2018-05-27: Strange Dogs
- Log: Strange Dogs
- Cast: Talia, Lydia Seren, Kaguya, Matilda Whitehead, Janus Cascade
- Where: Lastonbell - Merchant District
- Date: 5/27/2018
- Summary: Filgaian mercenaries shake Lunar's core.
=====================<* Lastonbell - Merchant District *>===================== Lastonbell is one of the oldest cities on Glenwood, with a large bridge and belltower located in the very center of the city. Lastonbell's main street leads directly under this tower, which towers over the city, and a pair of ancient bronze bells hang from it, giving the city both its name and trademarked musical sound. The street, when approached from the west, is one of the hearts of commerce in the Rolance Empire. Shops, inns, and taverns line the main strip -- and the numerous caravan wagons passing through Lastonbell, to reach beyond. The eastern gate is always bustling with activity, and the crowded streets here can be a source of crime. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Qv2JpBbGo <Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia promised that she could get Kaguya, Matilda, and Janus inside of Lastonbell. She did so. It seems that she has a few contacts; she got them through one of the last boltholes built underneath the wall, before it was closed, to keep Hyland from sending in sappers. The irony, of course, is not lost on her.
An appointed time and place was agreed upon to meet: in the evening, underneath the awning that hangs over an abandoned store front. The siege began a day ago. Even now, occasionally, Lastonbell's wall shakes violently -- stones slam into it from catapults, but the wall holds against the destruction. It will be, without intervention, a very long siege.
Worryingly, perhaps, Talia is late.
She walks up with someone in tow -- the black-haired woman looks over her shoulder, her eyebrows knitting for a moment, as she regards Lydia Seren. This is, she reminds herself, absolutely stupid. She should not be bringing someone else into this job. She isn't, however, sure how to get rid of her easily.
"So," she says to Lydia Seren. "This could get pretty serious, no? We will need to be ready, in case things go south."
To say nothing of the things that might happen, when the wall collapses. Talia hopes not. Instead, she looks back ahead -- and steps out of a shadow, and into the light of the setting sun. Her sly, playful smile is on her face; her red eyes shine, cheerily. "So... I picked up a stray," she says. "Can I bring her home with me?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia turned out to be a lot harder to ditch than Talia was hoping. She swears at least at one point Lydia went in one direction and then appeared in front of Talia in the other direction. Talia isn't the only teleporting jerk on Dream Chasers even if Lydia is pretty sassy about it. She is not particularly involved in the war beyond it being pretty good for business. Peace is also good for business, of course.
Eventually Talia has just started carting her along herself so these dumb portal pranks stop happening.
"Eh. She'll just beat me up if she doesn't want me around." She grins widely, showing off her many fangs. "She already did it once! But we're still cool. What's a few concussions between pals, eh?"
Those are probably not the words that Talia wants to hear moments before introducing her 'stray' to Lady Kaguya and Retainer Matilda and That Punk Janus.
"Hey Kags." Lydia grins with a wave of her free hand. "I found out about your evil plan."
This isn't even the first time she collided against one of them come to think of it.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is easy to bring places; she's small. Getting into the city via the bolthole was easy for her, with Talia's guidance. ...being in Lastonbell, similarly, is a simple prospect; it's just a matter of not drawing too much attention to herself. ...Well... Not too much until it's time.
For her part, the Veruni is leaned against the wall of the abandoned store front, arms crossed. She's dressed in different clothes than usual--loose, dark, a little green here and there, her boots solid enough. ...It makes it very easy to miss the glint of green metal at her hands, the sturdy gauntlets she's wearing... The stock sticking out from behind her, her weapon slung at her hip. It resembles no gunsmoke ARM; here on Lunar, it's easy to assume, without seeing the whole thing, kthat it's some sort of magic wand. ...But when Talia steps out...
Kaguya's green eyes settle on Talia, then on Lydia. "Huh," she says. "Well, what you do on your personal time's none of our business, right?" She laughs a moment later.
"Thought I told you to get out of here," she says to Lydia, and she tilts her head. "Guess you did, huh."
"You want in? It's gonna get pretty ugly."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
This... there's still a little shakiness about it for Matilda -- but a job is a job, and this is sort of... what she signed up for, essentially, in running a mercenary company. She doesn't actually mind the skulduggery necessarily -- going through the bolthole is just fine.
Matilda's not far from Kaguya, and is dressed... well, like usual for herself lately -- dark armor, green cloak. She's been around the town enough times that even being somewhat ready for a fight isn't too attention-grabbing -- and her cloak hides a lot of it, anyway.
When Talia arrives with Lydia in tow, Matilda... allows herself to smile for a second. "Ah -- good. I've worked with Lydia before," she says, nodding. "I admit having an extra person along is -- mmm, it exposes us a little, but... well, we can deal with that..."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia isn't small, but she can cut through time and space. In a limited sense, sure, but usually that's enough. She scratches at her nose lightly and says, "Well you're my friend not my boss so Lydia does what she pleases." She then laughs like Fennoko (it's a deadpan rapidfire 'hahahahaha').
She does give Matilda a small smile, though she can't help but be worried for the compounder. If she goes totally off the rails or, like, dies--she loses the best access for her medication that she's ever had. Also she's like, you know, a friend? She doesn't want to see them suffer or die in some dumb wall thing.
"But I figure the sooner the war ends the better. We don't exactly want this to get Kislev-Aveh insane. Not with all the Malevolence that's gonna spew out. So sure, I'll lend a hand." She grins again. "Besides, Talia's cool so I'm gonna look out for her."
She wonders what Ethius would think but, then, she doesn't need to tell Ethius now does she?
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus, of course, runs a bar in this town - setting the Cascade up in Lastonbell is what brought the Drifter and his duo of nogoodniks to Hyland's attention in the first place. He knows his way about the underworld here already, which helped in smuggling him and his...sure let's call them friends, through the blockade.
The meeting point is not the Cascade, though, at his request. No sense making it quite that easy to track them down later. Who knows what crazy ARMs this place has!
Thus, at the appointed time, Janus Cascade shows up with Dario in tow; Romero pops up a moment later, scrambling down from a rooftop like he thinks he's a ninja, which is exactly the case. Janus' eyes lid a bit, unimpressed by Talia's...stray. He doesn't recognize her. He briefly glances back at Dario, who takes a swig from his flask; and Romero, who shrugs lazily.
Janus has done nothing whatever to his outfit here on Lunar; he still dresses with that red jacket, the white pants under white chaps like he thinks that's how life works. "I got a hole under the Cascade for mouthy folk, ya know," he says, as an aside to Talia. "Ain't had to use it yet. Just, you know, in case ya need it." To put Lydia in, he doesn't say. Or herself, if Janus is sufficiently annoyed.
But for the moment he settles against the wall, casual like. If this worries him, he doesn't show it at all. He shifts the massive ARM in his hands, slinging it up vertical. His eyes scan across Lydia, assessing...but he finally just shrugs. "S'long as she doesn't get in the way, I got no objections."
