2018-04-29: A Picturesque Scene of Chaos

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  • Log: A Picturesque Scene of Chaos
  • Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Seraph Ragnell, Josephine Lovelace
  • Where: Mystic Ruins
  • Date: April 29th 2018
  • Summary: A rough and tumble Seraph, an amnesiac wizard, and a disreputable archaeologist venture into the Mystic Ruins. Hilarity ensues.

DG: A party led by Ethius Hesiod is now entering Mystic Ruins.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking the Seal *>===========================================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 The entrance to the Mystic Ruins is a 60-foot-wide pentagram of carved stone
 found in an otherwise bare stretch of rock and dirt. Hundreds of years ago,
 entry was undoubtedly secured through some sort of magical test or display,
 but the ancient runes carved into the circle have faded with time, with the
 exception of a few flickering ones that cause the stone to heal over time,
 as though alive.

 Seems you'll have to get in the hard way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    While the CaraKin are off exploring some canyon somewhere, some vague quantity of factors of nebulous definition has him thinking he needs to have a look at a particular landmark around Meribus before he heads southward. There are too many lingering questions.
     What his questions are and as to why they seem so important for him to answer, those continue to remain... elusive. The short of it is that there is someone who's dressed up like a local hooded highwayman maybe in the company of a not-so-local archaeologist under the guise of (in his words) a cursory survey of the rumored Mystic Ruins.
     It's rainy and dreary out here in the early evening, and all present information leads them to a 60-foot-wide stone pentagram who has seen better days. (It's also seen worse days. It is laughing at the idea that the weather can be described as 'rainy' and 'dreary,' this is nothing!)
     Every time raindrops batter against the old stone, ancient runes flicker defiantly as though being at the cusp of a magical short-out. He paces around the perimeter of it, regarding its very nature with a hardened, unyielding stare.
     "...Have others been here prior?" He asks aloud. "I cannot discern if this is a recent act of vandalism or the simple passage of time." It is kind of vague, at a glance - there are clear damages in place by some force applied prior, the smoother stone within the damaged parts a lighter color than its surrounding stonework.
     ...
     "I will act to remove it." So he declares, in the end, as he starts fluttering fingers and chanting from under the bandanna around the lower half of his face. Symbology-based heat at dangerous, stone-melting temperatures (that yet somehow do not seem to affect the nearby people as adversely as it ought to) is applied.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Breaking the Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    The hard way indeed. Although the rain and storm might be nice to Ragnell--at least here in Meribus, where there isn't the lingering stink of Malevolence to accompany it like several spots in Glenwood--it does make things a bit dreary, doesn't it? And that's with the entrance to the Mystic Ruins, a place to which Ragnell hasn't come in many centuries, having apparently given up the ghost. To get in, you have to force it, and by "force" one means "explosions."
    
    Really, what other way is there to get through such a huge pentagram? Though Ragnell is personally of the opinion that it would be smarter to re-carve and re-enchant the ruins that have faded from the stone...
    
    Nonetheless, by the time *she* arrives, Ethius is already attempting to melt through solid stone, so she doesn't really get a say. She'll instead keep her distance (though even if she were close up, it wouldn't be too uncomfortably hot) while perhaps throwing in a lightning bolt to help shatter stone as needed when the heat seems at its peak. While Ragnell has no compunctions with making Ethius's paranoia flare up, it'll be easier if at least to start, her presence might be chalked up to natural phenomena.
    
    It *is* storming, after all.

DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breaking the Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Sure haven't," comes the response from the archaelogist, perched in the lee of a stoney pillar and thus somewhat out of the rain. By some definition of the words 'somewhat' and 'out'. "Then again, I'm not from around these parts, right?"

    Earlier attempts to light a cigarette (hand-rolled) had met with abject failure. Thus now, as she regards the obstacle in their path with heavy-lidded eyes, she does nothing of the sort.
    Atop her left shoulder, Penelope sits, a somewhat sodden and baleful sight here.
    The stone pillar doesn't really shelter the bird -- or Josephine -- from the intermittant precipitation at all.

    "It's not any magic I know, either. Though... my guess is whoever made this place made this capstone to last. Take a look."

    Her lips move. She snaps her fingers. An arc of electricity -- Symbologically born, as Ethius will be able to place, a very basic attack spell if there ever was one -- is thrust from her hand towards the stone below. It makes a scratch.
    The scratch recovers quickly.

    Her gaze slides sidelong as Ragnell makes her appearance. "So, in short, here's my suggestion:"
    Her lips crack into a grin as she extracts the best friend of archaelogists everywhere from her pack.
    "Let's break it."

    Gripping it onehanded, she steps away from the wall (Penelope scattering to climb up onto her head) and approaches the seal. With one shout and overhead swing, she brings down the, et, mattock.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Breaking the Seal.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking the Seal *>===========================================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 The entrance to the Mystic Ruins is a 60-foot-wide pentagram of carved stone
 found in an otherwise bare stretch of rock and dirt. Hundreds of years ago,
 entry was undoubtedly secured through some sort of magical test or display,
 but the ancient runes carved into the circle have faded with time, with the
 exception of a few flickering ones that cause the stone to heal over time,
 as though alive.

