2018-04-12: Take It Well, But Take It

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DG: A party led by Fei Fong Wong is now entering The Artificer's Workshop.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - One Small Step *>=======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The door relents to the merest push, but all that does is let the
 Artificier's shrink ray fire freely. Now you're mere inches tall, and
 several feet in the air. Well, you were several feet in the air. That number
 is dwindling fast as you plummet towards the floor.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong sometimes likes to do cute activities with Elly but sometimes he likes to do cute adventures with Elly because he doesn't have a real job and needs to supplement his lack of income through drifter adventures. Plus, drifter adventures are just plain fun and frankly he makes more doing this than with his artwork which is nice, but not exactly reliable. If it were reliable, there'd be decent odds he'd never ended up in a mercenary company to begin with.

Of course going by your twosome can be dangerous so he invited Josephine and Sephilia along since they are cool friends...and cool people! Friendship has taken a stronger affect on Fei since he nuked most of them back in Lahan.

"I hear this workshop's been abandoned for a while," Fei says as he walks towards the door. "And other groups have even paid it a visit, so I don't think we're--like--robbing anybody we can expect to be back. I figure--" He reaches to push open the door. "--that security will be light, so just a relaxing dig for--"

He blinks as a ray gun hidden on the other side of the door zaps him--and everybody in fact!--and everybody starts to shrink. Fei hangs in midair for a momenet before cartoonishly dropping to the ground.

"Nobody mentioned this...!!" Fei squeaks.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, One Small Step.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

For Sephilia, the feeling of being small is all too familiar. Just...not THIS small.

On the other hand, she's got a soft Chauncey to land on or even catch her--at his normal, doll-size! THAT she's more used to.%r
"I--" Sephy begins, and immediately slams both hands over her mouth, very embarrassed at how her voice sounds when she's this small.

Good thing there's a soft, catchy Chauncey, though, either way!

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Small Step.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly doesn't mind this sort of thing at all. It's nice on a subtle, profound level to spend time with Fei... ...and also her own pay is likely going to be kind of irregular now, if she even wants it. It's certainly better than Fei being forced to draw the fursonas of the people of Lunar.

"That's interesting," Elly says as she approaches the doorway. "Is it acceptable to do things like this? I mean in the eyes of the governments... I haven't been entirely clear - but," she says, before

bwip!
SHRINK RAY.

Her hair flows behind her as she falls down, landing on the shock-absorbing pads of her less-flashy but nonetheless rugged and comfy boots with her arms outspread. She trembles just a little, then topples forwards onto her hands. But she didn't die or break a bone! Yay!

"What -- ?! Fei, did we get teleported??"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Expedition Boots toward her party's challenge, One Small Step.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    There's benefits to being 'stranded on the literal moon, where drink has been mysteriously outlawed most places for some reason by some lady who apparently just appeared one day', and among these actual benefits are the ability to practice archaeology* in brand new settings**.

    "Sure doesn't look like the owner's coming back any time soon," Josie comments, lighting a (handrolled) cigarette as they approach the door. She might be the picture of some sort of amoral cool, if it weren't for the pigeon perched atop her head.
    But so it goes.

    "Well, as they say, finders keepers, huh, Junior? Kiddo?" Her gaze flickers over to Elly. "To be honest, Red, probably not. But I won't tell if you won't <3" She takes one step towards the door as Fei pushes it open--

    --finding herself in freefall--

    An infinitesimally small cigarette escapes her fingers; Penelope, perhaps now the approximate size of a flea, whirrs off into parts unknown as Josie plummets for the floor below.

    Evasive maneuvers become essential; Josie drops into a roll as she lands, attempting to deflect the worst of the impact.

    *blatant theft

    **home robbery

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Small Step.
========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - One Small Step *>=======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The door relents to the merest push, but all that does is let the
 Artificier's shrink ray fire freely. Now you're mere inches tall, and
 several feet in the air. Well, you were several feet in the air. That number
 is dwindling fast as you plummet towards the floor.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
===================<* The Artificer's Workshop - Round 1 *>===================
=========================< Results - One Small Step >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Expedition Boots                    2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)
Effects:
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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.

