2018-04-14: Curse and Boon
- Log: Curse and Boon
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Virginia Maxwell, Jacqueline Barber, Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur, Rebecca Streisand
- Where: Weylish Ruins
- Date: April 14th 2018
- Summary: A mysterious person ventures into the depths of the Weylish Ruins with a group of Drifters in search of more answers about the secrets it conceals.
DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering Weylish Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Locked Vault Door *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The foyer of the Weylish RUins ends in a large vault door. Clockwork mechanisms run across the entire thing, helping to lift it up into the ceiling when it opens. There is a series of dials to one side, which look particularly complex... ...and moreso because the writing on the dials, saying what the letters are, is in the ancient language used by the scholars of the Asgard Empire. Which, in all likelihood, you do not know. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Once again, a figure in a plain grey traveling cloak stands before the entrance to the depths of Weylish. It's safe to say that the ruin has become something of a personal obsession for them, given its bizarre nature and the equally-bizarre entities that might've been involved in its history. It may be a while before they can return to it, but it would not do to depart without giving it one last go.
The figure leans against the vault entrance, both hands pressed against the cold steel. Malevolence courses through tumblers, teasing out patterns in the way they interlock. This place changes so regularly that it's difficult to tell if what worked once will work again--but it's a massive feat of engineering. It has to be built according to engineering principles.
A small, metallic entity, generally spidery in construction, skitters to and fro across the face of the door, unscrewing screws and unfastening panels. This reveals the guts of the door, which are downright frightening in their complexity. The figure... seems to be able to understand it? Sort of? It's difficult to tell.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, Locked Vault Door.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
From the air! It's a bird, it's an airplane, no, it's...
...
It's a broom. And Virginia Maxwell appears to have had some success with her powers of Mystic to animate it, though the question of the aerodynamics and durability of her flight is deeply in question because it snaps in two a moment later. "Haa~h, well, saved me a trip through the Grounds, at least..."
Yup, that sure is a brown-haired girl in a cute witch's outfit, raggedy and with a black tattered robe and...
nom nom nom
Her hat has a diamond eye on it and is munching on bread.
She looks at the figure, grinning as she steps in closer and leeeeeans in beside her. "Looks difficult! Wanna give it a good kick?"
never change, ginny
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Locked Vault Door.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The last time Jacqueline was here, she had found a black stone with names listed on its surface. She had to admit, she was curious - who were those people? What had they done? It seemed to her that venturing into the Weylish Ruins once more would be the most expedient way of doing so.
She is...unsurprised to see Miss Greycloak here once more. Cyre had mentioned that she'd been visiting it a lot. In a way, Jacqueline had been counting on this - the other members of her Kinship were otherwise preoccupied, so she had to rely on outside help.
Which was fine! It was nice to do a bit of networking.
Also present - one Virginia Maxwell.
"Ah, hello, everyone..." Jacqueline greets with a wave, very intently not looking at the hat. She...might get a little distracted if she stared at it too long. She might start questioning, and that way lies the road of madness.
Her attention turns to the door, and she begins to study it intently. It was...a little overwhelming in its complexity, but she was sure she could understand it if she stared at it long enough.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean had told Ida that he'd cover for her while she escaped the Rolancian knights; fortunately, it hadn't come to that, and they'd ended up passing by the coffee shop where they'd met by chance without coming inside. Dean had left shortly thereafter all the same, first contacting Ida and then Avril and Rebecca. Apparently there was one more thing she'd needed to do before leaving Glenwood, and he'd offered to help--and so here they are at the Weylish Ruins. Dean doesn't know what's so important about them, but he's sure not against exploring a bunch of ancient ruins! That's part of the fun of adventure!
...Most of the time, anyway. Those dials and the markings on them are completely foreign to Dean, and he scratches his head in utter incomprehension as he looks them over. He looks at the figure in grey who is Definitely Not Ida (or so he's has impressed upon him), then gives Jay a grin and "Hey Jay!" of greeting, then turns to Virginia when she appears, on a broomstick no less, to join them.
"I dunno about a kick," he says. Twin Fenrir flash into his hands a second later, and he holds the pistols up with a smile. "But if there's soemthing you need to get moving that's stuck, I can shoot a rubber bullet at it, get it ticking again!"
dean that's just a kick squared
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Locked Vault Door.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"There is something unusual about this place."
Thus begins another exploration into an unknown ruin -- though at least this time it might be prompted more from the rumors circulating in towns close at hand rather than the vague intuition that Avril so keenly possesses.
Though to be perfectly honest here, it's not as if she doesn't have the most fleeting sense of familiarity about this place, as well. Even on Lunar, she's struck by the gnawing sense of deja vu at times.
...She didn't come from Lunar, did she?
Nevertheless, it seems they're not the only people attracted by the stories about the Weylish Ruins. A mysterious figure teases at the lock, and up ahead is a person Avril recognizes as one Virginia Maxwell, standing alongside Jacqueline Barber before the locked door.
"...Are we intruding?" she asks, before approaching the door nonetheless to inspect the mechanism more closely. "...Hmm. This is interesting." Dean makes a certain suggestion, which prompts her to blink. "Ah, is the mechanism jammed? Perhaps some use of force may be needed, if so. But, before we do that..."
She reaches over, running on intuition alone as she moves to readjust a dial.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Locked Vault Door. DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Locked Vault Door.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Oh? How does this place make you feel Avril?" Rebecca remembers her reaction in the Temple of Rejection. So there's a note of hope that maybe they are on the right track to finding her memories despite being on another world.
The dials are in a language that Rebecca can't even begin to understand - and Dean... "Huh!? Dean I don't think it's a good idea to just to shoot things. I mean that's even more extreme than kicking them. Hold on... I think I've seen something like this before back on Meribus..."
Rebecca opens up her travel diary.
Today is the day that Dean tells me he thinks I'm really pretty!
"Wrong page..." She looks a little flushed as she hastily flips through the pages.
Imagine the feel of my skin on yours
Move to touch me even more.
Rebecca clamps the diary shut so abruptly after reading two lines that one might swear she's hiding something. Holding up the closed book like a shame shield in front of her face. "Guessnot!" Her voice is a light squeak.
Avril is adjusting the dial though, and Rebecca peeks out to watch her before putting it away. After a moment... Rebecca just sorta quietly joins her as her eyes focus on one letter on the dials that looks like an oblong heart to her.
Plan adjust devices randomly doesn't seem any greater than plan shoot it or kick it but... "Hey Avril... maybe this one?" She points it out.
When all else fails - Rebecca is more than willing to bet on love. It's what her heart always tells her to do.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Rebecca's Travel Diary toward her party's challenge, Locked Vault Door.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Locked Vault Door *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The foyer of the Weylish RUins ends in a large vault door. Clockwork mechanisms run across the entire thing, helping to lift it up into the ceiling when it opens. There is a series of dials to one side, which look particularly complex... ...and moreso because the writing on the dials, saying what the letters are, is in the ancient language used by the scholars of the Asgard Empire. Which, in all likelihood, you do not know. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 1 *>========================== ========================< Results - Locked Vault Door >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Loyal Demon Eye 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rebecca's Travel Diary 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Footsteps. Right on schedule, then. The figure turns from the door, regarding everyone with what's probably a look of curiosity beneath that shadowed hood. "No." Their voice sounds as though it's echoing down a hallway, losing all but the most basic identifying traits in the process. "Do not. I do not wish to test whether or not these mechanisms can hold up to such rough treatment." Jacqueline asks if she's intruding. The figure shakes their head, turns back to the door, and fiddles with a few more dials. Avril and Rebecca join in, but to Avril's (probable) consternation, none of the symbols involved make sense. Rebecca's hunch proves correct, however, and it isn't long before the door slides open thanks to everyone's combined efforts! The little automaton begins replacing the panels it unscrewed with remarkable efficiency. And Jay has gotten the chance to practice her pattern-recognition skills. Neat!