DG: A party led by Talia is now entering Mission on the Walls. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Mission on the Walls *>========================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Broken Elevator *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The first step on getting up the wall is the vast amount of wooden scaffolding, which is tiered across the wall on the Rolance side. An intricate network of stairs leads up to the top. However, there may be a way to bypass some of those tiers: a broken elevator sits before you. A system of ropes and pulleys hangs limp. If you can get it working again, and quickly, you may be able to slip up the wall before a patrol notices you. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"Oh, wonderful," Talia sighs, "I'm already having regrets."
She doesn't look that nervous about introducing Lydia as a tag-along for this particular mission. She, as a rule, never really looks nervous; the only sign is a slight crease to her forehead, which relaxes slightly when Kaguya speaks. She sighs, though.
She looks at Matilda, then she nods her head. "I know. I thought of that, too, but... the way things fell, it was rather difficult to leave her." Because, in part, Lydia would just appear in front of her. She never asked how she did such a thing. When Lydia calls her 'cool,' she blinks -- and looks sideways at her -- before she shrugs once.
She keeps her face carefully, measuredly pleasant at the compliment.
"Oh, is that so?" she asks, cheerfully, to Janus as he approaches. "Maybe I should stop by. I do find the Church's prohibitions to be... so disappointing." She looks down the street, then. "...It's time, though. Let's move."
It is a short walk to the wall -- but they have to duck a few patrols, using the buildings there. As they rush away from the last patrol of soldiers garbed in red, they come to the entry point. A stairwell is ahead... but so is an emptied wooden platform. That leads up into a massive series of terraced wooden platforms, connected by stairs, that scurry up a city wall that is several stories high.
It is no small task that they undertake.
Talia steps up to the elevator; then, she frowns, as she looks it over. "I think--hm." She pulls out a notebook, with the Kislevi army symbol on the front, and flips through a few pages, hoping for a sketch like the ones she found tucked in at times. "--If we can get this working... we could save ourselves the effort on climbing so many stairs, no?"
DG: Talia has used her Tool Lt. Keil's Notebook toward her party's challenge, The Broken Elevator.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Exposure's not a problem," Kaguya says, turning her head to Matilda. "Remember, we're going for spectacle. ...And I'm not worried about whether they can stop us." The confidence is clear--but she's not heartless about it towards Matilda. "...It's fine," she says after a moment, in what she thinks might be a reassuring voice. ...She doesn't have a lot to say about the war or anything, just, "It's cool," about Lydia, and then--when Janus mentions the hole--"Nah, nobody's touching Lydia today," she announces with utter certainty. "Besides, she's got useful skills."
"Man I'd love to go get a drink after this. There's nothin' like cheap booze and painkillers, right?" Kaguya laughs like a pirate, looking to Dario and Romeru only enough to not bother greeting them. She moves along with the others. The wall is huge, the platforms are there..
"Yeah," Kaguya says, "We could save a lot of time. And, y'know, stairs suck. Let's see..." She doesn't notice the notebook. One human symbol is the same as another. Instead, she starts looking around to see what's broken, "See, our guest is an engineer. This is gonna be no problem."
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Broken Elevator.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia does give Janus a brief surprised look. She didn't think Janus had come all this way too. It's not TOO surprised though. She knows they're in the same gang. Weird that it feels like Kaguya's calling the shots. Or maybe nobody's calling the shots and it's just a good idea/bad idea economy here. She does aside to Dario, in an attempt to be polite, "Your fly is down." Luckily this will not stop the fly being down in subsequent scenes or they'd have to hire a whole new artist.
Regardless, she's quiet enough to let the gang talk their plans up. She smiles faintly when Kaguya speaks up for hr though.
Regardless when they get to the elevator, Lydia lets out a faint whistle. "Well, 'ssuming it works like a Filgaian elevator." Wait was she not supposed to tell Talia about that? Well whatever. "Let me just put on my thinking cat." Surely she meant thinking cap but--nope. Schrodinger appears on Lydia's shoulder in a flash of light and climbs up to lie down on Lydia's head, using her horns as a kind of cradle and taking a nap there.
She does notice the notebook and murmurs, "Speaking of Kislev." She looks at it for a few moments before adding, "I'll take a looksee. Lemme know if you hear any trouble and I'll try to keep it quiet."
She whips out her toolbox and gets to work on the elevator. Lydia is actually pretty good at jury-rigging fixes, seeing between the lines of book education to find alternate solutions that just work. She had to teach herself any books most of the time so in theory, this should be child's play, unless there's something about this particular elevator that's unexpected.
"Yeah s'why they call 'em 'siege engines', because 'engineers' are good at this shit." It's a dubious explanation.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Schrodinger the Cat toward her party's challenge, The Broken Elevator.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda nods to Talia as they get underway. Kaguya's sympathetic words get a smile. "Ah -- yes. That's... yes, we're fine," she affirms, though it may be that she's trying to convince herself before they get started.
She's quick and quiet -- it's a little surprising, honestly, how quietly she manages to move in a breastplate and greaves. Oh, sure, it's well-made, and that's part of it... but Matilda's always been quiet.
As they approach the elevator, Matilda looks at it, head tilting slightly. "...I was about to say that an elevator of this type might be conspicuous, but it actually looks like it'd run comparatively quietly if we got it working..." She cants her head slightly, looking it over closely. "I think beyond effort, it might be advantagoue in terms of not getting spotted..."
She scoots close to the elevator, cracking her knuckles. She focuses on basic, simple components of the fix -- she didn't bring tools for this exact sort of thing.
Se is really excited to have a linguistics discussion in the meanwhile. "Ah -- well, yes, actually, 'engineer' used to specifically refer to the designer and constructor of anti-fortification weapons," Matilda offers, as she cautiously restrings a pulley.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Broken Elevator.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
It's more like Kaguya just talks like she's in charge all the time, and Janus hasn't (yet) felt bothered enough by this to murder her in cold blood.
Still, he does give Kaguya an overtly skeptical look as she firmly declares Lydia will go unmurdered today, but shrugs gamely enough a few moments later. "Well, tip for ya from the Wasteland, doll," Janus says, toward Talia, as the group rallies up and moves out. "Never assume two Drifters'll get along. Folk like us...bad blood sinks deep." He chuckles, ominously, for some reason. Dario accepts Lydia's advice with a swig of his flask, before tucking it away, hitching his pants up and resolutely not doing the fly as he marches onward. Despite their attitudes, the group moves skilfully forward, Romero signalling Dario and Janus for good times to move.
Sadly, the Gang are not really mechanical engineers, and Janus grimaces as he looks at that elevator. Honestly, with this team he'd probably rather take the stairs, but it looks like Talia and them are already at work. Dario and Romero mill about, trying to look like they are assisting by looking on with interest.
Janus stands back, lips split in that grin, content to let the eggheads handle this part. His part comes later.
DG: Janus Cascade has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Broken Elevator.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Broken Elevator *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The first step on getting up the wall is the vast amount of wooden scaffolding, which is tiered across the wall on the Rolance side. An intricate network of stairs leads up to the top. However, there may be a way to bypass some of those tiers: a broken elevator sits before you. A system of ropes and pulleys hangs limp. If you can get it working again, and quickly, you may be able to slip up the wall before a patrol notices you. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Treasure===========================================
======================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 1 *>====================== =======================< Results - The Broken Elevator >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talia 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Lt. Keil's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Schrodinger the Cat 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Janus Cascade 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Talia 0 --(25)--> 25 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Talia has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"A what elevator?" Talia asks. She knows that some of them came from the Blue Star -- truth be told, the technology from the Blue Star is why Bartlow hired them. She is privy to a few of those decisions, having been hired by the chancellor first. She does not, however, know the name of the world that the others have. She looks up -- and then takes a step back at the cat that has appeared on her shoulder.
