2018-05-26: Pouring Gas on the Fire
- Log: Pouring Gas on the Fire
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Josephine Lovelace, Fei Fong Wong, Ethius Hesiod, Dean Stark, Ambrosius
- Where: Emrys Mire
- Date: May 26th 2018
- Summary: A mix of people exploring the Mire end up crossing paths... and crossing each other. In the end, a certain finding is made.
DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering Emrys Mire. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Lost in the Mire *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Even at first glance, one thing is clear about Emrys Mire: this is not a pleasant place. A murky haze lingers in the air above the muck and slime of the swamp, punctuated by the looming form of countless giant fungi. Allegedly, other people venture the mire in search of its secrets, but save for the ramshackle road leading to it, there's little evidence of such. The road leading into the mire terminates a few dozen feet out into the bubbling ooze of the swamp. You won't be able to rely on the path that led you in; other means of navigation are necessary if you want to make any inroads. But the mire is subtle and deceptive. Whatever gains you make won't be easy... or without cost. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
A very special guest literally crash-landed on Ida's couch less than three hours before she was set to travel to Glenwood. Most people would take this as a sign to change their plans, but Ida's plans are important. She needs to get the lay of the land, try to find suitable locations for test sites. As a result, she ended up bringing the special guest with her.
She is quietly, privately wondering if she's reached some new, unplumbed level of insanity.
Ida is dressed for the trail again. A plain brown cloak rustles in the wind, and waterproofed leather boots squelch through the mud. Underneath, she wears a long-sleeved linen tunic and breeches, both a pale shade of grey. This time, she's making no attempt to disguise her true, Malevolent nature--the star in her chest glows like a wil-o-the-wisp, bright and steady as she makes her way through the muck. The Malevolence in the air swirls in eddies around her. She breathes in, taking in the scent and feel of this place.
"This way, I believe," Ida says to her guest. Something small and metallic crawls out from the shadows of her cloak, and perches on her shoulder. The spidery automaton taps its legs together in a soothing, rhythmic, tik-tik-tik.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Heh, so this is what a swamp's like."
Josie wafts a hand in front of her face, nose wrinkling in disgust at the stench. "Sure smells like it, right?" Shifting her weight from one foot to the other -- testing the instability of the soil here with her left -- she cranes her neck to take a look at her two companions for this little expedition attempt.
Penelope, eyes closed tight and folded in on herself like a flower after a dark, sits on Josie's opposite shoulder.
Nothing but fools and adventurers come this way, or that's what they'd said when she'd asked about likely-seeming sites in the area.
Her lips curve in a self-amused smile.
Or maybe just foolish adventurers?
"Well, it's not going to get any lighter if we stand around. C'mon, let's see what we can find."
Gesturing widely towards the clear absence of a path ahead, she starts on into the swamp, her dark eyes seeking out any remains of the road that might have one led this way.
Or even just patches of dry ground, somewhere out there in the murk and haze.
"Wonder if we'll find anything..."
She pauses for a moment, as if taking some distant sight -- or sound -- in.
"...Or if we've just been beaten to the punch."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
A Very Special Guest is a red-haired man who is just grateful to be out of a Triple Domain. This isn't much of an improvement but laying on a couch leaves you nothing to do but to reflect on the howling madness that seems to permeate half the bloody moon. He wears a hat. The hat has the words 'DEATH WAITRESS' on it which, to those from Filgaia, might remind them of the Lacour Tournament but is just unusual headwear for the natives. He has pale skin and well honestly half of you have met this asshole.
The asshole has little investment in Ida's reason for being here but the Furies are some of the few people he feels could 'get' him. He has his own 'experiment' going on here and he hasn't settled on the resultls just yet.
The Very Special Guest is clearly recovering from some injuries. He has been sliced across the face by claws and seems to be wearing fresh bandages across his chest. His skin is blackened, partially, from burns.
"You know the best places to lay down your feet." He says. He is not a Hellion so he has no 'true Malevolent nature' to hide. He may be hiding something else, but not that!
He has a map in his hands. "'Ccording to this, we only want to move straight a few yards then take a left."
He stalls as he hears a new voice, and he grimaces. "Her." He mutters.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius continues to be bizarre, erratic, and inscrutible with his behaviors about where he's going or what he's doing there. His time on Filgaia - in so much as he even remembers his time on Filgaia - had no shortage of him being shady, evasive, and occasionally over-the-top destructive over things to some criteria he's never shared. (Or apologized for.)
Dressed as some sort of generic hoodlum appropriate to Lunar (as opposed to the generic hoodlum appropriate to Filgaia), he's part of the incidental(?) gathering of curious people up at a mire that, he can tell, is full of the purple haze that has permeated the Lunarian landscape. The scent of the swamp doesn't quite bother him as much, but he's got that bandanna in front of his face. Ahead, a large silver-haired Hellion who seems to be leading another further ahead. Someone whose voice has a tinge of... familiarity, sort of? Like when someone was speaking to him with a barely restrained fury. He can't put a finger on it... but he knows he has bigger issues than them.
(The idea of anyone or anything being a bigger issue than Some Asshole must be really big, but also nonsense?)
But a part of him says that he can't back down.
Especially not when he recognizes that hat.
For those less inclined to be near the Hellion, he holds an arm outward as if to say 'hold' to Josephine. He makes sure his back is up against a protruding stone rock before getting out the little eyeglass of his. He crouches into a low profile against what ground he has, subjecting more of his shins as he gets off a Symbological spell to provide the low-yield electrical charge. The soft light might give away his position - but he needs to take a look in case of there being any connected mechanisms or devices, or whatever weird things this swamp's... features... might do to the vision capabilities of the eyeglass.
It might accidentally put notice on a new potential route they could take around... problematic people, if it comes to it.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Eugh, it stinks in here!"
That's Dean complaining about... well, the smell of the Mire. He's come here because he heard a rumor that there was Bad Stuff here, like, Malevolence-type stuff, and he thought it might be a good opportunity to try to gain some of the sensitivity that lets people see that kind of stuff. So far, the only thing he's finding himself sensitive to is the stench.
He's holding his nose as he walks up the road that terminates into the ooze, and makes a face when he steps into said ooze. He's kind of glad he came by himself... He wouldn't want to put Avril or Rebecca through this. Or himself through Rebecca's chiding, for that matter. It looks like he's not the only person who had this idea, though--a lot of people are here already, including...
"Ida?" he says, looking at his friend. Then he looks at who's with her and utters, "That--that guy!!" ...He's not actually sure what Id's name is, though the shirt at least gives him a clue: "The Death Waitress fan!" Then there's another group here, led by Josie, who Dean doesn't know, but he's happy enough to give her a wave with his free hand. She, and her companions Ethius and Ambrosius, are a little more off to the side anyway.
Dean can't hold his nose forever, though. For one, the way in seems... unclear, and he needs to focus. He gags a bit when he finally lets go to summon Twin Fenrir into his hands with a flash of light. "This gunk could use some landmarks," he says. "Lemme take care of that!" And then he fires off several rubber bullets from his Standard Cartridge, to mark the way further inward. It'll... probably be effective? Maybe?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius has been here before. And yet, this place looks...different. That makes sense, of course. It was like the land itself was...alive. Any evidence that might have been left behind in his last adventure - even with the massive landmark that was Big Shal - had in all likelihood been consumed by the swamp by now.
No, they would have to approach it more carefully. At the very least, his knowledge of the dangers of the swamp had allowed him to come prepared. Anything that could potentially be ruined by muck and slime had been left behind, and so rather than the bright red poncho people are used to, he appears to be wearing a suit of slick armor, including a helmet that will help filter out some of the scent and the spores.
...Somewhat.
Josephine had proven herself to be a useful ally in the past, so when he heard that she was looking for some extra hands to visit this place, he readily joined in. He was less thrilled about Hesiod, but...he could not deny that he was also useful, if not a bit of a wild card.
And it seems like they're not alone, either. There are others here, too. Beneath his helmet, Ambrosius frowns.