 Seems you'll have to get in the hard way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
==============================================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 1 *>==============================================
============================================< Results - Breaking the Seal >=============================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      0 --(20)--> 20                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Well-Used Mattock                   2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius' head turns as the archaeologist's does, but otherwise he still appears to remain ignorant of Ragnell's presence as he remains focused on the task at hand. The seal is battered through both high sustained heat and a high sustained rate of being struck by a well-used mattock, forces of might and magic working in tandem to erode and destroy an ancient seal.
     Then, courtesy of the local lightning spirit, a great deafening bolt of lightning strikes dead center. Its power courses through the entire stone seal, lighting back up runes long since thought dead. A great light envelopes all of them, a great light expanding outward in a dome shape...
     And then they're gone.
     The capstone survives, re-knitting itself to frustrate the next group of curious explorers with a penchant for overt destruction of priceless and irreplaceable items and architecture - its original intended teleportation magic engaged unwittingly(?) by a well-hidden, well-placed bolt of lightning disgusied by the environs.
     ...Where did it just send them? (Maybe they were disintegrated on the spot for their hubris!!!)

DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Gym Rat *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A single Cave Rat approaches... but strangely enough, it does not attack.
 Instead, it rises up onto its hind legs, props itself up by its tail, and
 raises both forelimbs, curling them up over its chest. It flexes, thereby
 instigating a

 POSE-OFF!

 On the one hand, if you out-pose it, it will have to let you go because of
 the Bodybuilder's Code. On the other hand, it would be /really embarassing/
 to get out-posed by a rat.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    Nope, no disintegration. In fact, by pure coincidence, Ragnell's artes re-ignite the runes, sent coursing out through the pentacle by way of Ethius's magic and Josie's brute force, and teleports the three of them within--before the stone then heals itself, so to speak. The three of them reappear within--four if you count Penelope--and for a second, the dim light in the stone masonry might be disorienting.
    
    "Well, *that* worked out better'n expected," Ragnell remarks, hand on her hat. "Nice seein' ya, by the way, Josie. Haven't run into you in an age. Your bird still beatin' the everlovin' shit outta salt shakers?"
    
    The light flickers. A huge rat trundles in from the darkness, its beady eyes fixed on the trio. It rears up on its hind legs, balanced by its long, hairless tail, and stretches out its arms and
    
    F L L L L L L E X
    
    "What," Ragnell utters, staring in disbelief at the creature. She stares over at Josie, then at Ethius, even though she knows the latter can't see her; then she throws her hands into the air with a great big "Whatever!!" and then flexes one arm across her body, her other hand clapped on the muscle. Ragnell might be primarily a spellcaster with a tendency to fight from a distance, but she's still got *some* gains there. But still it be enough to out-pose the Gym Rat...?!

DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gym Rat.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    They reappear... somewhere. Ethius points a palm out as though the sensation were tantamount to them being ambushed. (For Ragnell's amusement, he is now facing exactly 180 degrees away from her while assuming threat posture.)
     Lights flicker. A rat appears, stands up with help from its tail, and... flexes.
     "I am to assume it is a greeting." Ethius assumes it to be a form of greeting - in which he may be right at a ratio that approaches half.
     He seems to miss the connotation that this is supposed to be a competition to show off one's muscles, and instead simply flexes his arms and legs in ways to try and match whatever postures the Gy-- Cave Rat puts forth, with nary a deviation nor an original idea of his own in flexing back.
     It would probably help if he'd expose more flesh than he usually does, which is to say 'very little,' so one has to gauge his muscle definition underneath clothes that - by design - seem more fit to obscure than accentuate.
     This may be a problem.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gym Rat.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Lightning strikes. The runes activate.
    The world goes white.

    It is in fact incredibly disorienting for a moment; Josie staggers as if she's had one too many rather than been teleported an unknown distance to an unknown place.

    She plants her left hand against the wall for a moment. Penelope blinks blearily from her perch atop Josie's head.
    "Heh... well, that's one way to enter a ruin, huh? And here I thought Filgaia had won that monopoly..." She glances from Ethius to Ragnell. "Fancy seein' you again. Ragnell, wasn't it? Heh, seems like it's been a dog's age..." She straightens, shaking her head, then her hand.

    "No, not lately," comes the answer to the question about the salt shakers. "Maybe I'll give her a thrill once we're out of here. She's had a rough day."
    As if to underscore this, the begraggled pigeon just stares straight ahead, as if she's been through hell.

    The light flickers brighter.

    There's a rat in here.

    "...Didn't know they could do that," she comments idly as she meets Ragnell's gaze.

    Then, tossing a glance towards the still-flexing rat, regards Ethius. "A greeting, huh. Hmm..."

    She taps a booted foot idlely, then ultimately shrugs.

    "Well, why not." She flexes, without exposing her arm, either. Academics!!

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gym Rat.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Gym Rat *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A single Cave Rat approaches... but strangely enough, it does not attack.
 Instead, it rises up onto its hind legs, props itself up by its tail, and
 raises both forelimbs, curling them up over its chest. It flexes, thereby
 instigating a

 POSE-OFF!