And no one had to shoot or kick anything, which is either very nice or very sad, depending on who you are.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Weylish Ruins *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Hellion Skeleton *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Periodically, corpses can be seen inside of Weylish Ruins. Here, you find the scene of an old battle: a group of human skeletons, clad in decaying leathers and armed with rusted weapons that mark them as hunters from Aifread's Hunting Grounds. However, they are clustered around a strange Beastman's corpse: vaguely canine, with sharp claws, which lay against the wall. It seems the victor was the Beastman, who died of their wounds later. The human skeletons rise after a moment. Those who can see Malevolence watch as cloying purple light animates them -- yet none touches the Beastman's skeleton, and even shies away from it. The skeletons turn and look, with burning eyes, then charge forward! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Wound============================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Y-yes, I...don't think we should stress the mechanisms too much..." Jacqueline agrees, glancing back to Dean and his friends. "It's good to see you all again, though!"
She looks toward Rebecca specifically for a moment.
"Ah, those seeds we found have been coming along nicely...I should have a crop of Heal Berries to share with you three in a few weeks..." She says as she makes her way through the door. She was about to say something else, but her words are cut off by the sight that soon presents itself.
In the next room, a group of skeletons lay scattered around the corpse of a sharp-clawed, vaguely canine Beastman. It does not stir, even as Malevolence radiates from the human skeletons around it and they pick themselves up off the floor, claiming their weapons from where they lie...
"A-ah!" Jacqueline recoils back as one of them swings its weapon at her. She's a little slow on it, but fortunately it reflects right off the armor underneath her surcoat. In retaliation she hurls a bottle of liquid until their midst, which shatters and clings to the lot of them, slowing their movements and leaving them open to the others.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton. <Characters> Lily Keil consider..........
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
It would make sense if Avril came from Lunar. She'd appeared shortly after all those columns of light that had transported all those Lunarians to Filgaia, and it's possible the shock of the travel made her lose her memory somehow. But then again, if that's how it happened, what was she doing cradled in a Golem's hand? Maybe that's something for her to discuss with Dean and Rebecca later.
For now, he shrugs at Avril. "There might be some parts that are," he replies. "And if there are, we'll be ready for 'em!" But Ida--rather, Mx. Grey, tells people not to be so rough with the ruins. Dean is briefly disappointed, but he gets over it, like he usually does. "Nice seeing you again too, Jay!" he tells the CaraKin leader as Twin Fenrir vanish from his grasp.
"Yeah, I guess so," he says Rebecca when she chides him. He pauses. "What're you getting so red in the face for?" Rebecca snaps her diary shut a moment later, and Dean just... stares at her in confusion. But hey, at least she has some intuition on what's right? That's better than Dean managed!
The group of them walk inside, and Dean squints to let his eyes acclimate to the sudden darkness within the ruins. The Hunting Grounds outside are so wide and spacious, it gets really bright when it's sunny out... When his eyes adjust, he realizes there's a bunch of animated skeletons lurching towards the group with weapons raised. "Woah!!" he utters, Twin Fenrir materializing again as he falls into a combat stance. "Skeletons, huh?! Guess it won't help a lot to smack them around... In that case, take *this*!"
He lifts up his copy Sword Medium as he runs over to a leyline hex glimmering red; a moment later, a concussive blast of flame erupts in the middle of the skeleton army, possibly blowing them the heck up.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia looks incredibly chipper as more people show up -- she waves both her hands as she expresses, "Oh heyyyy! Jay, Dean, Avril--" she takes her hand to her Hat and tips it, which prompts the Hat to get a @| face (it only has one eye you see) as it tries to save its baguette from dropping to the ground.
It fails, but that's okay, since Ginny picks it up and puts it back in for its ginormous maw to keep munching. X) aww, Hat is happy...
"Virginia Maxwell, neighborhood friendly necromancer at your service!" she introduces herself to Rebecca.
... necromancer, Ginny? Really?
Once they're inside, however, she gawks a little as hellion Skeletons rise! "Don't worry, I've got this one!" She raises her gnarled staff and--
Points her finger.
"Go, Skeleton!"
A small portal erupts from her side, and a non-Malevolent Skeleton sweats as it gets dumped out, carrying a still-sizzling frying pan with something that smells pretty good from it. It's... it's curry!
"!?"
It takes one look at its mistress, at the enemies, and despairingly hangs its head.
And hucks the pan of curry at the nearest one.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Hmm..."
Avril pauses a moment mid-tread through the foyer, a pensive expression resting on her face. "What does this feel like... Have I been to this place before?" Silence weights heavy a moment. "I cannot tell for certain, I'm afraid. It's possible, but it's equally possible that I may be imagining things." Briefly, she clasps her hands before her. "...Many places feel familiar, but it does not mean they are places I have been. They could merely be reminiscent of somewhere I have been, or, perhaps, the suggestion thereof has prompted me to suppose..."
In spite of such musings, she trails off and smiles faintly. "Well, it does not matter, does it? If it does have meaning, I shall discover it in time."
Then to the door, where she glances over at the strange cloaked figure -- the only person here she doesn't recognize straight out.
...Was that something?
Or maybe it's nothing, just a reminder of someone else she once knew. A moment's quiet consideration later, and she's investigating and fiddling with one of the dials.
...Unfortunately, there's only so far you can get on intuition, and absolutely nothing of this makes much sense or even looks the faintest bit familiar. "Mm..." she hums, frowning at the panels.
But this is where Rebecca has her covered. "Oh, that click sounded as if it may have..."
Before long the door opens.
The pulse of Malevolence is Avril's first warning. "--Be careful. Something is not right here," she says, her gaze intent as she searches the room for anything unfortunate afoot...
...quickly zeroing in on the skeletons as they rise.
"Stand back, Jacqueline," she states, drawing Absolute Zero; light flares for an instant as she closes to melee range, lashing out the beam of light for the skeletons before them.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Heal berries? Those aren't native to Lunar, at least as far as the figure knows. They keep an ear on Jacqueline's conversation as the party continues, even as the other ear takes in the sounds of distant clockwork.
And then--a familiar tableau. How many of these hunting parties met their ends in this way? The figure reacts immediately, reaching around to the small of their back and drawing a pair of tonfa out of the folds of their robe. "Don't harm the one on the ground," the figure says. It's not an order, per se, but it carries weight. A tonfa lashes out and parries a spear headed towards them, while the other smacks into the back of the skeletal wrist holding it. A sword comes entirely too close, and the figure gives it a sharp kick right towards--another skeleton?!
Except this one has a pan of curry, and possibly also cook's clothing. Can skeleton dodge one of his fellows gone bad?!
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Skeleton is, indeed, wearing an apron that says:
'I COOK AS GOOD AS I LOOK'
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Huh so it's like they're a little nostalgic... even if you've never been there." Before Rebecca flashes a grin at her, "You mean we'll discover it right?" She teases lightly, "You're not planning to just keep it to yourself - right Avril?"
