2018-08-25: Secrets in the Swamp

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=============================<* Gaferis Ruins *>==============================

The Gaferis Ruins are a mausoleum dating back nearly a thousand years, to the Asgard Empire or even older. The stone halls inside of this place place are ornate: murals and engravings adorn the walls, while pillars are sculpted to have a distinct art style. The most eye-catching piece, however, is the presence of numerous sarcophagi that contain the remains of those interred here long ago. The ruins also have doors with advanced magical seals, which are difficult to open without a truly talented mage (or a Seraph). They are also home to dangers, as monsters have formed nests here.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNMtEfUZLMw
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
==============================<* CHALLENGE -  *>==============================
|Type:             |Dungeon Ability:           |Challenge Rating:            | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------

=Dungeon Conditions: =========================================================
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
==============================<* CHALLENGE -  *>==============================
|Type:             |Dungeon Ability:           |Challenge Rating:            | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------

=Dungeon Conditions: =========================================================
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Emrys Mire.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sinking in the Mire *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Even at first glance, one thing is clear about Emrys Mire: this is not a      
 pleasant place. A murky haze lingers in the air above the muck and slime of   
 the swamp, punctuated by the looming form of countless giant fungi.           
 Allegedly, other people venture the mire in search of its secrets, but save   
 for the ramshackle road leading to it, there's little evidence of such.       
                                                                               
 Entering the mire proper immediately presents a significant problem: the      
 ground is highly unsteady under one's feet, to the point of being little      
 more than sucking clinging mud. In fact, this gently bubbling violet-tinged   
 muck seems particularly insistent on dragging one down with it.               
                                                                               
 But the mire is inescapable and corrosive. Whatever gains you make won't be   
 easy... or without cost.                                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        Emrys Mire is not a pleasant place even under the best of circustances.

        Today, with heavy clouds, probably counts as about 'average' at best. No heavy rains, not thick fog of Malevolence, but the haze of the stuff still permeates the air, still weighs on one's body.

        So what in the world is someone like Avril Vent Fleur doing here, standing on the place where the path on the road gives out for the sludge of the mire proper, and all alone at that?

        "There was something..." she voices to the air alone, bringing out the Original Artificial Medium of the Sea as if it were a compass for her. Her blue eyes turn down towards its engraved and shining face, all metal and fine lines.

        Maybe it's akin to what had lain beneath Rabenstein.
        Or maybe it was something else.

        But she had felt something calling to her. And without thinking about it, with only a note left for her friends, she had gone to see it.

        "...Lucadia. Do you know...?"

        Blue-white light gleams from the Medium's face, and, shining forth, forms a temporary brilliant pathway.
        The Guardian's magic hasn't manifested like this before. It's as if even the Medium is intent on forming a barrier against what seeks only to drag them down.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Sinking in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Malfi has been carefully picking her way through the muck in search of specimens, sipping coffee along the way. No telling what kind of creatures would live in a swamp like this! She was sure they'd have a more pleasant life in her little zoo, now that she had a place to keep one. The ones she didn't dissect, anyway. She was grateful to be immune to the biting, swarming insects that called this place home; evidently they didn't find mercury blood appealing. She flinches, startled, as the light of Avril's Medium shines some distance away. Did the Guardian know she was here? Could it see through her human disguise? She hadn't felt the sheer hatred she could normally sense from one...

DG: Malfi has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, Sinking in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline had decided to lay low for a little while, but unfortunately 'laying low' could only get her so far. She still has to do some work, if she wants to keep things going. And so, here she is.

It isn't her first time in Emrys Mire, so she's come prepared for what she knows is to come. In others words - one of the most aggressively murky(and in some cases, just outight aggressive) swamps she's even seen.

She's pretty bundled up, with a hood up and a filtration cloth covering her mouth. She miiight have gone a little overboard with it. That it partially conceals her identity is just a happy accident.

As she makes her way through the muck and grime she sees humanoid figures ahead...which gives her pause. Should she approach them...? She freezes for a moment, but she can feel the swamp pulling at her, trying to drag her down...

...It would probably be best if she wasn't alone here. She picks up the pace, drawing out some potions to distribute once she meets up with them.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was to run into a few familiar faces...and an unfamiliar one.

"Oh, hello there!" She greets, her voice a bit muffled by the cloth over her mouth.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Sinking in the Mire.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Avril," says a voice from behind the young woman, soft and touched with wariness.

