2018-05-28: For The Secret Of The Sky
- Log: For the Secret of the Sky
- Cast: Loren Voss, Tabitha deVriese, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Lastonbell - Church District
- Date: May 28th 2018
- Summary: With the attack underway, several people are caught unawares; an escape becomes necessary. Tabitha says the magic words. Loren puts his training to practice. Gwen rushes to the rescue. An unfortunate fact makes itself plain -- ARMS have made their way to Lunar.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Escape from Lastonbell. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsed Building *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When the wall comes down, a few huge stones are sent flying into the city. One slams into the building that you happened to be inside when the wall came down. The ceiling collapses, a hole gaping out into the smoke-filled night air. Screams can be heard -- and then worse, as the walls of the building begin to collapse around you! To escape the city, you will need to blast and break your way out of a building that is turning into so much rubble. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Weaken=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
When the wall comes down, Loren is engaged in the moderately harmless* (*for now) activity of compiling notes into a report. He's gathered some information from the camps outside the city which might be (they probably aren't, they're minutiae at best and he KNOWS that but refuses to turn in nothing regardless) of interest to those higher up the foodchain than he is before slipping back inside -- having a face no one can immediately recognize helps both ways.
Occupying a far side of the tavern, he's simply in the process of transcribing (on paper, because he's not that sort of idiot) the composite when there's an absolutely thundrous crash and tremble.
Something slams at high force and speed into the tavern.
This is the point where the roof comes down within the tavern, amidst the sound of screaming.
The dust hasn't even settled in this corner of the room. Covering his hand with his mouth, one hand splayed against the remains of the table -- which is now penetrated and splintered by the pillars of rock erupting from underfoot to hold this section of the roof still hanging precariously overhead, the first thing Loren does is grab for his bag and stuff what notes he can quickly gather into it.
The situation outside's changed. If he can get back, this will be important information to hand over, but--
Well, he still has to get out of the tavern first. Little shell he's made for himself or not, he's still effectively buried alive.
Of all the times they could have picked to break the siege.
"Damn it," he mutters, forcing his will into the rock and rubble to blow it apart. "Get out of my way!"
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
While Loren does what he enjoys best, Tabitha is doing what SHE enjoys best, too; seated at the bar of the tavern, she's slipped forward onto her elbows, the low neckline of her blouse further framed in the window of her arms, where she's smiling at a man at the bar, and currently milking him for her fifth drink and sixth rumor of the evening. She giggles at him, batting her eyelashes, chiming, "Oh, she didn't!" with a high titter.
And then a stone slams through the roof and smashes one of the middle tables to flinders. Tabitha's eyes dart up, and she shoves away from the bar. "Sorry, sweetheart," she chimes at the man, whose name she has heard three times and didn't care about any of them. "Looks like we'll have to speak again later!"
Tabitha reaches neatly into the neckline of her blouse, producing a length of no longer cold steel, which she whirls in her fingers. With a click, it expands out to a full-length rod. Normally, she uses this for creative applications of leverage.
Today, briefly glowing with magic, she uses it to swat an incoming boulder aside like it weighed nothing, sending it soaring into the sky. Then she wedges the telescoping lever below a fallen board and stomps on it, sending the board flipping skyward. "Loren!" she calls. "I think we should go!"
DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Telescoping Lever toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Never underestimate the power of Gwen's need to come to the possible rescue of a childhood friend. Even if it's Janus. Of course, it did help that she was in the general area, coming back to make a few long overdue deliveries. Leaving a frowning Hanpan and a not so judgmental Gulliver behind, Gwen went into the city, and-
Well, Janus did do a great job of hiding that place, it looks like. At least, from someone who isn't all that familiar with the city as a whole.
Which leads to now.
In this hole she finds herself in.
Holding up a beam with her right hand, her body straining to support her one arm's strength. "Guardians.... damn it.... didn't come all this way t... die in a conflict I didn't even... AUGH."
She hears the familiar voice of Loren yelling at the walls of his stone prison. At least, she thinks it's Loren. She makes a decision.
They're all in this together.
"Thomas! Or whatever your name is! Or whoever's still here" Gwen's voice barks over the shifting rubble of the building. "I think the entrance's over here! I'm tryin' t'keep the opening, uh, open, but I can't... see if it'd the opening!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsed Building *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- When the wall comes down, a few huge stones are sent flying into the city. One slams into the building that you happened to be inside when the wall came down. The ceiling collapses, a hole gaping out into the smoke-filled night air. Screams can be heard -- and then worse, as the walls of the building begin to collapse around you! To escape the city, you will need to blast and break your way out of a building that is turning into so much rubble. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Weaken=============================================
=====================<* Escape from Lastonbell - Round 1 *>===================== ========================< Results - Collapsed Building >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tabitha deVriese 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Telescoping Lever 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
The actual plan had been something along the lines of consolidate info, meet up with deVriese, and then proceed either with extraction from Lastonbell or further analysis as determined by situation development.
Perhaps the extraction aspect of the plan has been moved up just a little bit...