Hopefully they won't be a nuisance. He doesn't speak or make any apparent move to help at all, but he is quietly trying to map the place out in his head.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Lost in the Mire.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Lost in the Mire *>======================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Even at first glance, one thing is clear about Emrys Mire: this is not a pleasant place. A murky haze lingers in the air above the muck and slime of the swamp, punctuated by the looming form of countless giant fungi. Allegedly, other people venture the mire in search of its secrets, but save for the ramshackle road leading to it, there's little evidence of such. The road leading into the mire terminates a few dozen feet out into the bubbling ooze of the swamp. You won't be able to rely on the path that led you in; other means of navigation are necessary if you want to make any inroads. But the mire is subtle and deceptive. Whatever gains you make won't be easy... or without cost. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
===========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 1 *>=========================== =========================< Results - Lost in the Mire >========================= 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass 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.
Dean isn't the stealthiest guy around, and quickly attracts the attention of the big, silver-haired Hellion Ethius was worried about--or, to Dean's eyes, his friend Ida, who seems to have only gotten more frail-looking since he last saw her. (Ida isn't sure why this is the case, since if anything, she's been indulging in food lately.) She glances at him while Id busies himself with his map, wariness building upon itself until anxiety is practically clawing its way up her throat. "Dean," she says. Oh God, she thinks. She wasn't planning on this, this was supposed to be a two-person operation in a place no one ever goes. Malevolence surges around her heart in eddies as Dean approaches the two of them. "The two of us..." Ida glances towards more squelching sounds, and catches sight of a very familiar hoodlum-looking fellow and his two compatriots. What is Hesiod doing here? "...Were going to examine this place."
Finding a clear path through the mire turns out to be a bit more complicated than anticipated. Either the terrain changed, or Id acquired a bad map--the 'clear path' he pointed out is actually strewn with overgrown fungi shrouded in a cloud of Malevolent spores. Dean's attempt to make landmarks would be useful, in theory, except for the fact that the fungi are far more resilient than they have any right to be. Rubber bullets bounce off their boles, splashing into the mud. The sounds of gunshots echo through the murk.
Luckily, the others have a bit more luck. Ethius's lens spots a path that isn't festooned with horrible poison fungi, and Ida locates another not long after. The two groups proceed, within sight of each other, but... perhaps not technically working together yet?? It's weird.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
====================================================<* Emrys Mire *>==================================================== ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - To Great Heights *>=========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Sections of the swamp betray pieces of its forgotten history. For instance, ahead lies the remains of some ramparts, half-covered in and half-melded with more of the vaulting fungus that favors this place. It was built to last a thousand years or more and indeed it has in a fashion. It still looks reasonably stable, and stands quite high; if climbed, one might be able to take stock of the entire area from here and consider anew the ideal approach. Of course, the fungus and the crumbling state of the wall, combined with the height, mean this won't be a particularly easy advantage to claim. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is at first hesitant to walk this path he found. He pokes at the ground a few times with the tip of his quarterstaff, as though expecting it to instead be a buried explosive or something equally ridiculous. It is not. He re-adjusts the bandanna around his face to better ensure he's not breathing in as much of the swampy air as he heads down the path along whomever else seems to be going his way. A few names and clarifications have been dropped, and yet, there is a bigger problem.
He looks back over his shoulder to account for everyone's movements as the varied paths converge further in...
The darkened mire has sunlight break through from above, the daylight shining upon the rotting stone rampants who seem to be held together by all the fungi that seem to have grown around it. As though the fungi, themselves, sort of cherished this old piece of architecture from a bygone era in these parts.
Already wearing gloves and being about as well-protected as one of his manner of dress can be, Ethius takes the tip of his quarterstaff to press against the fungi. They hold tightly. He considers the route ahead, which is thick with Malevolence and other murky swamp visual obstructions.
His idea is to scale it and get a better vantage point. He wordlessly gets a harness around his wrist - a raggedy sack of some kind - and one Symbological spell later, it inflates to hot air underneath. It doesn't give him much proper vertical lift, but as he tries to scale the wall, it gives him much more a margin of error for not dropping down after finding a bad/weak foothold.
It's dangerous, and may not reveal anything helpful - but the other prospects of just forging ahead aren't lookin' good.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
In all fairness to Dean, he wasn't *trying* to be stealthy. But yeah, even if he were, he wouldn't be. He does note that Ida seems more fragile-looking, and that gets her a concerned look, and he does catch on to that anxiety, though he thinks at first it's because of DWF. He frowns over at Id, then looks back at Ida. "Same here, actually. I heard this place had that Malevolence stuff and I thought, this might be a good chance for me to try to see it. You mind if I come with you guys?"
A shame about the bullets bouncing off the muck. That honestly was not something Dean had expected. If anything, he would've figured they'd sink into the muck. He stares at it, ARMs flashing away so he can scratch his head. However, they manage to wend their ways inward, even if... maybe there are two group that are sort of working separately from each other even while being in the same general area? Dean will keep his distance if Ida tells him she doesn't want his company, too, so it's probably for the best that he's got people to kind of follow after from a polite ways away.
Soon, they find a rampart. It's covered with ooze and fungi, but it looks to be more or less intact, and it goes up a pretty decent height. Dean, who knows little to no fear, goes ahead and climbs it himself--and when he encounters parts of the rampart that look dangerously look, he calls up Twin Fenrir again to shoot it, this time with the Freeze Ray, to solidify and stabilize it. Hopefully he'll have something useful to see at the top! Assuming he makes it, of course.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Freeze Ray toward his party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius takes a moment to take in the others. He recognizes some of them, but with his face concealed by his helmet it's impossible to judge how he feels. His stance remains level, and there's a brief nod of acknowledgment toward Dean, Ida, and...the Death Waitress fan.
He has a feeling they're probably all going the same way, so he might as well not make a big deal about it.
As they travel, however, they come across the remains of some ramparts that have certainly seen better days. The current consensus among the group seems to be scaling it, but...
...Right now, Ambrosius seems to be more interested in studying the ramparts themselves. There's not really much to be gleaned due to their current crumbling state...but it's fascinating to him all the same.
As such, he might not be quite as quick about scaling the structure as the others might be.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id places his hand on his forehead. It's actually just how Ethius used to do it. "Gnh. Him too." He says, glancing over towards Dean. He had almost caught him before. He's not ready yet for people to know who he truly is. A small surge of energy compiles in his hand before he cringes and places a hand to his chest, the charge dissipitating. "Hrnn..." He straightens up and looks at Dean. "A reprieve." He says. He isn't exactly out of juice, but with the pain his body's in it's hard for him to do anything flashy. He says, "At least, if y'don't get in our way." You can just say you're too beat up to really stop them Id, Ida won't judge you. But alas, the Death Waitress Fan has to be a prickly cactus person.
Frankly, he's surprised Dean is chill around being with HIM considering he nearly murdered the kid. Still, he is forced to do the swamp puzzle the old fashioned way. He regrets his life choices. He ends up stuck behind Ambrosius though so he's not likely to have a good time either.
"The Ice Queen still alive?" He asks.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida senses that surge of chi in Id's hand. It's difficult for her not to--the Malevolence has heightened her senses for such things, even as it's opened her eyes to the pulse of Lunar's lifeblood. For a few, terrifying moments, Ida imagines Id reaching over and snapping Dean's neck with all the gravitas normally reserved for twisting the cap off a bottle. When this does not happen, she lets out a breath, motes of Malevolence escaping her lungs alongside air.
The structure, though, provides for a convenient distraction. Ida frowns ever-so-slightly as she looks at it. She does not like how it looks to be more fungus than stone, but if she can actually make out landmarks in this pit she might be able to do more than wander around in the muck for hours on end. "Mind your footing," she says to Dean, as she steps up next to him. Her voice is calm, but oddly soft and reassuring. She sets her foot atop the cap of a large, sturdy-looking mushroom, wedges her fingers in cracks in the masonry, and begins to climb.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Similarly, Josie's had some fruitful expeditions alongside Ambrosius -- and the fact that technically speaking she knows next to nothing about the man hasn't bothered her yet.
Similarly with Ethius, even if he has a few known quirks -- but that's the Drifter way in the end. Join up, work together, part again, and if it went well, then perhaps you might do it again someday. They're dependable enough, compared to some of the people she's been on a team with, in any case...
Which mostly means neither of them have shot her in the back yet.