The group is able to land well considering the situation. Nobody hurts their precious feet and considering what Fei's player has had to deal with today, that's a blessing. Ouch! Nevertheless, Fei is kind of shellshocked for a moment because this isn't really what he was expecting to happen. In fact, this is so strange he's still kind of processing. Elly snaps him out of his thoughts but he still seems unsure.

"Everything's so big..." He tells Elly. "I think... we shrank? Or...teleported to some kind of giant world?" He clears his throat but he still sounds, frankly, a bit squeaky.

"I guess that's...a home security system, huh?" He looks over to Josephine and adds, "...I guess we don't really have much of a choice now anyway, legal or not." He pauses. "Pretty sure uh. This ... ..."

He looks at Sephilia. " Did Chauncey shrink with us? He seems a little bigger this time."

Either way the team moves on to...the world's tiniest adventure yet!

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy shrugs, hands still over her mouth. "I--" she squeaks, then scrunches up her face. "I dunno, I just needed him to catch me so he did," she manages, then turns to look at Josephine. "Also I'm not a kiddo! I'm Sephy! I'm sixteen!"

She sounds like a chipmunk.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie pulls up into a crouch, then stands. "Shrank," she answers, gazing up at what appear to be the long expanse of a doorside table, squinting towards the ceiling. "Huh. Can't say I've run into something like this before. Ancient tombs tend to aim more for the 'curse you' or 'kill you' variety." She pairs this with a wink, so she might be kidding. Might.

    Which is followed by a slightly more deadpan look at Sephilia, a tilt of the head, and a solemn evaluation.

    "Sixteen, huh."

    "You're about half my age, give or take a year."

    She reaches out to pat the girl on the head, that sober mask fracturing into a broad grin.

    "...Kiddo."

DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A House of Cards *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 One of the few creations in the building presumably the work of the a
 caretaker rather than the Artificer, a precariously balanced house of
 playing cards bridges the gap ahead of you. The bridge is hardly reliable,
 and one misstep could have you falling three whole feet. It's a pity that
 such a small fall is cause for concern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Any indulgences this way don't last themselves long. Josie's gaze lifts, scanning the 'skies' for Penelope, currently absent their merry band.

    "Anyway, come on. Hanging around here'll just get us stepped on by the next group through, right?" With that cheerful comment, she turns on her heel and moves along, ducking under the legs of the doorside table and hurrying on ahead across the floorboards.

    "Mind the gaps, though! Some of these look pretty deep. Get stuck down there, and you might never ever get out again~"

    In spite of the significant problem of their current situation -- and the very salient fact that they're one ornery rat away from a total party wipe -- she seems to almost be enjoying herself as she races along underneath the furniture.

    At least until a veritable ravine presents itself, in the form of a fractured floorboard.

    Yet, as an expedition along the 'canyon's' rim proves, all is not lost:

    "Huh, a house of cards. Guess someone was in here recently, huh? What do you think, another Drifter or whoever's managing the place?"

    Her gaze lingers thoughtfully on the card house.

    Oh no. No, she's not seriously...

    Yep, there she goes. Up like a rocket onto the cardhouse bridge, which wobbles precariously across the abyss between the floorboards. She doesn't stop.
    (But she never does, does she?)

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A House of Cards.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy is used to having a small stride. Not this small. She sighs at Josephine's insistence on the nickname, but spares everyone the grumbling for once--mostly out of continued embarrassment over her squeaky voice.

Chauncey, now actually shrunk down to the usual big-Chauncey scale, because how does magic even do that we don't know it's science, carries Sephilia across the card bridge slowly, carefully.

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A House of Cards.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly looks around - up, too, mostly up - and answers Fei with slow incredulity, "But that's impossible... that kind of size adjustment... we would shrink down to small pieces of super-dense rock. Your bones would turn into diamond!" Isn't that a preetty thought?

She looks back to Josie as Josie outs herself as an Old. Elly purses her lips and glances at Fei, with an expression that says: I would have guessed much less than that.