"Whatever gave you that idea?!" Loren grunts, shoving rubble away a forceful uplift of rock-- only for more of it to come sliding down into the gap left behind. "Damn..." He's not going to get anywhere at this rate--
This is the point when another boulder comes crashing down into the half-ruined tavern.
Tabitha glows with a terrible power.
The boulder is launched miles into the air -- wherever it lands, someone is about to have a bad day.
Fortunately, that someone is not either of them.
There's a hole in the side of the building now, an escape from the debris.
There was a hole, anyway, before more of it starts to slip-slide inwards again in a response to gravity's demands.
So this is the point where Gwen puts her back into it, supporting a chunk of the cascading debris. The way is open, but not for long.
Loren looks over towards Tabitha. He glances towards the escape route open to them. He doesn't wait for further acknowledgement before plunging through the gap.
"Come on!" The last is to the both of them.
'...Or whatever your name is'. Oh good.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Building Rescue *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- While Hyland's army has refrained from wanton slaughter, a panicked populace fleeing the city causes some issues. Here, you find a building that is now ablaze. The home crackles and snaps. Embers float away, as smoke rises high into the air. The door is closed, but through a window, you can see flames rising. A voice, however, cuts from inside the burning house: "Help! Help me, please!" =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Secret===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Follow me. I think I know a quick way outta here." Famous last words, but Gwen at least seems confident in how she leads her group of two (or is it the other way around?) through alleyways and criss-crossing streets, a few mistakes made along the way, but so far, they seem to be avoiding the main brunt of the Hyland army, as well as the crowds of understandably panicking citizens.
She's still looking for that bar, of course. Janus and the gang was the reason she's here, yes, but now that fighting as actively started, she's not sure of her chances of survival.
Mostly because it's _Janus_.
Things seem to move smoothly until, upon turning a corner, a burning house greets them.
Alarm floods Gwen's expression, a sort of raw fear that curdles the insides and makes any rational thought still into mush.
She breathes. Time for a quick payback to those strangers. As well as to Mr. Balderdash, for saving her life not too long ago.
She looks to Loren and Tabitha. "You two know any tricks? I ain't tellin' no one whatever you pull out as long as you help me." She pauses, wetting her lips. "Plus it'll be quicker if we go through this house, I bet."
This is a half-lie. Gwen's just roughly estimating that it will save some time, and she's not sure Loren, being from this weird sky city or whatever (and maybe his friend, she doesn't know) may be more inclined.
She rolls her shoulders, focusing on her breath. "Anyway, I'm goin' in. If you wanna benefit from this, you better follow me." She smiles, winking out the tears that threaten to form in her eyes. "Y-you two might get a discount, later!" she shouts, before running into the burning building.
Gwen, Tabitha still doesn't know who you are
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Burning Building Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
This makes the second town-aflame he's had to negotiate an escape from since his assignment to the surface.
The moon counts as the surface.
"It's Thomas," he says to Tabitha as they emerge out into the street at last. "My name is Thomas." His expression is entirely deadpan, but there is a certain degree of pleading in his eyes.
Maybe it's pointless since the girl's learned or at least figured out a good deal by now, but dammit, he still wants to try.
To Gwen he just says, "Then let's go! I don't intend on dying here."
The town is in a state of chaos. That much is already apparent.
And then they round the bend to sight a house aflame.
He's already searching for an alternative route, before Gwen raises a question. A particular request.
"Go though the house? Are you really sure about that?" To say that he seems dubious about Gwen's suggestion is an understatement. "Come on, we don't have time to rescue everyone in this city--"
She ran in.
This is probably the second time he shares a sidelong glance at Tabitha.
"...One of the Major's favored resources. He might be annoyed," he murmurs, speaking of the woman who just ran into a burning building. "...What a pain..."
And this is the moment he takes a breath and reaches out to gather what moisture still remains in the air and soil, channeling it forth in a surge of water ether at the building.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burning Building Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha does occasionally do some genuinely batty stuff, huh?
It's...it's a joke, because....baseball....boulder....
Anyway Tabitha tucks her telescoping rod away and charges out through the narrow hole created. "Thanks, stranger!" she calls, and nearly prances off into the night; but her leg swings down from a leaping position to a standing one, hip cocked as she swings her weight back to watch for Loren, because she probably should not let him get killed by rocks, fire, or soldiers. See how nice she is!
Gwen charges toward a burning building, and Tabitha tips her head. She looks to Loren. She listens to his explanation. "But your name's..." She blinks. She looks after Gwen's back. "Ohhh," she says, quietly. "Wow, Major's got some interesting taste, huh? Sure thing, Tim!" she chimes. And then she bounces off, producing her telescoping lever again. She swings outward, wedging it under a pile of debris, before swinging around it, throwing herself off into the sky like she thinks her name is Mario, and then...
Suddenly SHOOTING out of the sky at the lever, applying massive force to it and dislodging the object at the other end, ripping a path open.
DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Telescoping Lever toward her party's challenge, Burning Building Rescue.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Building Rescue *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- While Hyland's army has refrained from wanton slaughter, a panicked populace fleeing the city causes some issues. Here, you find a building that is now ablaze. The home crackles and snaps. Embers float away, as smoke rises high into the air. The door is closed, but through a window, you can see flames rising. A voice, however, cuts from inside the burning house: "Help! Help me, please!" =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Secret===========================================
=====================<* Escape from Lastonbell - Round 2 *>===================== =====================< Results - Burning Building Rescue >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tabitha deVriese 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Telescoping Lever 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Yep. I've made up my mind. Through the house. We're pickin' up the person along the way. At least, I am. You're following me, n' we're going to go fast." 'You're' is implying the two of them, Tabitha and 'Tim', anyway.
Really, Gwen wanted to get going before Loren convinced her of the sane thing to do. Sane decisions didn't lead to her survival as a child, after all, and she has a debt to pay.
.... Not that Loren would know this, nor should he, if Gwen had anything to do with it.
Wait until Kahm tells them that this 'resource' nearly killed herself by leaping off a Gear for.... no real reason, from what he could see?
The spray of water-charged ether turns into steam against the onslaught of the house fire, buying precious moments for Gwen to locate the crying child, his face smudged with ash and his clothing singed with charred marks. "Mommm... where's my mom...." A quick glance about the room, with help from Loren's water ether, is enough to answer that particular question.
"I'll protect you," Gwen says, softly, gathering the boy to rest against her back as the fire rages. "I'll get you someplace safe."
Now, how to get out? Well, Tabitha's allowed Gwen an easier option than 'steamroll through some wall'. Running through the building and onto the street beyond, Gwen whistles. "Thanks! ... Whatever your name is!" She turns towards Loren, shooting him a slow nod of thanks, before adding, "You keep some pretty cool friends around, Thomas! You're gonna have to introduce me to this one later!"
DG: Tabitha deVriese has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Orc Hellion *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Malevolence is in no short supply here. The scene of a battle causes it to rise, to infect those nearby. As you run down the street, you find a small square -- with battered and broken bodies of both Hyland and Rolance soldiers, and a few fleeing citizens. A man who has shifted into a massive, green-skinned creature with a tusks coming out (if one has the Resonance to see it), stands in the middle. A huge, blood-soaked maul is in his hand -- and he whirls to face you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Bad Luck==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha watches Gwen dash through, with a child she didn't have before. "Ah, they grow up so fast," she muses, amused. "It's Tabitha, by the way," she adds. Knowing names is useful in an emergency.
The group charges on their way. The air is thick with smoke and screaming and fouler things. Tabitha moves with a quick decisiveness that suggests either familiarity with the streets or just quick decision-making. She stops long enough to glance down alleys then mostly continues on her way. At least it's easy enough to tell where to go, in abstract: Away from the dirty great hole in the wall.
Tabitha skids to a stop as they enter a new square. Her nose twitches, smelling blood and worse. Her booted heels go click-clack as she steps into the square. "Well," she says, slowly. Her voice rises gradually.
She's putting up an act.
"You seem to have caused a bit of a mess, darling," she says, sliding more fully into a coy tone. Her hand slips down to her hips, producing a boxy gun that she somewhat elaborately plucks at, pulling the chamber back, producing a new Cartridge, sliding it home. He whirls on her; screams as he raises his huge maul. Fearless, she adds, "So be a dear and take a nap, will you?"
...oh she totally can't see Malevolence, can she, someone might realize as she attempts to shoot a troll until dea^h^h^h unconsciousness.
DG: Tabitha deVriese has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Orc Hellion.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"...'Tim'? Really?"
If van Houten were here, she'd probably have already suffocated the flames under a display of etheric force.
This is something that does cross Loren's mind, as the water he manages to channel evaporates into steam. It's not enough to douse the fire--
He still pours his will into it, gritting his teeth as he tries to push past his limits.
He doesn't notice that it did help, in its own way: his focus is on other things.
...Though the moment Tabitha creates a path as it were, he does go and give up on attempting to play firefighter. Exhaling, he then shakes his head and plunges on through the hole that's been opened.
...Blood. He also smells it through the haze of smoke and dust and flame.
"...What's that doing here?" he utters, staring at the figure looming before them, taking in the massacre that's apparently occured right here in the square.
He's already fumbling for the contents of his kit when it--
When Tabitha charges right in--
Emperor. That's right, she doesn't sense Resonance.
"deVriese!"
Light flickers into being about her the ogre whirls his club; he follows up the expenditure of shielding ether with a well-aimed overhand toss of an assortment of sols from his kit.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Orc Hellion.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Jussstt keep walking. Or running. The child clinging to her back is slowly getting heavier, his trauma leading to a protective slumber. It keeps Gwen grounded, in a way, focused on the tasks at hand.
Also, she's not sure how Loren would feel about being handed a sleeping kid to cart around. Or Gwen's new awesome buddy, Tabitha, for that matter. Because yeah, anyone who pulled off an awesome stunt like that is Gwen's new friend. That's just how it goes.
