2018-08-23: Azado Is Burning
- Log: Azado Is Burning
- Cast: Riesenlied, Leon Albus, Josephine Lovelace, Maya Schrodinger, Lily Keil, Fei Fong Wong (NPCing Amber and Hammer), Noeline
- Where: Azado
- Date: August 24th 2018
- Summary: The Fereshte and those aboard race in to rescue what they can as Azado is set ablaze. ICly takes place before Leviathan Wakes. NOTE: End of scene contains major spoilers for the end of Act 3.
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Azado Burning. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Will o' the Wisps *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The night sky in Azado fills with lights. On an otherwise cloudy night, they stand out sharply: little balls of bright light that rise up over the city -- seemingly streaming out of the lighthouse in the town's harbor. However, they grow larger and larger, and the reason soon becomes clear: those balls of light are /crashing/ down towards the city. You see a trio of Will o' the Wisps slam into the nearby buildings. They go up in flame, as a supernaturally hot fire erupts along the roofs and consumes them too quickly. The trio of floating, glowing orbs lands before you, and then rush in. Bolts of fire shoot ahead of them, directly for you. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Azado is burning.
The lights subsume the city in all but a very rapid amount of time; little motes of incandescent light that stream from the lighthouse of the town's harbour. They crash onto the nearest of the buildings, and quickly material catches on fire; rooftops are set ablaze, and nearby lawns and yards rake in bouquets of flame as the conflagration quickly becomes unmanageable.
In the midst of this...
Something flies within the cover of the clouds. It isn't the Dragonship Destiny, or the Tzadkiel -- it's the only other vessel remotely considerable airworthy, and even then...
https://i.imgur.com/jfCDgyw.jpg
It might be difficult to say that the Fereshte has ever had 'better days' -- even from its inception, it's half a Metal Demon carrier with a dragon shape illuminated by bright lights bolted rather haphazardly onto a sailing ship by way of cables, posts and other such ghetto technology.
But it is a hardy ship -- and amongst others, Leon Albus, Lydia Seren, Hammer and so many other countless hands have done great work to making it airborne once more; the hull is bolted on with all kinds of material that by now originate from the Astrid below Wayside, from the Grindery at Taben's Peak, and random bits and bobs of scraps from...
... well, it's a very Wayside vehicle.
Riesenlied is standing beside the wheel, equipped with her throat microphone as she oversees the operation. She'd been called here to Azado -- by way of the voice of the world beckoning to her... and all the more timely too.
"The fires are spreading, originating from the docks," she reports as she presses the pads of the mic down. "Wayside Outreach, spread out and try to contain the fire before it can consume the city--"
Even before she can finish her report, though, the violent lurch of several Will o' Wisps launch and land onto the ship; rope starts to catch on fire, as a Waysider exclaims, "Contact!!"
"We've dealt with worse fires before! Repel the elementals before they can burn our ship down!"
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Bella Aeterna toward her party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Steady...!"
Leon Albus is working on the engine -- though he is above deck, equipped with goggles pulled over his head, and a spanner. He tightens a nut, trying to keep it from popping. The engine wasn't quite ready for this, and he knows it. The blonde-haired soldier looks over his shoulder, and peers to the side. Standing not too far away is a portly man, in his mid-thirties, with brown hair.
He wears a vest over a white shirt, and brown trousers. Argus, former cleric of Althena and the bartender of the Black Wolves, makes a slight face. "This is... a lot more dangerous than I planned on, huh? Here, let me help."
He holds a hand out -- and a globe of water shoots off, splashing down into a fire that shoots up one rope.
Leon turns, spanner in both hands. He stalks up for one Will o' the Wisp that comes in -- and then swings back both arms, legs spread apart. His teeth grit.
"Just like the playground, eh, Lily?" he asks.
Then, he tries to propel the Will o' the Wisp back with a batter's swing with the spanner.
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
As it happens, Josie had sort of gotten hauled into this business.
Not that she minds much. The last time the Fereshte took to the skies, Josie had been largely in an unconscious state and hardly in condition to set sail through the skies.
Azado might be burning, a factor that does weigh in somewhere on the archaeologist's mind. She can see the flames flickering distant on the horizon. But right now it doesn't matter.
She's flying, for the first time.
Her lips split in a grin, she's forgone even the matter of the engine and deeper workings of the ship, even on its close approach to the beleagured city. She's on the deck, watching, dark eyes aglitter with the fires of the city burning below.
And when some of the fire launches up in a rise to meet them--
"Fire in the hole!" Josie shouts, snapping off an arc of electricity with a jerk of an arm, for one of the rising Will o' the Wisps as she falls back from the deck's edge.
"Heh, always wanted to say something like that."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Wake up.
An overriding command scythes through the mental fog of the Drifter who lies in the Fereshte's medical bay. Fragments of knitting memory spin listlessly through an obsidian sea, dwindling as the many demands of conscious thought purge them from the mind. The pallid blonde runs a hand over her face and groans, waking from a week's sleep with little ceremony.
The ship lurches to one side, and one Maya Schroedinger tumbles from her cot with an alarmed grunt. This doesn't look like the library, but then, the blare of alarms suggests there's no time to writhe with anxiety about it. One watery sapphire eye fixates on a bare arm. A deep breath, and--unseen by any, as usual--a strange transformation takes place. . .
A will'o'wisp bobs merrily inside the first connecting hallway from the deck, a lone intruder in this (rickety) safe space. We could fixate on the damage it could cause if left to its own devices, but instead, know only that a nearby makeshift door of wood bursts open from being mule-kicked by a spirited young sorceress, who aims fingerguns at said wisp and bathes it in a stream of supersonic frost and icicles. "Get out! Out out out out out--"
The door to the deck bursts open again, flinging the wisp into the sky atop an azure spike of light.
"--out!" huffs Maya Schroedinger, in her copyright-infringing black cloak and pauldrons and headband. A beat, as she surveys the glimmering of fires on the horizon, and the crew battling the fires on the deck.
"What the hell have I missed!?"
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is above abovedecks, a bit away from the rest. ...As they see the flames, after all, Lily moves quickly, making her way up to her platform in preparation. ...It's nice, to see the Fereshte again. But she has a job on this ship, and she's been gearing herself up for the necessity.
So it is that a woman in black stands on the artillery platform of the ship, centrally located, stable stance. It's... a very Wayside vehicle, frankly. Lily bangs the butt of her staff on the deck once with a hollow sound, and actually--
Smiles.
"...Yeah," she agrees with Leon, raising her voice as she points her staff and a Will-o-Wisp headed straight for her explodes in a burst of shadow.
"...Hrm," she says, as three more take its place, and instead pulls a stone medium from her satchel, and begins to focus. The fires on the horizon...
"Come forth," Lily murmurs, golden eyes on the horizon--and erupting from nothing a great serpent appears, beginning to coil about the lower half of the ship, spectral seawater rushing about the decks, about the ropes, touching none of the crew...
But erupting into a great wave as Lucadia's projection opens her mouth.
"...Maybe not just like," she quips.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hammer, of the Black Wolves, and Amber the Falconeer, of the Kinship Alliance (don't know what that is? Don't worry! You will!), are here today. Let's just pretend that together they equal one Fei okay?
Hammer is helping! He is in fact driving ship. How can this be? Well, he's actually a reasonable pilot of a ship like this. He is an engineer, after all, even if his passion for flying is significantly lower than a certain other cute beastman (who is really cool!).
He grimaces as the ship lurches and he says, "Well this isn't good." unhelpfully. "We probably should've installed some sort of fire extinguisher on here."
Meanwhile Amber is on deck itself, eyes widening as the wisps touch down on board. "Geeze," She says, using her wind magic to try and surround one of the wisps in a vortex so that it is deprived of oxygen and will hopefully burn itself out. "Geeze..." Amber asides to Leon. "Would you believe that Lydia told me that I would be less likely to be killed in battle if I worked with you all?" She clucks her tongue in annoyance. "Starting to think that might've been conned. You think I've been conned?"
She glances over to Maya as she arrives and tosses a two fingered salute her way. "You'd be surprised what you'd miss if y'blink!"
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Azado burns.
Noeline watches from a distance as their craft flies closer to the red glow on the horizon-- but she can't help the way her mouth is set in a wild grin, the way her eyes burn with a vibrant glee. This is no panicked escape from Wayside, and there's no Gebler here to demand they immediately cease their attempts to survive this time - so for the Hyadean, she can only consider this the Fereshte's truly maiden flight, beaming with joy every time the wind sends her hair whipping around her and feeling her chest tighten with sheer pride at how far she and the Tainted have come under Riesenlied.
Even a closer look at the city cannot totally dampen her spirits, though she does at least draw her mouth into a thin line of concern as the Fereshte draws near. For all that they once thought Lunar was a peaceful and green land, free of the problems that plague Filgaia, she has to draw a certain level of grim amusement at the fact that the moon seems perhaps even more ready to visit its inhabitants with disaster.