Even so, impossible as it may be, she progresses. "I'm nineteen, myself... Tell me, I'm curious - are the years the same length here as they are on Filgaia?" she asks Sephilia along the way, before

CARD

"... How..." Elly says, before reaching out to poke one card with her boot toe. If this goes south, it is now officially Elly's Fault.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Expedition Boots toward her party's challenge, A House of Cards.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"Yeah, they are! Did you look at the sky? It's the same stars and everything too! I used to look up back on Filgaia at night when I felt homesick and imagine that my Mom and Dad were looking at the same stars as me and it made me feel better!" Sephy answers Elly, forgetting about her voice for a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"I uh." Fei says. "I would think so too, but I guess...it can't be that impossible if it happened, right? Perhaps it's some sort of magic and just looked like tech?"

Fei doesn't say his age but he does seem to be about nineteen. He doesn't actually one hundred percent know his age since he was abandoned in a village and sort of had to guesstimate!

"Sephilia was able to find her parents." Fei tells Elly. "It was really a sweet reunion. I'm sorry you didn't get to meet them." He glances back to Sephilia. "Guess making it back hasn't curbed your thirst for adventure either."

CARD of cards.

Fei looks at it for a moment before adding, "I probably way the most so I'll take the rear here."

Of course, he might have to rush pretty quickly if what Elly just did makes it all go south but there's probably another way around. It's a big world out there.

Even bigger than normal honestly.

"I'm surprised that we're taking it this well though." Fei admits.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A House of Cards.
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A House of Cards *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 One of the few creations in the building presumably the work of the a
 caretaker rather than the Artificer, a precariously balanced house of
 playing cards bridges the gap ahead of you. The bridge is hardly reliable,
 and one misstep could have you falling three whole feet. It's a pity that
 such a small fall is cause for concern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
====================<* The Artificer's Workshop - Round 2 *>====================
=========================< Results - A House of Cards >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       5 --(10)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Expedition Boots                    2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    That comment, at least, provokes a low whistle from Josie. "Diamond, huh?" This, the archaeologist appears to consider for a moment. "...Not a bad thought, I always wanted to sparkle and shine a little, heh heh..."

    This is before Elly makes a comment that prompts -- judging from the look on Josie's face -- a bit of mental arithmetic. "Nineteen, huh?" That would make Elly about--

    --Well, actually, if Elly's not careful, she'll receive a clap on the shoulder from the relatively-ancient archaeologist. "Well, look at you! Nineteen. Good on you! You know," she adds conversationally, "that's the same age I first left home..."

    Before the presence of the sudden 'bridge' before them steals her attention away, regardless.

    Moving quickly, Josie's attention is nowhere except the other side of the 'canyon'. The bridge quivers slightly in her passage, before rounding towards the companions she's left behind, she swings her left arm back, over her shoulder. "Fortune favors the bold, kids!"

    ...Maybe they've all received that collective name, for now.

    But regardless of such coaxing, Sephilia proves that slow and steady really does win the race and crosses the unstable bridge without further incident.
    Elly, though the card house wobbles perilously, similarly makes it across without any issue.

    Perhaps it was Elly. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it's any number of things -- the house collapses as Fei takes that last step onto the opposite side of the enormous gap in the flooring, cards falling with a whisper-clatter down into the gap and scattered in an array around either side of the hole.

    "Huh. Well, that's timing," Josie comments, hand on her hip, as if taking this in stride as the rest of their situation.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Cogs in a Machine *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Your path has led you into the insides of one of the Artificer's creations,
 long rusted over. Once moving parts are now rusted over, and the way forward
 isn't clear. A little effort reveals that the cogs can still be turned, and
 a light at the end of the tunnel, if you can work out which gears to turn.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly smiles weakly at Josie at the clap on the shoulder. "Is it? Well... I suppose you can only leave home for the first time once," Elly replies. Quotable? Or quotabelehayym?

"I doubt it would be very different in any case," Elly explains, perhaps with a tinge of defensiveness: "But if Lunar orbits Filgaia, it wouldn't experience seasons in the same way, and I don't know if you have the same kind of climate variations Filgaia does."

"Oh! I'm so glad," she adds, about Sephi's parents. Then the cards fall as they may.

Mostly down.

"You know," Elly says, "I am really surprised that... that he kept his house in such a poor condition. She? I'm not really sure." Her arms fold. The prospect of being teeny like this does not appeal to her. What does appeal, though, is -

-=-=-=-

Entering the rusted-over casing of... something. "I'm surprised it smells so... normal," Elly says as the group enters the fallen-over whoosits that was the only real choice other than a half-day trudge around some garbage. She produces a light stick (what?) from somewhere inside of her blouse, which she snaps and shakes, releasing cool alchemical light.