"See anything?" she asks her teammates for the day, glancing over her shoulder as she nears a promising patch of actual dirt amidst the mire. She ascends it quickly enough -- as quickly as the muck will allow.
There it is again, that pulse.
Penelope makes an apparent attempt to merge with Josie's body, so much does the bird sink down against her shoulder.
"...You feel it too, huh," she murmurs, tapping her ever-present partner on the head with a gloved finger. "And it ain't just the stuff in this place."
Her lips press thin. A little more warily now, she moves along; this is among the reasons she waits and falls back behind Ethius -- she may be the impulsive sort, but there's a difference between impulsive and suicidal, and here it stands.
"See anything interesting?" she drawls to Ethius, before craning her neck at the sight of the wall before them.
Watching him as he ascends on ahead.
"Get a better viewpoint, huh." Perhaps helplessly, she shrugs, and, finding the best handhold she can, starts to slowly make her way up.
It's difficult, slow going, particularly since she has to favor her left hand.
"Didn't... heh... think I'd need a climbing rope in a swamp..."
Her chatter is light, in spite of the struggle.
As if to suggest to anyone listening that she's not aware of the presence of someone -- something? -- else here.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights. DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, To Great Heights.
====================================================<* Emrys Mire *>==================================================== ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - To Great Heights *>=========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Sections of the swamp betray pieces of its forgotten history. For instance, ahead lies the remains of some ramparts, half-covered in and half-melded with more of the vaulting fungus that favors this place. It was built to last a thousand years or more and indeed it has in a fashion. It still looks reasonably stable, and stands quite high; if climbed, one might be able to take stock of the entire area from here and consider anew the ideal approach. Of course, the fungus and the crumbling state of the wall, combined with the height, mean this won't be a particularly easy advantage to claim. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
===============================================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>=============================================== =============================================< Results - To Great Heights >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass Freeze Ray 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------------------
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
One by one, they all try to scale the wall however they will (or won't). Ethius loses his grip and drifts freely in the air, unable to find another foothold without giving up significant amounts of progress - and also because he seems to be taking interest in what Ambrosius is having a look at, if one follows his gaze.
The fungus that Some Asshole climbs responds to the 'Ice Queen' query as though it were an expert on the subject by simply dropping it. Self. Itself. It's a nasty tumble.
Ida picks her footing well, but finds a problem when she gets to a piece of masonry that doesnt' seem to have much fungus encrusting it - in that it is no match for the flex of her mighty (or to the less-Resonant, noodly) grip, and a not small piece of it collapses on and around her.
It's not Penelope's fault (this time) that Josephine's foothold just gives up and seems ready to slide her back on down.
"...I see nothing of interest from this vantage point," Ethius responds suspiciously belatedly as his gaze tracks Ambrosius' movements.
Dean makes it to the top on his own, through guile, grit, and childlike glee! Up on the top, he sees awesome thingss! Like a rainbow from so far away! And, and, clouds that look like something neat he saw a while back! And lots and lots of mushrooms!
In other words, he'll find nothing of worth in regards to their continued journeys within the swamp, other than getting to carry the life experience of having an AWESOME VIEW OF STUFFS that'll sure lighten the mood of this mysterious mire of misery if he talks about it forever.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge. ===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
===============================================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>=============================================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Desperate Escape *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Not everything that once existed in the land that became Emrys Mire has been consumed by the muck quite yet. Here and there, stable buildings can be found if in varying degrees of degradation and ruin. For the quick and the fortunate, a few scattered objects might be gleaned from the wreckage, still unclaimed by the swamp. Sadly, 'fortunate' does not at this point describe you. While exploring the ruined foundation of a building, the crumbling structure reaches a tipping point and begins its final collapse. Escape by any means necessary -- before it buries you with it -- has become the highest priority. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius glances back toward the Death Waitress Fan. He asks if the Ice Queen is still alive. Ambrosius...he doesn't respond. Not right away. No, at the moment, his current interest seems to be in the ramparts.
It's hard to tell what causes it first...but as bits and pieces of the structure above start to collapse, its foundations finally give out.
Specifically, right beneath the party, and conveniently before Ambrosius can give an answer. One could be forgiven for assuming foul play. Needless to say, regardless of who caused it, they will all soon find themselves buried in debris, muck, and slime, if they can't escape before the shattered ruins are claimed by the mire.
"...Is everyone...alriiight...?" Ambrosius asks, breaking his silence.
This is no time for subtlety - he draws an object out from within one of his bags. At first glance it appears to be a metallic contraption of some kind...but it's true purpose becomes evident as he channels his ether through it and it produces a powerful, spinning blade of water which he proceeds to use to cut through any debris in his path.
Following him might not be a bad idea.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Desperate Escape.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"A reprieve?" Dean says, frowning at DWF. "From what?" He's not exactly... *chill* about being around Id, but nearly getting murdered by someone or something just isn't enough to put the kid off. Heck, he's nearly been murdered by Golems and that hasn't put a dent in his love for those. MEanwhile, Ida doesn't exactly tell him it's okay for him to join, but she doesn't NOT tell him it's okay, and she also tells him to mind his footing, so he smiles at her as he does precisely that. "Right!"
In fact, he does that *so* precisely, he makes it all the way to the top without realizing that the other have nnnnot been having so much success. And besides, this view is *amazing*! Look at that rainbow! Wow, it's coming out of a cloud that looks like a crab! And all these *mushrooms*! He didn't even know they came in so many colors! He wonders if those ones with the polka-dotted red caps taste good?
He's so caught up in admiring the view, and in not hearing that question about the Ice Queen, that he almost doesn't notice the stir of the masonry at his feet. "Hm?" he utters, looking down--just in time for it to start crumbling. "Woah!! Guys, watch out!! We gotta get off of here, now!" he calls, pulling out his shovel and straight-up digging the crumbling bits out of the way, and away from those climbing back down so they don't fall on anyone else, while he makes his descent. Combined with Ambrosius's water blade digging through the debris, it just might be super-effective.
As for the view, it was nice while it lasted?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool The Trusty Shovel toward his party's challenge, Desperate Escape.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida makes it about halfway up before the masonry decides it doesn't want to play nice anymore. Ida wedges her foot in a hole between stones, and puts weight on it--but the moment she does, she hears the sound of crumbling masonry, feels a sudden lurch as the stone gives away beneath her. Simultaneously, the stone beneath her hands begins to crumble as well. Instinct takes over. Malevolence surges down through Ida's arms, illuminating the meridians within and condensing at her fingertips. Flesh twists and shifts, becoming hard as steel and razor-sharp. Ida digs the improvised talons into the wall, and tears furrows in the stone as she uses it to slow her descent. She ends up in the same pile as the others, her Malevolent aura seething around her, her hair whipping as if caught in an unseen wind.
"Does it look like we're all right?" she snaps at Ambrosius, lips peeling back from her teeth. This probably looks especially comical to him because all he sees is a frail-looking human who has to crane her neck to meet his eyes. But she can see daylight streaming in through the cracks--or whatever passes for daylight, in this hellhole--so not all is lost. Even if she didn't, she wouldn't give this place the privilege of trapping her.
Ida reaches into a pocket, and pulls out a small chunk of wood dripping with Malevolence. She presses it to the wall beside Ambrosius's drill, and there's a hissing noise, as though acid were starting to burn through the stone. Instead of a more mundane gas, it's emitting Malevolence.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stamp of Corrosive Authority toward her party's challenge, Desperate Escape.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius touches down from his free-flight, a small hitch in his shoulder from that sudden loss of foothold earlier. He is saved from a concussion by a piece of ancient rampart falling off the construction and bouncing off the inflated Hot Air Sack before it hits the ground, and that is the first sign he gets that the whole thing's about to crumble and fall on them. He moves with his free hand to help Josephine up if she needs it, but then... it intensifies.
Expertly, Ethius seems to stand between Ambrosius and almost anyone else in eyeshot as they draw the interesting-looking thing as the deafening hum of cutting water makes their way through the rocks. Letting the deflating Hot Air Sack go limp, with no time to properly stow it away, he draws the quarterstaff and keeps watch for any large enough chunks about to fall upon them--
"Far Point!" He calls to his infamous lunging technique, striking at the exact center of a mass needed to try and deflect or otherwise shatter any big enough debris coming down their way.