Surveying the city for the most important hotspots is something that comes naturally to her; she scans the horizon quickly, picking out the way in which the motes of fire fall from the lighthouse at the docks. The suggestion from that is an obvious one: "Someone is causing this," she somehow manages to huff to herself, projecting over the din of the fire and the rush of the wind around them. For a moment, she goes to flick out her hair, before realizing that's absolutely pointless in this wind. "Someone, or something. Either way, we're going to need to get lower if we want to pick anyone up!"
Truth be told, she's not certain whether Riesenlied intends to offer sanctuary, or just assistance with the fire - but she wouldn't put it past her partner for the answer to be 'both'.
The chance to chuckle about that is stolen away when a sudden explosion rocks the ship; Noeline's fast enough to catch her footing by grabbing onto the rail, but for a moment she has to pull her arm up in front of her face, squinting past it as she identifies a series of fiery elementals headed their way. "Trouble! Strife!" she calls reflexively, trusting the answering beeps she can hear a little behind her; the rounded pods are struggling as they stretch a rope tied between them, weighed down by the bag of sand hanging from it and making a set of relieved squeals as they dump it on the nearest bed of fire.
With her pods on cleanup, Noeline's own priority is to get the Will-o-Wisps off the ship as soon as possible - and she rounds on the nearest one in a blink, the flat of her sword swept around to simply baseball bat the creature away and off the side of the ship.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Will o' the Wisps.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Will o' the Wisps *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The night sky in Azado fills with lights. On an otherwise cloudy night, they stand out sharply: little balls of bright light that rise up over the city -- seemingly streaming out of the lighthouse in the town's harbor. However, they grow larger and larger, and the reason soon becomes clear: those balls of light are /crashing/ down towards the city. You see a trio of Will o' the Wisps slam into the nearby buildings. They go up in flame, as a supernaturally hot fire erupts along the roofs and consumes them too quickly. The trio of floating, glowing orbs lands before you, and then rush in. Bolts of fire shoot ahead of them, directly for you. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
========================<* Azado Burning - Round 1 *>========================= =======================< Results - Will o' the Wisps >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Bella Aeterna 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Efficient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Sea Medium 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse, Rally, and L ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks relieved for Leon and Argus both to be there; she knows it really won't be long before the engine gives out under this heat, and they'd been under attack much earlier than she hoped they could escape from. "Thank you, Argus! Let me know if we need to decrease altitude, Leon!"
Argus' water attack causes a Will o' the Wisp to fizzle out, stunned; Leon hits one out of the park with a *ping!* with his spanner.
A row of Will o' the Wisps fries as Josie fires off electricity -- it's not quite enough, but it's just in time for Maya to join in from the door as the icicles finish them off. Riesenlied's eyes widen as she exclaims, "M-Maya?! I-- are you all right? I'll catch you up later -- we've a fire to put out and refugees to attend to!"
Lily takes stand at the artillery platform and beckons Lucadia forth -- a wash of water sending more Wisps off and soothing the flames licking the side of the ship.
Riesenlied lets out a yelp as a Wisp gets particularly close to Hammer, and she holds her hand out as she concentrates and... communes with the spirit, having a particular sensation with it. It pauses...
"Please, stand down."
It bobbles a few times, before its flames stand down next to the one Amber snuffs out with wind. She looks to the Falconer and expresses, "It is rather dangerous up here... if it gets too troublesome, please reconvene with the first responders down below!"
She listens well to Noeline's advice as she summons her ARMs and also smashes another Wisp off the deck. Riesenlied nods. "Yes -- once we're down low enough, we'll open our cargo bay doors and provide an escape route for those trapped!"
DG: Leon Albus has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Azado Burning *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Timbers *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you run down the street, you hear a titanic creaking noise. The two-storied building next to you shifts -- and then a pair of massive timbers rip out of the side of the building. Already wreathed in flame, they come crashing down for your heads! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Don't burn through those too quickly, Josie," Leon says with a sigh. Then, he looks sideways at Amber. He shrugs once. "It depends who conned you. If it's that--" He points into the distance, where the lighthouse is blazing brightly. "--then I think so. I doubt Lydia could see the future, though."
Argus looks down at the ghostly image of Lucadia. He blinks a couple of times. "Huh," he says. "Good thing I've already been defrocked, or I might worry about that a little more than usual."
Then, he takes his place back by the engine on deck. He looks it over, and glances back at Riese and then at Maya. He blinks once; then, accepts it, in a moment. "Miss Schroedinger," he says. "Glad you could join us. Now--"
The CREAK of burning, breaking wood can be heard. Leon's heart is briefly in his throat, before he sees the collapsing building -- the falling, burning timbers soon become a mess of fire and scorched wood, which is falling right towards the Fereshte.
Leon starts, quickly, releasing valves -- and then throws out his climbing rope, secured to a hook on the deck. He grips with one hand. "Hold on! Use that to not fall overboard! Hammer, make it go faster!"
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Climbing Rope toward his party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks very lightly apologetic at Argus to express, "I'm afraid our patrons may be a bit different than what you are used to... but they are just as passionate of the world." Well, she's had good experiences, even if she knows Lucadia's totally snubbed her daughter.
Her eyes widen as that creak echoes, and her eyes widen as she exclaims, "Dva!" as she crouches and holds onto Leon's climbing rope as the deck continues to rock.
There's a whiiine from a certain Hyadean as she floats on the portside along her ice dragon, slamming onto the side of the building with a once. "Just because I'm Photosphere-certified S Rank for aquatic engagements--"
She flares up further as she tries to harness her hydro lance to break the building apart before it can crash onto the Fereshte proper.
"Doesn't really mean squat if there's bugger all water for me to use?!?!?"
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya keeps a tight grip on the doorway to the Fereshte's deck, momentarily wearing an unmasked expression of utter incredulous surprise. "Blink?" she echoes Amber's words, dumbstruck.
But it was a blink, wasn't it? One moment: voraciously absorbing every scrap, every mote of knowledge in Vane's expansive library. Committing the wisdom of another world's sorcerer's to memory. You might even call it a download. The next: waking up here.
Maybe that wasn't such a silly way to put it. "Guess so, feels like I napped through the battle of Adlehyde..." the sorceress concludes thusly with a morose frown and a murmur, filing it under the 'to be dealt with later' column. She then animates quickly, pointing at Amber haughtily. "A--anyway, it's dangerous out here! Don't blame me if you take a big spill, okay!?"
It's how you know she cares.
***
The familiar chaos of disaster unfolds on the Fereshte's deck as it usually does: all shouts, people running to and fro, and impending doom ever-looming. A phantasm in the likeness of Lucadia gives Maya a moment's pause, her still-repairing mind catching up.
"Oh--you know me, Mister Albus!" the blonde quips as she squints at the looming tower of cinders and lumber soon to crash upon their vessel. "Can't keep the Number One Drifter from getting in the thick of things, you know?" she surreptitiously (somehow) holds onto the thrown rope. A backup plan in case the magic doesn't quite happen.
Speaking of which, Maya snaps the fingers of her free hand and summons a tremendous gale somewhere near the ship's rear to try and--uh--speed it up. Push it. Maybe it'll just fan the flames horribly instead. "Plenty of time to catch up later, boss-lady!" she crows Riesenlied's way, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline blowing the cobwebs from her mind. "If we make it outta this one, anyway!"
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Schroedinger's here?" Lily finds herself asking, surprised. She hasn't seen her in a while. But--
"We'll make it out fine," Lily answers from her place higher up, though the matter of... the ship turning is a problem, one that she deals with, since she's out of reach of the rope, by throwing ice down at her feet, freezing herself to the deck for a few key moments.
"Mister Albus, huh?" Lily says aloud to Leon, and glances to--D.va. ...Yeah, that's--that's about the way to do it--
There's no way for Lily to make the shot right now. Instead, she mostly just tries to hang on.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It might not have been as effective as she might have preferred, but Josie doesn't seem much fazed for it, particularly when Maya's sudden arrival on the scene eliminates that particular threat.
"Trust me, Lion, I've got more where than came from," the part-time Symbologist fires back, wheeling back across the deck a step as she readjusts her particular balance; the ship's starting a descent, which makes the footing -- much like a ship that'd go to sea -- a touch unsteady. She grabs onto a railing, watching on in silence for the moment as the great length of Lucadia extends through the air.
She gives the Guardian spirit's form a brief fingerwaggle of a wave.
"Didn't know you'd taken up Guardianism, Tiger," she calls out over the din, for a moment lurching a little too far over the railing as she takes a look at the city below.
"Looks like a park or somethin' down there!" she yells. "Try for that!"
Her gaze lifts.
Oh.
She blinks at the building as it starts to come down, gaze hovering somewhere between dull shock and faintly impressed.