"You're imagining things!" Rebecca squeaks immediately at Dean in answer, before being taken aback by what Virginia says - "F-Friendly Necromancer!? Uh..." She says she's friendly and given how friendly she looks Rebecca can't exactly disagree, clearing her throat she adds, "Well it's nice to meet you Virginia. The name's Rebecca. Rebecca Streisand."
In that moment Jay and Rebecca share a look of complete and total understanding before saying in delight, "Whoa? They actually grew Heal Berries? That's incredible!" She holds up a finger, "Glad we entrusted them to you Jay. It's your genius that's allowing them to flourish I bet."
The hooded woman that is Ida even if Rebecca doesn't know it is a little unsettling and after a moment Rebecca leans over to murmur to Dean, "How exactly did we get involved in this again? Dean you are screening these jobs right? You're not just taking them from like..."
Rebecca imagines: A creepy hooded individual in an alleyway beckoning Dean over with an offer of Golem Candy.
"...anyone right?"
However they then walk into something that feels like it's out of a horror film. Rebecca's resonance isn't high yet, but the malevolence adds a level of creepiness that even she can manage to behold. Drawing her pistol in a flash she squeezes off two shots as she starts to run, her opposite hand grabbing hold of her Medium as she tries to leap over one of the ones charging her. Landing behind it and breaking into a run - just as the pan of curry flies- which causes her to momentarily gape at it, "Wait - without the pan how are we supposed to tell which one is your skeleton?!" - And then she sees the apron, "... Nevermind."
It's not long after though that she whirls around and invokes that Medium on top of one of the Ley Points - "Let's see if I can make the earth move just for you..." And suddenly the stone of the floor erupts into a shower of stone fragments - blasting into one of them.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, Hellion Skeleton.
=============================<* Weylish Ruins *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Hellion Skeleton *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Periodically, corpses can be seen inside of Weylish Ruins. Here, you find the scene of an old battle: a group of human skeletons, clad in decaying leathers and armed with rusted weapons that mark them as hunters from Aifread's Hunting Grounds. However, they are clustered around a strange Beastman's corpse: vaguely canine, with sharp claws, which lay against the wall. It seems the victor was the Beastman, who died of their wounds later. The human skeletons rise after a moment. Those who can see Malevolence watch as cloying purple light animates them -- yet none touches the Beastman's skeleton, and even shies away from it. The skeletons turn and look, with burning eyes, then charge forward! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Wound============================================
========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 2 *>========================= ========================< Results - Hellion Skeleton >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Sky Medium 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virginia Maxwell 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Beam Whip Mode 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Stupify(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - The Chains *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter is a tall, narrow one. The stone stairs that lead up have collapsed, but huge chains that run down from a hole in the ceiling can be scaled. They sometimes shift up and down, as the clockwork mechanisms on the inside of the ruins shift and move. If you are particularly observant, though, you may catch a note -- and before it is pulled into the small hole at the top of ceiling. The note, if you pull it free, reads: "The timing has been calibrated to the Black Star's movements. Our curse and our boon shall not rule us. Time will be our salvation." =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"W-well, I wouldn't say that...the others have been helping, too, and it's the seeds' persistence that has allowed them to survive all these years, so they could finally grow..." Jacqueline replies with a sheepish grin. Deflecting compliments as always. "I'll let you know when they're ready to pick up."
Before long, the fight begins in earnest. Jacqueline nods in acknowledgment and backs away, allowing Avril to take up the front line. Absolute Zero lashes out, the beam of light cutting right through any skeletons in its path. Dean and Rebecca take a stand on Leypoints of Fire and Earth respectively, engulfing the skeletons in flame and stone alike and putting them down for the count.
Meanwhile, Virginia has called upon her reliable ally, Skeleton! ...Who was apparently in the middle of cooking up some delicious curry. The meal makes the ultimate sacrifice, serving to distract one of the Malevolent skeletons...but soon Skeleton finds one of them thrown directly at it! Here's hoping it can get out of the way in time...
Friendly fire, Mx. Grey -- for shame!
As for the grey-cloaked figure herself, she finds that the Malevolent skeletons are all the more persistent for their undeath - even having their limbs removed doesn't stop them from charging at her. She'll have to pull herself out of the melee before too long...
But, fortunately, the room is cleared of enemies before it becomes too much of a problem. Jacqueline lets out a relieved sigh.
"Ah...let's not linger here too long..." She murmurs. She remembered the way the bones began to stir again last time... If they could purify them this wouldn't be a problem, but...
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean considers Avril's comments as they head inside. "Huh--so even on Lunar, things feel familiar? I wonder if that means your hometown still has a lot of green and stuff? Maybe you're from a place like Capo Bronco! We've got crops and Heal Berry trees and there's a lot of grass in the area..." For now, anyway. He makes a face at Rebecca and her criticism though. "Aw c'mon, I don't take jobs from just anybody! Just anybody who needs help!" he murmurs back. ...That's probably not reassuring.
He gets distracted when Rebecca and Jay chat with each other, though, and grins at the news of the growing Heal Berries. Before he can comment, though, Virginia's hat drops its baguette, and Ginny picks it up and puts it back in its mouth. Dean stares. He'd thought at first it was just a decoration, but... it's actually... eating it...?! "Uhhh hi Ginny!" he utters, still staring. "Uhhh have you met Rebecca before? Rebecca, this is Virginia! Virginia, this is my best friend, Rebecca!" And never mind that Rebecca just introduced herself already. He's still staring at the hat. It's hypnotic. H-has he fallen into the clutches of the great Necromancer...?!
Wait, skeletime. Combat ensues. Curry goes flying, fire goes flaring, beams go lasering, earth goes shattering, skeletons get kicked, and so on. Soon the bad skeletons fall, leaving only behind good skeletons, like that one beastman skel (at least it's good according to Mx. Grey?) and, of course, Skeleton, whom we know is good because it wears an apron and cooks curry. No one who loves curry can be evil.
The next room over is tall and narrow, and while the stairs that move onwards have collapsed, there are huge chains that can be scaled. It looks kind of dangerous at first, since they're attached to a clockwork mechanism that jerks them back and forth... but Dean holds up Twin Fenrir and fires a beam of ice to freeze the clockwork in place, stilling the chains in turn. It'll only last until the ice melts, but that should still be long enough for everyone to make it up safely... one hopes.
"There we go! That oughtta make it *way* easier to climb up!" he declares, beaming at his friends. "C'mon, let's get going!" Twin Fenrir vanish, and he starts climbing up with decent ease. He doesn't catch sight of the note stuck in the wall--but perhaps one of the others might notice it and manage to pull it free?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, The Chains.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Hm... it might be," Avril allows, as Dean makes a guess towards the nature of the place she may have come from. "Hmm, if Johnny Appleseed is also a type of wine... Or perhaps, it's something other than the greenery."
"Ah?" For a moment, Avril's eyes widen, as if she's attempting to work out what Rebecca means. Realization soon dawns. "Oh! Yes, of course. I'm sorry, Rebecca. It would not be the same were I not with the both of you..."
She has no intention of running off on her own. But yet, there's still that one nagging... realization, when you get down to it.
The matter of the nature of her former self, a fact she's begun to grasp, little by little. For a moment, she hangs back as the others step forward, as if caught up in her thoughts, her expression distant.
But, she shakes her head and she soldiers onwards. Whatever happens, she must proceed.
"Oh, have the both of you not been introduced? Rebecca, this is-- ah, well then." A glance trades between both girls, before Avril draws herself up and proceedes to aggressively polite at them regardless: "...Virginia, regardless, I would like to formally introduce you to Rebecca Streissand, a close friend of mine along with Dean. Rebecca, if I many, I would introduce you to Virginia Maxwell. We met under somewhat unusual circumstances."
