness does she begin to stir, ever so slowly, more difficult and strained than the rest. "...mm...."
Lucia looks to them all and asks if they're friends...
"Lucia, you just saved me from an avalanche and healed me," Odjn beams. "You could say you're Vice President of the Bernadelli Insurance Company and I'd happily believe you!"
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina opens her mouth to start chanting, perhaps hoping with a wave of fire she can turn this avalanche into one twelfth as much of a volume of water -- which would still be immense, but likely not quite as catastrophic as in snow form.
She gets a mouthful of snow before she can actually meaningfully react and is promptly annihilated. She distantly registers a shiver, but it's hard to even fully connect it to her awareness of herself before it's lights out.
When she wakes up, amid that warm, blossoming light... it's not entirely familiar, the way it is for Jean -- but Lemina recognizes it immediately. The Junior Premier needs a lot of help getting out of the snow -- she's still a little too rattled to do it magically...
"Well, friends or no," Lemina says, "You're still supposed to join my Guild, so it's good to have you back!" She draws to her feet at last, shaking the snow off of herself... and deciding to let Hiro and Lucia have their moment.
She scoots toward Jean, whispering, "... So when do you think they're gonna kiss? It's not gonna be here, right?" ... god, what a brat!!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline keeps digging upwards - at some point she's simply decided to take the easier route, thrusting her hand up into the snow above her and calling on her power to reshape parts of her body to just cut through the barrier with a confusing jumble of metallic strands. Her heart lurches more than she'd like to admit when Lucia's power comes down, and causes Riesenlied's hand to twitch in hers, and then there's sky and light and she hauls Riesenlied's body up out of the hole.
"H-haah..." she sighs as she falls back to a sitting position, still holding onto the other demon. "Remind me never to go mountain-climbing with you all," she grumbles openly to the open air, unfortunately somewhat sidestepping both the general air of celebration and Lucia's return. Give her a couple minutes, perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong drops the paint can since his hand are starting to get numb. He rubs his hands together to try and get a burst of fire chi coming out of them but the trick about using the Hamon is htat you need the energy inside of you in order to make it come out of you. It's the weakness of the Hamon! He frowns faintly when suddenly there's a roar.
"That must be it..." Fei agrees with Hiro. He braces for an ambush but what he isn't expecting is an ambush from THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF. Hey, if the can banging didn't do it, he wasn't expecting the roar to.
The snow comes crashing down upon him. It's sudden and painful. There's a sense of falling into a void which he'll never wake up from.
???
Fei runs along the abyss. Normally there's a chair, but he doesn't even see the chair. All there is is the cross swinging back and forth over his head, through the background. Sometimes it grows larger and larger and it never shrinks.
Sometimes it feels like fate, doesn't it junior?
He runs. His legs do not ache, his feet don't touch a ground but nor do they sink further into the darkness either.
You know how this story ends. You've lived it many times. Hiro doesn't get to use Continues. When he bites it, it's over. Then she'll bite it. The darkness that makes us seem like a shining beacon pushes away the light
Why, Fei wonders, why isn't he getting any breaks from this anymore? He said that Lucia was running, but who is really running, Fei? Who is the coward here? What is so painful that you can't turn around and see what's chasing you?
Or maybe they win and pay the hero's price. A fleeting peace is bought with their blood and guts spilling on the floor.
Fei presses his hands to his ears.
Nothing ends, Junior. They leylines reach here too, Junior. I don't think dying here is gonna change our destiny even if you try to and drag these kids along with you. Only one person will get up
Shutup, Fei thinks, shutup. Shutup! Shutup!! Why do you keep doing this to me?!
Because it's all our fault, Junior. The screams of mothers as they look upon their slaughtered babes, the wracking sobs of grandfathers who are the last of their line, the smile of butchers on the battlefield.
Fei stops running, sinking down to his knees and trying to cover his ears in vain. It's all representation, Fei, like on a canvas but you're the paint.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
It's the sin that has haunted us ever since we first looked upon that silver moon, that bright blue star
There's a moment where Nasrin's voice penetrates the barrier, traveling along a connection formed what feels like a lifetime ago. Old Petra.