Her eyes are wide at it.
She looks back down to her notebook. "Hm, I suppose it makes sense," she says. "I never thought much about it before." She walks over to a rope, then she gives a slight tug, to help tighten the line. The line slackens again. She backs away, with an awkward laugh, and steps back to Janus. "Maybe... let... them do the work, huh."
She keeps quiet, then, and does that.
In short order, between their combined mechanical know-how, they have a working elevator. The lever is thrown -- and the elevator lurches upward. It rises, surprisingly quickly, until it comes to a platform nearly a third of the way up the wall.
DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Release the Hounds! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few patrols make their way through the vast network of wooden scaffolding that leads throughout the wall. One soldier comes down a stairwell from a higher level as you approach, and her eyes shoot wide open with shock. Worse, though, she has a pair of furred, half-wolf, half-dog beasts with sharp jaws. She cries out -- and then releases them, and they come rushing for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
What Kaguya left unsaid, of course, is the /reason/ that Lydia will go unmurdered today. ...But that's just how she talks, really. These days, anyway, here. She doesn't really even have to think about it. In charge...? Well, it's more of a good ideas/bad ideas situation. However:
Once they finish with the elevator, Kaguya beams at Matilda. "Yeah?" she asks. "That's cool. Your la--" She stops. She considers. She looks at Talia. "...Your linguistic hobby's fun."
Then she finds herself still looking over at Lydia. ...At the cat. Curiously. Cat...
"This is pretty nice, but--"
The elevator's gate slides open as they reach the platform, and abrubtly there is a soldier from a stairwell. Shocked, the woman puts a hand on her sword at her side, and lets slip the dogs of.. patrol.
"Well, that's not great," Kaguya comments as the animals rush towards them, sharp teeth and loud barks all over. So what does she do?
Well, she reaches down and rips a plank free from the scaffolding, the wood groaning for a moment as she does... and then chucks the whole thing straight for the soldier like a javelin.
"Try not to die!" she offers, helpfully.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds!.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Oh sorry," Lydia asides to Talia. "I figured Kaguya filled you in. S'the name of the Blue Star." This time, she thinks back to when she first arrived, I get to be the cool alien invader. "Maybe someday you'll get to see it." Maybe that 'dream of seeing the stars' is a little less ridiculous now that she mentions this part of her backstory.
She glances over to Matilda with raised eyebrows. Oh yeah? I thought I was just making stuff up but I guess it's true." She glances to Matilda. "Aiming for spectacle right? Well, speed's about as important as stealth."
She glances towards Janus. Does she remember him? Well, it's not like she had time to mention another tip from the Wasteland: 'Sometimes you can't be too picky with who you do a job with'. And what's more frontier than the flippin' moon?
She is also kind of hoping that movnig quickly will mean less casualties but, of course, they end up surprised by one. Lydia is nearly as startled as the Guard and draws her bat to swing it at the nearest dog.
Schrodinger wakes up and hisses at them too. "Gahhh---" Lydia manages because Schrodinger's claws are digging into her head right now.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds!.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
There is a brief, somewhat confused glance at Lydia -- and then Talia nods. Filgaia. She keeps the name in her mind, as they ascend the elevator -- and then she comes to a stop. She turns, quickly, and her eyes widen as she gets her first good look at the two hounds hurtling for them. She reaches to her sides; her left hand yanks Mirage free, while the right comes up with a dagger, which spins once in her fingers. "Hold on!" she calls out to Lydia.
She stabs her dagger down, hard, for the midsection of the first wolf -- and then she cuts at it with Mirage. She tries to slash the side open, and then takes a couple of steps backward. Her eyes shift, quickly, to the other wolf-like creature.
"Well!" she says to her allies. "If we're hoping to make a show of it, we won't need to worry about a lack of audience!"
DG: Talia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds!.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"I think a sufficiently adequate leader can handle -- personality conflicts, Mr. Cascade," Matilda replies, with a small shrug. That's all the comment she has to render on that, though. She does not help out with the question of 'Filgaia.'
They emerge from the elevator and almost immediately find their party beset by dogs. Matilda... actually likes dogs rather a lot... but... sometimes, things get a little messy. Besides -- these are part wolf, and Matilda's never been a fan of that even for war dogs...
It's with a small frown, thus, that she steps up shield-first. She considers her holdout pistol, but finds it an unnecessary risk -- drawing her blade, she lashes out at both animals, stance crisp and tight.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds!.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
"A Drifter's gotta know when to let someone else show their talents," Janus chuckles. And indeed: It works! Janus helped! By not helping! This is the essence of leadership.
They get to ride an elevator. Janus idly produces a pocket watch from his jacket, flipping it open and considering the face for a long few moments before tucking it back away. Old habits, perhaps. Regardless: A soldier at the top!!
At which point Janus barks, "Dario! Romero! Get to work!"
"HAW!" the duo yell, and surge forward. It's a little early for Dario to go firing off his ARM willy-nilly, which means he has to run up and fight with his hands. Romero gets there first, springboarding off Dario's back and flying in to stomp one of the dogs. Dario surges past, bull rushing right up toward the soldier to tackle her off her feet, swing one meaty fist back and SLAM it horribly into her face.
DG: Janus Cascade has used his Tool Dario & Romero Do Something Useful toward his party's challenge, Release the Hounds!.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Release the Hounds! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few patrols make their way through the vast network of wooden scaffolding that leads throughout the wall. One soldier comes down a stairwell from a higher level as you approach, and her eyes shoot wide open with shock. Worse, though, she has a pair of furred, half-wolf, half-dog beasts with sharp jaws. She cries out -- and then releases them, and they come rushing for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
======================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 2 *>====================== =======================< Results - Release the Hounds! >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talia 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Janus Cascade 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Dario & Romero Do Something Useful 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Talia 25 --(20)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Slow(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Talia 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> Kaguya has posed.
Things happen very quickly. On the bright side, the number of casualties so far looks like it can be very low. ...On the other hand...
Lydia hits a dog with a bat, but unfortunately Schroedinger totally claws the heck out of her. It's not ideal. As she calls out to Lydia, meanwhile, Talia totally takes out the first wolf outright; anyone who sin't comfortable with a little gore had better not look in that direction. Adequate leadership or not...
Well, Matilda totally hacks another dog down, while Janus checks the time and Dario And Romero rush up. The last blow needed for the other dog is done, and Dario punches the soldier with a nasty, nasty meaty crack.
...At which point the beam strikes her square in the chest and knocks her right off the scaffolding. So... low casualties, but... not... no casualties. In fact, Kaguya looks to the others.
"...Hey, as far as I'm concerned Flyo did that one."