        Ida stands on the path, with the reins of a dapple-grey mare in one hand. Though she's still almost painfully thin, her eyes are brighter, and the look in them is less hypervigilant and more observant. She looks like she's actually gotten sleep. She's wearing a grey trail cloak, and beneath it, a simple linen tunic, slacks, and leather boots. Her hands are ensconced in leather gauntlets studded with metal plates.

        "I was just going to do a cursory intestigation," the young woman says, "but I suppose with you here, we can manage more." She casts a curious glance at the fourth woman, frowning ever-so-slightly. She pats Grey Lady'a muzzle. "Wait here, girl," she says. "I'll give you the signal if you need it."

        And then, she follows the others onto the makeshift path, but not before tying a rope to a sturdy-looking tree trunk at the edge of the mire. She trails the other end of the rope out behind her. They might need it.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Climbing Kit toward her party's challenge, Sinking in the Mire.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sinking in the Mire *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Even at first glance, one thing is clear about Emrys Mire: this is not a      
 pleasant place. A murky haze lingers in the air above the muck and slime of   
 the swamp, punctuated by the looming form of countless giant fungi.           
 Allegedly, other people venture the mire in search of its secrets, but save   
 for the ramshackle road leading to it, there's little evidence of such.       
                                                                               
 Entering the mire proper immediately presents a significant problem: the      
 ground is highly unsteady under one's feet, to the point of being little      
 more than sucking clinging mud. In fact, this gently bubbling violet-tinged   
 muck seems particularly insistent on dragging one down with it.               
                                                                               
 But the mire is inescapable and corrosive. Whatever gains you make won't be   
 easy... or without cost.                                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
===========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 1 *>===========================
=======================< Results - Sinking in the Mire >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malfi                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Blackest Coffee                     2   Agility Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rapid Remedy                        1   Agility Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Climbing Kit                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Slow(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        "Oh--? Ida, you're here."

        Avril had not opted to set out to the mire with no support whatsoever. The initial approach she had made on her own, but the plan had always been to meet up with a certain person afterwards.

        Ida is looking better. Though as Avril had expressed to Dean, things were by no means entirely resolved (no matter of the heart or mind can be), at the same time Ida had enough people about her who wouldn't let her fall.

        Wouldn't let any of them fall.

        "I, too, was considering no more than seeing what might be here," she tells Ida, "But now that I've arrived, that sense that something might be calling to me has only grown stronger. I would rather not venture alone, if you feel well enough to try. We at least have Lucadia with us." The Medium in her hands shines almost insistantly.

        And technically speaking, even excluding Lucadia, they're not precisely alone. Avril spots one, then another figure attempting to make their way through the mire.

        "...Be on your guard, Ida," Avril cautions, beginning to step onto the path she's created. If these are people who mean them harm...

        There's a pause. "...Jacqueline? Is that you?"

        And for the mysterious figure in the distance, she calls out a simple, "...Hello?"

        The fact that her grip has tensed on the Medium means nothing and surely should be ignored.

        But with an application of magic, pharmaceuticals, a back-up rope in event of dire disaster, and good old coffee, even the swamp can't hold back on their advance.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - To Great Heights *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Sections of the swamp betray pieces of its forgotten history. For instance,   
 ahead lies the remains of some ramparts, half-covered in and half-melded      
 with more of the vaulting fungus that favors this place. It was built to      
 last a thousand years or more and indeed it has in a fashion.                 
                                                                               
 It still looks reasonably stable, and stands quite high; if climbed, one      
 might be able to take stock of the entire area from here and consider anew    
 the ideal approach. Of course, the fungus and the crumbling state of the      
 wall, combined with the height, mean this won't be a particularly easy        
 advantage to claim.                                                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Avril's improvised path leads deeper into the Mire, past rotting, fallen trees, and other trees that seem to be decaying while they still stand. Ida breathes in, tastes the Malevolence as it pours over her tongue. There isn't much yet in the way of emotional tenor, which is perhaps a blessing. If nothing else, the former Hellion has gained a measure of resistance to it, and not just from success in Uzda il-jam. She lived for half a year with the stuff saturating her soul. She knows how it works. It's no longer a terrifying unknown, waiting to creep into her soul and corrupt her.

        Eventually, the group comes to a tower, possibly the remains of a guard post that once stood vigil next to the road. "I think it might be sturdy enough," Ida says. She reaches out a gloved hand, and presses against the brickwork, experimentally. Once she's satisfied, she takes out a set of pitons, and starts gently wedging them into cracks. Once they're in place, she pulls out another length of rope, gives it an experimental spin, and then tosses it up to the top of the tower.