 On the one hand, if you out-pose it, it will have to let you go because of
 the Bodybuilder's Code. On the other hand, it would be /really embarassing/
 to get out-posed by a rat.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
==========================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 2 *>==========================
=============================< Results - Gym Rat >==============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       5 --(18)--> 23                 Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      20 --(23)--> 43                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  5 --(23)--> 28                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               20 --(10)--> 30                Fail
Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    "That's right," Ragnell tells Josie, glancing briefly at Ethius to see if he notices, and what he makes of, the conversation with seeming thin air. She chuckles, taking off her feathered cowboy hat to tap off the water from it, then sets it back on. "So she's still got the grudge, huh. Well, sometimes we all need somethin' to beat up." She eyes the bedraggled pigeon. "An' she sure *looks* like she's seen better days."
    
    A rat appears. It flexes. Josie expresses surprise.
    
    "Right?" she says. "But it's obvious it's makin' a challenge. Or--" Or Ethius could assume it's making a greeting. His poses are thus carbon copies of the rat's own. Josie joins in on posing too. And...
    
    The rat snickers.
    It *snickers*.
    
    Then it poses-extra hard--so hard it poses itself right out of the room, snickering at their weak-sauce poses all the way. The obstruction has left, and the group is free to move onwards deeper into the Mystic Ruins, but...
    
    Ragnell frowns. "Somehow, I don't feel like we won that one," she complains, stalking forward.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The giant door at the end of the current passageway is, not at all
 surprisingly, locked. But amazingly enough, and unlike most Filgaian doors,
 not only is there a key to the door, the key is already in the keyhole, and
 all you have to do is turn it!

 On the down side, the door is about 50 feet tall, meaning the key's about
 five feet tall and twelve feet off the ground. It is made of stone, and
 probably weighs a couple hundred pounds.

 But at least it's there, right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "We've all got to have our hobbies," Josie summarizes.
    Penelope, the picture of a gargoyle, continues to drip.

    It's the sodden pigeon on her head, isn't it. That usually decreases Intimidate by a fair amount.

    Needless to say, the archaeologist bears quite the cross expression as the snickering rat makes its exit. Her trigger finger's gotten real itchy, all of a sudden....
    "Yeah, you enjoy that laugh," the typically laid-back woman grouses instead, hand on her hip. She sniffs. "...Well, let's go. I'm not wasting my time with that."

    It doesn't take long until the hallway comes to an end in a sort of chamber, though the only contents of the chamber in question are a key and a door. Clearly, it's a matter of applying key to door, and heading along merrily.

    Good news: the key is already in the lock.
    Bad news: the key is actually enormous.

    "Hmm. You know, giant keys like this are usually found in ruins that.. it represents a culture that... mm..."
    Josie folds her hands over her chest. Her expression is twisted in supreme concentration, as if she's well down the path of racking her brains over this.
    "Hmm."

    "No, I don't have anything. Guess the people around these parts were just really big."

    She makes her approach towards the door and the giant key, sliding the mattock out from her pack once again. "Well, come on. Let's turn the key, yeah?" She takes a swing at it, watching it bounce off. "Or just blow the door down. That might work, too. Got any special tricks, partner?"
    This last is turned towards Ethius, as she assesses him once again.
    "Symbologist, huh?"

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius makes a sidelong glance when there's a conversation happening in mid-air. He may be too busy trying to match pose for pose to say or do much of anything about it, but then the Cave Rat snickers and flexes themselves out of there.
     "I would not consider it a waste. I would state that we achieved an understanding without incident." The true shame of the situation is lost on this man, as often seems to be the case for a lot of things - his advanced if awkwardly utilized vocabulary be damned. His opinion far different from Ragnell's and Josephine's on that front, he continues unbowed as they come across the giant door ahead. A giant door with a giant key already there, just waiting to be turned.
     "That is a theory, yes." They're in some old home for very large precursors, good enough... or is it? He brings a hand to his forehead, as though out of habit. "Another theory is that these halls have seen recent passage by others. I see no reason for a key to already be present otherwise."
     ...Which is fine, so, how do they turn it?
     "...I am a Symbologist, yes." Maybe he could melt the door down! Like he tried to do to the stone! That would be easy and convenient! "I would rather not apply more destructive force than is necessary to the environs."
     ...That would be a weird sentiment, coming from someone like him. He goes to a kneel, offering Josephine to come to his shoulders so that she can reach the key and attempt to turn it. Unless there's some dangerous unknown mechanism that might compromise his balance under the ground, he is reasonably confident he can hold steady.
     "In theory, I believe you will be able to reach the key with your mattock. From there, we should be able to turn it with sufficient leverage..."
     Unless another idea or opportunity presents themselves, that may be one way to handle it.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    And who knows if the rat could even see Ragnell in the first place? That realization doesn't make her feel much better, but it's a bit of cold comfort all the same. That Ethius believes that understanding was reached... Well. He's not *wrong*, Ragnell reflects as she side-eyes the strange little man. But he may be a bit off on exactly what was understood.
    
    Regardless, they move onwards. The ruins start to get... big. *Really* big. Actually, were they maybe already super-big? Because that giant Cave Rat might have actually been normal-sized by comparison, if this enormous door is anything to go by. Ragnell peers up it, all the way to the key already in the lock. Josie suggests they either turn the key or blow the door to hell; Ethius expands on the former suggestion by saying her mattock could be used to apply leverage and etc etc etc..
    