"I'm Gwen! Gwen Whi-" The foul air chokes the cheery introduction, while the sight of the tusked man(?) discourages any other attempts. And so, the young woman who tried to punch through a burning house flinches back, trying to tug on the straps of her glove with her teeth while her left arm holds the sleeping kid on her back. Loren seems to react accordingly, keeping his distance and treating the hellion as a very real threat.
And Tabitha charges in.
Gwen just looks at Loren with confusion. ".... Can she- ah." Gwen rips the glove off with a final tug of her hand, pocketing it roughly with her now exposed right hand. "I owe you both. Consider this the first payment." Bending down on one knee in an attempt to steady her aim, Gwen tilts her head and, charging her ARM, fires some blasts. "There's a lot more to 'im than what you can see, Tabitha!" Yeah, maybe it'd help to maybe warn her.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Orc Hellion.
=========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Orc Hellion *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Malevolence is in no short supply here. The scene of a battle causes it to rise, to infect those nearby. As you run down the street, you find a small square -- with battered and broken bodies of both Hyland and Rolance soldiers, and a few fleeing citizens. A man who has shifted into a massive, green-skinned creature with a tusks coming out (if one has the Resonance to see it), stands in the middle. A huge, blood-soaked maul is in his hand -- and he whirls to face you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Bad Luck==========================================
====================<* Escape from Lastonbell - Round 3 *>==================== ==========================< Results - Orc Hellion >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tabitha deVriese 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(30)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Secret(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha's bullets do dramatically less than she's expecting, even as they spark off in miniature explosions close to the Orc (human). "...well, you're a saucy ch--"
'deVriese!'
Tabitha half-turns to look, at which point that maul slams into Loren's shield, which supports a truly impressive amount of power before shattering. Tabitha has slipped her staff into place, but it doesn't entirely stop her from being flung, tumbling, and slamming into the wall of the square, fracturing some poor innocent's brickwork. A packet of Sols lands at her feet. Tabitha attempts to say something wry but mostly just finds herself groaning. She slaps a hand to te ground as Gwen's shots do substantially more to the Orc hellion, battering him back until he collapses, singed. "This is that...Malevolence?" she mutters. "That kind of power?"
She rolls her shoulder, grabs something from Loren's sol pack, swigs it back, stands, produces a compact from somewhere, briefly assesses her face ("tsk!"), tucks that back away, and tug at her top to try and get that whole situation back under control after the ride she's just taken. "Well," she says, wiping a smudge from her cheek with an elbow. "That was. ....rude. Come, we should hurry." She turns and starts away.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Secret Doors *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The wealthier portion of Lastonbell has manor houses behind protective walls. There are, however, a few secret boltholes and doors that lead to small stairwells and ladders. This would let you gain access to the upper level of the city -- and then bypass, perhaps, a portion of the soldiers. However, knowing where to find these doors is difficult -- they are deliberately hidden in the stonework of buildings, and meant to be hard to find just through sight. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Secret===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's probably for the best. While Loren wouldn't actually leave a child here to die, he also wouldn't exactly be the happiest about carting the kid around. The level of complaining that ensued probably would have been nearly epic.
"No, she can't! deVriese, it's Malevolence!"
That's shouted at Gwen before he -- for good measure -- invokes a barrier around her as well, then hesitates there for a moment, rummages in his kit, and pulls out a more... local remedy for her use.
The fact that he loses a page of notes in the process -- briefly caught by an updraft -- apparently goes unnoticed.
But in the end the Hellion is downed. Loren's gaze rests on it, but he doesn't waste time checking to see if it's knocked out or dead. Either's good enough right now. "Yes," he answers her question, already moving along down the road ahead. "It doesn't matter if you can see or not, it'll still kill you."
A statement punctuated with a look that says approximately 'really' as she readjusts her top.
There's fire raging in the streets. Shouting, at a distance, and screams. Passage this way is likely to be difficult at least, if not actually impossible.
"We don't have time to double back. Where is..."
There are high walls here. Right, the wealthy district. Walls probably aren't helping them now, are they.
Wait, wasn't there something he'd overheard while working on reports. Something about-- something about some noble's son using...
A secret passage to slip out and live it up among the common folk.
...Huh.
It's better than nothing. "Over here!" he shouts, gesturing them towards an alley near the wall.
The part where he pulls something from his bag and knocks back a swig of its contents with a bit of slight of hand might be harder to sight unless you're looking for it.
He needs a cognitive enhancement, and he needs it now.
"There was a rumor about a hidden passage around here. If we can find it, we'll be able to get past whatever's up ahead."
If he were building a wall and hiding a hidden door -- he hopes this is the right spot -- where would he hide it?
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Modafisol toward his party's challenge, Secret Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Hey, you okay there?" Gwen jogs over where Tabitha was flung, both hands supporting her fully passed out charge on her back. "Yeah, that was Malevolence." Gwen's tone goes from serious to chipper as she beams. "But it's okay! Thomas n' I had yer back!"