"Hard left?" she calls out, grabbing for a length of that rope.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's laugh at the grumpy voice to one side of her isn't exactly carefree, but it is seriously tinged with amusement; when she hears the ominous creaking and shattering of wood, she lets the momentum of her swing pull her around towards it, breaking into a run for the side of the ship. "We are technically here on a relief mission, rather than in danger ourselves!" she calls over one shoulder to Maya, "But I do admit, these things tend to come to the same thing!"
And, so saying, she plants one foot on the railing, hops up, and simply leaps off the side of the ship into open air.
Thankfully, Dva is there with a ride for her, whether she knows it or not; Noeline lands nimbly on the creature with only a little in the way of stumbling - and really, that's just a good excuse to give the ice dragon a pat or two of thanks as she finds her footing.
"You're S Rank in our hearts, perhaps?" she teases merrily as she straightens up, letting Strife wing past one shoulder as its lens fires a barrage of lasers into the falling structure. Individually, they're weak, but the little ARM seems to be working overtime to prove itself - each shot placed towards joints and fragmented weak spots, working to weaken the debris overall and allow Dva's lance to bite home easier.
When a chunk does get past the combined fire, she's there to intercept it, her sword hefted over her shoulders; by rights, sweeping around something that heavy-looking should send her off the back of her perch by sheer momentum, but somehow she manages to keep her balance as she once again tries to do nothing more fancy than simply blow the obstruction away by sheer force.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Amber the Falconeer says, "Well I'd probably uh blame my boss, really, since I came along to look for her..?" She pauses for a moment. "You know?" And then her eyes widen a second time as Maya mentions a potential big spill. It seems like they might ALL be spilling soon as a giant tableu of BUILDING is starting to tumble towards the Fereshte. "Althena's Hairdresser..." She mutters under her breath as she throws herself back and grabs tightly to the side of it, gritting her teeth.
MEANWHILE
Hammer says, "Did you just sweet talk a ball of fire?" to Riesenlied skeptically before hearing Leon's call. "I'll do my best! Scatter!"
Hammer spins the wheel hard. "Guhhh...where are our friends when we really need 'em??"
He looks down at the streets below from out the window.
"Oooof.... probably out there."
Pause.
"eeeshh." He winces visibly.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Burning Timbers.
==============================<* Azado Burning *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Timbers *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you run down the street, you hear a titanic creaking noise. The two-storied building next to you shifts -- and then a pair of massive timbers rip out of the side of the building. Already wreathed in flame, they come crashing down for your heads! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=========================<* Azado Burning - Round 2 *>========================== =========================< Results - Burning Timbers >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(5)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Climbing Rope 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 5 --(5)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maya Schrodinger 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Riesenlied 15 --(20)--> 35 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Leon Albus has posed.
"Huh... not bad," Argus says, as he grabs ahold of the rope that the Captain (mercenary edition) threw out.
Leon grits his teeth, and glances sideways at Lily. "I suppose I earned that," he says. "If you insist, Miss Schroedinger, I won't complain. Turnabout is fair play! And all told, I'm glad we have you with us!" He looks down, craning his neck as he gets a glimpse at the field of green ahead of them. A park to land on, as Josie said. His eyes widen with the realization.
The chunk of burning building is blasted away -- and finally, cleaved in twain by a swing of Noeline's blade. Leon whistles, as it splits -- and the Fereshte whips through the opened gap between them. The Fereshte whips 'round -- and then comes careening down, at a fast but controlled speed, for the park.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire! *>========== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you sprint along, you come to a large avenue. The fire here is no natural thing, and the buildings overhead crackle and snap with a fire that is too hot and spreads too fast. It has other effects, too. As you run, you hear a whistling -- and flame leaps away from the buildings. As if it has a mind of its own, it forms fireballs -- and those come slamming down into your midst! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Slow=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya's ears prick at the sound of her name repeatedly. "Y--yes, I'm here!" she answers Lily while also tying the rope around her waist now, apparently not having much faith in her own ability to aid the Fereshte's escape. It's nice to be noticed. A glimmering shield of force ripples to life a few feet away from the sorceress's face, too. She takes this time to look flatly at Noeline, as if not in mortal danger. "So--you're in way over your heads as usual, aren't you?"
Aren't they?
Anyway, the Fereshte's speed belies its bulk and ramshackle appearance: in no small part thanks to Hammer's derring-do behind the wheel and the make-it-happen engineering spirit of the crew. A controlled descent it is, finding -some- semblance of open space to make a landing zone of for the drive-by rescue. Maya scratches her cheek and looks away with a huffy pout, cheeks slightly pink EVERYONE IS BEING SO DAMN NICE--
The sentiment is, unnortunately, not given time to be returned. Azado burns with a flame whose appetite borders on ravenous: the houses around them smoulder, billowing thick plumes of grey ash, and then erupt with detonations that throw shingles, splinters, and stuccato to the skies. The fires pour from the windows and rain from the skies, swirling with eerily coherent form and rushing the recently-landed airship like a baying pack of beasts with cinder-tip fangs.
Maya squawks comically in alarm as a small fireball bounces on her shoulder and she swats repeatedly at it, tumbling across the deck and yelling for it to 'GET OFF OF MEEEE~' but hopefully the rest of the rescue squad have a better plan than that.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied pouts at Hammer for a moment as she pets the now-pacified ball of fire, though winces and takes her hand back as she realises that touching even Friendly Will o' the Wisps without gloves is a bad idea. "They're kind if you get to know them!" she insists to Hammer, as if it made some kind of crazy sense to her.
Dva probably wishes she could be D.va, but alas, she's more comic relief instead of having a cool mecha. She whines at Noeline as she perches onto her for a ride, but the fact that the premiere Metal Demon of the Wayside group just smashed the building in twain is-- pretty okay in her books.
"D'you spot the Fiends or Fei or Lydie yet?!" Dva calls out, with a response on the line. "Not yet! There's too much fire and smoke for visibility!"
Riesenlied frowns quietly, uttering a quiet prayer for their safety as Amber muses on where their friends are. They head towards the park, though, nodding as she says, "Good idea," to Josie as she--
Fire interrupts her again, as she also catches some fire and her capelet's set aflame. "Ah!" she pats and flails for a moment, breathing hard and coughing a little.
"Mister Argus, could you please provide more water? Outreach, sandbags on the aft!" she continues directing. "First Responders, open the cargo bay doors -- fire the flares and signal safety to the villagers!"
Sure enough, on the hull of the Fereshte, the doors are now opening -- and Tainted Hyadeans are beckoning towards fleeing villagers as they start filtering in; some of them carrying children and the elderly, others wounded. It's a scene of controlled chaos.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It was, perhaps, Josie considers belatedly, after nearly losing her balance entirely -- only the rope arrests what might have been an unfortunate tumble -- not the best of plans to be lingering this close to the ship's railing.
So it goes, though.
It does give her a good front-row seat. A low whistle escapes her lips. "Sugar, remind me not to get on your bad side, eh?" she tells Noeline, still half-dangling over the railing.
"Nice dodge!" she calls back, righting herself atop the deck with a wince for her troubles. "Now bring her in good and slow! Heh."
...A faster pace might be a better idea, though.
"Where there's fire there's smoke, huh? Hope there's not too much flammable," Josie mutters, wrapping the rope loosely around her good arm.
The gestures are done more stiffly with her right hand, flowing through the motions and syllables of Symbological casting.
The ship's too big for her to do.
But the people standing around her, sure, she can make them feel a little lighter on their feet, the roll of bolstering magic unfolding with a scent of ozone and a flash of blue-white light.
"Look lively, kids!" She flashes a grin, even as the ship catches alight here and there. "Here comes a little taste of hell!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"It would seem so!" Leon cries out back to Maya.
When the Fereshe lowers, he ducks under one blast of flame, and then he turns and looks at the buildings. His eyes widen for a moment as he glances about, and he ducks down as a fireball erupts -- nearly slashing into him -- but he manages to duck, and it hits the grass. "I don't see any sign of them!" he yells. "I think we should hurry, and try to find what we can!"
Argus, in the mean time, is shooting balls and geysers of water left and right -- which impressive, as he moves with the usual lackadaisical, slow motions. Water blasts fire here; then there. He frowns, for a moment, and then nods. "I... think I can handle that, sure."
He holds a hand up.
Then, a ring of water shoots out -- trying to clear the deck and nearby buildings alike of flame.
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hammer says, "Maybe too friendly, Miss Riesenlied?" And then he cackles as he is able to steer readily away from the (first) set of falling debris. "Did you see that, Miss Riesenlied?! DID YOU SEE MY MAD SKILLZ?!"
Almost immediately thereafter: Actual fire rain.
"EEEEEEK!!" Hammer squeals and spins the ship again in an attempt to avoid the fire but honestly at this point it's going to be a bit tough because of how much there IS. The Fereshte isn't exactly tiny.
"Get ready to fight fire! With ... anything but more fire!?"