There is a big uptick in the swirling Malevolence nearby, and Ethius turns 180 to make sure his back isn't quite as open and vulnerable to the frustrated Hellion.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Desperate Escape.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
One moment, Josie has her hand on the wall and is making a slow but steady ascent.
In the next, the stone gives way under one of her feet, and that's the point where EVERYTHING goes straight to hell.
After all, she only has one good hand.
This is the reason why there's a sudden bark of a very naughty word as Josie plummets downwards in a shower of stonework.
During these proceedings, Penelope mysteriously manages to make her get away, whirring off into the dusky skies of the mire in a blur of wings.
So in the end, it's Josie and Josie alone who groans and stirs at the base of the collapsing wall.
And the one who utters yet another oath under her breath as she climbs to her feet with Ethius' hand up, a wince coloring her expression.
"Been better," she mutters, gaze lifting as the wall continues to shudder and collapse.
shit, that sensation of 'Malevolence' is close
This is the point where her gaze rises to meet Ida.
Ida, much larger and much more Malevolent than when Josie last saw the scholar.
Cassidy had mentioned the second part, but not the first as such.
"Okay. Kiddo?"
She heaves out a breath as rocks continue to slide into the muck, threatening to bring everything down around their ears.
From her belt, she unhooks her mattock.
"First thing first, we're getting the hell out of here. But after that--"
She turns, apparently eager to be fast on Ambrosius' heels, both hands now gripping the haft of the tool in preparation for the all-out strike she'll need to make against the falling stonework.
But not before tossing back over her shoulder a stare that could melt granite.
"--I want to know what the HELL you think you're doing!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Desperate Escape.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
DWF looks back to Dean and he doesn't say anything for a bit. He opens his mouth to probably say something rude but then the fungus he's climbing peels off and he ends up falling free. His shoulders slouch as he realizes what's about to happen. He falls to the ground, forcing him to wall slide back down. He cringes as he eventually hits the ground and crouches to massage his leg. Maybe, he thinks, it was too early for him to try coming out here and he should've just stomached the Domain for a little while longer.
He then looks right up all the way towards Dean Stark who is sliding down the wall with the shovel. Since he used the shovel to dig out crumbling bits, bits of dirt crumble down upon Id's hat.
"Hn..." He says, grabbing at his collar, or something hidden by his flightsuit.
He then launches a massive red blast for the debris right into the debris that's in the way there. Ambrosius might want to duck, at least.
Id's panting for breath afterwards before he straightens and says, "Yeah everything's perfectly fine." in a chill tone.
He then looks towards Josie for a long moment.
"What."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Mother's Cross toward his party's challenge, Desperate Escape. ===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
===============================================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>=============================================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Desperate Escape *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Not everything that once existed in the land that became Emrys Mire has been consumed by the muck quite yet. Here and there, stable buildings can be found if in varying degrees of degradation and ruin. For the quick and the fortunate, a few scattered objects might be gleaned from the wreckage, still unclaimed by the swamp. Sadly, 'fortunate' does not at this point describe you. While exploring the ruined foundation of a building, the crumbling structure reaches a tipping point and begins its final collapse. Escape by any means necessary -- before it buries you with it -- has become the highest priority. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust================================================== ==========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 3 *>==========================
===============================================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>=============================================== ========================< Results - Desperate Escape >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 25 --(7)--> 32 Fail Stamp of Corrosive Authority 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass The Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Mother's Cross 4 Brute Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 25 --(7)--> 32 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 30 --(30)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(1)|Secret(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Someone doesn't seem to take too kindly to his question. Ambrosius glances in Ida's direction. He doesn't say anything back, but...to hear that from a human that looks more frail than the rest of them is perhaps unexpected...or maybe entirely expected?
He doesn't really give it too much thought, instead continuing with the excavation work. Conveniently...Ethius always seems to be in front of everyone else as he does so. Ambrosius doesn't comment on it. With that helmet, it's hard to tell if he's even seen it.
Aqua Cutter, Mattock, and Shovel take to the stone, and they do a decent amount of work! But before Ida's stamp and Ethius's quarterstaff can do too much work...
Some Asshole decides to just simplify the situation, hurling a massive red blast that simply vaporizes everything in its path.
...At least it's a way out? Some swampwater will start seeping in, but...it's better than the alternative.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - To Light A Fire *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The swamp is not an easy place to traverse, regardless of the precise nature of the twists and turns it presents to those exploring its mysteries. But at times, even a place as ancient and corrupt as this can present a small mercy. Here, atop a small section of dryer land -- a rarity in this place -- stands the remains of a bonfire. With a some effort, it's likely to be possible to get it going again, and warm one's bones a moment... but though this may be dry land, it's still dry land in the confines of the damp and humid mire. Still, better to light a fire than curse the darkness, so to speak. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'Okay. Kiddo?'
The Malevolent star in Ida's chest flares brilliantly, illuminating the wreckage around her and casting her face in eerie shadow. Anger seeps into the air around her, and the swirling mists of the mire respond, encirling her like an accretion disk. "Who made you my mother?" Ida says, and then a massive surge of chi alerts her to Id winding up behind her. The big Hellion throws herself to the side, pressing herself tightly against the fungus-choked stone. Impossible heat blooms nearby, stinging her skin--
Murky daylight streams in, along with fetid bog-water. Ida opens her eyes, shakes her head, and turns to her companion. "Well done," she says.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's hard to stare unflinching into the depths of some sort of dark star, that hungrily seems to reach out for your soul... or whatever might pass for it, in Josie's case. Particularly when it pulses, seeming in tune with Ida's own impulses.
Her mouth tightens, but until the moment she turns to follow Ambrosius, she doesn't look away.
"If you were my kid, I'd have you over my knee," Josie snipes back, her expression long since set sail for darker waters. "I thought you were smarter than this--"
This is the point when Josie backpedals, hard, out of the way.
The blast of chi sails in soon afterwards.
The way is clear, just a handful of steps ahead.
And then following that is the point where Josie takes a hand off the mattock she still holds -- her right -- and draws from the holster strapped against her thigh.
"This the kind of company you're keeping now, kiddo?"
The ARM is aimed for none other than Id.
"I think you're a little too late to wreck this village," she says to the man who laid waste to Wayside--
Before -- and there's no other way to explain the look that shudders across her face -- pain writes a message for the world to see.
"..."
Stiffly, she lowers and holsters her gun. Must have hit it on the way down. Torn something again--
And as if to underscore the thought, the swamp around them makes a loud 'bloop' as more of the stonework sinks into the depths. Josie, for a moment, watches it go, gone for eternity.
This is actually a bad place for a fight, anyway.
"Alright," she says at last, gaze lingering on Id and Ida. "Let's call it a draw, shall we~?"
It's said a little too brightly, too cheerily, to be actually honest.
It's good timing and possibly good fortune all around. Maybe it was left by another group. Maybe it's divine providence in a sense. There's a patch of dry land ahead just beyond the wreck they've left behind them, and not only that--
There's wood. The remains of a campfire.
Josie pats herself down, apparently unwilling to just pass on a moment to regroup, as it were, and possibly also dry out a little.
"Matches... where's my..." Which is followed by a low groan. "Don't tell me I left them in my--"
Which then is the moment that from on high descends a beacon of hope (?):
Penelope. Bearing an olive--
Oh, hell, it's a lit match.
The look on Josie's face says a lot. Namely: 'what the hell!!'
(this raises honestly a whole lot of questions that will never be answered)
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
In the wake of all that, there's a tense stand-off.
A tense standoff Ethius fails to participate and be of much company to because somewhere in that exchange of a collapsing structure where great powers (technological and... other) move in to save the day, a chunk of that manages to bounce off of his head.
Colors and sounds swirl his mind, clouded, as he ambles off in some irrelevant direction for a few moments.
Then he catches a glint of the light - what little there is, in this part - coming off of Josie's ARM. Even the slightest sound of anything rattling in there, somehow, just brings everything back sharper into focus. An angry, white-haired Hellion with a throbbing sun within their body sneering (if not at him). A truly intense gaze of Some Asshole that, even when not bearing directly at him, seems to make Ethius extraordinarily uncomfortable to meet for anything more than three seconds at most for some reason, a loud and happy-go-lucky young man, and...