For you maybe. We don't die for long.
He doesn't sound happy about it.
I'm sorry, Nasrin. It would have been nice if you could have felt the sun just once, to take control just once. One of the few true pleasures. But entities like you and I...
We don't get nice things
Fei looks up and towards Nasrin, whom he can see as clear as day now. He walks towards her, arm outstretched, but before he can reach--
--a blue light ripples in from behind and he turns to look.
Two voices whisper in the soul in unison, 'She came back? Then there's still...hope'. Two hands reach for the light to try and feel it-----
DUSK OF PLUME USED
CAUSALITY RESTORED
But then it's over. Fei's head pokes out of the snow, his hair undone and free--his hairtie lost somewhere in the snow. It's white so--good luck finding that. He seemingly bursts into flames moments afterwards but it is only for a moment, enough to melt the snow off of him. He manages to stand himself up.
He shakes out some snow out of his pants and then looks towards Lucia. His expression grows strange as Ruby has to explain what 'relief' is, but frankly Fei is likely feeling some of that himself. He exhales some misty breath and says, "If you've got to ask, I'm a little worried, but since you rescued all of us--I'm counting you as a friend at least!"
Then Jean starts laughing, and he has to start laughing too because laughter is contagious. He grabs at his sides. Everything hurts, but he's laughing. He is laughing so much he can't stop. He's laughing so much he's actually crying. Tears fall from his eyes as he laughs hysterically. Every time he's about to stop, he laughs again and starts the process over.
But then he hears Odjn. "Riese...! Are you okay?"
That gets him to stop laughing.
"Come on Riese..." Fei says. "We've come too far..."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Darkness. Cold.
In whatever space that Gwen has to think in, it's just that. Cold. Dark. Numb.
Just how many more times will Gwen be meeting death like this? And each time, breaking away, stating firmly that she can't, she won't, she refuses to go.
But what can she do now? What sort of price would she be willing to pay this time? The Mockingbird is an ARM, not a miracle.
She hasn't even been able to ask Rigdobrite forgiveness for so harshly taking that power to fuel her own life. Maybe-
Would this be the time she just allows it to happen?
'... Gwen...'
Maybe, just maybe, it'd be good to just let-
A pulse of gentle light, drawing her away from that terrible little box.
There's a hand, taking ahold of hers. Another. Pulling her up, out, into light, into the warmth of contact, of friends and tearful reunions.
Well, she's the one who's bringing tears, as she pulls both Lucia and Hiro in for a tight hug.
"Of course, Lucia. Of course you're my friend."
Finally looking up, Gwen sights Noeline and Riesenlied, and gasps, ready to rush over, but it seems Noeline might have it handled. "I guess we're okay... but what 'bout the people we came here for...?"
Excuse Gwen a moment. A brush with death always seems to make her Gwensenses go into hibernation just a tad.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
And where is Ragnell during all this?
Somewhat behind and to the left of Lucia, looking both wry and resigned. When Lucia admits to having missed her dear friends terribly, to the point that it's a revelation to her, Ragnell shrugs with arms wide, sighs theatrically, and shakes her head.
Beyond that, though, she lets the heartwarming reunion take place at its own pace. Small mercies, perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
And upon seeing Ragnell- Hiro says, "Ragnell... thanks for looking out for her..."
"Why would I say that? That would be a lie." Lucia confides in Odjn. "But I am glad you're safe ..." That awkward pause is Lucia not knowing Odjn's name and not being socially adept enough to just ask and rectify it.
And at Fei - "I'd heard the word before. Even after I knew what it meant though... it never occurred to me that... I could be like that to anyone." She actually seems faintly - guilty over that. Strange. "Lucia... maybe you didn't understand it before... but I can tell you without a doubt you already are our friend... and we're yours. And it's been that way for some time." Lucia looks astonished by this fact. "Perhaps... that is so."