DG: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Mission on the Walls *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Rolance's Finest *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you step onto the next level, you find yourself approaching a patrol -- which turns to see you before you can sneak past. The soldier turns on a foot, and you find yourself facing a man in full plate, with a massive claymore in his hands. He launches into the air despite his armor, and then bellows: "VICTORY LIGHT SPEAR!" He lands amidst you, and launches himself into a powerful, upward spinning slash. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia grimaces and turns her head a bit when Talia totally slices up a wolf. Lydia pants for breath and keeps her head from looking at the results. She seems more unnerved by the dog than the lady who just got knocked off a scaffolding and, well, yeah. Lydia's aversion to murder and mayhem is more due to general squeamishness than ethics. She's from the Badlands. Granted, it's a nicer place than Little Twister, but the Colony has a rough time of it too.
She manages, once her back is to the gore, to comment to Talia. "Thanks for the help." with a faint laugh. Great she thinks you're uncool now, Lydia, but she just adds, "Maybe next time I can return the favor--"
Actually that's pretty unlikely. "A couple soldiers," Lydia admits. "Is better than the hundreds or thousands otherwise."
Eager to move on ahead and leave the dead things behind, she ends up stumbling into ANOTHER guard.
She reaches for her medium but--TOO SLOW! The guard unleashes his VICTORY LIGHT SPEAR technique and slices Lydia across the chest and sends her crashing to the ground, a small spray of silver metallic semi-solid fluid splashing onto his armor from where he swiped across Lydia's arms to reach her chest.
It's news for most, but Lydia's blood seems mixed in with that strange silver fluid too. "Guhh...!" Lydia says. "Fucckkk!" Well at least she's alive.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rolance's Finest.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia, it seems, is utterly unfazed by the gore. She flicks Mirage out to the side -- a spray and splash of blood flies off it -- but she sheathes neither it nor her parrying dagger. Instead, the woman turns to look back at Lydia. She flashes a smile at her, and then bobs her head once in a nod. Though, truth be told...
She isn't certain of that reasoning. She keeps her quiet, for now, though, and reminds herself: the war isn't her problem. Her mission is different.
She steps forward -- and then the armored guard is in their midst. Talia drops low, and the blade in his hands slashes just over her head. The air from it surprises her, and she leaps upward. Mirage slashes up at his armor, and rakes across the plate mail. Sparks fly as Talia lifts up into the air.
Light erupts off her foot, as she slams a kick straight towards the side of the man's head. "Demonic Swallow Kick!" she shouts, as she kicks for his head.
DG: Talia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rolance's Finest.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Lydia takes a hit and Matilda is extremely ready to respond. Unlike the last threat, this is something she's pretty perfectly suited to handling; she raises her shield and advances at top speed into the fray. That first technique looks like overextension -- powerful, and dire for Lydia, to be sure, but in a group setting like this...?
Matilda shifts from the run back into a more proper combat stance quickly, letting Talia come in first with that kick to destabilize their foe. She has no grand cry, or even really much of a technique to speak of, as she advances -- she just steps in and goes for what is, all told, a pretty unceremonious stab.
She hasn't spared much thought for the soldier they took out not too long ago; she doesn't seem to intend to spare much for this one, either.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rolance's Finest.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Dario grunts, shaking his hand out. "Well she wasn't gonna have a fun life after that, anyway," he says, and grunts, and laughs. "Tough skulls up here."
"Tha's the moon gravity," Romero declares. "Makes the skulls all tough 'n' stuff! It's cuz they's closer to the Merciless Queen herself!"
Janus stares blankly at the man for a long few seconds, then 'accidentally' smacks him upside the head as he walks past. "Well, since the show's begun, let's get a move on," he says, and grins. "A good show's all about timing."
For instance, a great big thundering man inflicting Lydia with the NEAR-DEATH status using his Victory Light Spear technique.
"THAT'S RAD" Romero almost shrills.
Janus swings back - not to his knee but to a shooter's position just the same, sighting up along his rifle's ironsight.
"Dario," he says.
Dario grunts and charges again, roaring loudly to catch the man's attention. "I gotcher LIGHT SPEAR right here, tin man!" he roars.
Janus provides the spear, in the form of his ARM going off and releasing a bullet into the armored soldier's chest, punching through armor with a powerful shell.
DG: Janus Cascade has used his Tool Dario & Romero Do Something Useful toward his party's challenge, Rolance's Finest.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Aww, see, we're getting along!" Kaguya comments to and about Talia and Lydia, leaving it at that, then she laughs at Dario and Romero. "I mean, I'm not gonna say being closer to Guardians doesn't make peoples' heads harder..."
But Lydia's talk of soldiers though, "I guess? I mean, do people usually think in terms of numbers like that? Like, most people would care mostly if they knew these guys." She pauses. "I mean, I don't, so, you know, whatever."
But there's the man, raising his spear, crashing into them--Kaguya is knocked back quickly by the sheer impact of it, skidding to a stop along the wood with her arms up in front of her, hissing--her sleeves are cut. "...Nice jump," she says to him, narrowing her eyes even as Talia brings in her technique.
It's when Matilda strikes that Kaguya starts forward, slipping quickly among the others, forward to where she stands not even to the knight's shoulder. "...But I can send you farther." Her voice is cold as she says it, and abrubtly--without telegraphing, on the heels of Janus's impaling strike and shot, Kaguya's green-gloved hand snakes out to try to punch a hole through the man's armor and get a good handful of human. "'Cause you hurt my buddy."
Maybe his armor's hard; maybe she doesn't get the strike right. But she sure does move to throw him off the scaffolding towards the nearest roof.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rolance's Finest.
==========================<* Mission on the Walls *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Rolance's Finest *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you step onto the next level, you find yourself approaching a patrol -- which turns to see you before you can sneak past. The soldier turns on a foot, and you find yourself facing a man in full plate, with a massive claymore in his hands. He launches into the air despite his armor, and then bellows: "VICTORY LIGHT SPEAR!" He lands amidst you, and launches himself into a powerful, upward spinning slash. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=====================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 3 *>===================== ========================< Results - Rolance's Finest >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talia 15 --(25)--> 40 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 10 --(25)--> 35 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 15 --(25)--> 40 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 10 --(25)--> 35 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Janus Cascade 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Dario & Romero Do Something Useful 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Talia 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Talia 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> Lydia Seren has posed.
Well it's Rolance's Finest, not Rolance's Weakest. Lydia turns out to not be quite as helpful here as the last time which means she's mostly lying around here trying not to die as she shoves a potion berry into her mouth and swallows it, panting for breath from the shock of such an injury. She does get a good look at Demonic Swallow Kick which gets her to, semi deliriously, comment, "Is the demon a personal trait or is it the swallow that's demonic." Her speech is moderately slurred.
Matilda goes for a stab. Unfortunately, this guy is wearing plate mail and the blade is knocked away by the armor. The man in the platemail throws a fist with his spare hand for Matilda's face.
Kaguya does hit the man in plate hard, enough to send him flying, but he slams his blade into the ground, his armor dented...but still functional. "Such strength...!" He murmurs. "But Rolance will never fall!"
Dario provides a distraction and Janus provides bullet. Bullet beats platemail and he spews blood as his armor plate shatters and he drops into a crouch, struggling to breathe.
"What sorcery..." He begins at which point the astute may notice that the silver fluid from before is coalescing around those wounds on its own.
"Aw fuck." Lydia says, curling up in a ball.