...
For whatever reason, the last one - the one not described - seems to be what gets Ethius to move, in the same way a cat appears to pick inexplicable times to find themselves compelled to freak out and move, as he goes down to a low crouch and withdraws the Spectral Lens for another sweep of the environs while he misses the sight of a pigeon holding a lit match over a pile of firewood.
...This isn't helping defuse anything, but maybe while everyone's stoking fires (social or physical), maybe he'll accidentally catch a look at something helpful while he's off being so quiet and suspicious and so utterly fixated on some detail or situation so obscure as to be perhaps an expression of whatever mania he suffers specifically.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius doesn't really follow Josephine's argument with Ida. He doesn't really understand what the problem is...but then, there's a lot that he doesn't understand, though he wasn't aware of it.
His Resonance was improving...though he had a long way to go before he would be able to discern a Hellion's true form.
He emerges from the ruins and takes one last look back at them. He can't help but feel a bit of regret...but it doesn't last long before he turns away. They continue, and Josie spots it first - dry land, and the remains of a campfire.
He studies it for a moment...and then turns away, taking the opportunity to assess their surroundings. They could take care of something like starting a fire on their own, right? Right now, his biggest priority was keeping an eye out for potential trouble.
He knew the sort of things that dwelled here. He did not like the idea of one of them sneaking up on them.
Ethius's...Ethius-ing does get a glance from Ambrosius, but not for long before he returns his attention to the task at hand.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id grabs at his arm, fingers outstretched like they're about to fly off. He didn't care if Ida saw him like this, but these other people are bound to have loose lips. He glances towards Ethius. Okay. Some of these people are bound to have loose lips and one of them is likely to set him on fire.
"Doubt I'll be able to do that again today, though." Id asides to Ida. "If we have to we can fall back."
Id looks towards Penelope and gives Penelope a small nod as if to say 'Good Work, Bird'. If Penelope brought a match, maybe Ethius won't set him on fire. He waits to see what Ethius will do before making a move to avoid Ethius setting him on fire.
Keeping an eye on Ethius, Id reaches into a pack and drops some spare kindling on the campfire wordlessly. He likely figured he'd have to camp out at some point being the LONE WOLF that he is.
He looks back at Ethius again but--no, he's not setting on Id still. Id doesn't relax though. You never know when Ethius will set you on fire.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Woah, guys, hey, this is no time to get into a fight!" Dean says to Ida and Josie, waving his hands. They almost had a building fall on their heads! He even dropped dirt on Id's head! SORRY ID, HE SINCERELY DID NOT MEAN TO, HE WAS TRYING TO GET THE DIRT *AWAY* FROM EVERYONE'S HEADS. But Josie seems to agree to a truce, if largely because Id just blew up a portion of the building so they could all (?) escape, so Dean nods and lets it stand at that, though he does look back at Ida in concern. After, of course, getting the heck out of there before what remains of the building just kind of... sinks into the bog. Yikes. Double yikes, really, after that chi blast. This is *such* a day so far.
The group moves on, to find the remains of a campfire. It looks like the wood's still good, too, at that. Dean brightens and approaches the camp. "Hey, this is good luck! Hmm, maybe I could make a spark if I shot at it a few times--"
Penelope arrives with a lit match. Where did she get that? While Ethius and Abrosius look out for trouble, and Id adds more kindling, Dean scratches his cheek, then opens fire with the Standard Cartridge on some of the burnt logs to reveal the dry, still-burnable wood within. Hopefully that'll still help!
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Standard Cartridge toward his party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'If you were my kid, I'd have you over my knee! I thought you were smarter than this--'
Josie's words stick in the back of Ida's mind like a shard of metal lodged in her skin. She can't make them stop, make them go away--and Josie's too-cheery demeanor in the aftermath only makes things worse. You're not remotely worth respect, to her. You're a child. A spoiled, insolent, angry little child. She all but storms out of the wreckage, fighting the urge to put five fingers across Josie's face and send her reeling into the mud.
The campfire. The little metal automaton scuttles out of Ida's cloak, and perches atop the pile of dried wood. It starts scraping two of its limbs together, like a spark-striker--except that's actually what it's doing. Each of its limbs is the head of a tool, and those two just so happen to be a spark-striker.
Ida watches Penelope as she arrives with the lit(!?) match. She does not look relaxed in the slightest.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, To Light A Fire.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - To Light A Fire *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The swamp is not an easy place to traverse, regardless of the precise nature of the twists and turns it presents to those exploring its mysteries. But at times, even a place as ancient and corrupt as this can present a small mercy. Here, atop a small section of dryer land -- a rarity in this place -- stands the remains of a bonfire. With a some effort, it's likely to be possible to get it going again, and warm one's bones a moment... but though this may be dry land, it's still dry land in the confines of the damp and humid mire. Still, better to light a fire than curse the darkness, so to speak. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
===========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 4 *>=========================== =========================< Results - To Light A Fire >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Loyal Demon Eye 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Standard Cartridge 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 60 --(15)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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. DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Kill It With Fire *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Here ahead of you and tilted in a perilous direction in the muck stand the remains of a large complex, still largely intact. To judge by what structures yet remain -- pillars, spires -- this must have been the focal point of the settlement, possibly serving some religious or sacred purpose of some sort. Though it would be hard to tell much about it now, with the facade so eroded. Time and the elements have done great damage to the past here. The passage before you awaits -- but it is not so easily entered. There's a bit of a problem you'll have to deal with first. The oozing mass of fungal growth coating and entirely covering the structure -- blocking the entrance, naturally -- promises to make the attempt improbable if not completely impossible if it's not removed. Whatever means of destruction you have available to you now, it's time to put it to use. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Suffer======================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
A few important things happen:
First of all, a fight fails to break out, possibly partly because of the terrain and a shocking display of cooler heads prevailing (as well as more personal reasons, perhaps), but also because that kid -- Josie does not know Dean's name -- intervenes.
She doesn't have words for him so much as a sigh, a shake of the head, and a lopsided smile, if that could be honestly called a smile.
Secondly, Penelope drops the match onto the twigs without incident.
In fact, it's generally good news all around -- Id adds more fuel to the fire in a shockingly positive and quite literal way, a spark is loosed amongst a drier bit of the fortuitous kindling they happen upon courtesy of a well-aimed bullet and a very helpful scuttle-buddy of a construct (something Josie might have wanted to check out, had she not been terminally distracted by Penelope).
Job complete, Penelope waddles away from the fire as it starts to burn, hopping up on a moss-coated rock nearby.
Josie tilts her head to one side and ultimately... shrugs. Well, what can you do.
No danger makes itself apparent as Ambrosius does a sweep of the nearby environs -- other than the bubbling of the swamp and the everpresent hint that something terrible and distant is out there... there's nothing here at the moment.
Still, there's a good fire going by now, enough to sit and take a moment to warm one's bones a spell amidst the damp and creeping fungus.
It does little to take the edge off the look that Josie casts Ida over the flickering flames.
It's Ethius, in the end, who will make the larger discovery: this bit of drier land possesses -- dying trees and soggy soil besides -- one other important thing, the remnants of a marker, suggesting a path once ran from here towards the north.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id looks towards Dean as he summons the dark power of NO FIGHTING. He looks back to Josephine. It's when he sees Ida storming out of the wreckage that he actually turns inward. He expected to get threatened by Josephine. Were he in her position, he'd threaten him too. But hearing himself referred to as bad company irritates him profoundly even if it's, well, probably not really false. He doesn't speak until the campfire is going.
"What do you know about company?" Id asks when Josie gives Ida that look. "It takes courage to be honest about yourself and your impulses. Her companions are true to her in spite of their own their own pain they have to carry. They care not about being 'right' but rather simply provide care. It is no wonder they forged bonds with each other, rather than with those with fake smiles who would abandon them the moment they hurt them."
Id looks into the fire. "The bonds you have with your companions are far easier to shatter. Do you even know them, I wonder... Or are you content to provide false smiles while hiding your true self from them." He smiles thinly. "Perhaps one day she will be free of her curse, perhaps not, but either way when she is done traveling this path, she will be far stronger....the real kind of strong...and though her depression will remain it will not swallow her again. In my time she would have received proper care. I do not fault her for living in primitive times."