    "I got nothin'," she says, for her part. Giants living in what are considered 'ruins,' huh... That's--definitely a possibility. She raises an eyebrow at Ethius when he expresses a desire to NOT blow shit up for once, then shrugs. "Throw that mattock an' I'll help ya pull, Jo'."

DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The giant door at the end of the current passageway is, not at all
 surprisingly, locked. But amazingly enough, and unlike most Filgaian doors,
 not only is there a key to the door, the key is already in the keyhole, and
 all you have to do is turn it!

 On the down side, the door is about 50 feet tall, meaning the key's about
 five feet tall and twelve feet off the ground. It is made of stone, and
 probably weighs a couple hundred pounds.

 But at least it's there, right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
==========================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 3 *>==========================
=================< Results - Punch the Key For Goddess's Sake >=================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       23 --(18)--> 41                Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      43 --(23)--> 66                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  28 --(23)--> 51                Fail
Well-Used Mattock                   2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               30 --(10)--> 40                Fail
Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    In passing, Josephine watches there Ethius' eyes land... and where they don't track. Notes in passing his lack of conversation with Ragnell.
    ...Files away these observations for later.

    "Well, look at you. You're as cool as a cucumber, ain't you?" she comments, expression still a touch sour-wards in the wake of their sound body-building challenge defeat. "Then again, it was just a rat." Maybe there's something to his approach to the situation -- even for a normally laid-back person like herself.
    (Allegedly.)

    "Hmm. They'd either have to be pretty strong or pretty big for that to work," runs Josie's analysis of the situation. "Well, who knows? We're on the moon."

    Anything goes?

    "Thought so. That looked like Symbology. Fairly high-level stuff, right?" A beat. "Really? Well, don't say I didn't ask," she says at last, rolling her shoulders in a shrug.

    They're about the same height, her and him. She almost, almost suggests that they try this the other way around, then instead once again shrugs and steps over to accept the boost he offers her. "Sure. Lift away, partner."

    With the added leverage -- and with Ragnell pulling -- she hooks the end of the mattock into a notch in the stone, and hauls with all her strength.

    And it does turn the key, but

    *crack*

    (Penelope, at this moment, shakes her wings violently and takes abrupty flight.)

    the end of the key they're attacked to splinters, shattering down along the notch Josie had worked her mattock into. The crack turns into an explosion of rock, followed by a rain of rock shards of various sizes. It's generally unpleasant.

    But hey, the door's open!

DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
============================================<* CHALLENGE - Working Stiffs *>============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 Emerging from the shadows is a group of heavily-bandaged humanoids; grave
 dust seeps from their figures and a ghastly wail escapes their dessicated
 lips as they rush forward to attack.

 Wait a minute - why are there mummies here? This isn't a pyramid!

 Shut it, cat.

 I'LL RIP YOUR LUNGS OUT
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The door with the key in place speaks to a primal temptation. The way forward is already there. Turn the key, open it... in a roundabout way, they accomplish what they set out to do with the solution being right there. One great explosive shower of rock and shrapnel later, a fell smokey cloud falls upon the gathered (who probably have all fallen flat on their asses, thereabouts, in the wake of it).
     Followed by a great number of ghastly wails, shambling reasonably-sized humanoid husks of bandage-wrapped creatures with glowing red eyes - mummies. Geographically out-of-place mummies, but mummies, and a lot of them.
     It turns out that that was a door that was meant to remain closed...!
     Ethius rolls to the side as he hits the ground from the door-opening chaos, one hand going for one of the two satchels at his belt. "I will provide a smoke cover," he warns this much, "move."
     Move where, though? He doesn't clarify, as he goes through the Symbological motions to enable the satchel's contents so that they will explode on impact in... another great dusty smoke cloud.
     As the whole scene was initiated with a bellowing cloud of smoke (described as 'fell,' admittedly), one wonders about the inherent logic of adding YET ANOTHER smoke cover to the mix, but Ethius seems keen to fall upon his usual trick for extracting himself - and others - out of a prospective ambush.
     Whether fight or flight is decided upon, their own forms are obscured. The mummies' glowing red eyes, however, rob them of any prospective stealth - a great advantage for the rest.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Working Stiffs.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Somewhere amidst the debris and dust, Josie sits up and winces. "Oof," she proclaims, closing one eye in a wince. "That could have gone better. Well, come on. The door's probably..."

    She trails off as the now open door reveals just what was behind it: a whole mess of the bandaged dead, with glowing red eyes.

    "...Guess it is open, huh?"

    Standing as Ethius rolls to one side and hurls the contents of a satchel the mummies' way, she almost languidly rolls her shoulders. Slides a hand into a pocket, retrieves her flask.
    Takes a nip from its contents.

    Just the right kind of medicine, when you've taken a fall, been hit with rocks, and are now facing down a whole lot of geographically incongruous undead.

    She's all smiles as she tucks the firearm away, finally doing as Ethius had suggested earlier. "Alright, then. That's all settled! Care to try me~?"