Which is perhaps perfect timing for Gwen drawing them both into a hug. "Gwen..." She says seeming touched - but not quite yet knowing how to respond to her crying hugs yet. She doesn't even have her hat anymore to offer. "... don't... don't cry." "She's crying because she's happy."
And at Noeline - "Yes - I will. It does seem quite dangerous." How literal can she be!? IT HAS NO LIMITS! "Are you alright Riesenlied?"
Hiro is aghast, aghast by Jean saying that, putting an elbow up defensively like he's blocking a blow in a spar as she starts laughing, "I'm not calling it anything! The only thing I'm gonna say is girls always know how to embarrass me!" Lucia just smiles at Jean, not understanding any of Jean's implications. "I missed you too Jean." A beat, "And I don't know what joining your guild entails Lemina - but if it doesn't interfere with my mission. I'll gladly do it." And when Lemina asks when they're going to kiss Ruby shouts, "NEVER! The only kissing Hiro is going to be doing is with me!"
Hiro's face is now red enough that could have an egg fried on it. Lucia just seems faintly confused. "A... kiss?" Lucia then looks quite grim, "It's coming."
They only barely have time to grab the wounded man out of the snow and secure him...
And of course that's when the thing attacks.
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoYn8PtSHwM
It's vaguely like the apes they fought earlier in it's shape, but only vaguely - being over three meters tall and nearly two wide so it seems more like something between man and beast. It's chest and abdominal muscles are bare of fur, and of course the thing is shredded.
It has three stances:
1. Beat it's Chest like a drum.
In this stance it immediately engages with Jean by leaping and trying to smack her with its Titanic fists.
2.Down on all fours.
It then leaps up - and the snow on the mountain moves like a wave of water, crashing into them. It's not quite as bad as the avalanche earlier. But it's pretty dang bad - Riesenlied, Noeline and Hiro get to experience this first hand.
Stance 3. Summon the blizzard into a whirlwind like shield. It becomes near impossible to approach it and damage it during this. And worse yet, any attempt just seems to hurt anyone who tries. And even worse he gets REALLY MAD - powering up his next round. Gwen, Fei and Lemina learn to hate this really fast.
But then it's pattern has become pretty obvious! It's a three trick pony. And not only that. Lucia seems to actually be participating more actively!? She's not only firing off beams of blue flame that crawls like liquid over it. But she's also - healing the party and using support spells to power them up!?
... This may not seem like something enormous by JRPG party standards but for the Lunar 2 one this is a pretty tremendous day.
Hiro actually gets a buff from a Power Flame cast by Lucia as he picks himself out of the snow and charges at it with a flaming sword - "SO ANYONE HAVE ANY REALLY GOOD PLANS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS THING...?" He calls out over the howling wind, "Maybe - Fire would work?" "... YES THANK YOU FOR THAT RUBY!" He says as he swings said flaming sword at the thing, trying to fend off it's fists.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"...Welcome back, Ragnell." Jean looks her in the eye a moment and that's that. Then she's grinning at Lemina. "You think so? We could start a pool. I don't get to do enough gambling without Ronfar." A beat, "But I don't think Hiro would know what to do if she did..." She laughs harder at Hiro's response. "There's just something great about watching you squirm!" she announces, and is grinning back at Lucia when she answers her. She shares a look with her, too--but doesn't say much about it. Instead, she starts to joke more--But--
She senses it too. Jean immediately whirls towards the creature...
And gets hit quick for her trouble. It charges straight for her and Jean immediately gets light on her feet, ducking down under the first punch and getting slammed back by the next as it's faster than she thinks, going straight into a snowbank. "Gh--"
As the fight starts in earnest, she gets a sense for its rhythm quick... But more to the point, she gets a heal from Lucia, and she blinks her way--and then grins. "Yeah. We can do this!" Hiro asks for ideas, and Jean is pulling... a flask? From her bag. "Step one! Stay loose! Always keep in mind your mobility when fighting someone bigger, Hiro."