        Ida starts to climb, leaving more pitons behind her for the others to use.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Climbing Kit toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Had Malfi been in her true form, Jacqueline would have found her familiar. Malfi, in fact, had claimed Jacqueline for a human specimen, only to have her slip away during a battle. Humans were known for being slippery, though. And deceitful. And resourceful. And manifesting unusual powers when pushed to the wall. Malfi shows no signs of recognition because she's in disguise.

Ida, too, is familiar, though Malfi doesn't know her name until she introduces herself -- untill then, she just thinks of her as THAT WOMAN.
                THAT WOMAN who looked frail but had some kind of superhuman powers, who had seriously injured Malfi and beaten Yarobeleedt into a stupor.
                THAT WOMAN, who was damnably observant and would be difficult to fool, even with Malfi's current form.
                THAT WOMAN, who knew more about Hyadean culture than any human should.

First a Guardian, and now this. This wasn't going to be Malfi's day, she could tell.

She decides the best plan is to speak as little as possible, be careful to pitch her voice lower than her natural one, and start pretending to swat at the bugs. Oh, and not to bleed. That's what clued THAT WOMAN in on Nota Bridge.

As for Avril, Malfi has not met her before, though she's seen her from a distance hanging with Dean, Malfi's only human friend. She hears Avril's "Hello?" and steps forward to make introductions. Might as well get this over with. "I'm Tamryn," she mutters, altering her voice. "I'm here collecting animals to study." At least her story is supported by several small cages stashed in her backpack... Mother let this work! She doesn't want to fight THAT WOMAN again if she can help it! She doesn't even have Yarobeleedt here to bear the brunt of it!

She examines the tower. Yes, climbing it would give their little party a possible advantage -- if they can make it to the top safely amid the slippery fungus. She readjusts her backpack and gear and starts to climb, using Ida's pitons...once she makes it to the top of the tower, she stops for a celebratory swig of coffee!

DG: Malfi has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        "Tamryn... Ah. I do not believe that we have met." She gestures towards herself faintly. "I am Avril Vent Fleur. I came here because I..."
        She trails off, glancing over at Ida.
        Perhaps she's suggesting that Ida should 'explain' (lie outright, that is).

        "Come with us if you would, but we should not tarry. I do not know how long this spell might linger."

        The path doesn't last forever. The moment they step off it, onto dry and somewhat sturdy land (it is muddy) it vanishes into puff of light, then into nothing at all. Still bearing the Medium as if it were a compass leading her north, Avril trails a step or two behind Ida, her gaze lingering on the other woman every now and then.

        Might this be difficult, right after her recovery?
        --No, she needs to have faith.

        Faith, and, a single uttered promise from Avril as she steps closer:
T"If there is anything you need..."
        She trails off, leaving the offer dangling in the air. If they need to leave, she'll quash even this nagging sense underfoot.

        But at least the Malevolence here merely is. Passive, if roiling, waiting and expressing its nature rather than seeking out vulnerable hearts.

        "Perhaps we might have a better view from here," Avril comments, eyeing the wall before them.

        Her eyes hood. Once again she utters:
        "Lucadia... please."

        No shining bridge this time. No ladder, no anything but a sense of invigoration and enhancement settling across their group. Avril takes ahold of the rope after stowing the Medium, and starts to climb.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Ah, yes!" Jacqueline says with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Miss Avril...I hope this wasn't too much of a surprise."

She quickly joins up with the others, distributing some goods to each of them as they make their way through the Mire.

Eventually, they arrive at a tower. Jacqueline looks it over...and then nods. It would probably make a good vantage point, if they can actually make it up there.

Her climb is slow but steady, aiming to avoid putting too much stress on the tower's crumbling structure as she makes her way up. It'll take her a bit longer, but with any luck it'll help avoid any...incidents that'd make this take longer. Lucadia's invigorating aid certainly helps, however, as does the lingering effects of her own potion.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - To Great Heights *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Sections of the swamp betray pieces of its forgotten history. For instance,   
 ahead lies the remains of some ramparts, half-covered in and half-melded      
 with more of the vaulting fungus that favors this place. It was built to      
 last a thousand years or more and indeed it has in a fashion.                 
                                                                               