Which is, for now, an unusual level of tact from Avril. Maybe it's because of the majesty -- and to be honest, the curiosity with which Avril now regards Ginny's chapeau -- of the Hat.
...Likely encouraged, for now, by the sudden animation of the skeletons in the room beyond. With focused fervor, Avril drives in with a beam of light, casting down those skeletons unfortunate enough to cross her path.
The beam winks out moments later, as if it never had been. A glance down at the ARM -- along with a brief gauge of its lingering charge -- sees it returned beneath her wrap in the wink of an eye. "...Yes. Malevolence is heavy within this place. It would be best not to linger."
The next room is startlingly narrow in comparison. Her gaze lifts, as if to following the jangling length of the chains as they rise up on high. "Hm... Oh?"
There's something up there. She points at it. "Look, there appears to be a note..."
Freezing the chains is a good start. Even better: the ability to traverse the chains' length quickly before the freezing effects are lost.
"Everyone, please stand close," she says, drawing out the Sea Medium of the Guardian Lucadia. "Lucadia--"
Light and the scent of the sea descend in a shimmer.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, The Chains.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"I'm fine," Mx. Grey says, as the dust clears. They took a few solid hits from the skeletons, but nothing seems to be torn or broken or bleeding. Just in case, they pull an Apple Gel out of a pouch, and eat it in two bites. Mx. Grey hangs behind the others a moment--just long enough to pick the Beastman's skull up, tuck it into a sack, and take the sack back to the entrance. They secure it behind a pillar, and from there, it's all backtracking.
Mx. Grey finds the rest of the group at the chains. They've encountered things like this before, and once again, these might be part of some sort of counterweight system. And there, on the wall, is another note. Mx. Grey looks at it, thoughtfully, and then starts clambering up the chain that Dean thoughtfully froze in place.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Chains.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Ida's throw sends one of the Hellion Skeletons Skeleton's way! It's dodged the curry and is coming right at it! It stumbles--
And the two lock arms together, Skeleton's fingerbones holding against the Hellion's humerus.
Their empty eye sockets gaze from one to another for an extended moment.
Do you think... love can bloom here, in the Weylish Ruins?
Skeleton, I...
Absolute Zero swarms around and smashes the Hellion in half. Skeleton's jawbone drops.
My femur! Skeleton, I only knew you for a brief moment, but--
Dean's flame and Rebecca's crushing shower of stone pile up ontop of the Hellion skeleton.
I love you, Skeleton... now and forever...
Skeleton hangs its head quietly.
At least it still has what's left of its curry--
Skeleton turns and watches as Hat descends to go gobble the rest of it up, as Virginia protests with a complaint of, "Hey, Hat, don't eat things you find off the floor, you'll get yourself dirty!"
She winks at Rebecca as she says, "Rebecca, huh? Are you Dean's friend? Nice to meetcha!" as she dusts her hat and puts it back on her head like it didn't just descend and ravenously devour curry off the ground.
Skeleton shuffles on, because as is its want, it is a creature that doesn't give up... and then bobbles forward as it holds its arms up.
Helpful as always, no matter the pain in the cavity of your ribcage where your heart should be, Skeleton!!
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Don't Give Up Skeleton! toward her party's challenge, The Chains.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Hey thanks Jay, you're the best!"
Avril says that and she waves a hand at her, "I'm just teasing. I know you wouldn't cut us out!"
"Uh-huh." Rebecca repeats while giving Dean a long look - showing that his comment hadn't reassured her in the least.
Two skeletons lock in mortal combat, and this might as well be playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHG2oizTlpY
Rebecca however blasts them without remorse - which is like a sudden record scratch - unknowing that she crushed a romance before it could even begin.
Would Rebecca ship a skeleton?
...
...
Some questions are better left never answered.
In the next room though there's clockwork - and Rebecca squints as she tries to get a sense of the timing of the chains. Which is of course when Dean freezes them. "Oh - hey that's actually a good idea Dean!" She gives him a thumb's up of credit.
But Avril offers another idea - and she implicitly trusts it, moving to stand beside her as Lucadia's power descends.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Chains.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The path ahead appears to take the form of a tall and narrow chamber. There are no stairs, but chains that can be climbed. Jacqueline frowns, folding her arms in front of her. It looked dangerous, but...fortunately, Dean has a solution - he takes aim with his ARM and fires, freezing the gears in place.
"Ah, that's convenient. Good thinking!" She says, sending a smile Dean's way. She still has to climb the chains, but at least she's wearing some good, solid gloves and has a reliable grip. She starts to make her way up...but then Avril points something out. Jacqueline looks up, staring toward the ceiling.
"Oh, you're right..." Well, now Jacqueline was curious. She begins to increase her pacing a bit more to try and catch up to it before it can retract completely.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Chains.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - The Chains *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter is a tall, narrow one. The stone stairs that lead up have collapsed, but huge chains that run down from a hole in the ceiling can be scaled. They sometimes shift up and down, as the clockwork mechanisms on the inside of the ruins shift and move. If you are particularly observant, though, you may catch a note -- and before it is pulled into the small hole at the top of ceiling. The note, if you pull it free, reads: "The timing has been calibrated to the Black Star's movements. Our curse and our boon shall not rule us. Time will be our salvation." =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
=========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 3 *>========================== ============================< Results - The Chains >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Don't Give Up Skeleton! 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 40 --(25)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Tire(2)|Treasure(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Well, Johnny Appleseed... it sounds like the kind of thing that *would* be a plant, or have a lot of plants around it, right? It's right there in the name!" Dean points out. He's not wrong, but... All the same, he smiles when Avril tells Rebecca that she's not going anywhere (or at least that's how he hears it).
So this place has a lot of Malevolence, though... Dean hadn't noticed, but he trusts Avril when she says so. He looks at her, then over at Mx. Grey, worry evident on his face. When they say they're fine, he gives them a nod and a smile of clear relief.
...Picking up the beastman skull is kinda weird, but okay.
Still, they've got to advance forward. He grumbles good-naturedly at Rebecca, though that turns to a grin and a thumbs-up when she actually gives him praise. "Thanks, Rebecca, Jay!"
Avril and Rebecca take the Lucadia Express, Virginia relies on poor Skeleton, and Grey, Jay, and Dean all climb up. Partway up, Jay catches the note stuck in the wall and carries it up to the top. It reads: "The timing has been calibrated to the Black Star's movements. Our curse and our boon shall not rule us. Time will be our salvation."
...
Whatever that means.
Either way, everyone's made it to the top with no problems whatsoever! Good timing, too; the ice on the clockwork crackles a moment later, and the chains start trembling again in time with its tick-tocking.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Cave Bats *>=========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Some of the newer residents of the Weylish Ruins have come into the underground lair to escape the hunters above. As you step into the next room, you hear a blood-curdling 'SKREE!' Then, a colony of angry and hungry bats descend from the ceiling for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
And it's Rebecca's statement that she's only teasing that prompts Avril to out and out giggle, a hand lifted to her lips. "Hee hee. I know. I am not about to abandon either of you, you understand..."
Nevertheless, she's borne up to a certain height via the power of the Sea Medium alongside Rebecca, and it's as she's brushing herself off and tucking the Medium away that her gaze lifts to regard the mysterious Mx. Grey. Her gaze is thoughtful, then by turns almost pensive, and she parts her lips as if about to say something--
And then out from eaves above them, as if summoned by the call of some silent scream (or just because they had the entrance to their nest disturbed by a bunch of explorers poking at it and the chains leading up into it) a horde of bats pours on down.