He straightens when Ethius makes his discovery. "Time to move."
It is unlikely Id would have said half of that were Josephine simply aggroing on him. Id is weirdly protective of Ida...at least as protective as a guy like him gets.
And soon there is a new problem. There is some kind of city? Religious complex? The path ahead is blocked by fungal growth, corrupted as it is by malevolence. It looks like Id's chi would be useful here but he doesn't unleash it. Instead he stands back and crosses his arms.
"Good luck with this." He is acting tough but he actually can't bring out those chi blasts right now.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Nothing. Ambrosius isn't sure whether its a good thing or a bad thing that he doesn't spot anything. It might not be here...but it could be close by.
He frowns. Troubling.
He hears Id scolding Josephine, but...he doesn't really care. It's not directed at him. He does catch that 'In my time', however...that was an interesting way of putting it.
If this wasn't 'his time', then when, exactly, was he from? Most curious.
Eventually, they've all had enough rest and its time to move on. Ambrosius is thankful for this. While it's nice to have a chance to relax, he doesn't like the idea of lingering too long in a single location in this place.
What they find is...
"Quite faaascinating..." Ambrosius murmurs. Indeed, the structure they find is something spectacular. It's much more intact than the rest of the surrounding ruins...though unfortunately, there was not much that could be gleaned from the outside in its current state.
They would need to go inside if they wished to know more...but that was easier said than done. The single obvious entryway appears to be coated entirely in fungal growth.
Ambrosius brings out that metal contraption, once more focusing energy into it to generate a blade that he swings through the growth several times in an attempt to cleave right through it. He'll keep it going as long as he needs to.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius points out the path... but he lets everyone else ahead of him. Id's caution about the prospect of Ethius setting him - or really anyone - on fire is well-founded among those who are familiar. He has barely engaged the lot of them since they've come here. There should be impetus to speak up, to act - as Josie just attempted to - but yet, he has not. He should have firmer opinions.
If the name of the Hellion is a match for the name of the scholar, one he's been in the company of at least a few times, he should... care? If he is in the company of someone who has leveled settlements with such ease as to be beyond the understanding and reckoning of anyone around him, he should... care? If he is in the company of a young man whose exuberance exceeds his ability to grasp the nuance and consequence of the things of their interest, he should... care? If he's in the company of a shady woman who seems intent to have caused a stir that may have ended in a firefight or worse, he should... care?
The choking Malevolence that runs through the muck all around them yearns for that little opening to seep into. The place is thick with it. It's even thicker with a bonafide, stronger-end Hellion among them leaving their true form out in the open. He has shown zero inquisitiveness about what that one in the Death Waitress cap has to say about bonds or companions. All of these should be alarming or at least interesting.
What is his reason, his conviction that sees him stand so without being overrun by any of this?
His eyes track Ambrosius as he murmurs his fascination with the structure - and when the lot of them start moving to be rid of it. From where he stands, Ethius brings a hand up against his forehead. It stings when he puts his fingers up against it. There is something here that he finds uncertain and unclear, above all - something he finds most important. He remembers his last attempt in which to shake out an answer did not quite yield anything with clarity.
Almost no one seems to be hiding themselves from one another. Dean is to open and earnest. Ida goes without saying. Josie was clear about her feelings as regards a few of them. That asshole in the cap is free with his words and feelings about how he stands between where he is and the world around him. Ambrosius is no longer much of a secret to anyone.
The only way he'll have his answer... and the only way he'll have his opportunity, if a specific number among them decides to maintain this honesty in front of him...
"I will attempt to apply a copious amount of heat." A lot of the time, when Ethius decides he's going to do something, he just does it and rarely tells anyone. Most recently, his decision to just try and climb the rotted ramparts - or maybe his decision to give a sweep of the Spectral Lens to the surrounding environs rather than assist with, say, helping light a fire (which should be trivial for him).
He is making his intent clear. This may be a cause for worry, but his actions match the words - one or more Symbological spellcasting rituals later, an immense amount of heat is being applied to the thick growth.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean gives Josie a frown. He's not always the most observant of boys, but he's seen that kind of look she's giving him before enough to know that she's looking down at him, and that really rubs him the wrong way. "Look, just don't be rude to my friend, okay?" he says brusquely. "You don't have to like each other, but I'm not gonna put up with that."
Id has an even deeper input than this. Dean blinks at him in genuine surprise when he talks about friends caring for each other rather than worrying about right or wrong, and how Ida will be stronger at the end of her journey. Dean... honestly didn't expect him to be this supportive?? He seemed like a terrible jerk, when last they met. He doesn't think too much about 'in my time'--old-timers always talk like that, just like old man Tony, and Id's probably ancient, like, forty or fifty or something--but he does ask, "What d'you mean by proper care?"
He asks this genuinely, too. Dean has no idea how to help Ida except by being there for her. If Id has some real insights, he wants to hear them. Especially since it looks like Ida's real upset about it... Once again, Dean gives her a concerned look, but as ever, he doesn't know what to say to her to make it better. (Though perhaps sticking up for her will help in and of itself.)
Regardless, the fire is lit. Dean warms his hands near it for a moment while Ethius discovers the path onwards; then the group moves on. Before long, they find some kind of... series of buildings? Or maybe it's just one building? Dean's not quite sure, but it's big, whatever it is. There's a path in, but... well, the oozing fungi are, disgustingly, covering the entrance. He makes a face, because it's super-gross--but hey, that's what shovels are for.
"Okay, thanks!" he says to Ethius when the strange man declares his intent. He pulls the mighty shovel WHITE FENRIR from out of his coat. "I'll help dig this crap out of the way--should be easier with some of it burnt!" He'll do precisely that, without reading a single thing into Ethius being unusually direct. "And I'll stick to this side so we don't run into each other, Ambrosius." And once again, Dean does exactly what he says he will, applying his shovel to the part of the mass that Ambrosius *isn't* tackling so they don't get in each other's way.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool The Trusty Shovel toward his party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Rude? Oh, you think this is rude? Heh," Josie says, her lips again breaking into a lopsided grin. "Kid, one of these days, you're gonna get an education," she informs him, before settling herself down at the campside.
"Hm?"
Josie lifts her head when she's directly addressed, her dark eyes heavy-lidded.
"'My companions'? You been spying on me, kid?" This is before he goes on, sparking her to arch a pale eyebrow. She heaves out a sigh that just might be a faintly amused one. "Heh... good one. 'My true self', huh? Do you tell everyone you meet things like that, or am I just the lu~ck~y~ one? Listen, let me tell you a thing or two about Drifters."
She leans over now, propping her weight upon the arm resting in her lap. "'Companions' just means 'until we stop earning money'. That's all." Her face hasn't changed in the slightest as she speaks. "So you can can it, whatever you're getting at. Kiddo over there needs to get her act together and stop playing around with her own soul."
She pauses, a measured look crossing her face. "Unless this is the kind of place you fancy spending the rest of your life," she informs Ida directly, fingertips uncurling lazily as if to indicate the whole of the mire.
Id, however, isn't quite done yet. "'In my time' what? You don't look a day over nineteen, kid," she tells Id in the end, uncrossing her legs before standing from the rock she's perched herself upon.
"Well, whatever you are, or whatever you think you are, let me make you a little promise."
Her smile broadens. Distressingly. "Next time I see you, I'm not even going to give you a warning first. Got it?"
And with that, she turns to head off into the mire.
She's... whistling as she does so, mattock dangling from the fingertips of her left hand.
It turns out to not have been a bad bit of prognostication on her end -- not when the next obstacle presents itself in the form of a... blockage.
"Heat, huh?" her gaze flicks sidelong to Ethius. "Well, let me in after you. Somehow I think a little heat'll soften the whole thing right up."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The kindling catches flame. Ida's little companion scuttles back up her leg, and tucks itself into the shadows under her cloak. She stands there a while, since the heat of the fire is comforting, and her clothes are muddy. She was doing her best to try and tune Josie out, to try and pretend she doesn't exist--but Id gets her attention instead. The sun in her chest flickers erratically. Ida turns to look at him, eyes large, lips pulled tight. She's starting to get a feel for the nature of his cryptic tendencies, but above and beyond defending her, which she was absolutely not expecting--
"It has a name?" Ida whispers. It feels like someone else has noticed the monster stalking her, instead of dismissing it as a figment of her imagination. She glances over at Dean, swallows, tries to choke down the sudden heat that rises around her eyes. She's not going to cry. She's not going to let Josie see her cry.