    Her voice is singsong as she goes for the ARM at her side, squeezing off a shot for the head of one of those onrushing mummies.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Working Stiffs.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    The key turns. The key breaks. Rocks fall. Surprisingly, no one dies. Ragnell is left feeling lucky that she doesn't 'breathe' the way humans do; that cloud of dust and grit would be hell on someone with lungs. She remains flat on her ass, like the others. Except Penelope, who has probably flown off somewhere to mock the rest of them.
    
    Regardless, the door is open! This would be great, except there are undead on the other side, wrapped up in bandages, shriveled up husks that shamble towards them. Presumably that's why the door was shut in the first place, though if it was so dangerous, don't leave the key in the lock, honestly!!
    
    "There's already plenty o' smoke, an' you wanna make more?" Ragnell complains to Ethius, knowing perfectly well that's not going to stop him. All the same, she rolls forward out of the way, or at least as out of the way as one can be when Ethius is involved. She digs a hand into her travel pack at her back, then pulls out a grenade. "Heads up, Jo! An' tell Ethius the same!" she calls before throwing the pin and hurling the grenade into the thick of the horde of mummies.
    
    It EXPLODES with plasmic lightning force a moment later, potentially scattering gross shriveled human bits every which way.

DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Plasma Grenade toward her party's challenge, Working Stiffs.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
============================================<* CHALLENGE - Working Stiffs *>============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 Emerging from the shadows is a group of heavily-bandaged humanoids; grave
 dust seeps from their figures and a ghastly wail escapes their dessicated
 lips as they rush forward to attack.

 Wait a minute - why are there mummies here? This isn't a pyramid!

 Shut it, cat.

 I'LL RIP YOUR LUNGS OUT
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
==============================================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 4 *>==============================================
==============================================< Results - Working Stiffs >==============================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       41 --(15)--> 56                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      66 --(5)--> 71                 Pass
Plasma Grenade                      3   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Liabilit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  51 --(5)--> 56                 Pass
Liquid Courage                      3   Combat  Effects: Rally
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               40 --(15)--> 55                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Overzealous(1)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    It's all a confusing mix of sound and light. Cracking thunder from an ARM, electricity going off everywhere...
     All parties operate on some collective level of sensory deprivation, with the only guarantee that any of them are in the process of surviving a terrible out-of-place monster onslaught is that they're all drawing breath (or continuing to pulse magical energies, whatever the breathing equivalent for Seraphim happens to be), have so many dots in their vision, their ears ringing, their lungs coughing...
     More of the surrounding environs collapse, obscuring any simple landmarks that might've been taken from the preceding hall and obscuring the layout of what they just traversed as it all clears... sort of. Which way did they come from? Which way were they going? The only true success here is that the moans have stopped, and the red eyes have all disappeared. There are scant any bandages about remaining...
     What now?

DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Dies Fall, Everyone Walks *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A trap activates! Large iron dice begin tumbling from recessed openings in
 the ceiling, slowly filling the corridor. They aren't that big, but there
 are a lot of them - you'll need to step carefully to make it through the
 corridor.

 Oh hey, a Goddess Statue. Might be a boss fight coming up.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    The good news: the mummies are gone!
    The bad news: so is a good chunk of the ruins' infrastructure. Not enough to cause a cave-in, but enough so that Goddess only knows where they're going next. And was that a click?
    *click*
    Yeah, that was a click.
    
    Holes open up in the ceiling, or what remains of the ceiling anyway, and large iron dice begin to spill out towards... huh. Ragnell shades her eyes as the dust settles. It looks like they're forming a pathway through the rubble... Was that... *supposed* to happen, then? At least there's a way forward, but, uh... The dice aren't forming the path neatly. It's more like they fill in one hole at a time, completely at random. They *could* wait until they're all done falling, but the rest of this chamber is looking kind of dicey (har har), so sticking around might not be the wisest idea.
    
    "Guess there's worse that could happen," she comments, pulling out a piece of chocolate twice-baked bread and chomping on the crunchy-chewy rusk. That'll at least keep her from getting her motion speed reduced, which is probably wise considering those dice look heavy. Getting one on the head probably won't be fatal, but it'll sure as hell hurt. "Welp, nothin' for it but to move onwards. By the by, Josie, catch."
    
    She tosses her a chocolate rusk too--and a second for Penelope, or maybe Ethius, it's her call--and then Ragnell nimbly leaps up towards the slowly-forming corridor and jump from iron block to block to make it to the other side, where a Goddess Statue awaits.

DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, Dies Fall, Everyone Walks.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    She takes her target of choice right between the eyes.
    Even goes so far as to blow the smoke off the end of the sidearm and... yes, wink, as if it's all in a day's work.

    This is before -- post that warning from the Seraph -- Ragnell hurls those explosives of hers and a chunk of the ceiling comes off. At least like last time, there's no sudden rain of debris, though Josie has already begun to make herself scarce.
    A decision that may be a wise one as a *click* rings out and a whole torrent of metal dice come crashing down. With a glance she can see that they're filling in the gaps, but...

    Yeah. She's legging it down the hallway. No need for advice on this one.

    "Doesn't look like it's far. We'll make it, don't neither of you worry your little heads. Huh--?"