The real reason that Lydia is likely to not end up in cement after this is made apparent. The man, briefly reinvigorated as his wounds sew themselves shut, stands up and lets out a bellow, taking a few more swipes from his blade.
But then he stumbles. "What..."
His arm rapidly balloons to three times its prior size. His face grows bulges as he drops his blade and grabs at it. "What...!" He stammers. "What is..." His leg grows in thickness, leaving the other leg hanging uselessly in the air.
He screams. And then he...pops in a messy spray.
Lydia grimaces, looking grossed out but not surprised. She stands herself up and her wound has stopped bleeding.
"uh. Sorry about that." She looks towards Kaguya. "You wanna take the lead from now on?"
Whatever that was, its powerful. Shame its stapled to a very squeamish goody two shoes.
DG: Janus Cascade has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Mission on the Walls *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Clearing Debris *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, catapult shots from Hyland's army have struck the wall. Only a few have crossed the top, but the ones that hit the wall can create problems. Case in point: one impacted near here, and caused a watchtower to collapse. The pile of shattered, broken wood has landed in front of you, and obscures the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus lowers his rifle, that grin of his insufferable. "Y'all oughta lie down, son," he chuckles. "Get outta the way, get that looked at, and--"
And you might walk again someday, he's in the middle of saying, but something is happening. His eyes slowly widen as the man heals impossibly. "Th' hell! I shot 'im dead!" he snaps, whipping his gun back up.
At which point the man contorts hideously, shrieks, and explodes.
Janus' eyes slowly swivel toward Lydia. His hand leaves his ARM, reaching down toward the Cartridge belt on his hip. He pops one out with his thumb, one he acts like is too dangerous to use except for how often he seems primed to use it.
Dario's hand stop him, gripping him firm. "Boss," the gruff man says, quietly.
... "Yeah," Janus mutters. With trembling fingers, he sets the sparking Cartridge, illuminated by some horrible internal light, back in its place. His hand only slowly pulls away from it, reseating on his ARM as he rests it back against his body.
And then he's all smiles again. "Well! No cleaning that up," he laughs, and walks forward, heedless of tracking through blood. "But spectacle was requested, so, good work there, Horns. Let's keep a pace on! We got a mission, ya know!"
And so, probably mostly tracking viscera, the group makes their way up a stairway, around the bend, toward a walkway - which is blocked by waves of debris from a fallen watchtower. Janus sighs, and looks to Dario. "Welp. Muscle up, big man," Janus chuckles, and steps aside. Dario slugs back a mouthful of whatever's in that flask, and his whole body creaks as he steps forward, power flowing through him to help him rip boards away.
"Wonder if they got Strength Apples here," Janus muses, idly.
DG: Janus Cascade has used his Tool Dario's Flask toward his party's challenge, Clearing Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"I'm afraid I would have to ask my mentor!" Talia answers, her voice a little more high pitched as she ducks under another of the slashes, and sees the way that the armored man handles the stab. Talia lands, panting.
There is a loud, thundercrack-like noise when Janus fires the Sniper Shark -- and Talia's head snaps to look straight at it. She is, momentarily, confused. Then: "...damn, those things really are powerful, no?"
Her head snaps back to the man, and sees what happens as the man's arm suddenly swells. Her red eyes widen more, as she sees him billow outward, body and armor distending, and then explodes with a splash and wash of gore. She stares, disbelieving for a moment, and then looks at Lydia. She shakes her head, once. "That's..."
There are a lot of words. She settles on: "...not a problem, anymore."
She does tense, though, when Janus goes for his belt. She tenses but doesn't move, not quite sure how she would act -- and it doesn't become an issue. She trails after him, and then steps up as they look at the wreckage. She frowns, then flips her weapons around, and sheathes them at once.
Then, she walks to the ruined watchtower, and starts yanking pieces of it away. "What a mess," she says.
DG: Talia has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Clearing Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda clutches at her face after taking a nasty blow; her jaw isn't broken, but she's hurting pretty badly. She staggers back, trying to find a stance she can actually maintain --
-- and then the soldier explodes. Matilda... winces, one eye screwing shut and not just from having gotten hit in the face. "I -- ah." She pauses, trying to find the words for this situation. "... Well, then." She's pretty done there. She moves on.
"They can be -- not everything is, ah... as high-output as that," Matilda notes to Talia. "My own is actually more of a utility device than an, um... supernova generator." She laughs a little -- then stops mid-laugh. "... Hhff. That's going to need magical healing," she mumbles.
Speaking of utility opportunities to use Freischütz, Matilda and friends come across a giant wooden obstruction! She dumps a pale blue lotion into Freischütz's reservoir and begins... spraying, it. Applying caustics in straight lines at high pressure, Matilda seems to be trying to... vaguely cut the obstruction for easier removal?
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Clearing Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
That... could have gone better. Kaguya frowns as the man catches himself, talks about her strength. "Yeah, yeah, I'm amazing," she says, and then pauses. "...Hey Atida," she says, "...Is that the one we're fighting? Romance?"
But then Lydia is... well, her fluid is kind of--well. Things get ugly quickly. The man grows, and bulges, and screams, and--well--
"...That is messed up," Kaguya says to Lydia. "...I see why you're worried, yikes. Still uh..." A beat, "Yeah, sure, I'll step up."
She doesn't seem to notice the dangerous moment with Janus for the moment--instead, she steps forward. "Yeah, we got a mission and all that." They head up, and Kaguya starts forward, aiming to get near the front... which is when she sees the debris while Dario starts to muscle up. "...Anyway yeah they're pretty powerful," Kaguya says to Talia, and hmms a little at the debris. Then, "...Atida, stay back, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."
As she says that, she starts coughing, abrubtly, her glove coming away bloody after a few moments of it. "...Ugh. Hold up." Then, she pulls something from a pouch hidden among the extra layers she's wearing, and which turns out to be... a... syringe. Just, straight up, a syringe. She draws in a breath. "It's cool, guys." She pops the cap off of it and rolls up her sleeve to slam the needle straight into a too-fragile-looking arm, depressing the plunger as she goes--
"Ah--"
She draws in a deep, deep breath, closing her eyes, and a smile starts to spread on her face. "...Okay. Let's do this."
Kaguya steps forward to the debris and... well, just starts picking up piles of it at once, throwing it aside as if it's so much paper.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool This Week's Best Guess toward her party's challenge, Clearing Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia mumbles, "This is why I don't like it," as she dusts herself off. She is from the Badlands so she totally 100 percent notices Janus moving to the Cartridge belt. There's a moment where Lydia's eyes are looking straight at Janus's. She doesn't break gaze, nor does she aggress. She doesn't like it...but she find it morally objectionable. The line between these two perspectives are not that thin.
She says, "Thanks," to Janus before looking back to Talia, "Um." And then she laughs awkwardly. "Yeah, I mean, you have some pretty cool moves there."
LYDIA: SMOOTH OPERATOR
She smiles briefly at Kaguya before looking down at the floor until they reach the next obstacle, her cheeks tinted just red enough.
Those tendrils along her back start flinging the debris backwards, disallowing Lydia the chance to even use her bat for this challenge. Odds are she's not going to be giving anyone in the party trouble over who they kill now considering what just happened.
"How uh," Lydia is still trying. "--long have you known Kaguya and Tilde?" Pause. "Matilda." Pause. "I call her Tilde."