Fortunately, Josie stalks off. Ida turns away a moment, takes a shuddering breath, and allows herself to tear up. The teardrops roll down her cheeks, evaporating into acrid mist. She rubs at her eyes with the arm that's less muddy, and reaches out to put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Thank you," she whispers. "Both of you."
The next obstacle presents itself--and this one, it seems, is a sign they're getting somewhere. Ida takes a moment to study the horrific mass, but predictably, it doesn't map to any sort of fungal lifeform she's familiar with. She pulls out that small wooden stamp again, and presses it to an outcropping about ten feet away from the main mass. Malevolence seeps into the fungi, tracing its way through hyphae to the rest of the mass--weakening the fungal shoots bonding the stuff to its substrate. Ida watches, and waits.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stamp of Corrosive Authority toward her party's challenge, Kill It With Fire.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Kill It With Fire *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Here ahead of you and tilted in a perilous direction in the muck stand the remains of a large complex, still largely intact. To judge by what structures yet remain -- pillars, spires -- this must have been the focal point of the settlement, possibly serving some religious or sacred purpose of some sort. Though it would be hard to tell much about it now, with the facade so eroded. Time and the elements have done great damage to the past here. The passage before you awaits -- but it is not so easily entered. There's a bit of a problem you'll have to deal with first. The oozing mass of fungal growth coating and entirely covering the structure -- blocking the entrance, naturally -- promises to make the attempt improbable if not completely impossible if it's not removed. Whatever means of destruction you have available to you now, it's time to put it to use. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Suffer======================================
==========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 5 *>========================== =======================< Results - Kill It With Fire >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 37 --(10)--> 47 Fail Stamp of Corrosive Authority 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 35 --(10)--> 45 Pass The Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 40 --(10)--> 50 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 37 --(10)--> 47 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has successfully explored Emrys Mire!
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Only Hope Remaining *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Within the still-standing remnants of the complex, the air is cool amidst the stonework, a contrast to the stifling breath of the mire. Here and there moisture beads the walls, glittering faintly in any light brought to it. Though decay rules in the outside swamp, for this lower reach of the complex -- a library perhaps to judge by the debris, or maybe a workshop -- time has largely stood still. Vellum scraps -- though heavily ruined by the cool moisture permeating the chamber -- are strewn here and there, amidst what appears to be the remains of the room... and the tools of the arts there used. Staves, wands, even a perfect crystal sphere can be found amidst the wreckage, all still bearing the breath of magical power. A few scraps of well-preserved vellum can be read if collected, the letters scripted in a spidery hand: "Mine only hope now is to seal back the protector to this land. They respond not to my entreaties; I can only assume they have succumbed to the miasma. This land will not survive; that I already know. I fear for the lands beyond this. I have no choice but to begin preparations for the Work." OOC: Interested in giving your character a more esoteric (and possibly magical) Digger tool? Any number of the wands and staves here, as well as the other apparatus, could be used for such purposes if desired. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id doesn't interrupt Josephine, though he does answer Dean first. "Therapy with a licensed professional. Medication." Damn he really must be forty like Dean thinks. He must take really good care of his skin to look like he's, as Josie says, nineteen. "There is some of that even on Filgaia, but it's primitive. From what I remember...it's something you manage rather than defeat, but hardly something you can't live a fulfilling life if you have it. But it does get worse if it's untreated."
He looks towards Ida for a moment. He thinks back to that one time he thought he was gonna make it. He was going to have his happy ending only to lose it all at the last moment. Whatever happened to that little bit of future he sent ahead, he can't help but wonder, but the stronger part of him is afraid to look. "That's what they called it. Depression. I'm not a professional, of course, but that's what my intuition is saying." Honestly Doc should be handling this, he thinks, but Doc isn't here and it's not like the fake would know to mention it.
Id misses the man they call 'Doc'. Maybe because he could handle this sort of thing.
He won't be allowed to remember this, he thinks, as Ida cries and thanks Dean. Even if it's his own little happy memory, it will be torn away from him won't it? He clenches his fist in sudden anger that doesn't last because, he reminds himself, Ida will remember. He'll just have to rely on that.
If he felt like this world could be saved, he'd be trying to, wouldn't he? He wouldn't be trying to burn it down faster but they'll fail. They always do. He's long since grown tired of trying and this time, he's far more broken than the other times. It's already a doomed cycle. ... ... isn't it?
To Josie he simply says, "Just one who is really loud about it. Shoot me whenever you'd like." If only, he thinks, it were that easy.
Within the complex, there's a point where time has stood still. How fitting, Id thinks, that this should be what they find. A message from the past to the future, though hardly any past he would remember. There's tools, a crystal sphere, and other such magical artifacts.
But what draws Id's attention is the vellum. He collects it together and reads it.
"...Miasma. I suppose they mean the malevolence. Or perhaps it's merely swamp gas and the 'Work' brought in here."
But at least there's one good thing about adventuring with Id. He doesn't take any of the spoils. That means more for the rest of you!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Don't talk down to me," Dean says back to Josie of educations, frown deepening. "I've met even ruder, meaner people than you. That doesn't make you *not* rude." Case in point: Josie doesn't hesitate to tell Id off and dig in her heels about her thoughts on Ida. "And that's not true, what you said about companions! Maybe it is for some Drifters, but a lot of us actually care about our friends! Don't talk like you speak for every one of us!"
But Josie heads off, which is probably for the best. Dean's nettled, but he's not the type to chase after someone to continue an argument. This is especially so when Ida shudders and starts crying; then Dean hurries over to her. Before he can say anything though, she puts a hand on his shoulder and thanks him and Id. Dean blinks, then gives her a warm smile and reaches up to take her hand in his. "Anytime," he tells her, squeezing her hand. "We're friends, after all!"
Then he turns that smile to Id and gives him a friendly nod, then another, more thoughtful nod when Id explains about depression and how to treat it. "Therapy and medication... Okay, thanks. I'll remember that." Granted, they aren't things Dean can give Ida, but maybe he could find someone who can. Maybe Fei would know something about it? And maybe Id's not such a bad guy after all!
Cough, cough.
The group breaks through the awful, awful fungi and into the complex proper. The air is nice and cool--a little damp, but not muggy like outside. He looks around at the remains of paper and the various tools. A message is eventually gathered up, and Dean reads it, then scratches his head.
"Miasma? The Work? I wonder what that's all about," he muses. Id offers his own theory, and he nods. "That makes sense. Hmmm..." Another look around. At first glance, it doesn't seem like there's anything that'd be useful to him, but--he wonders if that crystal sphere over there might be usable as a power source? For, say, a certain butler Golem waiting for him back on Filgaia? It's worth picking up and showing to Shalune later, in any case! Which is exactly what he moves to do.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius...he doesn't really pay much attention to the inter-party banter. He has his own reasons to be here, and he doesn't really have the connections to them to contribute even if he wanted to.
He just nods quietly to Dean and continues his work on the other side of him, and together the two of them are able to clear out a decently-sized entrance.
Ethius's actions do concern him, though. He might need to take measures to avoid too much damage being dealt to the structure...whatever the case, they do get inside eventually. Most of this place seems to be in great disrepair...but they do find something that's mostly intact.
"...A libraaary...? Or a workshop...perhaaaps... It is... a shaaame...that time has...been so cruel...but this place...at least...has largely surviiived it..." He says, breaking his silence once more and shaking his head. What catches Ambrosius's eye first is the crystal sphere. He walks over to it and stares into it.
"...Faaascinating... To withstaaand all this time...withooout even a bleeemish...this is truuuly a...faaascinating speeecimen..." He murmurs to himself.
Meanwhile, however, Id begins to speak. Ambrosius glances in his direction.
"...Faaascinating..." He says in response. He wanted to know more. He would have to visit this place again in the future, to see what other secrets lie hidden in the murk.