There are very quickly bats everywhere.
Worse, as it quickly becomes evident, these bats are the dreaded thieving sort. Unless they're fought off, they will spirit away every spare item and stray bit they can wrap their tiny claws around.
Perhaps this is their recompense for having their napping so rudely disrupted.
Avril, apparently, is not about to stand for this. She draws Absolute Zero from beneath her wrap, and with a snap of the wrist, summons forth the ARM's blade. "Do not hold back!" she intones, before one fell bat swoops in and swipes at her hair ornament as if it could so easily claim it. "Ah--"
She rounds on it quickly, taking a swing at it before it can make another attempt. Other people may find themselves so rudely menaced...
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia looks at Skeleton, and waves as she says, "We'll see you on the other side!" as the poor Skeleton takes a moment to mourn the very much mayfly romance it just had. Also, because it's currently in a pile from where Virginia just used it to Mario jump her way up towards the other end of the room.
You know, Skeleton things.
The necromancer looks charmed at how Rebecca, Dean and Avril interact, thinking they're really great friends! Or is there something a little more there? She toothily grins to the grey-cloaked figure to go, "Aren't friends awesome? Gosh, I wish Maya were here, but I guess she's busy helpin' out in Vane..."
She chimes in with Dean to go, "If y'ask me, Johnny Appleseed sounds like the hero of some Drifter novella, y'know, like Alan Smithy? I remember the wine from Uncle Tesla's galas, though... got them imported from Gounon himself, he did!"
B-but there's bats! Ginny helps as she ducks and expresses, "D-don't worry, I've got the perfect solution to this!"
She breathes in deep and chants, "Foulspawned bats from the depths of the Abyss, take thee my most ancient of artes! Dark Magic -- Shadow Edge!"
bang
bang
Boy, for Dark Magic, that sure sounds like two shots from revolver-type Gunsmoke ARMs fired underneath her sleeve. What're the odds??
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline reads out the note for everyone's benefit.
"'The timing has been calibrated to the Black Star's movements. Our curse and our boon shall not rule us. Time will be our salvation...'" Jacqueline says, frowning. "Our curse and our boon? I wonder what it means...were they doing experiments with the New Moon...?"
That was...really bizarre! Unfortunately, before she can dwell any further on it, residents of the ruins make themselves known. Of course there would be bats if they were going higher up...that's just where they tended to live. It made sense!
Jacqueline backpedals away from the lot of them, rummaging through her bags for a bottle of black liquid.
"Watch out!" She warns her allies before tossing the bottle down, sending the liquid splattering everywhere. With luck, it would disturb the bats, and maybe even cause some of them to give up the attack entirely.
It'll also hopefully prevent any of them from getting close enough to steal anything from her.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
That skull has a scientific destiny ahead of it, Dean! It will be labeled and catalogued and everything, or at least as labeled and catalogued as it can get when Ida is thousands of miles away from familiar academia and also a wanted felon.
Mx. Grey looks around the chamber at the top of the chains, and then asks a very odd question: "Do you smell something?" Something like what you get when hundreds of bats camp out in one place for extended periods of time? "Damnation!" Mx. Grey hisses, as seemingly every bat in the ruin starts divebombing the group simultaneously. There are too many for them to strike one at a time, and the sound of sudden gunshots reminds them they have a similar solution to the problem.
Hell with it, Ida thinks.
Mx. Grey reaches into yet another fold within their robe, and draws something that might be a wand if one weren't looking at it too hard, except they're not holding it like a wand at all. Moments later, there's another thunderous report, and a tongue of flame flashes through a cloud of bats.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean grins along with Avril and Rebecca. "Yeah! We'll be friends forever!" he enthuses.
That is, if they don't get mowed down by FRICKIN' BATS. And maybe that's so, Mx. Grey, but Dean doesn't know anything about that kind of thing and so he still thinks it's kinda weird. Maybe if Ida explains it to him later he'll get it.
For now though, he grins at Virginia and says, "Yeah, friends are the best! ...A Driver novella? Huh... Actually, you might be on to something there," he says thoughtfully. "I usually just read the books with Golems in them, but... Rebecca, what d'you think? You read a lot!"
But the bats swoop in, and once again Dean calls up Twin Fenrir. "Got it, Avril! Hraaaaargh!!" he calls at his back, before charging towards the swarm, the combat rods of his pistols swinging to smack them down wherever he can reach them. Who knows? Maybe he'll even try to shoot the airborne creatures a time or two, too.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cave Bats.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
For a while Rebecca is all smiles...
I always get scared that one day I'm just gonna be left behind. And then there'd be nothing to go back to back in Capo Bronco. But she just giggled and told us so casually she has no intention of abandoning us and well, it just made me feel all fuzzy inside. It just nice to feel wanted and appreciated you know?
That's how she caps off her diary entry later.
Back to now!
Rebecca cants her head to the side as Virginia says that - Rebecca just nods in understanding, but then gulps as Dean calls her out, "Well sure I read a lot - but what makes you think I'd ever read something like that Dean!?" And there she is - all red again. Unable to admit that she's already thinking of some romance novella with Johnny Appleseed as the protagonist.
"Oh yeah! I met up with her over in Vane not too long ago. She was practicing... well... some kind of magic."
But as the bats come Rebecca is frantically lining up shots and pulling the trigger with her revolver. Each shot ringing out with a haze of gunsmoke - just as she hears two more shots from Virginia's direction. She whirls around to look and declares - "Huh!? Didn't you just shoot them!?"
Avril declares - don't hold back and wades into the fray and she quickly advises, "Ah - Don't let them get in your hair Avril!"
That doesn't really happen - but she doesn't know that.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cave Bats.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Cave Bats *>=========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Some of the newer residents of the Weylish Ruins have come into the underground lair to escape the hunters above. As you step into the next room, you hear a blood-curdling 'SKREE!' Then, a colony of angry and hungry bats descend from the ceiling for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 4 *>========================== ============================< Results - Cave Bats >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"The Black Star's movements... hmm, I recall someone talking about the New Moon and using that term before. Perhaps that may be what they meant?" Lifting a hand to her chin, this Avril ponders. "Calibrated the timing... as one might calibrate a clock, perhaps?"
Jhnny Appleseed sounds like a name, says the young 'witch'. "They did say that 'Johnny Appleseed' was named for a person," Avril comments, at Virginia's comment on the nature of the wine.
A person who lived a long, long time ago.
Bats, though, put an end to various lines of conversation or speculation -- at least for the time being.
"I shall not permit it!" For Avril, it's a swing and a miss; bats are far too nimble to take down with a blade alone, it seems.
Similarly, Virginia's 'dark magic' appears to have little effect on the swarm; they part like the sea before her and surge forth around her 'dark magic blasts', unscathed and still full of menace.
This is about where Jay's repellant intercedes: the bottle breaks open and its disgusting (to a bat at least) odors send the crowd around Virginia ascatter and headed for safer (or at least less stinky) ground. ...Or roosts, as the case may be.
Dean and Rebecca, falling into a familiar tempo as they fight in the way old friends can only fight (when not fighting with one another...), driving back and felling some of the remaining swarm and driving them away from Mx. Grey, who faces a similar issue as Virginia, scorching a few straggling bats while the bulk of them cut into a swerve around the fire her 'wand' lets loose with. As bodies drop or are bruised and battered, the rest of the bats cut their losses and with another horrific scream, flee back into the rafters above.