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Clearing Debris.
==========================<* Mission on the Walls *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Clearing Debris *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, catapult shots from Hyland's army have struck the wall. Only a few have crossed the top, but the ones that hit the wall can create problems. Case in point: one impacted near here, and caused a watchtower to collapse. The pile of shattered, broken wood has landed in front of you, and obscures the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=====================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 4 *>===================== ========================< Results - Clearing Debris >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talia 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass This Week's Best Guess 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Liability ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Janus Cascade 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Dario's Flask 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Talia 55 --(15)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Talia has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
It's quick work. Janus' brief moment of apparent homicidal intent doesn't appear to be haunting him, though with the way he grins at flippin' everything maybe he's just always haunted and hiding it by laughing like Muttley at the world. But that'd be silly, of course.
"Most all of 'em shoot bullets," Janus notes, wryly, toward Talia, though somewhat off of Matilda's words. "Or...somethin' like bullets? They don't all reload like Gunsmoke ARMS, but it's brass that comes out." He shrugs. "And then there's Cartridges, which is a whole other thing." He reaches for his belt, producing one of his Cartridges - a different one from the baleful electric light of the Nova Cartridge. "Plug it in, modifies the shot. Doesn't run out. Heck of a thing."
Working together, the team - particularly buffed-up Dario and Kaguya, with Matilda on acid spray - tear the watchtower entirely apart in relatively short order. Only when they're done does Janus lever back up to his feet, rolling his shoulders and then setting hands back on his ARM. "A'right, then, that's the way cleared. Let's keep movin'."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Destroying Turrets *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you approach, you find one of the turrets used by Rolance's armies. The turret contains a catapult, which is over the top of the wall. However, inside of the base of the structure, you can see that it includes flaming pitch, oil, and other explosives. Given your task, it might prove fantastically useful, if you can destroy the turret -- and make good use of its ammunition. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda scoots toward Kaguya subtly. "Ah -- yes, Rolance is our curent enemy," she answers, with a nod. "Hyland is the one that's paying us." She then watches Kaguya self-administer, with a critical eye -- enough that she isn't really paying too much attention to the others. "Let me know how that one works. I tried to do something based on what you've given me before, plus a few things that I've seen administered to you in battle without incident, but I feel like I could do better..."
They get moving in short order, htough, before there's too much time to explore adventures in pharmacology. As they arrive at one of the turrets along the wall, and subsequently the ammunition for the turret, Matilda raises an eyebrow. "Pitch... oil... hm. I don't think we can quite bring down the wall with this, but... hhhhmmmmmm..."
She fishes a bottle of something out of her cloak, saying, "There are two ways we can play this, I think. Either we can try to take some of this with us and use it to set something else on fire later... or we can set it all on fire now, run for it, and use the distraction to achieve our own objectives."
"Any preferences?"
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Destroying Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia only glances, briefly, at Lydia when she says that. She smiles, once, before she goes back to helping tear pieces of the tower away -- but stays to the side of Matilda, as she gets ready.
"I just have to get my hands on one, some time. Of course, I doubt there are many to go around, here..." Talia sighs to Matilda. She stops, though, and steps back as Matilda begins to use her ARM to dissolve the wooden structure. Her mouth opens, but she closes it again, especially when Kaguya steps in with a strength that Talia didn't really foresee her having. She hasn't, quite, made the connection with the syringe.
She looks sideways at Lydia with her peripheral vision -- wanting to keep her eyes on the watchtower, in case they tear through it and discover that it has a group of archers waiting. "Oh, we met... Matilda and I were on a job in Pendrago. Kaguya, I met a week ago. So not for very long, no?"
She follows after -- and she draws to a stop, near Matilda. Her brow furrows, and she puts her hand to her lips. Her finger taps against them. "I think... bring it with us." She looks back at Dario. "Big guy, you feeling like carting some stuff for us?"
DG: Talia has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Destroying Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Okay, okay cool." Lydia relaxes when Talia doesn't start screaming at her. This time it's Lydia's turn to hang back and watch, less because she doesn't want to help, and more because she's feeling a little antsy about being around dangerous explosives and oil and shit while Janus has an itchy trigger finger. She doesn't know what the deal is with her body, but she's pretty sure that exploding will not be something she walks away from.
"I gave Kaguya a ride in the cart and scared her with a skull that was in a mailbox," Lydia tells Talia. "That's how I met her."
There is a small pause.
"I uh. Had? Have? A kind of dark sense of humor. I feel kinda bad about it now actually."
She laughs awkwardly.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I met Matilda," Lydia adds after a moment. "--When she told my gods to go fuck themselves."
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia opens her mouth, then closes it again. She looks uncertain of what to make of that. So, instead, she looks at Matilda, then Kaguya, for confirmation that this is true. Then, she looks back at Lydia. She considers for a moment. What does one say to something like that?
"Well! Did they manage that?" she asks.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Quick word and dirty work, really. But the talk of ARMs gets Kaguya to pipe up, "There's lots of different ones anyway. I'm gonna show you a real one in a bit here, heh heh heh." She pauses, at that, glances to Talia. "We could probably get you one if you wanted. Not free, of course. But I happen to know a thing or two..."
Regardless, with the way cleared, she heads forward, only pausing to look now at Matilda, "I think it's working pretty well so far--But the dose might be a little low. My lungs still feel like somebody took a bat to them." Kaguya shakes her head. "Nnn."
But the explanations come as Matilda starts to make a plan and Lydia--
Kaguya shivers. "Bones should stay in people unless they're popping out because I broke someone's!" Kaguya protests. "It's creepy. I mean, Skeleton's okay, but it's super creepy." She shivers. ...And then she pulls another syringe. "Yeah, we bring it all right..."
She stretches, this time, looking kind of uncomfortable. "Nn. ...Anyway whatever," she says, and reaches out to just, put a barrel over her shoulder.
"Yeah well your gods already fucked me once so fair's fair."
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool This Week's Best Guess toward her party's challenge, Destroying Turrets. DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Destroying Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Nah," Lydia says. "Well, I mean, not as far as I know. It's not like I'm on personal terms with any god that's not named Rigdobrite." She looks over to Talia and adds, "Rigdobrite is basically the god of spacetravel so it works out there."
She looks over to Kaguya, "Hey it's cool, not like they can touch you here." Pause. "I mean unless they're summoned, but even then I'm guessing it'll mostly just be the usual blasting with sky lasers and shit, not the--you know--that shit."
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus grins. "Well, y'can't have mine," he says with a laugh. "Careful, though. Some of 'em bite if they don't like ya."
Dario grunts. "Yeah, 'n' ya can't tell if they don't like ya till they bite. Damn things..." He says, stroking the handle of his weapon as if to assure it that no, he's talking about other, meaner guns, darling.
Janus is visibly tuning out as Matilda talks about the exciting saga of how she barely keeps Kaguya alive from day to day. It's impressive, really it is, he just doesn't, you know, care. When they begin moving he jerks a little, apparently having started focusing on their surroundings more than the party itself, and follows along...directly into another thing to break!!
"They did ask for spectacle. Startin' several fires'll get that goin' nicely. Though..." He hems. "...prolly best we wait until we're sure the real damage is done before we go 'n' draw that much attention, yeah?" ...he finds himself wondering if anyone's found the remains of Captain Burst Grape back there, then looks to Dario.