"If we really are small," Elly continues, "then a lot of physical things should work differently... do any of you have water bottles or anything like that?"

Her hip brushes a rusty cog. It creaks... turns...

A flap up high opens up, light peeking in. "Oh!" Elly exclaims.

She senses a jumping puzzle.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cogs in a Machine.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy is consulting her dad's journal, hand lit by a minor application of Althena's Gift. She doesn't have very much magic outside of Chauncey, but what she does is at least useful for an explorer! "All right so this looks like it's...well, all clockwork stuff operates on the same principles, so if we just follow the gears like my Dad diagrammed here in his journal..."

Anyone looking at the page sees a diagram that is labelled in scratchy handwriting that's basically illegible to anyone but Sephy herself.

"Anyway, this one goes that way, that one goes this way, so if we move them like so..."

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Dad's Journal toward her party's challenge, Cogs in a Machine.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei must be in a good mood because he doesn't even twitch at being called 'kid' this time. That's unusual. You usually has some small reaction to it even if that reaction is to pretend it didn't happen. This time he didn't even notice it. Of course, that might be the fault of narrowly avoiding very embarrassing fall damage there. He exhales once and rubs at his face to calm himself down.

"Really?" Fei is surprised by Josie's comment. "Huh, you know I do see a lot of drifters around that age. I wonder if there's a sociological..."

He frowns as he considers Elly's words. He elects to use 'they' since he doesn't know the gender here either. "They may have been expecting to return but...never did."

He pauses. "Or they accidentally shrunk themselves and were never able to unshrink themselves."

Fei looks considerably more nervous at this point. He does a quick drawing of the path before them before studying his picture, then the cogs before him. "I think... design wise we can just move---this one, along the others."

He reaches out to push it into place. If jumping puzzle is to come, he's probably ready. Maybe. He almost fell over earlier.

"Normal?" He asks of Elly. "Instead of--moldy?"

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Cogs in a Machine.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie's expression flattens somewhat. "Look, if you go home and leave again, you've left twice, right?"

    But the cards fall as they may, and Josie -- not one to linger at the precipice of a disaster it seems, presses on with the rest.

    "Technically, yes," answers Josie, eyeing that mysteriously glowing stick as she herself simply utters a pair of syllables and snaps her fingers -- summoning forth a glowing orb -- before crouching to inspect the rusted spot. "But if you think I'm gonna let you pour my drink everywhere, Red... think again."

    She instead draws out a screwdriver from the depths of a pocket in her lopsided vest, taking the unusually orthodox approach of attempting to free the rusted over cog. "You dad said that, huh? Tinkerer himself?"

    This before Josie, light orb hovering overhead, leans into what she's working on. "Not a bad job, whoever made this one. See? Even if the elements have taken their toll... and, honestly, that's not the maker's fault. It's whoever's not keeping the place up. Metal corrodes, rusts if you don't treat it right, and even the best machines-- hey, look. Look at this," she says, tapping a section with the screwdriver. "You can see the care put into the craftsmanship at this size. Hmm~"

    She plugs away at it, apparently attempting to pry the gear entirely free unless someone stops her. "I wouldn't mind spending a few hours on this, to be honest. I wonder if I have the time to take it apart entirely..."

    Wasn't she just complimenting the artificer's work? And now she apparently attempts to end it...

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cogs in a Machine.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"My Dad is a *famous explorer*! Ask--ask anyone here on Lunar, they can tell you about George Lampbright!"

While that last isn't precisely true, Sephy's actually serious about that first bit. "Also, I left home the first time when I was thirteen, but Dad trained me on all kinds of dungeon stuff before he let me out, and I had Chauncey with me, so it was safe. So maybe I'm more mature than you!" Neener neener neener.