And nothing of value was lost.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Weylish Ruins *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The Underground Clock Face *>================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The heart of the Weylish Ruins is where work was unfinished. As you step inside of the chamber, you find a huge white clockface. It seems that it was never lifted to the top of the tower that once rested above the ruins, for it sits here, pristine. And yet, it is working: the clock hands move and turn, and all of the machinery here has led to this: a working clocktower clock, which has never been placed for the world to see. There are also scores of corpses here. The skeletons of a whole lance of Imperial Knights lay in repose, bodies decayed over the last two decades, and garments rended and torn by some great claws. There is, it seems, a doorway that the knights never made it to, in the clock face. The door has a complex series of dials on it: a combination lock, not unlike the one that blocked the entrance. The correct combination must be entered -- a time of day, it would seem, judging by the dials. Do look out for the clock hands, though. Some of them swing low enough periodically to hit a person standing at the door. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Wound, Injure====================================
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
It turns out that singular gunshots aren't very good against a literal swarm of bats! Virginia flails and pwehs and goes, "Bah, bats! Batty batty bat bat!" as if it's some kind of mantra to get them off off her. Fortunately, Jay's on the case...
By the time the bats run off and flee back to the rafters, Virginia's looking pretty tired as she peers towards the chamber with...
"Hey, that kind of looks like a-- clock?"
good job, ginny
Sure enough, the enormous round clockface appears to be functioning, even though it hasn't been lifted up to be grafted onto the tower as it ought to be.
There's also a whole host of dead bodies here, skeletons of Imperial Knights that've been rent apart by great, huge claws.
"Yuck..." Virginia scowls as she puts her hands to her face. "Looks like time ran out for them."
A pause, as she peers ahead to the door and comments, "Oh, hey, there's more of those dial doodads here! D'you want me to give you a hand, or do you guys got it?"
Just as Ginny finishes saying that, she gets whacked by the minute hand.
"I DIDN'T MEAN THAT LITERALLY, CLOCK"
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Well, the bats were dealt with, at least... Jacqueline takes a quick look over her belongings to ensure that nothing was taken before making her way into the clock room.
...She sends Virginia a bit of a look when she comments on the bodies of the Imperial Knights. Did she...make that joke on purpose, or was it an accident??
...Well, regardless, they had a problem to solve. From her understanding, the actual answer seemed to change based on a number of factors...she doubted they'd be able to just give the same answer they did last time...
"Let's see...I wonder if..." Jacqueline begins murmuring to herself as she works some things out in her head. It'll...probably be productive...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The bats do not take kindly to having fire shot at them. Panicked, they descend on Mx. Grey in hordes, and one of the poor, terrified things gets tangled in their hood. They lose valuable seconds trying to disentangle the animal, and in the process, drop the hood.
This does nothing to help anyone pick out more details about Mx. Grey, aside from the fact that they have long hair of an indeterminate color. There is definitely a head under there, and it has all the requisite parts, but the details are obscured by the same magic that obscures the details of their voice. Without the hood on, it's kind of creepy.
Then Mx. Grey restores their hood to its rightful place, clears their throat, and proceeds as though nothing happened.
Inwardly, Ida gets just a little bit sicker of having to do the mysterious-stranger bit. It's honestly losing its charm.
And now, the clock face! Mx. Grey seems to ignore Virginia's puns, and takes a moment to regard the clockface, as if looking for details they missed on an earlier run. Virginia rushes in, catching Mx. Grey's attention--and they also see the minute hand, on its way to whack her upside the head. Mx. Grey steps forwards, flinches noticeably as Virginia gets struck, and gently pulls her closer to the door, if she'll allow it. "Be alert," they say. The little automaton scuttles out of their sleeve, and starts taking off parts of the door to reveal the inner clockworks. Mx. Grey presses a hand to the door face, and with a distinct surge of power, Malevolence seeps into the mechanisms. They start moving on their own, shifting through one combination after another after another. The automaton helps from outside.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Huh... you think so Avril? Well it's definitely something to keep in mind then... maybe it's a hint..."
All the corpses make her feel a little nauseated, but there's nothing she can really do for them. So instead she focuses on the way forward -
Or at least she would but Virginia makes that pun. She quirks an eyebrow at her as if to say 'Really!?' at her silently, but doesn't yell at her. It feels like Dean is usually the only real target for her wrath - maybe it's because they're such good childhood friends?
She does snicker a little as the clock whacks Ginny upside the head, "I guess that's your pun-ishment Virginia."
The Travel Diary is brought out again. Thankfully. Mercifully. It brings her to the right page where she discussed with a sailor the time the tides come in.
Clapping the diary closed after she reads it, she waves it in the air, not really understanding how Mx. Grey's is working it - but she gives out her own bit of wisdom, "Well Avril said the Black Star may have something to do with the New Moon - maybe try the times the tides go in and out? That'd be a lot harder to guess the answer if they're not at set times every time."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Rebecca's Travel Diary toward her party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Huh! That *is* a clock," Dean remarks, chiming in after Virginia. He says this before noticing the mounds of corpses, at which point he jerks back, turning a little green in the face. "Ugh...! This is a lot worse than skeletons... No offense," he adds to Skeleton.
He looks again at the bodies, then quickly looks away again over at Avril. "R-really? I don't know much about moon stuff... Never really thought about it. But... aren't we *on* the moon right now? Or is the Black Star something different?" After all, this is supposed to be the *Silver* Star.
He groans when Rebecca jokes at Virginia getting whacked. "That joke was terrible, Rebecca...! You okay there, Ginny?" He looks up at the clock head with a frown. Ida, who seems to be okay after getting her hood upset (but it's awfully diffiult to tell someone's mental state when you can't even see their face), is touching the clock... Maybe with one of this size, shooting the hands into place would work out after all?
"I'll try moving it too! The tides go out around... sunset, right? And sunset is around six o'clock, right?" he says, before Twin Fenrir flash into his hands and he begins shooting rubber bullets to make the hands move. ...Someone might want to correct which time he's moving the hands to, juuust in case.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Well, there are two moons, the Old and the New. If we are standing on the Old Moon, then the New Moon is what we see in the sky... and perhaps what they call the Black Star." Her gaze turns thoughtful. "Hmm. Blue, Silver, and Black. They're almost regal in colors, don't you think? Or perhaps, the colors of the sky at night..."
Waxing poetic further may need to wait, however.
"Ah," says Avril, once they step into the room beyond. With a flash, the blade to her ARM vanishes, as does Absolute Zero itself, back beneath her wrap. "There is a clock. I had wondered if that note from before may have hinted at a clock or, perhaps, some sort of orrery." She steps forward across the pathway leading up to the clock face.
Until she glances down and with a start, appears to notice the knights at last. "What...? These are..." Shock parts ways for recognition. Realization. "Are they like those knights we saw before?"
Back in the Malevolence-tinged room in which they'd seen the skeletons, that is. Expression grim, she takes care to pass around or over the fallen on her approach, stepping lightly onto the ledge upon which the clock itself rests.
"Rebecca, do you remember what it was that you tried previously? I feel as if it may work again, this time." Her gaze, sidelong, turns towards the mysterious stranger Mx. Grey. Here, her attention is a little more critical, as if she were again attempting to glean further information before charging in with the questions.
For Avril, there have been a few changes.
She pauses, regarding the clock face and the array of dials. "Or, at least, it should be similar to this. Hmm. The moon and the times of the tides... I wonder --Oh, please be careful," she voices, as Ginny, indeed, receives a 'hand'.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Underground Clock Face.