    Holstering the sidearm, she snaps that tossed item right out of the eye and squint at it as she makes her flight down the hall.

    Penelope, from out of nowhere (to all appearances) alights on the statue near the end and starts preening.
    Well, at least until a chocolatey treat is tossed her way, too. That, she deigns to flap down to peck at on the floor.

    Josie, for her part, will end this one way or another leaning against a wall while chewing on the rusk. Might as well have something to slow down the alcohol's effects, right?

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dies Fall, Everyone Walks.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius reels from the sensory overload all-around, back facing to the others as a 'click' goes off and seems to snap him back to focus - he stands at ready as the heavy 'thunk' of an iron die hits the ground.
     "Miss Josephine," he murmurs, "I am afraid we cannot linger." Duuuuuuuuhhhhhh how long did it take for him to come to that idea?! As if mindful of the possibility of tripping some additional traps, he gets the harness of a patchy-lookin' sack around his wrist, gets to casting another Symbological spell, and fills the contents with sorcery-made heat as an effective single-person hot air balloon.
     Ragnell hands out treats.
     The rusk bounces atop the deployed Hot Air Sack a few times. It's an obvious coincidental accident, but man, if nobody knew better one might assume that Ethius is (was? amnesiacs and their heavy-handed foreshadowing complicates things sometimes) a skilled master of the art of hacky sack... but it doesn't seem like it'll reach his notice, let alone his very mouth before Penelope gets that share.
     Just as well, as Ethius drifts along behind.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dies Fall, Everyone Walks.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Dies Fall, Everyone Walks *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A trap activates! Large iron dice begin tumbling from recessed openings in
 the ceiling, slowly filling the corridor. They aren't that big, but there
 are a lot of them - you'll need to step carefully to make it through the
 corridor.

 Oh hey, a Goddess Statue. Might be a boss fight coming up.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
==========================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 5 *>==========================
====================< Results - Dies Fall, Everyone Walks >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       56 --(5)--> 61                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      71 --(5)--> 76                 Pass
Chocolate Rusk                      1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  56 --(5)--> 61                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               55 --(20)--> 75                Pass
Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Save Point(1)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    Ragnell grins over at Josie and her monster-murderin' theatrics. She really ought to hang out with this human more; she appreciates her style.
    
    Ragnell hands out snacks that have an effect of preventing a reduction in one's speed; Josephine decides waiting is for suckers and just runs across, opting to enjoy her rusk after the fact; Ethius floats along rather placidly with his personal hot-air balloon, while Penelope gets to enjoy his share of tasty treats.
    
    Everyone gets across with no muss or fuss. The Goddess Statue welcomes them, and Ragnell offers a few thoughts to it--even though it's not hers the Goddess needs--and everyone has a much-needed breather.
    
    So the next room, past the Statue, is probably going to be just *terrible*.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Whither the OSHA Compliance *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The ruins open up into a massive open-air chamber, but this part of the ruin
 has seen better days; broken stairways, crumbling platforms, and collapsed
 walls show that here, at least, time has not stood still for these ruins.
 Throughout the chamber, a soft sound of

 (oontz oontz oontz oontz)

 can be heard echoing. A scan of the room reveals a crack high up in the wall
 and across a short gap, through which light can be seen shining. You'll have
 to make your way through, or over, or across the decaying platforms if you
 want to see what lies within.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Bad Luck=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie's response to Ethius' urging is to simply glance down the hallway, glance back at him, and give him a grin of the class best known as 'shit-eating'.

    In other words: 'yes. this is known'. Josie: kind of an awful person, honestly.

    But she seems almost enthused by the time the statue at the end of the hallway is reached, heaving a breath as well as a sigh as she leans back to take a five-minute break. Almost, she even considers breaking out the smokes, but...

    By the time she finishes her unexpected snack, it's already been long enough, and she didn't exactly bring gear and supplies for camping.

    "So, where'd you get those, Ragnell?" she asks by way of conversation, before stepping through the doorway into the room beyond.

    Penelope is still, it seems, working on her snack. She pays none of the three any heed as she pecks at the rusk.

    Josie, meanwhile, walks into the chamber beyond the statue, still glancing back at the Seraph as she does so. Her expression goes blank as if realizing something, and she snaps back from the void she very nearly just walked out into.
    There are times when a look before you leap ethos really can cost you (or nearly, in this case).

    There's largely no floor. No floor below, either. Or below that...

    But there are some remaining sections of the floor, forming platforms of a sort... which if one were to jump across with care and speed (they are not in good shape, these platforms) they could use them to reach a wall missing a number of chunks, which could be used in turn to reach a large crack in the wall. A light shines on the opposite side.

    Something vibrates with a steady thud, deeper in.

    "Hmm." Hand resting against her chin, Josie appears to be in contemplation of their options for the moment.

    "...Race you."