Amber jumps between various fireballs crashing down for the hall and tries to stomp them out wit hher feet before they spread but there isn't much she can do except try to smother them with her wind magic.
"gahh... Yep, yep, reconsidering career again..." Amber mutters under her breath. "Save Glenwood, she said, weaken the effect of all future wars she said..."
But when Argus provides some water, it occurs to Amber that she can use her wind to help spread it around and get more of the flames.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied does spare a moment to be sparkly-eyed towards Hammer: "Your skills are really, truly madness...!"
... someone might need to point out the hip slang to her later.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I haven't!" Lily answers Josie, "Call it a working relationship!"
Lily looks Leon's way for a moment and inclines her head, as she dismisses the ice at her feet, seemingly ignoring the fact that that had to hurt some. Her preferred military attire for this is not yet repaired; she wears something resembling civilian clothes, a black dress with a padded vest over it, long sleeves, boots. "I haven't seen any of them!" Lily calls, glancing once towards Maya, and then--
As they touch down, she skips worrying about the doors, accepting the speed Josie offers her. Fire crashes towards her and her locale, and Lily crosses arms about herself, a dome of shadow erupting around her. Meanwhile--
Hammer is squealing, and Dog, who is by the consoles, barks encouragingly at him. Bark bark!
"We're never in over our head!" Lily lies openly. "How many fires have we been to now?"
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Fair enough!" Josie calls back to Lily.
Then, a handful of minutes later:
"Not nearly enough, apparently!" In over their heads? Perish the thought.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hammer hesitates at receiving praise that still feels unusual for him even from Riesenlied. "What?"
Dog barks at him. "Ah! Sorry! Good Dog!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Glancing aside, Noeline snorts at the engineer dangling from the side of the ship; her grin is positively feral in its amusement, as the spy gets caught up in the energy and chaos of the situation and lets herself flow with it. "We're not all just hanging around," she shoots back, but does at least pause for long enough to check that Josephine can get back onto the ship properly.
... if she's honest, Noeline still has some trouble thinking of herself as the foremost fighter of the Tainted, not to mention the second-in-command she functionally is; she's never exactly thought of herself as leadership material, and her raw strength isn't as great as many Metal Demons, more focused around speed and agility than raw power. More than that, she's never exactly been-- all that empathic, even outside of comparisons to Riesenlied.
On the other hand, she's always been a quick study, and the way of the Tainted has always been to make do with what you've got. So, as the debris splits apart and falls safely away, she makes sure to do something she otherwise wouldn't, letting out a quiet breath as she pats Dva on the shoulder. "... good job," she points out, and before she jumps back away to the Fereshte: "We're relying on you."
It's hard to say who might be more bashful about that out of the two of them.
She lands on the Fereshte just in time for the ship to buck and jolts, nearly sending her straight off again; she staggers for a moment, scrabbling for purchase, and then realizes they're now low enough to just roll with it, letting herself be thrown off and down to the ground below. When she lands next to Lily, she's already ready, a Guardian's power sparking around her arms as she summons it forth to bolster the other woman's dark barrier with her own.
As the cargo bay doors of the Fereshte slide open, there's a flat tone beep that pierces over the panicked shouts of the villagers; the First Responders begin to marshal people into the ship, and at the door Strife waits, a little clipboard hanging from the pod as it clicks once to mark every villager aboard.
"--this might be too many," she mutters under her breath as she tries to survey the crowd - but then another plume of ash goes up, and she grits her teeth to try to pour more of her own brand of sorcery into Lily's barrier. Worries aside, all they can really do is try their best. "--we'll get you all aboard!" she calls.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire! *>========== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you sprint along, you come to a large avenue. The fire here is no natural thing, and the buildings overhead crackle and snap with a fire that is too hot and spreads too fast. It has other effects, too. As you run, you hear a whistling -- and flame leaps away from the buildings. As if it has a mind of its own, it forms fireballs -- and those come slamming down into your midst! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Slow=============================================
========================<* Azado Burning - Round 3 *>========================= ============< Results - Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire! >============ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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. DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Flamehound *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you run down the next street, a wall in front of you bursts apart into shards of stone and charred wood. The monster that emerges from it is not a Will o' the Wisp, but a hound the size of a horse, with a body wreathed in -- or perhaps composed of -- fire. It roars, and then lunges forward, jaws of flame spread open to bite and burn you all at once! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
There's only so much a big boat like the Fereshte can do to avoid the danger--its crew indeed, works hard to keep the flames from biting too deeply while they park there. Under Riesenlied's orders, the army of responders quickly starts loading refugees and their meager belongings. The poor inhabitants of Azado are as stunned as they are grateful, and have little wisdom or insight they can offer as they try to comfort their children and buckle up.
The more magical efforts from Jose and Argus are what really take the fight to the fires, though. Dampening fields and structural integrity enhancements harden the daring rescuers and their vestments against the oddly aggressive flames, and great geysers spring from the ground in a wall that briefly stems the advance from the east for a time. But the air is soon thick with vaporized water, joining the plumes of smoke in killing the area's visibility! It was a trap! A tremenous, sizzling hiss accompanies Amber's expert aim as she helps guide one of those big aqua-spheres into a still-burning building. It smoulders dangerously--something in there was totally not safe to put out with water! Gah!
Maya is (safely) tangled in a loose web of cargo netting with smoke rising from her cloak. "How many of the fires did we -start-, this time?" she asks of Lily, somehow looking less at-risk of serious injury the more people pay attention to her. She does not sound entirely serious--a good sign that whatever had her in the sickbay isn't slowing her down. "And how long can we hold out?"
The rush of refugees is getting hard for poor Strife to track, flames, and even the joint effort of Noeline and Lily's sorceries find the unnatural fires hard to beat back. It all suggests the Fereshte's time on the ground is precious. And fleeting.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
And to make matters worse... Dog barks at the fire that is spreading across the Fereshte and the fire starts leaching into itself before growing larger and larger and taking the form of a much larger hound of fire. It looks down at Dog and barks at the poor creature. "ARF!!" It says. "RUFF!!!" And then it leans back and howls. "ARROOO!!!"
It trots along the deck, spreading MORE fire as it goes before turning back to Dog. and barking in its direction.
"Aw hell," Hammer sas. "I guess I should've expected this once we got an airship...BUT IT SEEMS WE HAVE FOUND OURSELVES IN A DOGFIGHT!"
"And it's spreading fire everywhere!" Amber shouts before firing a few gunsmoke shots at the fire creature. "
And then a moment later. "Oh wait I get it."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks a few times blankly at Hammer. "Ah? But-- er, that is, you said your skills were..."
Dva shakes her head from all the way down as she grumps quietly, "I rue the day Riese ever learns how to speak 'cool'..." A pause. "Though maybe cool's what's needed right now. Ugh. I kill myself."
Hammer hollers that they've found themselves in a Dogfight--
"Hold my tourniquet."
Clomping noises of metallic paws march down the ramp as villagers and evacuees filter on through.
The glean of sleek gloss metal shimmers against the flames that surround Azado.
The mark of Nall's children -- 'ROBO MOM BEST MOM' -- is still written in chalky crayon on her side.
Dog goes 'ARF!' and the Flamehound goes 'RUFF!' and then--
"Here's... how a real territorial cry is done!" Cetiri intones, and rears her head back.
"AROOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
This Dogfight just got more intense?!
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flamehound.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I thought you weren't a dog," Amber says.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"We didn't start these fires at least," Lily answers simply--and while her magic is unnatural too, she's not entirely recovered. Noeline's support does a lot here, and Lily inclines her head at Noeline in greeting without looking. "We could've used better timing," she complains quietly to Noeline, gritting her teeth until--
Until the flames are just too much and she stumbles backward. "Ghh--"
And suddenly--
Bark bark! Bark bark!
Dog gathers herself up and bark barks back at the giant hound of fire, showing her teeth. She is a brave dog. ...Though--
When Hammer makes that pun, Dog seems to stop for an instant. ...Before--
Lily moves quickly, throwing out her staff-wielding hand and calling forth Lucadia once again, who this time rises from the ground itself, looms above the entire ship as if she might... take issue with it.
But--the waters come, and they do not harm the Tainted. Instead, Lily is already moving through her summon, and as Cetiri rears back--
Dog blinks--and then throws back her head, and HOWLS. ...It's... actually kind of terrifying, Hammer.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Flamehound. DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Flamehound.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
As Riesenlied helps untangle Maya and nod quietly at Noeline and Lily bringing the barriers up against them, Cetiri casts a knowing glint at Amber.
"It's a dog eat dog world."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Get away from my dog," Leon says calmly.
What he doesn't do calmly, however, is reach to his side and yank Argent Divider free. The weapon is currently a sword -- a better disguise for Lunar -- so he snaps it, and the barrels fold back in, as the blade telescopes back down. He lifts the two barrels, and aims right for the fiery hound's center of mass. It isn't easy; both between Cetiri egging on the dog fight, and the sheer difficulty of looking at a mass of fire.