A look is spared towards the Hellion, lying down. "He'll probably fare a lot better than the average citizen," she reflects, trying to swallow the beginnings of guilt forming in her stomach. This Hellion clearly wasn't like Ida and the others. It wouldn't be as if he could be reasoned with, if he did wake up.
Loren is already moving on. Looking back towards Tabitha to see if she's done preparing (Loren has no appreciation for the necessity of the tank adjust!), Gwen follows behind.
"... oh right... Forgot about the walls here..." Gwen thins her lips in thought, trying to calculate another route with her limited mental map of the city. If they were to go there, and there, but, that'd be through a main street, and that route wouldn't really work either, but what about-
"Good thinkin', Thomas!" Loren, you are so lucky Gwen's hands are occupied or she'd give you a friendly whap on the shoulder
"Probably would be someplace out of general sight of the townsfolk, so that it remains a secret." She experimentally kicks at a few spots in the wall, pausing to hoist the kid up. "If we could hear where somethin' may be hollow, maybe... but these walls seem pretty thick."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Secret Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha hums in amusement at Loren's skepticism. "Proper management of heavy loads is an important part of long-term success, Thomas," she says, with total seriousness. She tucks her gun away in its actual holster, murmuring, "Thank you for your help. I may not be taking this Malevolence business seriously enough..." The thought that Tabitha is physiologically capable of taking anything seriously at all might be something of a shock, but she does seem to be seriously considering it. She fishes around in a bag on her side, producing a black notebook that she quickly jots some things in as she starts down the next road.
She tucks that away soon enough as Loren leads them to an alley. "Secret passage?" she murmurs. She frowns, considering the wall.
Whatever strange powers deVriese may have, they apparently do not include fictiliokinesis, because she does not magically and immediately deduce the location. "If it were quieter, knocking would work," she asides to Gwen.
...then she sets her ear to the wall anyway. "Cover me," she says, and covers her other and starts knocking anyway, because she has no better ideas at the moment. Maybe she'll pick up something other than screaming through the brickwork...
DG: Tabitha deVriese has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Secret Doors.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Secret Doors *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The wealthier portion of Lastonbell has manor houses behind protective walls. There are, however, a few secret boltholes and doors that lead to small stairwells and ladders. This would let you gain access to the upper level of the city -- and then bypass, perhaps, a portion of the soldiers. However, knowing where to find these doors is difficult -- they are deliberately hidden in the stonework of buildings, and meant to be hard to find just through sight. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Secret===========================================
=====================<* Escape from Lastonbell - Round 4 *>===================== ===========================< Results - Secret Doors >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 25 --(10)--> 35 Pass Modafisol 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tabitha deVriese 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 15 --(15)--> 30 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Secret(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
Did he really... just hear that.
His expression perhaps speaks volumes louder than anything he could ever say would.
He's in hell. He must have died and ended up in hell. That's the only explanation for it.
He turns away from her sharply in the end.
"...I'll say," comes his unkind reply to her comment, before he sighs out a breath. Yeah, even he has his limits for how abrasive he's willing to be. "...It's dangerous stuff. Apparently it can get inside your head," he murmurs to her. "Distorts your body. It's a kind of power, I suppose, but not one that's worth the price. ...Come on."
There's a lot he doesn't know -- or understand -- about Malevolence, himself.
But all that falls by the wayside for now, with a shortcut becoming increasingly necessary unless they want to try heading back the way they came... or see if there's another house they can blow right on through.
Gwen and Tabitha do a search of the wall by sound alone, to check if there are any hollow-sounding spots.
They don't find them.
Loren, investigating the wall by sight, squints at a section, reaches out a hand to try and prod at a section of stone further--
"HALT!"
Here, from the end of the alleyway, is a whole squad of Rolance's soldiers.
Loren backs up, away from the wall. "This is... a really good time to--"
He looks down through the opposite end of the alley, halfway blocked with crates and assorted debris (miraculously not on fire!).
He takes a breath. Exhales it.
"--Run!"
The fact that a stone spike suddenly in the soldiers' path might make tailing the fleeing trio a little tricky is surely just the hand of god.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ===============<* CHALLENGE - His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you run down the street, you see the opened gates at the west end of Lastonbell. There are already people flooding through -- and a cordon of Rolance's soldiers, waving them through. However, as you approach, those soldiers break away, running ahead towards you. Except, they turn, and start towards another street. They never make it. The loud, perhaps familiar crack of gunfire shots can be heard -- over a dozen shots, and then the lance of Rolance's soldiers collapse in a bloody heap. Marching out of the street are six men, decked out in silver breastplates, blue uniforms, and tall black feathered hats. Each also carries, inexplicably, a Gunsmoke ARM: an identical rifle, ending in a bayonet. The group of riflemen turn towards you -- and take aim! =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Wound============================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
For the record, Gwen just vigorously nods in agreement with Tabitha. "Boy, is it ever," she mumbles under her breath.
Though she does make a face at Loren's next few comments, only realizing a few moments later that he's talking about Malevolence, not... yeah.
The search goes without any sign of a secret passage. Just hard stone walls, and, over yonder, is Rolance soldiers.