She then holds up a hand, one finger out, and... unscrews the flask's top and downs the entire thing, gulp gulp gulp. It--it takes a few seconds. Long seconds.
"Ah..." The flask goes away, and Jean nods firmly. "...Then, drink without mussing your lip color--very key." She grins again. "After that..."
Jean whirls into a dance maneuver meant to weaken and harry first, moving gracefully on the snow without so much as dropping beneath the surface.
"Hit it with all you have!"
DG: Jean has used her Tool Emergency Liquor toward her party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei gives Lucia a sympathetic look. "You've had a rough time of it, haven't you?" He shakes his head. "Of course you can be. You've been that way to these folks since before I met you. When you were sick, they were worried about you the whole time."
He does not get involved in the love triangle. He might die for you, Ruby, but he wouldn't dive into that nonsense for anything. He has a wife and kid to worry about. (Kind of).
Fei also has to step away from checking on Riesenlied because all of a sudden, the party is being attacked by Umaro!
Fei looks towards Jea and gives her a small nod. "I'll try to punch through his barrier with Kakei." He tells her. "Whatever happens...use the opening to deal Massive Damage!"
He claps the side of his face a few times, gripping his RPS Badge in one hand.
The knowledge that he was able to beat up a smaller version of this monster in order to get it back fills him with determination.
He darts in at this moment, leaping into the air and bursting into his flames as he phoenix dives down to detonate the flames around his body to strike the Sasquatch dead center!
Strangely...
Or perhaps not so strangely...
He's grinning widely.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Like I said, it's up to each of us to decide for ourselves what's right an' what's important," Ragnell tells Hiro, just as wryly. "I'm just in it for the ride." When Jean welcomes her back, Ragnell looks her back in the eye and smiles. "You know me. I come an' go as I please." A beat when Lemina mutters to Jean about kissing and Ruby interrupts, and Ragnell guffaws. "So who *are* you gonna kiss, Hiro?" she adds in a lilt, smirking, one eye shut. "It's rude for a gentleman to keep a pair o' ladies waiting~."
As Gwen cries and hugs people, Ragnell gives a Meaningful Glance at Noeline and Riese at that, with the former shaking the latter and the latter slowly rousing into consciousness thanks to Lucia's healing. It looks like nobody's going to be kissing anyone, though, given the sudden roaring arrival of the monster everyone came here to slay.
"Who knows? I'm jus' followin' y'all's leads!" she calls over to Hiro, before shooting at the creature experimentally. A bit tough with that reflective snowstorm--but Jean has some sage advice along with a sage bottle, and Ragnell laughs again. "Pretty wise for a human~!"
She'll drop a few lightning bolts on the sasquatch's head once the others have softened it up a bit first. Not unlike Fei, she seems like she's enjoying herself. But hey, after all that, she may as well be.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"Well yeah it's coming," Lemina shoots back, "But wh --"
The kiss, it turns out, is not what's coming. She leaps back from the monster -- or, well, really mostly just staggers back, trying to hit the immense ape with a blast of fire and promptly getting a much-enhanced torrent of water in the face for her trouble.
As Lucia takes a more active role in the battle, though... it actually helps Lemina also take a more active role in the battle. With Lucia doing much the same sorts of things Lemina would normally have to divert her attention for, she can focus on blasting.
Fire seems right, here, but Lemina has something she wants to do first. She slaps a pair of tiny, shield-like crests on each of her hands from her pack, calling, "I'll take care of this!" She extends a hand, and a magical dart forms in it -- which rapidly streaks for the monster.
Lemina has not gotten the memo about bosses and status effects.
Now it's time to set the thing extremely on fire. ... she may feel the need to show off a little, because when she does it, she gives her staff a little extra twirl... and rather than just popping up into the standard pillar of flame, her fire seems to comply, turning into a blazing whirlwind of the type that she's so often created with Hiro in the past.
Lemina... actually seems caught off-guard by her own damn magic.