Dario grunts, swigs another mouthful of Strength Apple Cider, and then pops a proper lifting squat and searches for grip iwth his arms.
DG: Janus Cascade has used his Tool Dario's Flask toward his party's challenge, Destroying Turrets.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Destroying Turrets *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you approach, you find one of the turrets used by Rolance's armies. The turret contains a catapult, which is over the top of the wall. However, inside of the base of the structure, you can see that it includes flaming pitch, oil, and other explosives. Given your task, it might prove fantastically useful, if you can destroy the turret -- and make good use of its ammunition. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Treasure=========================================
======================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 5 *>====================== ========================< Results - Destroying Turrets >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talia 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass This Week's Best Guess 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Liability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Janus Cascade 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Dario's Flask 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Talia 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Treasure(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Talia 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> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"You're right, of course -- it's more prudent to make an event that... large, all at once, rather than split it up and be harried when we're not done with the objective as yet," Matilda agrees. Kaguya complains about the low dose, and Matilda... has to concede that one. "Even after all these months, dosage for one of your people is still a little bit of a challenge for me, I admit..."
Kaguya and Dario bravely shoulder the meat of the actual moving of barrels of oil while everyone else just sort of ambles along behind them.
... just as planned...?
DG: Talia has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Final Emplacement *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You have arrived at your destination: the very center of the wall, where another wide wooden platform sits. The platform here, however, contains three doors that lead to the inside of the wall. If you were to breach the wall, this would be the place to do it: you could enter the wall itself, then place explosives and other munitions. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia blinks, a couple of times. She didn't particularly understand any of that -- but, she hasn't the foggiest what a Guardian is, much less specific ones. "Different religions on the Blue Star, I suppose," she concludes. She glances back at Kaguya for a moment, and her brow furrows. Then, she picks up a crate with explosives -- deciding that she should help chip in somehow.
Thus, they trudge up the last set of stairs.
There, they find a trio of bridges leading into the wall itself -- into rooms built into the rock. When Talia sees that, her face lights up. She turns her head, peering back at the rest. "Well!" she announces. "This looks like the spot, unless one of you people with better knowledge of how to blow up buildings has a better idea, no?"
Then, she starts forward with her crate of oil, and places it down at the end of one of the bridges. She looks back at the others, calling out: "We better work quickly!"
DG: Talia has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Final Emplacement.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia just starts thwacking at the doors with the baseball bat. Maybe this helps, somehow.
"Yeah I guess so!" She tells Talia as she slams her bat against the door. "Man, I guess I'll have to show you next time the cool weird thing."
Considering the big thing she showed today was 'exploding human' hopefully this is pretty different from that.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Final Emplacement.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda decides to finally comment on telling Lydia's gods to go fuck themselves. "Ah -- I believe what I told them to do was die unmourned," she notes.
"I think this is the best spot we'll get -- at the very least, the best we'll get without going all the way around... and I'm loath to do that with all we have," Matilda offers, assessing their tactical situation in the detached way she so often does. "Rolance has their best patrolling the wall, given the trouble we faced earlier..."
Matilda fishes her lotion out again, sketching a plan out in her head. "It would seem to make the most sense to detonate as low as possible, without being as low as possible ourselves... this should take a while to eat away at the surface and then drop our explosives."
She pauses, before adding, "... Unless, again, someone else has a better plan..."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, The Final Emplacement.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Tomato, Tomahto." Lydia says.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"Fair, though I -- erm -- I don't like being misattributed..." Matilda replies,with a small shrug.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Yeah, I guess," Kaguya answers Lydia. "At least, not as much. It's a little better up here." She pauses. "Sky lasers. I'll show some sky lasers..." She strts grumbling a little, letting the others talk strategy for the moment as she instead looks back to Matilda, "Yeah, it's tricky. But you're doing really well anyway. I don't think most could even do half as great."
She talks casually as she carries a barrel at least as wide as she is, having no trouble with it at all. She doesn't give much explanation for anything, instead. But here... Here, yes...
"Yeah," Kaguya says, "I think you're right..." She sets down the barrel and looks to Lydia. "I'm looking forward to it. But..."
Kaguya stops and, huffing once, takes a third dose of the medicine, this one jabbed into another spot. ...Her arm looks pretty raw by now; she's not... the most gentle, with these. But it works. Oh, it works well enough. She takes another deep, deep breath. "Okay, so..."
Kaguya reaches under her baggy clothes and pulls out a bag that'd been strapped to her hip, opening it up carefully and looking down at what she's got--which, as it turns out, are a series of strange metal discs about an inch thick, apparently encasing... something. Each of them has a switch along the top. "See," Kaguya says, "When I heard spectacle... I had some ideas. Most of the ARMs you're gonna see, Tania, are pretty much kids' stuff. ...But these..." Kaguya kneels down and places one, right at a corner joint--load-bearing. "These are gonna be something big." She flicks the switch on top of the first one, and a low hum emits from it, as if something inside is spinning. "Annoying as shit to build, though. This place is so backward. But the magnets in there should be good enough for amplification. As long as the vibration frequency is the same--and I calibrated them so it would be--then we're gonna get a real big show."
Kaguya has two more of these to place. She pipes up to Matilda, "Yeah, you did. It was pretty hot, though I couldn't appreciate it too much at the time."
She pauses. "No no, that's a good plan. We should do both, I think," she says, now that she's explained hers, almost belatedly. "Just hold up..." Kaguya moves over, and places the next two in turn; both are small, and all of them keep humming. ...A couple of metal bits having fallen off the barrels abrubtly latch right onto them, magnetically attracted. Only once she has them set does she back up, get a distance away as best she can, walking slowly, casually.
...As she does, she finally pulls the 'wand' from the bundle at her back, about her other hip, and the device there is strange--white and gray and black, plastics to those who would recognize it rather than metal for the most part--and she opens the chamber with a couple of clicks, exposing it to air as she pulls something glowing brilliant, brilliant green, a cartridge of her own, and clapping it inside. Cla-CLACK. Then... Then, she closes her eyes. "..."
A faint breeze ruffles from all around her for a few moments, the scent of unfamiliar flowers in the air as for an instant, her ARM glows green entirely--and then looks normal again, glinting in the light.
"...This," Kaguya explains, "Is the TK-38K. ...and once you guys get the other explosives in place... This is gonna be visible for a long, long way."
The ARM, too, is... humming...?
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool This Week's Best Guess toward her party's challenge, The Final Emplacement.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus occasionally monologues about the Guardians because sometimes he has to put up with being lectured about them by a drunk ghost and he wants to apply that knowledge sometimes. Today is not one of those days; he goes silent throughout the exchange, other than to snort when Matilda clarifies what exactly she told the power that sustains the world. Janus seems to be counting on Matilda to plan the demolition, and he motions for Dario to set down - and then points at the door. "Dario. Smash it down. We'll have to get in before we can set off all these bombs, yeah?"
Dario grunts, finishes his flask of Strength Apple Cider, and then bull rushes a door.
DG: Janus Cascade has used his Tool Dario's Flask toward his party's challenge, The Final Emplacement.