Run, says Loren. Seems as good an idea as any.
Until the stone spike isn't the only thing keeping those soldiers from coming after them. Shots fire past them at the Rolance soldiers, the bullets belonging to the very shiny new ARMs of the riflemen, who now turn their sights towards the group, perhaps alarmed by the display of magic. Or eager for any excuse to use their new weapons.
Gwen blanches at the sound of gunfire. ".... They have... ARMs here...?" Gunsmoke ARMs. Not quite the metal demons' weapons that adorn many a Drifter in multiple ways, but still. "Wow, heh, that's definitely the march of, uh, progress!" If she had a free hand to spare, she'd be rubbing the back of her neck right now. The same neck, as it turns out, the child is drooling on, about now. At least it's covered. "Man..."
She looks to Loren and Tabitha, including the latter on this upcoming comment on the power of assumption alone. "We really screwed Lunar up by coming here, huh..."
But they could've just figured this out by themselves, right?
"I have a survivor, please don't-"
They're aiming. Gwen curses under her breath, pointing a hand towards the men. Her metal one. Leaning her left side against the walls, she whispers loudly to the group, "Close your eyes, I don't know if this'll work!"
Not a good thing to say, but the bright flash that follows makes the warning necessary.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
At least this way they should be able to lose the soldiers. No time for a fight, no time to waste on a fight. They have to get out of here, and fast.
The gate. He can sight it, off to the right.
Gunshots ring out, taking out the soldiers behind them as they emerge into the street.
"What...?"
His mind works quickly, even in a situation like this. Quicker than his reflexes.
"--Damn it, someone must have given them the technology--"
It wasn't them. They knew better. It had to have been one of those Drifter groups. Of all the absolutely idiotic--
But there isn't much time to dwell on the who.
The soldiers are aiming, after all.
"Shit! Get back!" There are times that call for an expletive or two or three, and this is it, as the bullet fire comes inbound.
He conjures up a wall of light, the crystalline barrier erupting from the soil at their feet with a simple nudge of his will.
That might help stave off the worst of it.
For the rest...
No helping it, he decides, before passing the last of his 'best medicine' off to Gwen and Tabitha without a word.
"...I'm going to reinforce the barrier. Don't hold back, or we're all dead."
And with that he assumes a more traditional stance and takes a deep breath.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha usually milks a good opportunity to tease Loren for all it's worth, but for now she seems content to give Gwen a companionable look of her own, before moving along. The attempt to find a secret tunnel doesn't really work out, sadly; Tabitha's knocking uselessly on walls mostly makes her easier to find for the soldiers. She reaches for her own ARM, assuming that she has plenty of time to do so, but...
She doesn't. Those soldiers topple; Hyland ones replace them, and the sight of rifles coming unslung has her eyes widening. "ARMs," she hisses. "They weren't anywhere close to this!" she hisses at Loren. "This is going to throw off--"
She bites off her analysis, less because of Gwen's presence and more because they're being shot at by men with guns. She draws herself up straighter. "Yeah," she says. "You're right."
And then she tucks her gun away, and pulls up that heavy bracer on her wrist. She runs a hand over it, and the metal peels away to show what looks like some manner of touchscreen. An ARM. Loren knows that operating system, too: That's Solaris tech.
Tabitha holds it up to her mouth, and breathes, "'The child asked the Lord for the secret of the sky.'"
One second passes. Two. The shield cracks.
The bracer beeps. The screen outputs text in Solarian, perhaps just visible to Loren.
THE LORD SAID, "EVEN STARS FALL."
ETHER SHACKLE RELEASED 00:00:05.00
She throws up that hand, glowing with a sudden powerful purple light, and a blast of it races past Loren's shield. The air is dirsupted with a strange, rainbow miasma, and when it hits the bullets, they scatter in odd directions, as if moved strangely by the air. When it hits the riflemen, they lift off the ground - floating helplessly into the air for five precious seconds. Hopefully, that plus the time it'll take them to reclaim their feet will be enough time for the group to regroup and flee.
DG: Tabitha deVriese has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ===============<* CHALLENGE - His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you run down the street, you see the opened gates at the west end of Lastonbell. There are already people flooding through -- and a cordon of Rolance's soldiers, waving them through. However, as you approach, those soldiers break away, running ahead towards you. Except, they turn, and start towards another street. They never make it. The loud, perhaps familiar crack of gunfire shots can be heard -- over a dozen shots, and then the lance of Rolance's soldiers collapse in a bloody heap. Marching out of the street are six men, decked out in silver breastplates, blue uniforms, and tall black feathered hats. Each also carries, inexplicably, a Gunsmoke ARM: an identical rifle, ending in a bayonet. The group of riflemen turn towards you -- and take aim! =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Wound============================================
=====================<* Escape from Lastonbell - Round 5 *>===================== =================< Results - His Majesty's Royal Blue Rifles >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 35 --(100)--> 135 Fail Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tabitha deVriese 35 --(100)--> 135 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 30 --(100)--> 130 Fail Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Secret(1)|Suffer(1)|Weaken(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Tabitha deVriese is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Escape from Lastonbell! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==========================<* Escape from Lastonbell *>========================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Alone But Safe *>======================== |Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It takes care and caution, but you manage to escape from Lastonbell. As you leave, you can see smoke rising up from the city. A banner comes down from one of the remaining towers -- and then a blue one rises, marking the city as the holding of the Kingdom of Hyland. You have escaped alone -- and if you do not know the countryside of Pearloats Pasture, the next few hours may be harrowing, as you try to make your way to safety. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"... Someone real stupid or real smart," Gwen agrees with Loren. Sure, on Filgaia Gwen was in the the primitive savages camp, but here they're all just one big technology-sharing family. Or three tiers of tech, really.