=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Cogs in a Machine *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Your path has led you into the insides of one of the Artificer's creations,
 long rusted over. Once moving parts are now rusted over, and the way forward
 isn't clear. A little effort reveals that the cogs can still be turned, and
 a light at the end of the tunnel, if you can work out which gears to turn.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
====================<* The Artificer's Workshop - Round 3 *>====================
========================< Results - Cogs in a Machine >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Artist's Toolkit                    2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Dad's Journal                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Secret(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly is able and willing to push things around, but this seems to be beyond her. Or below her. Or around her.

Fei is making her nervous. What if there's a rat or something?

"It's a time when people are becoming adults, I suppose," she answers Fei. "It's a time to take risks... and things like this are very risky!" I wonder how big the rat would be compared to us, Elly thinks. Will my Ether abilities still work normally?

"I was only curious if the surface tension behaved normally or not," Elly tells Josephine, her tone lapsing back into faint apology. Even she isn't entirely sure why, but...

There is a rattle, a creak, and then something up high lurches and an entire latch flops open. The latch is big enough to be a generously sized doorway, and the path up is, if steep, smooth enough. As the group moves forwards, Elly says, "I wonder what all of this was in service of, anyway."

From a view across the room, the lilluptian party is emerging from the front aperture of a creaky, primitive movie camera.

Be that as it may, Elly shades her eyes. She lapses into silence, getting the lay of the <s>room</s> land from this momentarily high perch. I'm probably hallucinating, she thinks. If this is a dream, does it mean anything?

DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Marvelous Toy *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 It goes "zip" when it moves and "bop" when it stops and "whirr" when it
 stands still. You're not quite sure just what it is but it's you it wants to
 kill. Sure, it may be wondrous and colourful, and have two big green buttons
 that look like eyes, but right now it's trying to run you down and needs to
 be stopped.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei isn't trying to make Elly nervous, of course, he's just not naturally really an optimist. He's a cynical guy who tries to temper his cynicism with an appreciation of the good he does see in the world. But it's hard to not wonder where the owner is. Of course, Fei punched a dinosaur so he probably is willing to punch a dinosaur sized rat if it comes to it.

"I can think of a lot of uses for a shrink ray, provided you could...unshrink someone. Spying, transportation of goods, it's actually really useful."

Fei nearly falls over when he sees just what they were walking through. He steps away from it a bit too sharply, as if he were mildly frightened by it. He seems more surprised than scared, though.

"More of these things." He murmurs. This doesn't feel like a dream to him. Nobody got stepped on yet.

BUT THEN

A toy whirrs before the group, it stares down the team. Fei looks back at it. It has two big button eyes and--yeah, it's a toy car.

It zooms towards Fei and Fei draws out his RPS Badge in preparation but uh--

--it turns out that CAR runs over all of those things because it plows through Fei and sends him flying into the air, losing his shoes in the process.

"WAAAUGH!"

Then it turns ON JOSIE NEXT.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Marvelous Toy.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Chauncey is embiggened! Now it's not car versus tiny girl, it's car versus doll! Slightly miniature doll! But doll who is good at WRESTLING! Sephy whoops and hollers from her place inside his backpack! She goes YEAHHHHH! when Chauncey moves and HIT IT when he stops and GETITAGAINAGAINAGAIN when he stands still to pound on it. Whatever it is. "YOU HURT FEI YOU BUTTNOSE!"

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Marvelous Toy.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

It was not Fei himself so much as the increasing prospect of being eaten by a rat, in all fairness.

"That might be the problem," Elly says soberly. "There might not be a reversal. Fei, did those people you mentioned -- were those people who had come BACK?"

BGM: Interrupted by AUTOMATIC VEHICLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2VlvNVSeQY

"!!!!" Elly squeaks out, leaping backwards even as Fei is struck and sent tumbling.

Elly had wondered if her Ether will work in appropriate ways. It might not work at all. Her small body might mean she has teeny energy reserves and she will kill herself with the smallest spell. Then again it might be the case that it all works normally, giving her the proportional strength of a magical spider. She had not wanted to hazard the risk.

Now she must! Her arms snap forwards and she cries out, "FEI!"

And at that moment -- calls down the thunder!

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Marvelous Toy.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Does it?"
    Elly's comment earns her a curious glance and a tilt of the head from an archaeologist. "Huh. I never knew that. I'd like to see it if it's true," she says, before turning her attention back towards the guts of the device she's attempting to render into so many fragments.