 It still looks reasonably stable, and stands quite high; if climbed, one      
 might be able to take stock of the entire area from here and consider anew    
 the ideal approach. Of course, the fungus and the crumbling state of the      
 wall, combined with the height, mean this won't be a particularly easy        
 advantage to claim.                                                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
===========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>===========================
=========================< Results - To Great Heights >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malfi                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Blackest Coffee                     2   Agility Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rapid Remedy                        1   Agility Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Climbing Kit                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Secret(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida remembers what happened last time she tried to climb one of these things. This time, she's careful--she doesn't put a piton in place until she's certain the surrounding stone can bear weight. "Tamryn, hm?" says that woman, pausing just long enough to look down at the mysterious woman with the cages on her person. "A pleasure. Call me Ida." It feels wrong not to introduce herself, even though she's certain the Guard still has wanted posters up. Avril has a harrowing near-miss when she puts a foot down on a patch of what looks like sturdy stone but is actually squishy fungus. Thankfully, she's able to grab hold of the rope and steady herself.

        The climb is slow, but worth it. Ida puts a hand to her brow and scans the surrounding terrain, before...

        "There," she says. "That looks as though it was a clear path, once. There might be something that way."

DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Run Away! Run Away! *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fell creatures lurk within the swamp -- all of them dangerous to varying      
 degrees. Most can be handled with appropriate use of discretion or force.     
                                                                               
 This one, a reptilian monstrosity the size of a house, comes lurching in      
 from behind a stand of mushrooms, nostrils flared. It's already seen you.     
 And it's smelled you.                                                         
                                                                               
 The grasping taloned hands are bad. The teeth are worse. And worst of all is  
 the haze of Malevolence burning off of it. It may be much smarter than it     
 appears. If it catches you, the situation could grow somewhat dire. An        
 escape is advised.                                                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline scans their surroundings along with the others. Fortunately, Ida manages to spot something, but as they're making their way back down the structure...

They learn one of the drawbacks to finding a wide, open area. They can see everything...but everything can see them, too.

Some mushrooms near them begin to stir and then a large, reptilian beast emerges, standing up to its full height(which, as it happens, is approximately the same height as the watchtower they just climbed up) and staring directly at them.

Jacqueline pales immediately. She doesn't say anything. She doesn't think she needs to say anything.

She makes her way down the side of the tower, skipping several pitons, and books it for the pathway they decided on.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Run Away! Run Away!.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

There was only one thing to do as far as Malfi was concerned when faced with an unusual creature -- and the huge reptilitian monstrosity certainly counted as that! -- and that was to scan it. Discreetly, in this case, tuning her scanner inside her backpack under the pretext of rummaging for supplies. Then it was time to get out of there! She hoped they could outrun the beast in the sticky, clinging mud!

DG: Malfi has used her Tool Blackest Coffee toward her party's challenge, Run Away! Run Away!.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Something rises from the muck. Ida goes rigid, standing perfectly still--as though it won't notice her if she does. There's no mistaking the aura of Malevolence around it for anything else, though, and while she can only guess at what it was before it became a Hellion, it is certainly aggressive.

        "Move!" Ida cries, suddenly springing into action. She grabs hold of the rope, rappelling down the side of the tower and then sprinting for the path... insofar as one can sprint when the ground is at best treacherous. Even with chi lightening her steps, it's difficult going.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Climbing Kit toward her party's challenge, Run Away! Run Away!.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        Fortunately, there's the rope, otherwise Avril might have had a bit of a spill from the height to which she's ascended. While no comment save for that brief gasp comes from her, she does give Ida a grateful glance once she pulls up over the ledge.

        "Ah. I believe that structure over there may be of interes--"

        The last of her sentence is clipped off entirely, gone as Avril locks eyes with a quite Malevolent beast.

        She reaches a hand slowly for the Medium.

        And as Ida voices that they should RUN, she cries out for the Guardian's power. Light flares about her as Avril rises to her feet and

        Steps backwards off the wall, perhaps buoyed only by the power of the Medium's blessing.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Run Away! Run Away!.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Run Away! Run Away! *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fell creatures lurk within the swamp -- all of them dangerous to varying      
 degrees. Most can be handled with appropriate use of discretion or force.     
                                                                               
 This one, a reptilian monstrosity the size of a house, comes lurching in      
 from behind a stand of mushrooms, nostrils flared. It's already seen you.     
 And it's smelled you.                                                         
                                                                               
 The grasping taloned hands are bad. The teeth are worse. And worst of all is  
 the haze of Malevolence burning off of it. It may be much smarter than it     
 appears. If it catches you, the situation could grow somewhat dire. An        
 escape is advised.                                                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
==========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 3 *>==========================
======================< Results - Run Away! Run Away! >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malfi                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Blackest Coffee                     2   Agility Effects: Resilient            
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Rapid Remedy                        1   Agility Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Climbing Kit                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            40 --(30)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Secret(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

As soon as they start running, the large reptile gives chase. It moves with surprising speed for a creature of its size, but the watchtower ends up getting in its way...