Bullets fly. Gwen holds out her ARM, willing it to form a sort of metal buckler against her body, trying to protect the child blissfully unaware of what's going on.
It's not enough to blast past the raw numbers, especially as these knights have the advantage of gunsmoke weapons *and* armor, something a Drifter wouldn't have. That, and numbers.
Loren's shield ensures they don't get turned into mincemeat. Bright flashes do stun many of the knights, but the bullets they fired aren't as easily slowed down. Gwen begins firing shots of her own, each bursts of electric plasma, but she can only shoot so fast. And there's many. She can't keep up, especially as it begins to draw more and more on her own body's energy.
It all leads to a temporary ceasing of fire, with seconds until the next wave comes crashing in. And it comes, Loren's shield beginning to crack in spite of their best efforts.
That's where Tabitha comes in. As she speaks, Gwen's eyes flick towards her, widening at the floating display screen, with whatever wording displayed on it pretty much garbled from her angle. Not that Gwen could even read it if she was at the right angle, that is. She winces compulsively at the blast that follows, opening one eye to marvel dumbly at the floating soldiers and displaced bullets.
Gwen, of course, whistles, jogging behind the two fleeing Solarians, past the soldiers, out of Lastonbell.
Janus and his gang better be okay, if only for all the trouble she went through.
They need to be. There's so few of them left.
---------
"Guess I owe you two more than one favor..." Gwen comments softly, laying the sleeping child on the waiting wagon. "I'll give you two a lift to whereever you need." She pauses, look aside at Tabitha, then Loren. She then adds, "No questions asked."
As for her, well. Probably better for this kid to get to Taben Peak. If he has family, it may be a while before they are in a safe enough spot to even take him on.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's going to throw off a whole heck of a lot. Command is not going to be happy to hear about this.
But right now their most pressing issue is getting out of here in one piece (and hopefully without bonus bullets included). They're just gunpowder models, to be sure, but given their current equipment loadout, and the fact that there are way more of the ARMed soldiers than there are of them...
In those instants before he assumes the well-practiced stance of a Jugend graduate, before he devotes the full brunt of his will to the task of keeping them from getting shot, he gets a look at Tabitha's bracer.
not just a bracer
does he ever know that sort of tech at a glance
And here in the seconds before necessity forces him to focus does he also get a look at the scroll of text lighting its way across the screen on the 'bracer'.
...What the hell is deVriese?
He has an awareness of distortion. Light, blurring rainbows.
Of the bullets slamming into his shielding ether and sending bright white cracks spidering across the surface. He grunts, attempting to shunt still more of his will into it--
There's an explosion. Brightness beyond brightness, but nothing at all hits the barrier--
He drops the failing barrier, acting on impulse.
And has all of a handful of seconds to be stunned by the sight of bullets disrupted in their flight and soldiers floating in the air.
He casts a glance over at Tabitha.
deVriese.
But he knows better than to gawk. They have to move. "Let's go!" he shouts, readjusting his shoulder bag and, for the lack of a better word, hauling ass towards the gate ahead.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"A lift?"
He kneels here, just next to the wagon, apparently preoccupied with rearranging some of the contents of his bag. It's hard to get a good look from here -- some bottles, some vials, some oddly-shaped dark pouchs of varying sizes. What might be his spare shirt. A whole lot of paperwork.
Loren glances up, as if to wordlessly ask a question of Tabitha.
To wit: where to?
The forest might be the most natural destination, but he doesn't want to chance being followed. Or for Gwen to cotton on to where they're holed up. Better to loop around before heading back.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Sharp eyes pick out more - Tabitha holds herself entirely differently for those few moments. Her hair drifts in even the light breeze of the alleyway like it weighed nothing; her chest doesn't hang as heavy; she holds herself higher, forcing poise into her posture, arms held out at an unusual angle, to keep her balance.
She turns and vaults off before the duration ends, and one long leap takes her a good few meters. Loren's seen that one before. Gravity reasserts itself just before they hit the gate, and she slams down hard, wincing from the transition before she starts into a more traditional run.
* * *
Tabitha emits aloud groan as she sets herself against the wagon and then slides down its side.She looks like she wants to say something, but her eyes cut to Gwen before she actually does. "Anywhere, huh," she mutters. She's let her proverbial hair down, running her fingers through her hair and itching at her scalp in frustration. "Jeeze, what a mess," she sighs. She's caught Loren's hint, though. "Let's make for Pendrago. I know a few people out that way."