But he shoots a flare round right at the head of the flamehound. It explodes in a brilliant white flash -- hopefully to blind it, as Lucadia's spectral form slams down for it.
Argus watches this, and he blinks. "...so, uh." He hesitates. "...anyone hungry for hot dogs after this?"
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Flare Round toward his party's challenge, Flamehound.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
"We didn't start these fires," says Lily, and Maya frowns for a moment. It's not entirely certain whether she feels more, or less assured because of that. The sheer volume of bad dog puns gives her further pause, but she's not one to hound people on the details. She instead wriggles free of the webbing thanks to Riese, and charges up onto the ship's railing with hands held wide.
"A--anyway! I'm not scared, either, we've got this!" she puffs up, unprompted, sculpting a magical lance of ice from what precious little moisture can be found in the air and hurling it at the magical beast of flame. But she can't help but feel she let an opportunity for a fourth wall-breaking joke slip past...
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flamehound.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline, as she's fond of reminscing, has been through a lot and kept her cool. She's faced down the destruction of Arctica and Adlehyde, watched as Old Petra and Wayside burned, grinned in the face of the Quarter Knights and the Guardians. But whatsever she's about to say to Lily n response is cut off with a brief fearful look as she watches Dog scamper towards a hellhound, ready to challenge it.
At least she gets to recover fully; Cetiri appears from out of nowhere to raise her own challenge, then the small dog manages to bear its teeth in turn in a completely unexpected fashion, causing Noeline to stop dead and abort what was about to be a pellmell run for the hellhound. Instead, she has to look rather glumly across at Lily, her eyebrows raised. "... I have to wonder how much of this is your influence," she grumbles fumbling for composure for a moment.
At least it gives her time to rally, letting out a breath before she calls up over the crowd. "--keep moving! The water won't harm you!" she calls to the crowd, seeking to capitalize on Lucadia's waters. "Dva! Form a wall out of this stuff, or something!"
She ploughs through it in turn, letting the current of it drag her forwards; her weapon shifting in her hands, her sword cuts a sudden swathe through the waves; swung at an angle, it kicks up a gigantic sheet of water directed towards the hellhound, hoping to dampen its ire and its fire both.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Flamehound.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Where there's fire there's in fact a whole lot of smoke.
And steam.
"Water's just not my thing," she laments to Maya, the closest person at hand she can still reasonably see. "Neither's wind. Guess we'll just have to grin and bear it, eh?" She snaps her fingers, and light springs alive, rolling up into a hovering position close at hand. It doesn't improve visibility much, between the glow from the fires and smog alike, but...
"This time I think it was like this before we got here, but never say never," she jests towards Maya, untangling her arm from the rope and striding forward across the deck towards the sound of a baying hound. "C'mon, let's see what's what--"
Dog's found herself a 'friend'.
Palming her usual flask with an alacritous slight of hand, Josie takes a nip of its contents before tossing the bottle for Argus.
Then draws her ARM from the holster at her hip and levels it at the 'hellhound'.
In the background, Cetiri howls.
Josie's lips split in a grin.
"Heh. Hey, talk about the 'hair of the dog'," she can't help but quip, aiming for an entirely different line of punning as she pulls the trigger.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Flamehound.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Flamehound *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you run down the next street, a wall in front of you bursts apart into shards of stone and charred wood. The monster that emerges from it is not a Will o' the Wisp, but a hound the size of a horse, with a body wreathed in -- or perhaps composed of -- fire. It roars, and then lunges forward, jaws of flame spread open to bite and burn you all at once! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
========================<* Azado Burning - Round 4 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Flamehound >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 15 --(5)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Flare Round 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Sea Medium 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse, Rally, and L ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 45 --(15)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Luckily through the power of Dog Teamwork and some Person-Dog diplomacy, that HOT DOG doesn't seem to have much of a chance in hell(hound).
The flare round punches through the dog and Maya's ICE LANCE manages to hit right in that spot too, causing it to freeze around that point and shrink as its flames are weakened. The water from Noeline certainly doesn't help matter either and it shrinks even more. And then, more bullets from Josephine and it howls in pain and shrinks yet more!! By the time that Lily splooshes water onto it, it's diminished to just a coal body and small flickering but harmless flames around it's puppy sized body.
Cetiri and Dog bark at it and it yips in terror and hides behind Hammer, cowering.
Guess we know who the Alphas are on THIS airboat?!
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Break Through a Burning Door *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you move through the streets, you hear panicked cries from a nearby home. There, a door has been locked into place -- a timber has fallen from the porch roof, half-blocking it. The roof and home burns, and the screams of the occupants are desperate within. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Between the covering of water from Lucadia and the barriers put up around the Fereshte, the operation somehow manages to proceed more or less as planned; there is chaos, certainly, but it's controlled enough to get a majority of the villagers on board, with the more able-bodied and uninjured people gently coerced into helping those less able to handle themselves.
Still, that isn't nearly the end of it all, especially not when several of the houses down a nearby street groan from the heat, their structures buckling and the beams collapsing in on themselves as something flammable nearby causes another explosion of flame. By itself that wouldn't be anything worth noting, especially given the rest of the destruction around them - but Noeline's ears prick at an unexpected sound. While it's distant under the noise, there's a cry from that direction, and it makes the spy stiffen and then bolt forwards, out from under the barrier, to race for the building.
"--hold on!" she roars as she surveys the house, then darts forwards around the first of the fallen stone and wood. Being a Metal Demon comes in helpful at times like this, as she plants a shoulder against a fallen beam to begin heaving it up to one side. Trouble slips in past her, its focusing lens emitting a bright and diffuse beam of light to search through the smoke, and the little ARM starts moving from room to room before emitting a flurry of beeps.
It's only then that Noeline huffs and looks up towards the Fereshte, sucking in a breath to call out: "--get someone over here! There's people trapped!" she yells, wincing against the heat and a sudden shower of sparks.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"T-that feels like the last thing I want right now..." Riesenlied glumly expresses towards Argus as he muses about hot dogs, getting out of the way as Leon fires his flare round and she covers her sight.
Dva mumbles, "Aren't I going to catch holy heck if I channel that water?! That's Guardian water, right-- aaah screw it!" as she starts to use her hydraulic pressure to manipulate Lucadia's curtain of water -- which is fortunately ultimately just water instead of holy, anti-Hyadean water -- to help with the refugees running in.
Riesenlied watches as Maya blasts more icicles and Noeline cuts through the water, as well as Josie's lined up shot; there's a grimace as she expresses, "We're nearly done here -- just a little more, and we'll pull out and unload at Rendezvous Point B2!"
She still kind of has a habit of marking various positions around the operation area from her Photosphere days.
Noeline, however, calls for them to hold-- and her eyes widen for a moment as she looks to where Noeline's holding up a fallen beam and assesses the situation. "We need someone there -- Leon, can you get in with your rope? I'll break through--"
She draws her flute and plays a by now familiar six-note tune...
... and the sound of something falling from within the clouds ...
... falling ... falling ...
... BOOOM, a rotund and large yellow bird has landed in the trapped family's living room. Wark!
"Good cucco, Loccy!" Riesenlied expresses, despite all evidence to the contrary.
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Power I channel isn't particularly anti-Hyadean," Lily offers Dva--how did she hear that? And shrugs as it seems it works out just fine. She keeps track of what's going on at least. Dog, meanwhile, wags her tail at Leon once the beast runs away, barking happily. ...It seems the terrifying moment earlier is gone now, though she shows a lot of interest in Cetiri... and in wherever the little beast went. As for influence--
"I think she's doing well," Lily replies to Noeline. She seems, if anything, pleased. But in the wake of what they see, what makes them hold--
Lily narrows her eyes as she sees the fallen house, realizes who's in it. Since they're here on a rescue mission, she doesn't argue about having time. Instead, as Riesenlied drops the cucco in and makes a hole in the roof...
"Perfect," Lily murmurs, and wends a familiar rune-bearing chain about her hand, meditatively. As she does, she holds up the Seraph's Staff, the strange sling-staff Fei gave her, and points it out--
Above the house, above the new hole in the roof, a point of black appears, at first simply present--and then suddenly, a vortex of Ether begins to draw the smoke towards it... and utterly annihilate it. That's the plan, anyway. "I can stop this drawing them in for a while, but you might want to hurry!"
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Poor Josephine admits that "Water's just not my thing," as she and Maya sling what few magical tricks they have up their sleeves at the flames (which have been growing more, and more dangerously intelligent and now also animal-shaped). "Pretty sure this is getting beyond the point where just water is gonna do the trick anyway." comes the reply from the blonde spellslinger. The bizarre nature of what's going on in Azado is not lost on her--even if she can't put a finger on it precisely.