=============================<* Weylish Ruins *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The Underground Clock Face *>================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The heart of the Weylish Ruins is where work was unfinished. As you step inside of the chamber, you find a huge white clockface. It seems that it was never lifted to the top of the tower that once rested above the ruins, for it sits here, pristine. And yet, it is working: the clock hands move and turn, and all of the machinery here has led to this: a working clocktower clock, which has never been placed for the world to see. There are also scores of corpses here. The skeletons of a whole lance of Imperial Knights lay in repose, bodies decayed over the last two decades, and garments rended and torn by some great claws. There is, it seems, a doorway that the knights never made it to, in the clock face. The door has a complex series of dials on it: a combination lock, not unlike the one that blocked the entrance. The correct combination must be entered -- a time of day, it would seem, judging by the dials. Do look out for the clock hands, though. Some of them swing low enough periodically to hit a person standing at the door. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Wound, Injure====================================
========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 5 *>========================= ===================< Results - The Underground Clock Face >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Loyal Demon Eye 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Rebecca's Travel Diary 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virginia Maxwell 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 85 --(0)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(2)|Weaken(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 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> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
In truth, if Virginia's making that crack, it's probably to try to lighten the situation for herself without her even thinking about it. Like a defense mechanism. Jacqueline moves forward and works things out.. she's smart, so she'll have no problems! Mx. Grey pulls her back and she can--
--sense that Malevolence for a moment.
Months now she's kept herself clean, but... ...you can't quite forget the feeling of that sweet kiss. It's like a drug.
"Yeah, sorry..." she remarks, cheering herself up again in a visible attempt to try to bring the mood up. click. click. click-click-click, the presence of the dissonant energy starts to turn the gears.
Virginia rubs her head as she looks back to Rebecca to go, "What?! What joke?" She cheekily tries to reach out and pluck the diary as Rebecca waves it, innocently curious. She probably doesn't even know it's a diary. She asks, "What'cha got written there? Hot tips and tricks?"
She's thankfully distracted from further prying when Dean goes and shoots the clock hands and...
... gives them a five finger discount.
But perhaps Avril does have a point, because when Dean starts firing, the clicking in the cogs and dials more smoothly goes -- and the door opens up.
Skeleton isn't offended, Dean. Unlike these corpses, Skeleton is picked clean.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Sealed Armoire *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The inside of the clock face is a massive room, where gears, chains, and clockwork mechanisms make the machinery work. The room itself has an office, with a wooden desk and crates. It is in a serious state of disarray: much has been knocked over, and there is a secret door in the wall that leads to a tunnel one must crawl through. An armoire catches your attention. It is immense, a huge thing of wood and steel and brass against one wall. It has three large locks and banding that makes any effort to open it difficult indeed. However, it could easily contain something of value -- or perhaps explanation for where this place is. Of course, one must be careful to not destroy the inside in opening it... =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Getting past the clock face is just the first step. Mx. Grey takes the lead, tensing visibly as they walk down the cramped hallway that leads deeper into the ruin. Their hands duck into their cloak, and come up with their tonfa again--they're clearly preparing for a fight. "On your guard," they say, especially to Ginny, who seems more interested in the contents of someone's ~private diary~ than her immediate surroundings. They can just picture it now. That thing's going to come stomping out of nowhere, and--
Or it's not. Mx. Grey stops inside the room. They look around. "It's not here," they say, and then they wait a moment longer as if worried they just jinxed it. But no, the clockwork golem guardian that has been the bane of so many journeys here is not in evidence. Perhaps it's for the best. They don't want to have to witness what would happen if Dean were forced to fight it. It would be upsetting.
Mx. Grey closes in on the locked armoire with purposeful steps. "This looks promising," they say. The locks are stuck, but... "We need to get it open the hard way--without wrecking the contents." Mx. Grey stows their tonfa, and draws a small, wooden object in their place. It's a... stamp? It's exactly the kind of stamp someone would use to put an official seal of approval on important documents--or perhaps a signature. Ms. Grey presses it against their hand, and Malevolence comes out of nowhere, clinging to the stamp-pad.
Then, they press it ever-so-gently against one of the locks, and let the Malevolence do its work. Acrid and angry, it spreads through wood and metal, weakening them while leaving the contents in one piece. Hopefully.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stamp of Corrosive Authority toward her party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline also tenses up for the encounter she believes to be coming. Those who pay close enough attention to her might notice her drawing some Crest Graphs out of her wide sleeves, making sure they're all in order before sliding them back in.
...But, fortunately, that golem does not appear. When it doesn't she lets out a relieved breath. She doesn't relax entirely, halfway wondering if it might show up while they're trying to force their way into the armoire.
"You know, I wouldn't mind an office like this myself... I've always loved the sound of clockwork. I used to spend hours hiding away in Adlehyde's clocktower..." Jacqueline comments as she rummages through her bags. Perhaps that explained how she actually knew what she was doing with some of the machinery in here.
Eventually, she draws out a bottle of bright red liquid. There's one for everyone.
"Here, this should put a bit of a spring in your step..." She says. It'll give everyone the energy they need to keep going and get this open!
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Perhaps her precise guesswork as to the matter of the clock did not bear fruit as such, but...
In the end the path is opened, and isn't that the only thing they require?
'We need to get it open the hard way,' says the mysterious stranger.
Avril stares directly at the box, watching it as Mx. Grey pulls out a small wooden object.
Avril promptly sucks in a breath.
"That's... Malevolence," she murmurs, though at a glance, the subject of her commentary may remain mysterious -- for now.
Still staring at the chest, she finds herself with a small vial of red liquid pressed into her fingers, courtesy of Jay. Her eyelids flicker, but once.
Yes, voices that whisper from the abyss. Here. Now.
So it comes to pass that Avril slides a small object free from the beneath her wrap and unsnaps it with one hand, before pressing the button hidden deep inside.
There's a low rumble. Dean and Rebecca would know both the device and the sound of its most certain summons by now.
There's a loud crash as a smaller (by comparison to previous activations) but still rather sizeable golem's fist smashes right through the wall, fingers and thumb tucked in as it takes an ancient pre-programmed swing downwards towards whatever might be in its way.
Which, in this case, is the chest.
Avril, stirred from her apparent reverie at the sight and sound of it takes a step backwards. "Oh--"
And at a bit of a loss, takes a sip of the vial that she's found in her grasp.
"...I do hope that wasn't too much."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
If it's not here, where could it be?
SOMEWHERE NOT TERRIBLY FAR FROM HERE
Skeleton whimpers soundlessly (he doesn't have a larynx after all) as it runs down the corridor, chased by an ancient clockwork golem guardian.
HERE
"... huhuhu, finally!" Virginia looks intensely proud as she follows up next to Mx. Grey. She takes her hat off and exclaims, "Hat! Do your thing!"
She just... ...lifts up her hat near one of the bands of steel and locks chaining up the armoire. Hat sniffs it for a moment... ... ...
That glittering diamond eye lights up for a moment.
nommmmmm nom nom nom nom
"Yesss! Eat that lock, Hat!" Virginia exclaims. She looks towards Jacqueline with a grin as she comments on clock towers. "For real? That sounds kind of romantic."
BWAM
Hat has a DX expression as it gets hit by a golem fist on its way down, and flops onto the ground gently like a feather would.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Hangry Hangry Hat toward her party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Regal?" Dean echoes, blinking at Avril. He turns thoughtful when she then suggests it's the colors of the night. "Hmmm... Yeah, that makes sense... the black and blue is the sky, and the silver is the starlight... I guess?"