    And with that pronouncement, for good or ill, she's off and running in a leap for the nearest platform.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Whither the OSHA Compliance.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius, in comparison once they reach that venerable safe zone in the safety of the goddess, doesn't really seem to do much in the way of R&R. There's something about the man's body language that suggests he's... always tense, always alert, if not always of a clear presence of mind of what's actually going on around him. He seems to be paying attention to something.
     His eyes do try to track where Josie seems to be talking - this 'Ragnell' again - that he cannot see, as he follows inwards.
     But there is something he seems to be picking up, just beyond, even as he holds out a hand to help keep Josie from falling when it seems like she might be about to fall out of carelessness.
     She declares a race. He doesn't say 'no,' so it's a race, and he's totally losing unless a blue shell magically falls into his grasp.
     He still has the harness tied around one wrist, so he's going to elect to take things slow. As long as the elevation levels remain level between platforms, he can slowly drift between them with maybe no problem - emphasis maybe.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Whither the OSHA Compliance.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    "The rusks? I made 'em," Ragnell tells Josie, once again glancing at Ethius to gauge his reaction to the conversation. He at least seems to be paying attention to it, but as ever, his face is a mask. Ha ha. "Cookin' is a hobby o' mine."
    
    And past the Goddess Statue is another large chamber, just as wrecked as the one they left behind. Ragnell has to pause and take a close look around to make sure they haven't somehow been sent back the way they came. ...Ruins do that sometimes, you know. Spatial shifting is *such* a headache.
    
    But no, it's just a wreck, like the part of the ruins they left behind. Actually, given the holes in the floor, it's even *worse*. There's a strange, rhythmic, pulsing sound, but... huh. As she looks around, Ragnell spots a gap high in the wall. Then Josie challenges her to a race.
    
    The Seraph grins back. "You're on." With the taste of that delicious rusk still on her tongue, she dashes forward, side to side, diagonally, and so on, to reach that crack before Josie does.
    
    Oh and Ethius she guesses, but he seems to be taking his sweet time. Fine by her.

DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, Whither the OSHA Compliance.
===============================<* Mystic Ruins *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Whither the OSHA Compliance *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The ruins open up into a massive open-air chamber, but this part of the ruin
 has seen better days; broken stairways, crumbling platforms, and collapsed
 walls show that here, at least, time has not stood still for these ruins.
 Throughout the chamber, a soft sound of

 (oontz oontz oontz oontz)

 can be heard echoing. A scan of the room reveals a crack high up in the wall
 and across a short gap, through which light can be seen shining. You'll have
 to make your way through, or over, or across the decaying platforms if you
 want to see what lies within.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Bad Luck=======================================
==========================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 6 *>==========================
===================< Results - Whither the OSHA Compliance >====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       61 --(20)--> 81                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      76 --(20)--> 96                Fail
Chocolate Rusk                      1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  61 --(20)--> 81                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               75 --(0)--> 75                 Fail
Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Hesitate(2)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "You made 'em? Hmm, not bad," runs Josie's commentary. "Maybe you should consider running a cafe as a side gig? Just a thought."

    It's a race. As one (or near enough to it) the trio make their way in a rush across the distance, vying to all be first to the far wall.

    But, as it happens...

    Perhaps this was a bad place to conduct a running and jumping free-for-all race.

    The first one to fall victim to the treacherous flooring's trickery is Josie, an ill-timed landing dropping her onto a platform that quickly begins crumbling. She falls behind, and indeed, nearly falls -- some last-ditch maneuvers keep this one from fully going south.

    Next is Ragnell, whose choice of pathways takes her to a stable platform... with no nearby point to jump to within reach. Back-tracking is necessary.

    Ethius gets the furthest, drifting across to the ascent on the far wall... but the handholds are ephemeral; they crumble away under his touch. His floation device, as it were, will at least prevent a dangerous fall, but...

    Needless to say, by the time they all finally get over there to the crack in the wall, they're plenty tired, a little wounded, and they've wasted a lot of time.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Whither the HDMI *>===========================================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 In the centre of the final room lies the source of the noise you heard
 earlier: an ancient pillar with four strange protrusions that are emitting
 beams of light onto the walls. Loud basso beats of

 (OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ)

 send the air itself into shivers. The noise and brilliant light is
 maddening... but there is a tantalizing sound, barely perceptible, of
 comprehensible noise underneath the din. The ancient pillar is covered in
 runes, strange wires, and flickering lights. Can you figure out a way to
 make sense of the contraption before you're driven from the chamber?

 https://lparchive.org/Lunar-Eternal-Blue/Update016/15-projector.gif
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The percussion grows more violent in their continued descent, pounding harder than whatever sensation comes with colliding bodily with walls or the ground at speeds that should cripple or kill any one of them. The entire room shudders and shakes under every burst of sound.

     OONTZ x infinity

     It ensures no one loses consciousness at the end of that fall for long, as lights shine in their faces from an ancient pillar with four strange protrusions. It's too much to bear. The beats. They are sick. They are sickening. Every pass of the light threatens to rob their sight anew, if not burn them out completely. Ears might start to bleed.
     Ethius crawls up to his feet, his slower descent not much of a saving grace from the worst of it as he brings his hands to his ears. (He might be too old to appreciate this music.)
     "...Deactivated..." He says a lot of words surrounding this one, but it's the only one that makes it through the OONTZ. He fumbles around inside the hood he wears for the Spectral Lens, but it's too much. He can't hear himself think - he can't cast the spell to turn it on. He approaches the pillar, running a hand against it but not appearing to accomplish much of anything himself.

DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Whither the HDMI.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    In the end, it's up the wall, through the crack, and in--

    Well, and down again, and as the room shudders and shakes under the deluge of noise, this is no easy task. The whole place feels like it's about to pitch in on itself. ...Is this why the place was sealed under rock, she wonders, staring down the projector.

    The sound within this room quickly only gets worse for those experiencing it.

    "Wonder if there's an off--"
    Josie cuts herself off as she winces under the onslaught of noise, hand clapped against one ear.
    "--Right! Time to take this hunk of junk apart!"

    She fishes in her vest's many deep pockets, in search of the tools she'll need to break this down into so much scrap.

    "Coo," proclaims a certain bird, against the cacophany of sound.

    Rejuvenated by her snack, and perhaps furious with the source of the continuous bass thumping from within the heart of the ruins, a rather-less-sodden Penelope comes swooping in from on high.

    She dives, with all the predatory intent of a hawk. She may be a pigeon, but a predator's heart, perhaps, beats within this bird chest.

    Cables, wires, must power such a machine. Before Josie can make even the slightest attempt inroads with her array of tools and nippers, the pigeon is upon the projector, ripping and tearing wherever vulnerable parts can be reached.
    She shows no mercy. No mercy at all.

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Whither the HDMI.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

    Ragnell pulls ahead... only to reach a dead end. It's not impossible for her to simply port from one pillar to another, but there's a big gap there, and also Josie seems to be in danger of falling into the abyss and might need an eye on her. She seems to recover fine on her own, but by the time Ragnell makes it back, well, she may as well find a different route... Meanwhile Ethius just kinda. Floats. In. Down. Up. Who knows? There is indeed something about that beat that makes one sick.
    
    Once the three actually make it to the inner room from which that sound emanates, Ragnell's grimacing. It's got a good beat, but that's all there is: a good beat. There's no harmonics! No melody! No counter-melody! Also there's protrusions coming from the pillar, emanating maddening columns of multi-colored light. It's making her dizzy, and not in a good way.
    
    Someone else will have to make sense of the contraption itself. For her part, Ragnell pulls out her tarnished harmonica and... starts to play, incorporating the sick beat and taming it somewhat, making it more sensical, making it more than just the thudding heartbeat of light and stone. And the calmer the others are, the better they'll be able to think, and the better they can think, the better--
    
    Oh wait, no, Penelope's going to town on the wireworks, never mind.

DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Tarnished Harmonica toward her party's challenge, Whither the HDMI.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Whither the HDMI *>===========================================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 In the centre of the final room lies the source of the noise you heard
 earlier: an ancient pillar with four strange protrusions that are emitting
 beams of light onto the walls. Loud basso beats of

 (OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ)

 send the air itself into shivers. The noise and brilliant light is
 maddening... but there is a tantalizing sound, barely perceptible, of
 comprehensible noise underneath the din. The ancient pillar is covered in
 runes, strange wires, and flickering lights. Can you figure out a way to
 make sense of the contraption before you're driven from the chamber?

 https://lparchive.org/Lunar-Eternal-Blue/Update016/15-projector.gif
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
==============================================<* Mystic Ruins - Round 7 *>==============================================
=============================================< Results - Whither the HDMI >=============================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod                       81 --(100)--> 181              Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell                      96 --(100)--> 196              Fail
Tarnished Harmonica                 2   Wits    Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine Lovelace                  81 --(100)--> 181              Fail
Penelope                            3   Wits    Effects: Resilient and Liabili
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Ethius Hesiod               75 --(5)--> 80                 Fail
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Madness
Effects: Resilient(1)
===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: Ethius Hesiod is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Josephine Lovelace 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 Ethius Hesiod has been fully Exhausted by Mystic Ruins!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
===================================================<* Mystic Ruins *>===================================================
============================================<* CHALLENGE - Mystic Ruined *>=============================================
|Type: Escape      |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 You escape the Mystic Ruins, which in hindsight were not all that mystic,
 but were definitely ruined.

 Try again later!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    In another time, in another space, to a world of a completely different culture and era, the footage of a pigeon going to town on an electronic musical instrument to an additional accompaniment of harmonica in post is a delightful sensation that fills the communication airwaves and greater forums with mirth, mockery, and merchandising alike. A picturesque scene of chaos in the eternal battle between man and beast, progress and nature.
     Penelope, though a creature of destruction and fury, accomplishes one thing that may yet save the day for all those gathered - in their exploration of the inner mechanisms of the center device, manages to have her beak trip whatever thing is in charge of simply ejecting everyone on the floor. In a roundabout way, this solves the problem of the endless OONTZ and the light that would take their sight on every pass.
     It does this by having runes - the exact same runes seen on the capstone - flare up to life all around the room, and flash one more time to deposit all of them back out into the cold, wet rain right around where they entered.
     Were teleported from. As an entry. Er. The idea survives intact.
     Ethius' ears continue to ring - all of them probably are suffering this right now, truthfully - as he lies bent over against the wet, muddy ground. Nobody really has themselves any useful answers as to what was going on in there, or maybe even why he himself had any interest. They can know one thing, at least.
     That beat was sickening.