Not for long, of course. The monstrosity tears through it in its pursuit of them, though not before Avril steps off it, guided to safety by Lucadia's power. The others, similarly, manage to escape it.

Eventually, the path they chose starts to thin. It proves no trouble for them, but for the creature chasing them, it proves impassable. Soon, it gives up the chase, turning away from them.

...As for Jacqueline, though she was the first one to run, she's the last one to catch up, a little winded.

"H-hold on...just a second." She urges, taking a moment to just try and catch her breath.

DG: Malfi has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Hallucinogenic Fog *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Strange gases bubble and fume from the depths of the bog, which at their      
 most gentle only add to the haze and the stench of the place. There are more  
 potent dangers than obfuscation and stink though to consider with such        
 things -- such gases can have deleterious effects on the mind and             
 perception.                                                                   
                                                                               
 And then there's the cloud of fungal spores adding themselves to the          
 particularly thick mix in this area of the swamp you've entered.              
                                                                               
 Determining what's real and what's a hallucination may have just become       
 quite difficult. Finding your way out of the illusions your altered state     
 has conjured -- and out of this part of the bog -- is strongly recommended.   
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

The swamp's miasma is particularly thick here, and the spores mildly hallucenogenic. You see, or think you see, strange shadows that move of their own accord. Could it be more monsters? Or is it just your imagination, goaded into overdrive by literal psychedelic mushrooms?

Malfi does the sensible thing -- she pushes a button on her scanner, still inside her backpack (because she can't trust that THAT WOMAN won't recognize Hyadean runes on the output screen). Real lifeforms should show up on the screen.

Unless she's hallucinating that.

Uh-oh, she hadn't considered that. Maybe the best course of action would be to continue onwards, fast! The sooner they get out of here, the sooner their heads will clear. Hopefully.

DG: Malfi has used her Tool Portable Scanner toward her party's challenge, Hallucinogenic Fog.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        It's like being guided back to the ground in the hands of another, greater other. She simply drops down with little fanfare, then, once the others are similarly down from the wall, turns to flee with them in an opposite direction from the one the Hellion had been in.

        It's over the mud and through the ooze, to a point in the mire that's...

        The fog is heavier here. On one hand the Hellion might not follow them here. On the other--

        Avril lifts a gloved hand to her mouth and coughs heavily, her shoulders shaking.

        "Oh...oh dear," she whispers, lifting her gaze to focus on something at an apparent distance from her.

        "I was not expecting... this."

        FROM AVRIL'S VIEWPOINT MORE OR LESS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8we5tpBKug

        "There... must be something in the air," she hazards, between another hacking cough. "We should leave here, immediately. I..."

        She trails out, turning this way and that helplessly.

        "...Everything looks the same..." It's all shellacked in a hideous shade of red, and distorted to the last.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hallucinogenic Fog.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Keep moving," Ida chokes out. Adrenaline drives her limbs as she runs deeper into the swamp, her boots squelching through the muck. Her lungs burn, and not just from exertion--there's something odd in the air here, and it isn't just the Malevolence. The terrain around her begins to dissolve, twisting apart into component shapes that Ida can't identify. "What," she mumbles. One hand fumbles for a pouch beneath her cloak, even though she's not sure why it's important. Something that can help? Something about an antivenin herb?

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hallucinogenic Fog.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It's a good thing for Jacqueline that she's got that filtration cloth over her mouth, or she would've just breathed in a huge dose of that fog in an attempt to catch her breath.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite manage to catch all of it. She nearly pitches forward as, suddenly, she finds her world to be suddenly turned upside down.

"A-ah...everyone, be careful!" Jacqueline warns, shutting her eyes tight to try and ward off the hallucinations and desperately fight off the primal fear that she'll fall upwards. "Try not to...try not lose control. This isn't really happening!"