DG: Lemina Ausa has used her Tool Crest Combo toward her party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
As Gwen separates from her embrace with the two, she spots Ragnell. Still teary-eyed and full of gratitude, Gwen just attaches herself in a hug onto Ragnell, still crying. "Thanks so much... for keepin' an eye on Lucia... n'..." It just sort of fades away unto Gwen just sort of gratefully hugging the Seraph for... well, being Ragnell, it seems, as that's mostly all she did here.
'A.... kiss?' A pause. 'It's coming.' Gwen instantly disengages from Ragnell and turns around. Lucia's taking the initative?! "Huh-wha?!"
O-oh. The monster.
'Hit it with all you have!' "On it!" Making sure the wounded man is secure, Gwen takes out some more pellets from an inner pocket underneath her poncho, depositing them behind a flap in her right sleeve. "Aiming now!" She stomps one boot into the snow and kneels with the other aiming not at the monster itself, but at the very sharp-looking icicles above the monster's head. "There we go... just a lil' bit further over... n' bingo!" Waiting for Fei to clear away from the beast, Gwen fires, each projectile chipping or clipping straight through an icicle, causing them to fall down onto the monster below.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese! Are you okay?
Come on Riese... we've come too far...
"... maybe," speaks Nasrin, the corpse, as she finally hears Id's voice in the moment of what might feel like the end. "Even a single cycle of this... the waiting feels like an eternity. You know what that is like, don't you?"
She smirks as she leans against one side of the chair.
"... it's all right. I think she's moved forward after meeting you. I can wait... just a little bit... longer--"
Riesenlied's eyes flutter as she quietly hears Lucia's voice. "... L-Lucia..." she whispers, glancing towards... everyone... Jean, Lemina... Gwen-- even Ragnell.
But they don't have very long, with Riesenlied effectively still immobile when the massive Wendigo arrives. It pounds its chest and roars, engaging them immediately. She trembles and gets nearly bowled over by the wave of snow that crashes against them, holding onto her side and relying on Noeline for her assistance...
"... I have this."
She closes her eyes, and with the power that Lucia's granted her, she can finally stand once more. She rises -- into the air, afloat on her tattered, skeletal wings and draws the guqin that has been granted to her by the spirits of the Sluice Forest (and definitely not the Turtlez).
Her eyes are soft and alight with the power of her emotions as she spreads photons into the air, in a soft, coalescing spiral that starts to connect her with the massive ape of a creature.
And with it she engages the creature, not with damage... not with violence...
But what she truly believes in.
"... it was something Fei told me weeks ago, Hiro, Lucia. That one doesn't need to feel they have to do everything -- and carry the weight of the world by themselves."
"Because there will be others. Friends to support us when we falter. When our own priorities take us in opposite directions. Because we're in all of this together."
And she begins playing -- one string at a time, she plucks... and though the instrument is terribly soft in sound, it resonates very clearly through the soul and the heart, as she courts the monster into her serenade directly.
It'll take time... and it'll take everyone else's efforts to weaken the monster...
"Be calm... we are not who you have quarrel with.
What is it that wounds you so? Tell me..."
As her soft playing reaches its natural crescendo, she swans her sleeve over a flourish -- and that emanation of light blossoms outward, descending around her in the form of molten feathers.
"I will listen..."
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Bella Aeterna toward her party's challenge, The Missing Link.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline hauls Riesenlied up to her feet with a practiced sort of care; she hears the incoming roar of their quarry, the way in which it presses recklessly on the attack even after chasing them down an avalanche, and grits her teeth as she twists around to face its approach.
Rather than let go of Riesenlied - there's still a fear that grips her at how frail her partner has come these days, after all, a fear that's backed up by the way in which she has absolutely no idea how to fix it - she summons her sword to her instead, hefting the chunk of metal the same size she is to ram it into the ground in front of her.
After a shock like that, it seems, she's more than willing to let others do the actual fighting, preferring instead to cover the other demon as she lifts into the air; the Wendigo does crash into her with at least one shattering punch, but Noeline catches it with ease as she more or less hides behind her mobile wall of steel. "... you won't get to her," she mutters, even if she's not entirely sure where the impulse is coming from, or who she's actually saying it to, and she wrenches her arm around in a battering swing to knock the creature away.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Missing Link.