It's at this point that he notices Dean making his way toward the sphere. Ambrosius picks it up...and then holds it out.
"...Did you...have need of this...?" He asks, curious.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Ambrosius beats Dean to the crystal sphere--but then he holds it out to him. Dean blinks, then smiles at him. "I'm not sure, actually," he says, because he's chronically honest. "I have this small Golem a friend gave to me, but it doesn't have a power source, and I was wondering if maybe that crystal would do the trick, so I want to show it to a friend of mine who's a Golem mechanic and get her opinion. If it turns out it won't work for that, I can give it to you, if you want! It sounds like you're really interested in it, too."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida thinks back to her last meeting with Doc Ardan. It felt, to her, like he was tiptoeing around this very subject--like he knew what was wrong, but wasn't mentioning it by name. Things click into place. Ida turns back to Id, and it takes effort not to break down and thank him and hug him in front of everyone. The Malevolent star pulses. "Then that is what I'll have to do," Ida says. See? You were on the right track.
A positive thought. Ida hangs on to it, cradling it, even as she wonders what other bizarre and unprecedented things will happen, and waits for something to go wrong. But nothing goes wrong. And when she goes back to think on what's happened here, she'll find it makes a lot more sense in context.
With the fungus cleared out, Ida steps into the inner sanctum. She sucks in a breath, as if tasting the air--there's less Malevolence here than in the swamp outside, and while most of the texts are obviously ruined, one is not. Ida skims it over, and then reads it again, slow and deliberate, committing it to memory. "The protector to this land," Ida murmurs. She thinks back to the Beast, and to what she saw in the Nameless Spire, and in Tintagel. She reaches over to a rack that once held a half-dozen staves, and now only holds one--she picks it up, testing the weight and the heft. "Not bad."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Many interesting and curious things are said around Ethius, who seems to be comfortably slipping ever more into the role of being an extra to whatever personal or world dramas seem to be surrounding him. He follows into the fallen library, joining the rest in violating the sanctuary in stasis prior to their collective intrusion. There is one specific person he seems to be shadowing as they all fan out and observe their environs. If anyone cares to look back the way they all came, to the strange white-haired man in the hood that makes him look the part of a local Lunarian hoodlum...
Some time ago, on Filgaia, one person stopped him from moving to destroy something they found within the first known (in modern times) major concentration of Malevolence near Port Timney. Swift, decisive, merciless. The few times they've been within eyeshot of one another seems to have been something of a tense, unspoken ceasefire... at best.
And now, with his guard lowered... Ethius moves in, striking with...!
Something in his hand, held outward, as he seems to slide just in front of Dean.
"I believe this might be of interest to you." So claims Ethius, who is now before Ambrosius, hand extended out towards him, holding...
A rock. Like, just some completely random rock. He could've picked it up anywhere along the way. "I took notice of your interest in the overgrown structure prior. I had assumed you would have wished a closer look were it not for its untimely collapse into the swamp."
While he's saying these words, with his free hand he slaps Dean's arm and tries to gesture to him to 'go, go, go.'
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie has just one thing left to say to Id before they go on: "Then it's a promise."
To Dean, Josie just... shrugs, lifting her shoulders in an easy, lazy motion as she regards him for a moment. "Sure, kid. If it makes you feel better."
A few moments later, and she's not alone here perched on the rock; a familiar winged form has joined her before she makes that move to stand up. "Heh."
It's a little more accurate to say that Josie doesn't walk off quite immediately. She instead leans forward, close to the fire, and after fishing a hand-rolled cigarette from a pocket, grazes the end against the flame.
"You're still young," is what she says to Dean at last, gazing at the burning end of her smoke as she steps back from the fire. "Try and hold onto it."
So with that, and with the cigarette between her lips, she makes her way on ahead through the swamp.
And into the depths of the complex once the fungus blocking the way is handily removed.
She's whistling still as they arrive in the room strewn with the detritis of ancient magical research. It stops soon after.
A darker look marks her face for a moment.
And then it's gone, as is the cigarette, tossed to the floor and ground underfoot.
No commentary from the archaeologist is apparently forthcoming as she silently sifts through the materials strewn to one side of the room, apart from the others.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"A Gooolem...you say...? ...Hmm..." Ambrosius considers. He was interested in this sphere...however, he could sympathise with the desire to get a Golem running. Dean was a human, but...
"...I can deteeect...a modicum of...power...within this spheeere... Howeeever...I do not know if it...will be eeenough to...power this Gooolem of yours..." He explains. "Most Golems...requiiire...a certain degree of power...to fuuunction... But...you may try-"
And then, Ethius slides in place in front of Dean, offering him...
...A rock.
From behind his helmet, Ambrosius's eyes narrow. This will go unseen, but the slight tensing of his body won't.
"...Iiindeed...this is true... Howeeever, Heeesiod..." He says, setting the sphere down carefully. "...Do you...take me...for a fool...?"
What game was he playing here...? Ambrosius couldn't comprehend it.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hopefully, Id thinks, she won't miss like the other girl.
Id flinches when Dean gives him that FRIENDLY NOD as if FRIENDLY NOD was a level 8 gatling headshot. If Ida hugged Id, he'd probably completely shut down and then you'd have to drag him out of the swamp. Or...leave him there. But he does admit, grudgingly to Dean, "You got backbone 'least."
Id then looks back towards Ida. "You got what you need from here?"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean frowns harder at Josie when she condescends to him. But she's condescending to *him*, and not insulting or picking a fight with his friend, so he lets it go. Especially when she adds another comment that makes it sound like... maybe she's jaded because of her age? So he nods to her and says, "I will."
Then he's talking to Ambrosius about the crystal sphere. He nods to him. "Yeah, I know. There was another thing I was looking into, but that was back on Filgaia." He brightens when Ambrosius tells him he can try it--and then Ethius sweeps in between them to offer Ambrosius a rock, and try to shoo Dean away. Dean gives him a puzzled look as he picks up the sphere. "Uh..." He looks back at the Veruni. "Anyway, I'll let you know what my friend says. Thanks for letting me have it! If it won't work out, I promise it's yours."
He backs off then to let Ethius do... whatever it is he's trying to do with Ambrosius. Dean sure doesn't understand it either. As he tucks the sphere into one of his jacket pockets, he looks back over at Id, who grudgingly admits he's got backbone. He flinched at his nod, too... What a weird guy. Still, he paid him a compliment, so he says, "Thanks." A beat. "What's your name, by the way? I don't think I ever caught it. I'm Dean! Dean Stark."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius, for his part, seems to.... take him... for a fool... in so much that he continues to stand there and offer him the rock. It's... a rock. It cannot be any more interesting than the crystal sphere. Even he should know that. Unless he's been hit in the head again.
(...Technically yes, he has, but that is probably not the deciding factor!)
It is a strange non-sequitur of an event in the backdrop of a story about depression, friendship, and hope between a very strange gathering of people. when Dean pockets the crystal, Ethius wordlessly deposits the rock on the nearest flat surface available and seems to see it fit to walk off without giving much of an answer.
Or taking anything.
...Or asking for one's discretion in place of payment.
What a weirdo.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id sighs when Dean asks him his name. "Names... I'll never understand the fascination with them." He shakes his head. "Call me Id." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Did you...forget I tried to kill you?"
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"Iiindeed. If it does not work...then perhaaaps I may offer...some insiiight...at a later point..." Ambrosius says. He does not, however, take his eyes off of Ethius even for a second, until the other man is safely out of the room.
He is still quite unsure what that was about, but at the very least it ended nonviolently.
And then, with that decided, he moves to leave the room himself. ...Fully understanding that he might be leaving Dean with a man that said he'd tried to kill him at some point.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Really?! Cool! Thanks!!" Dean gushes, lighting up at Ambrosius' offer of insight into powering small Golems. But hey, one thing at a time! He still doesn't get what Ethius was trying to do, but... that all ended okay too, so all right, he guesses??
Id tells him his name, then asks him if he forgot he tried to kill him. "Of course I didn't forget," Dean replies, frowning. "But you're being a good friend to Ida. That's more important."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Id presses his hand to his forehead, exhales, and then says, "...Sure. See you around, Dean."
Id heads out shortly after, no doubt kind of freaked out by this Dean guy.