Maya skims over the side of the ship, her cloak billowing as she remembers to start hovering rather than trying to get everywhere on foot. The progress of the evacuation is hard for her to gauge, since she hasn't been keeping tabs on the number of people filtering into the hold, but she assumes their work here is not yet done. Especially not with Noeline's yell for assistance and--
*BOOM*
--the big bird falling from the sky like a comet to break into the burning building.
"I'll--uh--I'll help, too!" shouts the Drifter, really getting into the thick of things. But how is she going to help break into the building with sorcery, to rescue the trapped family within? Explosions and great spells of battle aren't any good for safety work!
Anyway, so that's about when Maya explodes through the wall of the house with a dropkick, her talismans all fiercely aglow as she lands on top of Loccy's back. This is a fine plan. "Everyone, get on! Time to go!"
Really.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Argus is quick to pull and tug people aboard. A few softly murmured "Heal Litany"-ies later, and some of the injured villagers have more spring in their step. Leon looks towards the cleric, nodding once, and then he looks down at the house that Noeline points out. His eyes widen for a moment. His jaw opens, and then he grits his teeth, and he nods. "On my way! I may need lift back up to the airship!"
His rope already secured, he drops down over the side. The rope swings, as Leon descends through a cloud of smoke and fire. He coughs, as he feels an ember come too close -- but he lands, crouching, by Noeline and by the beam. Except, then, a cucco and Maya blow a hole through the side of the building.
"Huh. Far be it from me to complain," he says. He drops down into the hole, dangling from his rope -- and extends a hand out to the stricken family. "Come on, we'll lift you out of here!"
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Argus pauses, then looks in his bag. "Uh... by the way, I'm almost out of Water Stones!"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Fair enough," Josie allows to Maya, shrugging skywards with two empty palms. "I suppose at this point it won't much matter what we do as long as we try, eh?"
There probably was never any real question about the dog. Hellhound. Coalhound? Josie trains her ARM on questioningly for a second, only to holster the weapon once it flees behind Argus. "Guess you can tread on it if it causes you trouble," she says, stepping forward to reclaim her flask from him and tuck that away for safekeeping as well.
Her glance turns off down the street as a house slowly starts to slump and collapse in on itself.
There had been heat, flame, danger from all corners, but Josie had still been smiling.
No longer.
As quickly as she can, she disembarks, hurrying down the street with an intent expression on her face.
Stupid girl. This isn't--
She in fact only pulls up short as a large round yellow bird comes crashing into the building, making a handy hole of a sort.
And that moment of hesitation aside, she unties the mattock from her belt and climbs on up to a precarious perch alongside the hole Loccy's left to start smashing brickwork.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hammer pulls the Fereshte up to the house but honestly he's not the kind of guy you want to try to bust into a house to save people anyway, but he can at least take you closer and Amber can keep her pistols aimed at the fire dog to make sure it doesn't cause any more trouble. Of course, it doesn't seem like the dog is inclined to cause any more trouble. In fact, when it has a moment, it rolls over and exposes its belly.
Hammer hesitates and scritches the belly before pulling his hand back in pain.
"Ow!" Hammer shouts, rubbing his hand. "Guess your bite is worse than your bark."
The Hot Dog whines.
Amber meanwhile looks over to the building and takes in a deep breath. "What oculd possibly be going on in this city..." She can, at least, send her falcon out to scout for anybody who might need rescue to help with the operations.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Break Through a Burning Door.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Break Through a Burning Door *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you move through the streets, you hear panicked cries from a nearby home. There, a door has been locked into place -- a timber has fallen from the porch roof, half-blocking it. The roof and home burns, and the screams of the occupants are desperate within. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
========================<* Azado Burning - Round 5 *>========================= ==================< Results - Break Through a Burning Door >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Rune Chain 3 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Efficien ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Schrodinger Special 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Open and Shut *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You round the next corner to find, finally, safety: for both you and anyone you rescued, as well as a cluster of a dozen people ahead of you. The city's guards have unlocked a massive floodgate, which leads into the sewer system below the city. A few people have already rushed in. One of the guards, upon seeing you, calls out: "Hurry!" All seems safe, but you hear the strangest sound behind you. A titanic roar, and a rush of wind that blows in front of you. When you turn, you see the reason why: cresting above the burning roofs of the city, even as high as the distant lighthouse, is an enormous tidal wave. It slams into the city. Buildings shatter, as fire is turned to steam in an instant, and the wave is crashing for you. "GET INSIDE! WE HAVE TO CLOSE THE FLOODGATE NOW!" =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's attention is somewhat divided as she tries to shift the beam from the doorway, eventually settlng for wrenching it away from the rest of its housing to try to throw it aside; the way seems insurmountable, but she works at it anyway, huffing past the smoke as she quietly thanks her stars she doesn't technically need to breathe except from sheer force of habit. "--more help's on the way!" she calls to the trapped people, even if she's not sure how many they're looking at having to save.
Because she's so busy, she only realizes that Riesenlied's pulled out her flute a little too late; by the time she detects the telltale warbling of the flute's notes it's much too late, and a descending whistle marks the creature that slams straight down into the roof of the building, caving it in and away to one side as a gigantic hole is made in its wake.
The plume of ash and smoke that goes up from the impact is immense - but so is the capacity of the hole that Lily opens above the house, sucking up the unclean air as if it were hungry for it. Bit by bit, the visibility inside the place begins to clear, revealing a family huddled together under a fallen wardrobe, shivering in each other's arms. Noeline opens her mouth--
--and Maya busts through the wall, closely followed by Leon rappeling down from above by rope to offer the family a direct exit. The way up is criss-crossed with the broken remnants of beams and stonework, but Josie's mattock makes short work of it all, especially with Amber's falcon assisting in pointing out dangers around them.
Back on ground level, Noeline huffs again, and lowers what's left of the rubble she was holding up as everyone finds their own entry into the building. Like an embarrassed cat, she flicks at some ash smouldering a hole through her dress at her shoulder, and tries to look rather unruffled at everyone having just circumvented her. "You're all jerks," she grumbles, pride wounded for a moment before she offers the family a wink, and helps lift the girl up into Leon's arms. "Up we go!"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"What did I do," Hammer says (the answer is nothing).
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"That makes me ... a little more relieved?" Dva remarks somewhat faintly towards Lily. Cetiri's tail is wagging back and forth with a measure of pride and pleasure as she looks down towards Dog and expresses, "Good job, little one. You are truly worthy of the title of 'Dog'!"
Maybe she has truly embraced her nature after all.
"You might be right, Maya... but..." Riesenlied murmurs with concern, as she hears a roar at about the same time Albus points out that he's out of consumable items. I--it was consumables all along?! At least his healing is real magic...
Leon's pulling up with the family from whre Loccy's cleared things up, along with Noeline and Josephine as the rest of the team get back up to the deck...
And with the evacuation of the trapped family done and dealt with, it would seem like the Fereshte finally has the all-clear to pull up--
Then Dva speaks up.
"Y-y'know what I complained about about not enough water?"
The roar is deafening as the tremors start to shake throughout Azado proper. Every one of the refugees looks up with blank stares at the tidal wave of water that's coming up over the distance towards them.
"There's too much noooooww~~!!"
"Pull up, Hammer! Pull up!" Riesenlied exclaims, "We--"
==============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Jam and Jam! Status Applied! *>================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 --------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A horrible grinding noise erupts throughout the Fereshte's engine room. Leon is the first one to spot it-- the nut he was tightening before, trying to keep everything aligned and together is beginning to sputter out of control, and there's an awful *ssSSNAPPpp* as a tread misaligns and gets wound up along some of the gears and drops to a halt. Fortunately for Hammer, the Hyadean half of the Fereshte allows for /some/ hovering capability, which is all that's stopping them from just crashing right now, but... Great strength will be required quickly to unjam the mechanism and get the Feresthe up and running again -- lest you get consumed in the incoming tidal wave! =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless==================================================)]
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Hammer looks up when Dva says 'Y'know what I complained about not having enough water?' and his eyes bug out like crazy. He pulls as hard as he can on the wheel but a horrible grinding noise erupts throughout the Fereshte's engine room and--
--well you can read the card. "Gah...it's not going up high enough... It's not going to be high enough!! LEON!!! I CAN'T DO IT LIKE THIS! I DON'T HAVE THE POWER, CAPTAIN!"
The firepup rolls across the deck of the ship, paws scrambling to keep on board rather than tumble off to the, well, it's not watery depths yet but it's gonna be. It arfs at Dog repeatedly, asking for help?! There must be some kind of DREAM CHASERS: FUR TALES going on here.
Amber rushes to the engine room, picking up a little something that Lydia has been working on as she has makes her way to the engine room.