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Missing Link *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- At long last, you've found the beast that brought this unnatural winter to the mountain. It's huge--it stands almost ten feet tall, and its powerfully-muscled body is covered in white fur. It walks upright, sometimes, and with a hunched, knuckle-dragging gait at others. It is terrifyingly strong, and its howl can cause the mountain to send forth an avalanche. It will take all your strength just to drive it off, after the long journey up the mountain. Doing so might buy the people of Zulan a bit more time. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Round 5 *>========================== ========================< Results - The Missing Link >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jean 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Emergency Liquor 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lemina Ausa 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Crest Combo 3 Combat Effects: Resilient and Liabili ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Bella Aeterna 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Efficient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Hiro 85 --(30)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Hiro has successfully explored Mount Zulan!
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Giant Geode *>========================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- In the back of the wendigo's lair is a boulder that looks perfectly ordinary at first glance. It has a large crack in the side, and if pried open, it reveals its true nature--it's a geode! The crystalline interior glimmers beautifully in the light, the refracted colors reminiscent of fine opal. A collector would pay a lot of money for this. Lucky you! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro manages a small grin at Ragnell, "Just the ride huh? Not the destination?" He can understand that. He's just enjoying this adventure too much.
"Rough." Lucia repeats the word from Fei as if it's a koan. "Yes. And I suppose they were." As for the kissing thing - "UH NO TIME TO TALK - LUCIA SAYS IT'S COMING!"
Hiro is suddenly REALLY grateful there's a big monster to fight rather than having to answer to Jean, Lemina, or Ragnell on the subject of kissing.
Hiro tries to follow Jean's advice, and starts dodge-rolling more than trying to block such massive strength, rolling with the blows - while Jean herself starts taking the thing apart with a graceful dance of the karate of death that starts to steadily exhaust it.
Fei hits it with Kakei - gripping his RPG badge to increase his spirit! And Hiro follows his advice and does a leaping slash at it to follow it up, "DODGE THIS!"
Quickly it's getting worn down by a combination of Ragnell's lightning bolts causing it to dance like a Western protagonist shooting at its feet - and it does not like it as it howls. And Lemina - uses her crest combo to create a FLARE VORTEX on top of it. The thing definitely screams - which is when an icicle brains it and shatters - stunning it. As it looks like it's about to charge Riesenlied - Noeline halts it with a battering swing from the wall of steel.
"Huh? What are you going to do Riese?" Lucia however watches her with rapt attention. While she doesn't comment on it - the music causes her to look a little distant. While the creature seems... to also... pay attention...
It's feelings are not something that can be put well in words. But there's a tremendous amount of anger at - Oh. Apparently their mate died a generation ago and drove it away. It blames the village hunters - their lack of understanding of its feelings. Through gentle - gentle coaxing. Riese manages to convince it that there's been enough blood in this cycle of anguish. Enough lives lost. Eventually... it gets down on all fours and simply runs away.
"Whoa!? Did you just... convince it to just go away?" Lucia says quietly, "... I see. Some burdens can be eased by sharing them."
The key word there perhaps is 'some'.
After it's gone a search of the mountainside is easy. It's cave lair contains a giant shining geode shines opalescent, with all the colors of a prism.
And... there's a stunned looking girl stumbling out of one of the side caverns. Clutching a unique looking herb that looks like a flower on a long stem of grass. "Who are you people? Where in the world am I- "Hey that has to be the mayor's daughter! Hey! Is that it? Did you get that for your baby?" "-why am I holding... my baby!? I don't know what you're talking about you flying... cat... psycho! I don't know what this is for and I definitely don't have a child!" Hiro looks at the others awkwardly, "Uh- amnesia?" Ruby grumbles, "Well obviously there's something missing if she thinks I'm a cat... but hey let's not stand out here in the cold freezing our butts off! If she's the mayor's daughter he'll recognize her!"