Regardless, shooting things totally solves the puzzle. Of course it did! That's how it works in Capo Bronco so obviously that's how it works here. Shoot a light and it turns on! ...or something like that. Anyway, once the door opens, Dean grins at the others, then hurries forward along with Ida.
Except Ida--or rather, Mx. Grey--is tensing up, like she's expecting a monster to come stomping in any second, and Dean stops. But then... nothing... happens?? He looks around, then blinks at her in confusion. "Something wrong? What's not here?"
Still, she relaxes, then goes over to a locked armoire. Dean has to walk around and over several pieces of pushed-over junk to get here--obviously no one's cleaned this room in an age--and looks it over.
"We just need to open it up, right?" he says, reaching behind himself and pulling his shovel out from his coat. "I can try chipping those locks off!" Except Jay offers him a potion first, and while drinking it, Avril brings out...
"Oh boy!! The Golem button!!" Dean gushes, eyes sparkling. He's practically hopping with glee when she pushes it, and when a Golem fist SMASHES through the wall and attempts to chop that armoire in half, he cheers, jumping up and down. ...He can probably be calmed down into shoveling those locks off, but, uh... maybe give him a moment.
Poor Hat, though... Their plight gets completely ignored in favor of the awesome that is a Golem fist out of nowhere.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool The Trusty Shovel toward his party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Avril waxes poetic, and Rebecca sorta gets this thoughtful look, hearing Dean's thoughts too, "Huh... you know I used to not be able to get used to this whole 'Blue Star' thing... I'm too used to saying Filgaia. But gosh when you put it that way Avril it actually makes it sound pretty romantic."
"Hmmph." Rebecca looks away from Dean as he criticizes her joke. She's not one to tell jokes often because she's really no good at them - but does he really have to say that!?
But then Virginia tries to pluck it out of her hands "Hey what - Oh no you don't!"
Rebecca literally holds it out of Ginny's reach as fast as a striking snake, then bends at the knees, vaulting over Virginia's shoulders with her single free palm, and landing as she turns around - clutching it to her chest, "It's private! That's what! Shouldn't you know not to read another girl's diary!? I mean even Dean knows better!" Then she remembers the time he returned it to her, and absently implied he probably accidentally saw a line or two, "... Most of the time!"
Stuffing it away indignantly, she crosses her arms.
Thankfully the puzzle opens though and - Rebecca whistles, "That thing is locked up pretty tight." She remarks in regards to the armoire but as Avril slides out the small object... Rebecca asks.
"Huh? Do you have something in mind Av..."
And that's when she freezes upon seeing the golem button. "...ril..."
What happens next is entirely predictable to her.
And in the aftermath as Dean gushes like an excited kid, Rebecca sighs, "It's gonna take hours to calm him down again..."
As if Dean were a kid on a sugar high or something.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sealed Armoire.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Sealed Armoire *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The inside of the clock face is a massive room, where gears, chains, and clockwork mechanisms make the machinery work. The room itself has an office, with a wooden desk and crates. It is in a serious state of disarray: much has been knocked over, and there is a secret door in the wall that leads to a tunnel one must crawl through. An armoire catches your attention. It is immense, a huge thing of wood and steel and brass against one wall. It has three large locks and banding that makes any effort to open it difficult indeed. However, it could easily contain something of value -- or perhaps explanation for where this place is. Of course, one must be careful to not destroy the inside in opening it... =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=========================<* Weylish Ruins - Round 6 *>========================== ========================< Results - The Sealed Armoire >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 35 --(100)--> 135 Pass Stamp of Corrosive Authority 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 30 --(100)--> 130 Fail The Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 25 --(100)--> 125 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Maxwell 45 --(100)--> 145 Pass Hangry Hangry Hat 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 25 --(100)--> 125 Fail Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(100)--> 145 Pass Remote Golem Override 4 Brute Effects: None -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 85 --(10)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Weaken(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey is too exhausted to continue! DG: Dean Stark is too exhausted to continue! DG: Rebecca Streisand is too exhausted to continue! DG: Virginia Maxwell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: Avril Vent Fleur is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has been fully Exhausted by Weylish Ruins! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==============================<* Weylish Ruins *>=============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Ticking the Time Away *>===================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The twists and turns of the Weylish Ruins have bested you. Whether through frustration or opposition, you are forced to turn away. As you do, though, you can hear the tick tock of the clockwork insides, as if drawing you back, someday... =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"The guardian is not here," says Mx. Grey. "I've seen it here, repeatedly. Where is it?" Mx. Grey takes the vial from Jay, uncorks it, and takes a swig. "Yes," they say to Avril, as the Malevolence does its work. The head beneath the hood jerks back a little as Hat flies off of Virginia's head and starts gnawing on the locks. Why does the hat have teeth?, Ida thinks, focusing on this one, inexplicable abnormality as if it were a pancaea for the constant stream of bizarre and horrible her life has become. Dean starts jumping up and down about something called a 'Golem button'; Mx. Grey gives him a look, but the matter is clarified in short order. The Golem fist descends. Mx. Grey leaps back as the armoire breaks wide open, revealing--
Dust bunnies. Cobwebs. Nothing.
Mx. Grey stares at the remains in disbelief. They take a deep breath, and let it out--and with it, the illusion keeping their identity concealed. "Bugger all," Ida growls, glaring at the broken remains of the cabinet.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Hat is probably buried in there somewhere, too, provided it hasn't retreated to the safety of Ginny's head.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The emptiness of that armoire *is* disappointing, and Dean does manage to calm himself down long enough to give Ida, now revealed to *be* Ida, a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, but...
"Mmmmm, just look at this Golem fist! It's so cool...!!"
...he kinda can't be *that* disappointed when he's got a shining finger to rub his cheek against. Rebecca will probably have to drag him out of here...
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"D-diary?!" Virginia exclaims with wide eyes, not expecting it to be a girl's diary. "Of course I know about diaries being sacred! Just-- y'know, geez, I didn't expect you to carry it around a Ruin! What if it gets swallowed up into a hole or lost in a bed of spikes only to be found hundreds of years later?!"
She huffs after a moment, but when the Golem Fist comes down she kind of just goes flying. She coughs and tumbles into the ruins and goes, "Hat? Hat?? Haaaaaaaaat--!!"
dun dun dun dun dun...
What is the ultimate fate of Hat? Tune in next time to find out...!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline stares at the sheer amount of force that is thrown the armoire's way. A shovel, a golem's arm, a Malevolent stamp, a hungry hat. And when all is said and done, with all the build-up, and effort expended to open it...
There's nothing inside.
Jacqueline stares at it. Staaares. And then...
She laughs. Actually, she's practically giggling, breaking her usual mature and professional. There's just something funny about that.
She removes her glasses, wiping away tears.
...She had a good time getting here, at least!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"It's a risk I'm willing to take! I can't just leave my private thoughts laying around just anywhere you know?"
Except that time she did - and Dean found it - because Rebecca took the same risks Virginia was talking about just now. NOT THAT SHE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THAT!
Cue Bloopers Reel of Rebecca attempting repeatedly to drag Dean away from rubbing his cheek against the golem like an oversized cat.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Fufu... that's why you don't just leave them anywhere! Why, just recently I got the best item to store my own personal diary in! It's--"
Virginia pauses and stares down towards the hole.
"Oh right, Hat's gone..."
And so is... her diary...
"You might have a point, Miss Streisand..."