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>=========================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Final Emplacement *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You have arrived at your destination: the very center of the wall, where another wide wooden platform sits. The platform here, however, contains three doors that lead to the inside of the wall. If you were to breach the wall, this would be the place to do it: you could enter the wall itself, then place explosives and other munitions. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
======================<* Mission on the Walls - Round 6 *>====================== ======================< Results - The Final Emplacement >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talia 55 --(10)--> 65 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass This Week's Best Guess 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Liability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 55 --(5)--> 60 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Janus Cascade 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Dario's Flask 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Talia 90 --(25)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Talia has successfully explored Mission on the Walls!
===========================<* Mission on the Walls *>===========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Job Well Done *>========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Your plan is set into motion -- and the destruction of the wall is a titanic
thing. Fire blasts high into the sky, pieces of stone sent hurtling for
miles into the Volgran Forest and Pearloats Pasture. One piece of rock
smashes off the steeple of the Lastonbell church, as it passes. Cries of
dismay erupt from the Rolance garrison, while battle cries and sounding
horns erupt from Hyland's lines.
Thankfully, you are nowhere near it. You can look up on your work -- and
smile, or maybe be filled with dread, to know what comes next for the city
of Lastonbell.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia steps back, after she places hers.
She listens, but she keeps quiet. At that point, it seems like it is best for them to set a watch -- while Dario smashes down the door, and then Kaguya and Matilda handle the emplacements and the device. Talia, at first, has to take Kaguya's word for it; she can't even tell what the devices she placed area. After they are placed, they have to move, though. A little distance would be wise.
But, the trap is set -- and then the charges begin to go off. The amplifiers cause, at first, a massive crack to shoot up the length of the wall. Then, another, and another. A soldier on top of the wall shouts, stumbling backward, as the crack makes a chasm cut into the wall itself.
A few more shouts come. Then, the first explosive fires. A brilliant red plume of flame explodes into the air; then another, then another. Chunks of rock begin to fall out from lower in the wall, where Matilda dug down, as fire bursts out of each side. Then, finally, Kaguya's ARM detonates completely. Green flame and light surge up into the sky. It twists and churns, alien and burning, and part of the wall is scorched by it in an instant.
Then, the whole of Lastonbell's wall comes tumbling down. A whole section descends, as the scaffolding they stood on comes crashing down in fiery rubble. A few rocks are hurled free -- one slams into the street just above basement that the team moved to, nearby, and the ground rocks. Talia stares out of a small slit, which the others can look through, too.
Her mouth opens, before she whistles. "Damn," she murmurs.
The shouts from the Rolance side are quite loud. They intermingle with the shouts from the Hyland side -- but those quickly cut out, as horns begin to blow and drums begin to beat. Then, a roar and clatter, as Hyland's army surges for the newly made breach.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus leans in to lightly nudge Talia aside, so he can peer out the slit. "That's a hell of a thing you got there, Green," he says. Then he blinks, recalling the conversation back on the wall, and turns to look over his shoulder at her. "You built those here?" he asks again. "Shit, lady!" Veruni, huh. He'd brought Green on for her muscle. The ability to MAKE ARMs is not...that's...
He can't fully process it. He shakes his head, then steps aside, marching over to a wall. He pats it down, then shoulders a particular spot - and it slides away. "There we go, knew I recognized this bolthole of yours." He turns, jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "This oughta get us back to the Cascade. Dunno about you, but I'd rather wait the invasion out somewhere with whiskey."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Once they're well away from the wall, Matilda turns to watch. As the walls begin to crumble, and rock flies everywhere -- including near them -- Matilda flinches, even though the impact isn't that close to them.
She looks to Kaguya, eyes a little wide. "I -- well. That's certainly... a way to bring down a wall..." She blinks a few times, affirming, "I -- that's very." She lets out a long, slightly-hot sigh. "I -- ah. We should. Get moving."
Sticking close to Kaguya as Janus indicates they can return to the Cascade through here, Matilda says, "Good work, everyone. That should -- honestly, if they don't give us a bonus I'd be surprised, given the... totality of our success..."
She looks at Kaguya again, sweating a little -- and not just from the exertion.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia mostly just hits the door a few times but at least she doesn't alert anybody. It does seem that Lydia was mostly useful here for the elevator. Granted, that was pretty useful all told. Only ran into two guards! Two and a half if you count how one got up again for a moment before exploding horribly!
Lydia is frankly shaking when all is said and done. Despite her willingness, and her self justification, doing this wasn't exactly easy for her. She does look towards Talia for a long moment. It really is always the 'bad girls', eh Lydia?
She says, "Guess that's that. Hope it's quick."
Luckily she is kind of still focused on the guy she exploded so she doesn't dwell on her guilt over helping overthrow a city too much.
"Do you drink, Tal?" Lydia asks, trying to get her mind off it.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia watches quietly, as she looks out the window. She mutters something under her breath: "So... this is what you were after, Lubov," she says. "I guess everything went the way you wanted it."
It's said softly, but it may be overheard.
The assassin turns, after that -- her eyes drift to Kaguya and Matilda, recalling what Lydia told her yesterday. Then, she looks back at Lydia, and she nods her head. "Mm-hm," she murmurs. "Of course! And if Mister Cascade is offering his establishment... well, I think that a much better idea than politely waiting for confused Hyland soldiers to skewer us, no?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
A little at a time. Kaguya's happy to rely on Dario's muscle for getting things put into place--but she's very, very interested in making sure it's all where it needs to be. And then... Well. She's all for getting out of the way, sure. Right until... Right until it's time. It's time, and Kaguya lifts her ARM, and fires towards the wall, activating her charges.
Red flame is nothing. Red flame is good enough--it's when the cracks become gigantic explosions, terrifying green light that Kaguya is staring. It reflects in her eyes, reflects with a manic glow, and she does not notice something for a moment:
Talia whistles. Janus compliments. ....Matilda starts. But Kaguya?
"...hehehehehehe..."
it starts quiet, until her shoulders shake with it and it gets a little louder, "Hahahahaha..."
The explosions reach their height and the Veruni warlord lets out an unsettling cackle, "HAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Her smile is huge, her eyes with a dangerous glint, until she turns to look at Matilda, eyes shining. "Isn't it?" she says, and then grins at Janus.
"Yep. Sure did. Soon as he said spectacle... I knew what would do the trick."
"That's an ARM," Kaguya says to Talia as she starts to turn, looking impassively at the solders as they start to shout and rush forward.
"...Yeah. Yeah, I'm down for a drink." She turns though, and grins at Matilda. There's almost a hunger there. If she were a little taller...
Kaguya shrugs lightly, "I don't care what the soldiers do by now. Lead the way, Cashman. This is gonna be nice."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia watches Kaguya cackle like a maniac with a nonplussed expression on her face. Her eyes have become expressed by dots in this anime moment. Eventually she says, "Well," to Kaguya. "I'm glad you haven't lost your sense of humor." This is in Lydia's own sense of humor: Dry sass. "Is the maniacal laughter a side effect of a feature?" She glances to Matilda on that.
But evnetually she adds, "Sounds like a plan. Glad I could help a little bit. Sorry about all the uh."
Pause.
"Blood. And ... other stuff. I'm not really into biology. I'm not sure what that wiggling thing was."