-=-=-
"Yeah I have no idea who this guy is." Maria says to the Mayor who plaintively says as a baby cries in the background, "Maria! Come to your senses. Your baby is only now just starting to get better - she needs you!" "Look - old man, I'm a daughter of noble birth. I'm not the daughter of some dumb old Mayor in this wretched little town - and I'm sure not whelping any brats! In fact! I'm getting out of here. Won't be long before some handsome prince shows up to carry me off on a white dragon. And the sooner he does the better!"
She then looks at the rest of them, "Which is why I'm going with all of you so I can find him first. You don't mind that right? Who doesn't want to roam the land with a beautiful young woman at their side?"
Ruby says it all about the intense ethical implications of this, "Ooo... awkward."
In the next room the crying of the baby slowly starts to calm, as a lullaby is sung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzswAt8BLUE
It's definitely Lucia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Just the ride, not the destination? "I'm keepin' my options open," Ragnell tells Hiro, still grinning with one eye shut. But then!! Gwenhugs. "Arrgh--ugh, *fine*," she grouses, rolling her eyes as she pats a weepy, huggy, grateful Gwen on the shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, no need t' have a breakdown over it." Fortunately for everyone involved, the Wendigo interrupts hug-times.
It's eventually driven away, between everyone's attacks and Riese's music convincing it to give up the attack. A woman is rescued, and a promising-looking herb with it, but she protests being any mayor's daughter, all the way back the mayor's place. Ragnell squints at Maria as she declares she's coming with all of them to find her prince charming because she's DEFINITELY NOT this guy's daughter or this baby's mother, then shakes her head.
Then she leans back on the wall and listens to Lucia sing a lullaby in the other room while everyone else sorts this out.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has never seen such powerful magic from Lemina before... or-- really understands what Jean's lecturing about with the alcohol. Ragnell was there all along -- perhaps, much like the Trial Knight, her role really is to observe and give people that much-needed push...
But the Wendigo.
Riesenlied spends that moment, aloft in the air -- physically, but also aloft within that light of communication with the creature--
I can scarce say I fully understand how much pain you are in... but...
I'll tell them. But you must also understand that humans are shorter lived than you are. I will teach them to not spuriously hunt your kind... neither of you wish to see your children be hunted.
Farewell...
The creature's anger diminishes, ever so softly -- the pain is still there; she can't just take it away in the blink of an eye. But slowly, she can try to remand the wounds that have been inflicted by those who may not even be here in this world anymore...
...
Riesenlied collapses -- the use of such a power takes a lot out of her, and it's just enough that Noeline was there to protect her from its strikes, gasping for air as she gazes towards the woman that comes out of the cavern.
-=-=-
Back at the village... Riesenlied's spending time recuperating at the inn. But Odjn is there to keep an eye on things, wincing faintly as she mumbles, "N-noble birth, huh...?"
A pause.
"... 'm biased I guess. If Riese didn't let me go with her when she found me all that time ago... but you do you, lady."
She bobbles and looks to Ruby... then gets distracted by Lucia's lullaby. "Wow... what a pretty song... 'm gonna remember it the next time Mikaia bawls..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
There's a frown on Noeline's face, her brow furrowed as she watches the girl flit from topic to topic and swear blind that it's nothing to do with her. For a moment, she glances at Ragnell, and thinks of her rather blaze attitude towards this sort of thing, and the lines on her forehead run deeper for a moment - but at the same time, she can't really see much of a clear way out of this situation, not without breaking some hearts one way or another.
Her voice sharpens, becomes a little older and less playful. "I hope you are kidding. Would you like to offer an explanation as to why you were up on an isolated mountain if you are not from somewhere nearby? Do you even begin to know where you will go, or what you will do? Should you go with these people, can you pull your weight when bandits or monsters attack, or are you just determined to be a burden? How callous," she huffs as much of the strength leaves her, rubbing at her forehead.