She might be trying to tell herself that more than the others.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hallucinogenic Fog.
===============================<* Emrys Mire *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Hallucinogenic Fog *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Strange gases bubble and fume from the depths of the bog, which at their      
 most gentle only add to the haze and the stench of the place. There are more  
 potent dangers than obfuscation and stink though to consider with such        
 things -- such gases can have deleterious effects on the mind and             
 perception.                                                                   
                                                                               
 And then there's the cloud of fungal spores adding themselves to the          
 particularly thick mix in this area of the swamp you've entered.              
                                                                               
 Determining what's real and what's a hallucination may have just become       
 quite difficult. Finding your way out of the illusions your altered state     
 has conjured -- and out of this part of the bog -- is strongly recommended.   
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
==========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 4 *>==========================
=======================< Results - Hallucinogenic Fog >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malfi                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Portable Scanner                    2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Madness
Effects: Enlighten(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Malfi has posed.

Ida's herb seems to work, or at least to help a bit, and Jay keeps her wits about her. Together, along with Malfi, they half-guide, half-drag the dazed and possibly delusional Avril onwards, away from the fleeting fog-born phantasms of the burbling, bubbling bog. Once a safe distance away, they pause to catch their breaths...

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Phantasmagoria *>========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Here ahead of you and tilted in a perilous direction in the muck stand the    
 remains of a large complex, still largely intact. To judge by what            
 structures yet remain -- pillars, spires -- this must have been the focal     
 point of the settlement, possibly serving some religious or sacred purpose    
 of some sort. Though it would be hard to tell much about it now, with the     
 facade so eroded. Time and the elements have done great damage to the past    
 here.                                                                         
                                                                               
 A haze fills the air -- riding heavily on the faint breeze, a cloud of        
 spores has arrived.                                                           
                                                                               
 Breathing them in is likely a poor decision, but alas, may be unavoidable;    
 the air is quickly saturated with the things. Very quickly, the psychoactive  
 compounds in the spores will show their true colors; perceived reality        
 becomes a little more... subjective for those present.                        
                                                                               
 Yet, whatever hallucinations may present themselves to you now -- you came    
 here for a reason. It's time to persevere.                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Suffer=========================================


<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        "Oh, thank you. I was... the fungus here appears to be quite strong," Avril says, once they can take a lungful of clean air again, progressing onwards through the mire.

        They might pull out of this cloudbank of spores on the wind, but there's a touch of ill fortune at play here in Emrys Mire: as they approach a structure, possibly the same one that Avril had sighted earlier from that vantagepoint atop the wall, the wind shifts.

        From behind, thinly at first, then increasingly, like a paintbrush layering over a canvas, the haze catches back up with them.

        Avril, as she coughs, is the first to notice what's happening. "J-Jay, Ida... Tamryn," she gasps, screwing up her face as she attempts to again shake off what's sunk its fingers into her mind. "Run... run for that building. I can see... myself..."

        It's nothing like the visions deep within the Black Mirror. Not like that at all.

        But for Avril's viewpoint here, she can see herself fleeing off into the distance in eight different directions at once, towards eight different fallen collapsed ruins.

        So she does the only thing she can do:

        Draws out that Medium, and walks in the direction that seems right.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Reality itself ...shifts and warps and twists. The structures around Malfi distort, shadows elongating and clawing at her, or so it seems. It's all she can do not to lapse into her true form; her human disguise is so small. So puny. So itchy. Almost as itchy as her burning lungs, as the spores seep into them. The clawed shadows are monsters, seeking revenge for her capturing and studying them, and she is helpless before them. There is no escape. They're going to put her in a cage, experiment on her...

DG: Malfi has used her Tool Portable Scanner toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        It doesn't get better. The more Ida breathes in, the worse it gets--and though she manages to crumple up the herb and jam it into her mouth and swallow, it doesn't seem to help. She stumbles after Avril and the others, a fold of cloak draped across her mouth and nose. She's trying not to breathe. The world around her looks like it's melting, the colors running into each other. A blob of green and blue that might be Avril says something, but it's so distant that Ida can't make it out. The blob starts moving, and Ida tries to follow. Her heart hammers in her chest. Her body feels like it's not hers, like she's puppeteering it somehow, or observing it from just outside.

        This isn't like the Malevolence. This is just her brain short-circuiting on hallucinogens. It doesn't make it any less terrifying.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It seems like they're safe, for a moment. Jacqueline is allowed a moment to take a breath of fresh air.

"Y-yes...a little too strong." Jacqueline replies, shaking her head. They then progress forward where, of course...