When she reaches said engine room, Amber has a brass alchemic steampunk style mech-arm wrapped around her limb which she rears back with and clobbers the treads with in an attempt to realign them. Or she's just frustated. Hard to tell.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Mother's Cross toward his party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Up we go!" Leon agrees with Noeline, scooping the girl into his arm. His other grabs onto the rope, and he tugs once -- making sure he is secure -- and then watches as the rope begins to lift. Above, Argus works on pulling it back, huffing and puffing the whole way. Leon feels himself rise, and he watches the burning roofs of Azado with a stunned look; the smile on his face vanishes.
There was a lot they did not do, tonight.
He lifts up the rest way and stands on the deck; he watches the girl run off, hurrying towards his family. He turns -- except that is when Dva speaks up. He turns, and his jaw drops to see the huge wall of water rushing for him. His silver eyes widen. Then, he hears the grinding noise. "Shit--shit!" he yells. He reaches down, grabbing the spanner off the ground. He hurries to the engine. "Hold on, Hammer! We'll try to get this damn thing off!"
He grabs the spanner, wrenching it around -- and yanks, hard, with both hands on the jammed piece of equipment. "Come on!"
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's already running back towards the airship as a matter of course; it wouldn't do to be on the ground for too long what with the fire raging through the city, and that certainly doesn't change when she heard the floodgates creak and burst in the distance. At the very least, it does allow her to intercept the rest of the Outreach, helping them to haul the doors shut with a physical effort. "--everyone sit down! This might be a little bumpy!" she calls over the throng of villagers within, trying her best to manage them as best she can before she sucks in a breath and keeps moving.
She expects a shudder as the Fereshte lifts off, but what she gets is much more pronounced than that; she's not that much of a gearhead compared to some of the people looking after their airship, but even to her something about the way the ship shakes feels terribly off, and spurs her to race for the engine room.
She barely gets through the doorway before a sudden jet of steam pulls her up short and nearly scalds her face; she hisses in response as she pulls her hands up, then pushes forward through it regardless, ducking beneath it to try to pick out the problem. That part's easy, at least-- the track is obviously misaligned and jamming up the rest of the works, but the trouble is it's one of those things that really needs fixing once the ship's on the ground and slack can be taken off the whole system, lest the mechanic lose a finger or an arm to the grinding gears.
Noeline puts her shoulders to the gear again, wincing as she remembers that she's literally just burnt herself on that side; she's not trying to realign the gears immediately so much as tear them briefly to a halt with sheer force, freeing up the track for removal. Behind her, Trouble whistles eagerly as it bonks against the gears--... not that it's much use, not without fine manipulators to pull with. But at least the little ARM gives its best effort.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Juggling the mattock from one hand to the other the moment the last stubborn brick comes free, Josie levers herself into an unsteady crouch and extends her left hand for anyone within reach.
"Come on," she says simply, firmly.
They can't stay here.
Only once the last of the rescuees is ferried out does she turn towards Noeline and finally smiles in a manner that can only be called bittersweet. "C'mon, Sugar. Let's get the hell out of here!"
She's not one to linger. Get in, get who they can, get out -- that had been the plan of the moment. So now--
"Hm?"
Dusting ash off her hair and clothing upon climbing back aboard, she doesn't seem to be entirely listening to Dva at first.
"Don't think we'll need anymore water, ki-- well, whatever," she replies, on seeming autopilot.
Before the ship pitches under a shudder of a tremblor, and slowly, Josie looks up to the horizon.
"So, how fast can we take off," she pitches Hammer's way.
There then comes precisely the sound from below that no machinist ever wants to hear.
"Scuze me," she says, pushing her way back a townsperson, rushing down for the belowdecks.
"Leon--"
She advances on the jammed machine, mattock gripped grimly in both hands.
"Let me show you how to take a machine apart."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is a jerk. ...But she didn't actually get off of the ship. She just nods over to Dva. "Glad to help." ...It's a little deadpan. Is she... joking? Hmmm, maybe. Maybe not. Meanwhile--
Dog looks absolutely delighted by Cetiri's praise, her tail wagging merrily with a little bark back. It's as if she's saying 'thanks', while she also... preens a bit. ...And then goes sniffing for Hammer's hand since he seems to be in pain. ...She'll... back off in a moment. But--
The water comes. The water comes, and Lily has an instant to stare out over the devastation of Azado... and something about to make it worse. For an instant, she only watches. ...And in that instant...
Dog barks in surprise as the firepup rolls, and then narrows her puppy eyes in thought. Help... Dog barks back once, and then darts--not immediately for the firepup. No, she moves through a coil of cord that's connected to the deck, to hold herself on, and leaps for the firepup, going for its scruff to pick it up in her mouth and save it because that's just the kind of dog Dog is.
Lily, on the other hand, darts across the deck, moving from her post as she hears all the shouting. Leon's shouting, in particular. So it is that she emerges into the engine room and throws her staff down, moving forward. Josie's working with the mattock, and Lily looks--"Here," she mutters. The chain at her hand jingles as Lily's palms are abrubtly shrouded in darkness, and she starts working with the mechanism to outright destroy the things slowing it down. Though--
It's a messy, messy process, and she's just put herself in the middle of a lot happening at once. It's not safe.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Open and Shut.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Maya is a long ways from the engine room, and the troublesome nut. Perched atop the back of a giant rotund bird, whose head she pats as worried (and rightly so) villagers pile on and cling for dear life. "All aboard, all aboard, super-sorceress Maya Schroedinger and Wayside's Finest are gonna get yo uto safety!" she scoops up the last of the cute civilians and then nudges Loccy with her boots. It's time to fly, Loccy!
The big bird look at her. =______=.
Nobody moves.
"G--geh, everything's under control here! Just a second, folks!" Maya sweats profusely as nobody takes flight and she glances out of a smashed window to see a towering wall of water approaching from the distance. Nudge, nudge. "T--time to go!"
=_____________________=;;;. Wings waggle.
"G--gaaaaaah! I've only been awake for five minutes and this is already going pear-shaped! What a disaster!" Maya wails, rolling her sleeves up and complaining very animatedly as her many talismans glow the colour of freshly-cut rubies. And she prepares to abuse Magic for the second time today. "Riese, why can't we summon a bird big enough for all of us to sit on at once...!?"
---
Ka-BOOM! First it was the wall, now it's the roof. A black-cloaked figure with a crown of blonde Superman-flies through the roof with cherry-red lights ablaze from her wrists, neck, and ankles alike. She carries a slightly overweight-looking giant c****bo which is also flapping its wings as hard as it can, while carrying the inhabitants of the now-collapsing house as they all try to outfly the oncoming tsunami and make it to the Fereshte.
Brute challenge indeed.
=_____________________________=;;;;;;
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, Open and Shut.
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Open and Shut *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You round the next corner to find, finally, safety: for both you and anyone you rescued, as well as a cluster of a dozen people ahead of you. The city's guards have unlocked a massive floodgate, which leads into the sewer system below the city. A few people have already rushed in. One of the guards, upon seeing you, calls out: "Hurry!" All seems safe, but you hear the strangest sound behind you. A titanic roar, and a rush of wind that blows in front of you. When you turn, you see the reason why: cresting above the burning roofs of the city, even as high as the distant lighthouse, is an enormous tidal wave. It slams into the city. Buildings shatter, as fire is turned to steam in an instant, and the wave is crashing for you. "GET INSIDE! WE HAVE TO CLOSE THE FLOODGATE NOW!" =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
========================<* Azado Burning - Round 6 *>========================= =========================< Results - Open and Shut >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Mother's Cross 4 Brute Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Rune Chain 3 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Efficien ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maya Schrodinger 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Schrodinger Special 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Reckless(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 Riesenlied has successfully explored Azado Burning!
=============================<* Azado Burning *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - In the Darkness *>======================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The floodgate slams behind you, locked shut as the tidal wave slams into it... but bounces off, and those waters rush into the city. That leaves you in the catacombs of Azado, in the darkened sewers and tunnels that run beneath. There is no light down here -- and no answers as to what terrible fate befell the city above. There is only the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a struggle as Hammer tries to pull up with the controls on the wheel... you know, how does a wheel have the design of an yaw, roll and pitch anyway? Lydia is just that good at designing control schemes, being an astro-researcher, is how. Space is an ocean, you know.
Riesenlied winces as she holds onto a nearby rope and expresses, "I believe in everyone..." since she isn't exactly of much help with both machinery or strength.
Leon grabs his spanner and wrenches it and yanks -- and a deeply-lodged nut comes loose and pings across the room, but releases a lot of the tension for Noeline to halt them and for Amber to use her mech-arm to seize the tread apart and pull the precious belt free.
Josie tells Leon how to dismantle machinery, and goes down on the now-useless part of the machine that's jamming it all up, fragments flying all over the place as Lily destroys the rest of it with darkness.
Loccy has a !? expression as Maya and the citizens climb up onto Loccy. It is, indeed, peculiar for a cucco to not be able to fly on up, isn't it? It's almost as if it isn't a...