    Josie gets one rusted gear! Josie, regarding the gear with some bemusement, soon sets it down with a regretful sigh and, dusting herself off, rises to follow after.

    "Well, I suppose I can't just stay small, can I? It'd be a damper in my plans if someone with clumsy feet came treading in. Still, if it were possible to control the shrinking process... just think about the advances we could make. Small hands make for fine work, as they say..."

    Something in the distance undergoes a bit of dopplering.

    "Wait a second. Something's coming," she comments, turning towards the noise as--

    It's a little toy car.

    "Hey, is that thing running on its own? --Actually, when you think about the relative size--" The little toy car accelerates suddenly, apparently running down Fei.
    She's next.
    Josie leaps towards the car as it roars towards her, booted foot crunching into the hood before she bounces off, seconds before the bolt arcs downwards.

    When she rises, it's with at first not an ARM but a flask of alcohol. Her gaze rests on the car as it roars on across the floor as she takes that important first nip.

    Then there's the gun! She aims for the tires, almost as if it were a passing concern.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, The Marvelous Toy.
========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Marvelous Toy *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 It goes "zip" when it moves and "bop" when it stops and "whirr" when it
 stands still. You're not quite sure just what it is but it's you it wants to
 kill. Sure, it may be wondrous and colourful, and have two big green buttons
 that look like eyes, but right now it's trying to run you down and needs to
 be stopped.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
===================<* The Artificer's Workshop - Round 4 *>===================
=======================< Results - The Marvelous Toy >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       20 --(10)--> 30                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Liquid Courage                      3   Combat  Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               60 --(30)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Secret(1)
Effects:
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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.

Fei lands on his back, dazed. Little cars fly around his head (not actually, it's a cartoonish representation of how dazed he is).

Josephine is able to dodge the car by jumping on it and then off of it. Fei would be impressed if he was paying attention to much anything right now.

Of course even he notices the electrical blast that's somehow impressive even in this tiny state that blasts into the vehicle and sends it smoking...but it's not enough to stop the vehicle entirely! That happens when Chauncey reaches out and starts pounding on it and, more importantly, grabbing hold of it so that it can't drive away! That gives Josephine many an easy shot with her pistol to take out the tires which prevents it from being able to move. The car collapses in on itself and smokes and sparks. Still alive...

...but crippled forever.

Perhaps it is we who are the real monsters, perhaps it is we.

Fei sits himself up and says, "Sorry guys, that kind of took me by surprise." He smiles sheepishly at Elly. "Guess ether still works, huh?" He nods to Sephilia, very embarrassed. "Thanks, Seph." He manages to stand himself up.

And onward!

DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - The Grid *>===========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 An important-looking device sits on the floor in front of you.
 Unfortunately, getting to it will not be so simple. To protect it from rats,
 a net of metal filaments hangs above it, and it's still sparking. It's
 sagged over the ages, and is now inconsistent. Some careful leaps could get
 you through, but the risk of electrocution is large.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie pauses for a moment as the toy car skids to its final resting place, gaze hooded as she stares it down over the barrel of a smoking gun.
    Something like satisfaction settles onto her lips.

    She holsters the ARM soon after, leaving the toy car behind with nary a further glance.

    "You okay there, Junior?"

    She at least asks that, before moving on ahead across the floorboards, a dance in her step.

    She sees the flickers long before she makes a proper approach up to the object in question.

    "Hmm. I can't tell if that's a waste, or a good idea," she comments, after a moment of squinting at the caged object... and the cage itself.

    "Guess they do have a rat problem... or did. See? It's protecting that object in there," she says, pointing ahead. "Anything that gets close is going to get zapped," she says, punctuating the statement with a spasmodic of both her hands at head height. "Lucky us, though -- didn't run into the rats, and what's in there is still up for grabs. Guess the caretaker didn't want to mess with it, huh?"

    She stares down the cage, a smile ghosting back across her face.

    "So, kids, feeling lucky?"

    Apparently, she is, because she breaks into a run and leaps for it--

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Grid.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia bites her lower lip in worry as she watches Josephine do the thing. She's gonna have to do that, isn't she.

She runs, and DIVES and squinches her eyes tightly shut as she does, hugging Chauncey tightly.