...Things get worse.

Whereas before the world merely looked like it had turned upside, now she feels it. She felt as if she was falling up, up, and up, and everyone else follows suit.

"I-I...I can't..." She murmurs, shaking her head and shutting her eyes tight.

It doesn't help.

"...I have to..."

Avril mentions a building. Jacqueline opens her and and looks in the distance, where she sees a building in the distance disintegrating into rubble. She tries to direct herself into falling towards it, rather than falling upward into the sky.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phantasmagoria.
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Phantasmagoria *>========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Here ahead of you and tilted in a perilous direction in the muck stand the    
 remains of a large complex, still largely intact. To judge by what            
 structures yet remain -- pillars, spires -- this must have been the focal     
 point of the settlement, possibly serving some religious or sacred purpose    
 of some sort. Though it would be hard to tell much about it now, with the     
 facade so eroded. Time and the elements have done great damage to the past    
 here.                                                                         
                                                                               
 A haze fills the air -- riding heavily on the faint breeze, a cloud of        
 spores has arrived.                                                           
                                                                               
 Breathing them in is likely a poor decision, but alas, may be unavoidable;    
 the air is quickly saturated with the things. Very quickly, the psychoactive  
 compounds in the spores will show their true colors; perceived reality        
 becomes a little more... subjective for those present.                        
                                                                               
 Yet, whatever hallucinations may present themselves to you now -- you came    
 here for a reason. It's time to persevere.                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Suffer=========================================
===========================<* Emrys Mire - Round 5 *>===========================
==========================< Results - Phantasmagoria >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    5 --(100)--> 105               Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malfi                               0 --(100)--> 100               Pass
Portable Scanner                    2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   5 --(100)--> 105               Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(100)--> 100               Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            90 --(10)--> 100               Fail
Conditions: Madness|Reckless(2)|Suffer(1)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Avril Vent Fleur is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue!
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has successfully explored Emrys Mire!
================================<* Emrys Mire *>================================
================<* CHALLENGE - For Those Of Some Future Time *>=================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Within the still-standing remnants of the complex, the air is cool amidst     
 the stonework, a contrast to the stifling breath of the mire. Here and there  
 moisture beads the walls, glittering faintly in any light brought to it.      
                                                                               
 A climb up a decaying staircase eventually takes one to a room that was --    
 to judge by what remains -- living quarters of some ilk. The few remnants of  
 what was a bed frame remain, as are an assortment of equally-ruined           
 furniture. The elements have been crueler to this room than some of the       
 others in the complex.                                                        
                                                                               
 Yet, in the dust and decay, treasures can be found amidst the rubble: an      
 assortment engraved precious gems in the ruin of what may have been a         
 dresser; once cleaned they sparkle brightly in the light and reveal a series  
 of intricate scenes etched into the back of each stone:                       
                                                                               
 A spring, and the land around it. A humanoid figure is suggested by the       
 shape of the water.                                                           
                                                                               
 A bustling settlement in a verdant land.                                      
                                                                               
 Again that humanoid figure of the water, posed as if instructing a group of   
 people.                                                                       
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        The maze exists only in their minds. Only by degrees do they locate and enter the ruins:

        Malfi works with her scanning systems, trusting in it over eyes and mind that lie to her.
        Avril obeys only the feeling suffusing into her from the Medium in her hands, using it as a compass needle.
        Ida follows the blurry form of Avril, hoping against hope this is not a trick of the mind.
        Jay falls towards the ruins, disregarding everything her mind tells her.

        But the feeling beneath their feet is real. This stone is real. The moisture in the air, clean and filling their lungs.

        Yes. This is real. And as the mind clears, it becomes real.

        It's a climb upstairs into a ruined, decaying room that turns up something of interest. In the debris of a box rest a trio of gems, brilliant, precious.

        Each with an intricate carving, preserved against the ages.

        "Is this," Avril says, gazing at the stones, "what Lucadia wanted me to see?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Eventually, the air starts to clear. Ida doesn't hold out for much longer; she collapses at the top of the staircase, gasping for breath, clinging to the ground as though it was her only point of stability. The world slowly starts making sense again. Ida expedites the process by twisting internal flows, rerouting chi to reinvigorate her weary, burning muscles. Eventually, she finds the strength to stand again.

        This might seem at odds with what Malfi saw out of her, but contradictions.

        "What is this place?" Ida murmurs. She looks down at the stones, frowning. She reaches down to turn them over, inspecting each one thoroughly. She remembers what she found when she last visited this place.