Which is all true, except for how she intends to spin right around and head for the Tzadkiel as soon as they can ditch Gwen at the docks.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Why not? I don't think it's gonna be any safer travelin' on foot." As she checks the boy over for any significant burns, Gwen shoots a nod to a hiding Hanpan, who nods back, keeping safe in his hidden nesting compartment. "Looks like the kid got some second degree burns, so he'll be some pain a while. Nothin' more serious than that, though."
It's not as if she's counting on the two passengers to neccesarily be concerned; however, it still stands. They helped save the boy. "So. Pendrago it is! Figure even if y'go someplace else, having a ride at least a part of the way there ain't so bad.
Gwen could even possibly ask around there for any info on where the little guy's family is. Possibly. Maybe. There's no telling if the boy will be in any state to know anything beyond his name when he wakes up.
Bundling the boy up after applying the necessary first aid, Gwen turns to the two, hands on her hips. "Well, it was a pleasure meetin' ya, Tabitha. And it's nice t'see you alive n' kickin' too... Thomas." She winks one eye casually, rounding to the front to give the grazing Gulliver a few friendly pats of greeting. "Just hop up in back. Should be room. Won't be goin' too fast, mind you. Wanna keep a low profile."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Pendrago? Hmph. Sounds like a plan enough, I suppose," the medic grouses, brow furrowed as he thumbs through the sheets of paper. Damn, he thinks he's missing one or two... well, there's no helping that now. "Fine, then. If you can get us out that way, we'll consider it even."
More or less, anyway.
Though he stops what he's doing and gets to his feet, looking over where Gwen's checking the kid out. "Second degree burns? Are you sure about that?"
She's just a courier. How does she know anything about that?
There isn't a good reason for what he does next. But then, sometimes, one does things without really having any reason for it. Palming something from the depths of his bag, he approaches where Gwen is investigating the kid's injuries.
He hands her the vial. "An analges-- a painkiller," he corrects, glancing pointedly at Tabitha for a moment, before moving to push Gwen aside. "But let me look first."
...Second degree is about right, he can tell after a short investigation. Maybe if she found a healer, it wouldn't scar. But there's the risk of infection...
He reaches out to touch the child's shoulder. He barely needs to take in a breath to do it. Draw in ether, pour it in. Smooth out and repair the damaged layers, moving up from below.
Until all that's left is the angry red of a superficial burn.
"...Did you say second degree? I think you're overestimating it. It's first degree at worst, possibly not even that." He sighs, as if to lament her inexperience. "Still, if he complains about it, give him some of the medicine. A healer should do for the rest."
Maybe it's because it felt like a waste to stand by and do nothing, even if it's just a Lamb in the end.
He walks off to retrieve his bag. "Come on, let's go. The longer we wait, the more trouble is going to come after us."
He hops up on board, lingering just long enough to give Gwen a look that seems at best skeptical. Great.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.
Tabitha has a perfectly coy little smile on her face by the time Loren looks at her, and then shrugs benignly. She's sure she doesn't know what you're worried about. When he's done, she pulls herself upright - the old fashioned way, with a soberly-proportioned single gravity of gravitational acceleration. "The pleasure is mine, dear," Tabitha replies.
Then she hops aboard, and because Loren is present and she has a reputation to maintain, decides to make a big show out of laying back on her interweaved fingers and kicking up her legs, one leg angled at the knee.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"As sure as someone can be on sight." Gwen realizes, a moment later, that it *would* be strange for a person to know such information.
But really, should she even pretend that there wasn't something personal going on when she decided to run into a burning building to save one child, when there were many, many people who also had their lives in danger? Not to mention that she didn't even try to divert their path to make another attempt at checkomh in on Janus, Dario, and Romero.
Eh, they'll be fine, right? What's a little invasion when they managed to survive Little Twister?
Gwen nods, palming the painkiller. "Thanks," she says, nodding. "He'll probably need it. You can take a look at him too, if you want." He *did* say he was a medical student. Even if it may just be a cover story, Magical Sky City's health care might as well make him the equivalent of one either way.
After examining and stashing the painkiller for later, Gwen looks up at his voice, calmly pointing out her error.
She looks up, moving over to crane her neck at the boy. Squinting.
".... huh." A secret little smile crosses her lips as he further critiques her assessment, and...
She laughs.
One of relief in the face of so much stress, of finding peace with absurdity, of seeing just a little bit of joy in what has been quite a miserable day for all. "Well, you are the medical student. I guess... there's no worry about infection setting in, then." As Loren gives her that skeptical look, She merely smiles back, mouthly a silent 'thank you'. "But Thomas's right. We best get goin'. You set too, Tabitha? If y'are, then we'll be off." Hoisting herself into the driver's seat, Gwen gathers the reins in her hands, and-
Oh yeah. Glove. FIRST, she puts on the glove on her right hand, and then they set off towards Pendrago.
Surely the war hasn't gotten there too.