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Grid.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly looks at the toy with some concern. She bites her lip for a moment, then nods to Fei, before the trip onwards leads them up to a sparking, crackling cage. Elly lets out a chest-heaving sigh, before she reaches into her blouse pocket and pulls out...

What are those? Gloves? She might have had a plan but then Josie is running. "Uh!" Elly says in dismay, the rubber gloves falling from her grasp as she runs after her. "Wait - don't just rush in -"

Fortunately for Elly her boots are nonconductive, and if you climb fast enough you won't get an arc going through your heart!

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Expedition Boots toward her party's challenge, The Grid.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong says, "Yeah, yeah, just a little dizzy." He takes his time to get up because rushing yourself to your feet when you're a little dizzy is a good way to pass out, smack your head, and kill yourself. He does not do this.

But when he does get up, he grimaces as he sees the still sparking filaments hanging over the path to the 'important device'. "Hopefully," He asides to Elly. "That is an enlarging gun over there."

Fei's boots aren't particularly conductive either. He tries to simply time his jumps and take his time rather than rushing through it. It's riskier in some ways but less risky in others. At this point, he just needs to make sure his jumps are--

*The DC Mush player starts whirring noisily as it tries to load a battle*

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Grid.
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - The Grid *>===========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 An important-looking device sits on the floor in front of you.
 Unfortunately, getting to it will not be so simple. To protect it from rats,
 a net of metal filaments hangs above it, and it's still sparking. It's
 sagged over the ages, and is now inconsistent. Some careful leaps could get
 you through, but the risk of electrocution is large.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
====================<* The Artificer's Workshop - Round 5 *>====================
=============================< Results - The Grid >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       30 --(100)--> 130              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  20 --(100)--> 120              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   20 --(100)--> 120              Pass
Expedition Boots                    2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 20 --(100)--> 120              Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               90 --(10)--> 100               Fail
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(1)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Fei Fong Wong is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Josephine Lovelace is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Sephilia Lampbright is too exhausted to continue!
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has successfully explored The Artificer's Workshop!
=========================<* The Artificer's Workshop *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Precious Materials *>======================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Finally, you come across the controls for the shrink ray, and with some
 effort, manage to reverse the effects. Back at your former height, you find
 a stash belonging to the Artificer of Moor Anys. Finely cut gemstones,
 carefully worked machine parts, and some just plain rare supplies anyone who
 works with magic devices would kill for...
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Sometimes a little boldness is the right path in life.

    Right now the opposite holds sway, at least for Josie: bad timing and recklessness mean that she bumps into one of the wires as it discharges a pulse of electricity.

    She drops like a stone, falling to twitch on the floor below outside the cage.

    Sephilia similarly makes an attempt to blow on through the gaps, but alas, it's simply not to be -- the force of impacting it at the wrong time has its unfortunate consequences.

    Then there's Fei's fate. Picking his way carefully works well for a time, until... it doesn't.
    (Did the world stutter for a moment? Did he imagine that?)

    In fact, of all of them, only Elly has easy passage across the webwork of electrical pulses and has access to the important part of the device that shuts the electrical flow right off.
    It must be the rubber soles of those boots.

    But, though today is perhaps not the best of days right now for some of them, there is one consolation:

    --Well, one consolation outside the fact that the enormous workship has become marketedly less enormous:

    This is the nice pile of gems they now have access to, kept in a cache under the wire cage.
    And the machine parts. Whenever Josie stops twitching, she might want to put her hands on those.

    And other, more esoteric, but still rather nice things, tools and other rare materials once favored by a master craftsman.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Fei says the most beautiful words that Elly van Houten could ever hear:

'That is an enlarging gun over there.'

And so it becomes true.

Restored to her proper size, Elly ends up sitting on the floor for long moments, looking around with a mixture of stunned dizziness and astonished wonder. The first thing that she does, though - it is not to go for tools, or for gemstones, though she may ask Josie if she could have a few of them too, and will no doubt carry anything that seems particularly exotic or unwontedly heavy back with them.

She does not even attempt to secure the ray.

The first thing that Elly does is draw out a piece of cloth from her pocket, crouch down near that canyon -- and fill it in, leaving a dense-packed wad of white cloth instead of a gaping hole into a spider-infested hellscape.