Nope nope nope Riesenlied's not hearing it! "Loccy, you can do it! Maya, over here!" Riesenlied cries out as she pauses and watches her assist the big bird up and over to land onto the deck of the airship.
Loccy looks just a little bit crispy as it makes a ring with its index and thumb... feather at Riesenlied.
But more importantly-- with a 'thunk!', the engine whirrs to life once more as pistons start chugging away and Kislevi engineering succeeds once more; Hammer finds lift where he needs it most, and with a thunderous roar--
*sssSLAMMMmm*
The ramshackle airship very, very narrowly escapes the smash of the tidal wave as several of its fins disappear underneath the wave of water. For a moment, the sailing ship component of it actually does what it's supposed to in the moments before the airship draws on up...
"We're clear! We're clear!" Riesenlied announces to the benefit of everyone below, letting out a heaving sigh of relief. "Thank you, everyone!"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon's eyes fall on Josie's mattock. He considers, for a moment; then he reflects on what she did with pieces of technology recovered from Ash Hare. "Well, er, I think you've got the experience in this field, Josie!"
Through hardwork, the engine roars to life. A spray of seawater and mist shoots over the prow; it washes over Leon's face, and slicks his hair back. He looks out over the Fereshte's prow. The sight below is sobering: much of the seafront district is simply gone. Shattered buildings are flooded out, and the interior of the city has broken buildings. Many lean to one side; the fires are gone, but channels of seawater still roll through the city.
It is, however, beyond the city that the true nightmare lay.
Leon's fingers let the spanner slip. It falls to the deck with a clatter. What they see is a horror: a monster unlike any other. It looks to be the size of a small city; whale-like in shape, with a mouth that resembles a whale's, but no eyes. Bony ridges, with spiral patterns, criss-cross its body.
And, oddly, the spires of a drowned, ruined citadel rest on its head. There is no noise from the creature. No answer to what it is.
But they watch as a galleon, desperately making way from it, is suddenly lurched into the sky. Men and women scream, as it rips apart into boards and debris; as a ship and its crew are hurled, begging for their lives, into a maelstrom that already begins to swirl above.
And then, inside of Noeline's mind, Duras Drum begins to scream.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Then Duras Drum screams in a duet somehow...????
No wait that's Hammer. But maybe this time it can be forgiven.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's expression, as the Fereshte lifts away, is a grim one. The tidal wave has washed away her expression as surely as it has the city below; she can only watch in stunned surprise as the Fereshte manages to lift away, giving everyone on board a birds-eye view of the staggering creature that awaits them. "What in the world..." she breathes to herself, her knuckles whitening on the railing as her grip tightens.
Her mind goes white a second later, overwhelmed by the force of Duras Drum's scream; completely unprepared and unshielded against it, the noise takes her legs out from under her, dragging her to the ground as she fights for a purchase. "G-gh--..." she yelps painfully, seeing double in the grain of the wood beneath her. "--what-- what is--" she tries, but can't get anything further out.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out a faint and desperate gasp as she tries to regain her composure; she's leaned against one side of the wheel as she concentrates upon that empathic sense to get a glimpse of the emotions running wild belowdeck. So many refugees, now homeless; they'll have to figure out a handover to the city-states around Meribia. They can't possibly handle everyone, as taxed and to the limit the Fereshte's capacity already is.....
... and all those concerns seem trivial--
--as she gazes up towards the distance.
The Fereshte is dwarfed by a galleon -- it's at most a schooner; and at the size that it is, it's effectively an ant in the comparison of sizes.
"I... I don't believe what I'm seeing..." Riesenlied whispers, before she clutches her head--
Men and women scream, as it rips apart into boards and debris; as a ship and its crew...
It's like a thousand voices were screaming into her all at once. And all she can do is scream in turn.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Or, for that matter, what she's done to Gear parts.
And wanted to do to Gryndille.
"Just a matter of--"
Down comes the mattock.
"Percussive maintenance!"
It's probably enough of a threat -- made good on -- to help jar the engine back to life. Once she's certain it's behaving, Josie doesn't linger belowdecks, instead ascending upwards to take a look at the city.
Swallowed by the sea.
"...Damn," she utters. Before her gaze lifts.
Towards the horizon--
The mattock drops from her hand.
Josie has seen a lot in her life -- any Drifter worth their salt (and who isn't currently pushing up daisies) will have by nature seen a thing or two. Filgaia's past (and present) has much to answer for.
This, though...
Josie stares, dumbfounded. It's absolutely...
Josie is the sort of woman who would gleefully take on a Gear on foot if she thought she stood a chance.
But against this...
She's an ant to it. Less than an ant.
She stares at the monstrosity, a speck of dust in the universe, lips parted in a sort of existentialist mute mask of shock.
She, fortunately, cannot hear the Guardian scream.
She probably doesn't need to. There are enough people here screaming already.
"...Hammer," she says, finally finding her voice. "Get us the hell out of here."
A month ago, she had offered a flask to a young king who looked like he'd needed a drink. Now, she uncaps that flask herself and eyes still on the thing in the distance, takes a swing herself.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
A tumbling whorl of cloak and adventuring equipment grabs hold of a railing on the Feresthe after landing. Passengers secured, village destroyed, confusion level: maximum. Maya pushes a matted lock of blonde from her face, sitting up beside Riesenlied and Noeline and wondering why they make such agonized noises. Through a parting curtain the colour of wet straw, the Schroedinger girl can soon see.
A towering mountain of a beast, every mariner's nightmare come true: a nightmare demon larger than most works of mortal hands rises above the swirling, churning waters. It beggars belief, defies explanation, and paralyzes the imagination to look upon.
"W--what is that...?" Maya murmurs, barely above a whisper. One hand grasps at the talisman at her neck, her tired mind soon fragmenting again.
The galleon so nearby dissolves amidst a storm of hail and flickering lightning, its sailors scattered to the winds--
The shuttle so nearby buckles and implodes as a lance of light pierces it, its crewmen scattered to freezing void outside--
Maya need not hear the scream of the Guardians to be plagued by nightmares, luckily enough. A hand goes to her forehead, as Josephine is driven to drink from the sight. She cannot blame her.
"Agreed--full speed... ahead..." teeth grit.
Ah, it's good to be back.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
MEANWHILE WHILE HAMMER IS SCREAMING LIKE A LUNATIC FOR UNDERSTANDABLE REASONS (it's getting kind of squeaky like teamfourstar krilling after pissing off Vegeta)...
Cinderpup whimpers and whines as it struggles to hold on but Dog dashes for the cord then leaps for the cinderpup moments before it tumbles free, catching the cinderpup by the scruff of its fur. Don't worry, it's fire but it's harmless because it's magic nad because it's been tamed. That's just how it works!
When it's finally set back down on solid earth it turns to Dog and barks at him repeatedly.
TRANSLATED FROM DOGSPEAK: "You saved my life even though I tried to end yours and that of your person! I am so ashamed! Look! A giant fish! I must regain my honor! May I serve under you, packleader? We can sniff many butts! Woe be to any pup that dishonors you in my sight! BIRD!"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily takes a breath as she moves away from the engine again, starting immediately to stand, to move out back towards her place on the deck, in the raised section of ship. There may be more out there, more to do; there is no time to rest. So when the engine roars, when it's going up, Lily grabs the doorway to stop herself falling--
Clear.
Lily steps out... and as she moves, she turns. She turns and she sees it. The gigantic creature ahead that she cannot read, cannot know, shows nothing to her. Strange, spiral patterns; an entire city atop it. ...A galleon, picked up, ripped apart, destroyed. Lily Keil looks up to the maelstrom... and she thinks she feels it. The fear from stone. Or is it the fear from those around her? Hammer's fear? ...Her own? Those of those below, saved? The emotions are almost overwhelming--
Lily grits her teeth, clenches her hand hard enough that it's white-knuckled, shakes her head--and stares at it. They scream. ...Riesenlied screams. Noeline asks--
'Get us the hell out of here.'
'Agreed--full speed... ahead...'
Dog sets down the cinderpup, sets it down before she carefully looks her over. She barks back once. She assents for the moment, barks back, and then turns... to look at the giant before them.
Dog's language to another dog is simple: they wait for their leader's announcement.
Lily, meanwhile, is on deck, still watching. The galleon is splintered, destroyed. It's paralyzing to look at it. And yet--
"...If we all leave," Lily murmurs, "...What will become of those who are left? Of those who remain?" She speaks up, but there is something quiet in her voice all the same.
She wonders--if she had her Gear, could she stand against it? Could they? ...It is larger even than the Golem Sado. It's immense. It's--
"...Go," she agrees. "But without me. I'm not leaving these people to this... thing."
What can she do against it? Maybe nothing. ...But this, this is her nature. Fei said...
"...The sort of person I want to be..."
"...Won't abandon Fei, or your friends. Get the civilians out of here. I'll look for him."
She doesn't take her eyes off of the creature the entire time she speaks.