For a moment, she glances at Odjn, and then lets out a sigh. "There is a difference between going out into the world, and doing so sensibly," she tries a second time, with a little more in the way of olive branch attached. "At the very least, recognize that you are wounded and take some time to actually consider what you are doing."
That appears to be all she's got; she's clearly stewing over her own worries, drawing her hand back through her hair as she mutters something under her breath. Besides, she's tired herself, having faced down an avalanche and a monster today.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
The fight is over and nobody had to die. Fei looks towards Riesenlied for a moment and then looks away. He seems embarrassed. There'd red in his cheeks. Or maybe it's hypothermia. Hard to tell. It's weird that words he spoke to Riesenlied seems to have resonance with Lucia but--it's not wrong, right? It's still true. They're just better at living it than he'll be, he has to imagine. He wishes he could share more, but it always feels like there's more to carry and he just doesn't have it in him to keep handing out boulders.
And any good feelings are torn asunder when a mother appears, a mother whose personality seems to have changed in an instant.
Fei's head lowers and doesn't rise again for the rest of the trek back.
-=-=-
Fei listens to this...this...this nonsense. It doesn't take RED SYMPATHY to recognize that this particular conversation is pissing him off. He's not even sure he can express why. It just hits him deep at his core. He clenches his fists, which are trembling. She has amnesia, he reminds himself, she has amnesia, but that's not enough. It's only Lucia's lullaby that prevents him from slugging her. And he's grateful, because he's not sure why he wants to so badly. He's grateful, because he thinks if he does, then he would never be himself afterwards again.
"You're living in a fantasy world," Fei tells Maria. "And I'm not saying that in the cute storytelling way, I'm saying it in the suffering delusions of grandeur sort of way."
He flexes out his fingers. They strain as if they're about to fly off. "There's a child here that needs you, that you clearly loved and risked everything for. Nobody can force your life for you, but if you leave here, the woman that risked everything to save their child will die, the mother who loved their child will be gone forever."
His eyes narrow. "Only the cruel hag who couldn't see past her own reflection would remain, a visage so hideous the mirror would shatter into a thousand shards."
He is clearly not on the side of 'you do you'. He exhales once and adds, "Sorry," before heading outside.
The door is wide open. He could walk right through it if he wished.
But for the moment he waits.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"... c'mon, Noe-noe, Fei..." Odjn looks pretty tired as she says, "Riese should be wakin' up any moment now. Mikaia 'n Janey and the Wolves're waitin' for us."
She's pretty rattled at Fei's rather forceful rebuke, and Noeline's own as well -- and doesn't look like she's got enough in her to keep digesting more of it.
"Too bad the baby's too young to have any say in this. ... when Riese found me, I was a whelp too..." 'was'? "...but she made me curious about the world outside..."
She shakes her head and floats out.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... you're right," Noeline admits towards Odjn as she relents, nodding her head; she seems a little chagrined, perhaps, or at least rather muted as she continues to frown - all too aware that their tone might simply cause the girl to push back out of sheer stubbornness. But then, that hardly leaves much in the way of options anyway.
Trying to keep it light, she snorts softly. "You're still a whelp," she teases as she knocks lightly on the dragon's side. "... and I suppose I'm not one to talk about being curious about the world, either, should it come to that. ... haah, let us go find Riese, then."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell meets Noeline's glance, then shrugs slightly and waves a hand in front of her face--the implication meant to be, 'What's the point in me saying anything to someone who can't see or hear me?' Whether that gets across or not is another story, but she rests a hand on her hip after that. Her attitude might be blase, but it's easy to be when you're used to being unable to meaningfully weigh in on what humans do.
She does glance over at Fei, though, as he goes off on Maria so angrily it makes her own earlier chastisements look like kitten taps. Then he caps it off with a 'Sorry' and Ragnell can't help but snort in amusement. Noeline's pretty harsh too, but there's a line there that she doesn't *quite* cross. Maybe her more sensible words will actually get through to Maria.
"See y'all later, then," she says to Noeline and Odjn as they head out. Fei... probably isn't in a mood for farewells, all considered.