        Her frown grows dire.

        "Damnation," Ida hisses. "So that was what he meant by 'guardian'. I suppose it explains the Malevolence, but..." Anxiety starts gnawing at the pit of Ida's stomach. She glances at Jay, and then at Avril, before eyeing the strange opportunist as if gauging her response.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline reaches the ruins...and collapses, breathing heavily. She shuts her eyes tight and curls up for a moment, just...appreciated the feeling of solid ground beneath her once more. The reality of the stone beneath her and the air around her provides her comfort and stability.

Eventually she manages to relax, if only a little, and brings herself to her feet to follow the others inside.

"Someone...must have lived here before." Jacqueline comments. A long time before, by the looks of this place. It had been a long time since this place was in a liveable condition.

She looks the room over and, in the process, Avril finds something. Jacqueline stares into them in awe, looking them over.

"This is...hm, fascinating..." Jacqueline murmurs, folding her arms and looking it over curiously.

Her eyes settled on the humanoid figure, formed of the water.

"...Is that...a Seraph? That spring...in an earlier visit, my friends and I found a place with water that was more pure than I would've expected..." Jacqueline questions, then glances toward Ida.

"...'Guardian'?" She repeats.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Malfi returns Ida's gaze levelly, though it's at odds with what she feels. She has no idea who 'he' is or what 'guardian' is referring to. Is it a normal guardian or one of the Guardians? She also doesn't know anything about Malevolence. She is apparently calm, but her heart's racing. She examines the gems along with the others (and resolves to scan them VERY discreetly later). "I don't need those," she comments. "I came here for specimens." Let the humans fight for the treasures among themselves!

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        "A Seraph... I am afraid I do not know much of them," she says. She's met Lanval and others, but knows little of what they are beyond some sort of spirit, invisible to those who do not possess a certain capacity for spiritual sensitivity. Indeed, even Dean and Rebecca could not see them until recently.

        Then she glances at Ida. "Who is 'he'?" Avril asks.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "It certainly looks like one," Ida says, to Jay. "How one might be depicted, if mortals knew of it." She pauses a beat. "A pool? Perhaps that might be our lead--"

        'Who is 'he'?'

        "I was here before, with Dean," Ida says. "We found some notes left behind describing a corruption in this place, and how its guardian succumbed. If that guardian was a Seraph, they almost certainly became a dragon." She seems to almost relegate Malfi to an afterthought. "Noted," she says. "I advise against taking any fungal specimens, though. God knows what might get out if they spread."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        Twin moons of horror bloom in even Avril's expression. "A corrupted Seraph... is that possible?"

        Yes, her instinct seems to answer her. Yes, it is.

        "I wonder what can be done, if it is so," she says, crossing her arms over her abdomen, as if unsettled.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Malfi acknowledges Ida's suggestion with a curt nod. "I wouldn't want the fungal spores to get out, either," she admits. Seraphs...she'd heard of them and even met one, though they were inaudible and invisible to her. He was a water person like the figure in two of the stones. Maybe he'd know more about them? She'd show him the scans if she got the chance. Of course, she'd need an interpreter...

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yes, it's somewhere in the vicinity of this building...I've tried to reach this building before but was turned aside, and ended up at that place on the way out. It was small, but...it had a noticeable effect on its immediate vicinity." Jacqueline confirms with a nod toward Ida.

Ida lays out the truth - if it was a Seraph, then they would already be...

...Jacqueline's expression falls a bit and she nods. Yes, that was the unavoidable conclusion, wasn't it?

"...I don't know." She murmurs, shaking her head in response to Avril's question.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "The thing that hit Lastonbell was a Seraph," Ida says. "I've also seen evidence of a cult that was active in this area, and worshiped corrupted Seraphim as gods. I've no idea if the two are linked, or if this is also linked, or if..." Ida puts a hand to her temple. She has a headache. "Let's... sit down. Take a load off. Then we can decide how to approach the matter."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

        They don't know, either.

        "Yes," Avril agrees, looking from Malfi to Jay, and then back to Ida. "We should gather what we can from here and consider it further elsewhere. This place is not healthy to remain in."
        She does not look at Ida when she says that -- she knows Ida is not so fragile after all she has undergone. A 'cold' will not do her in.
        But if fleetingly, she thinks on it.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Malfi is ready to skedaddle; she's in no mood to parlay with THAT WOMAN, Her Human Specimen, and Dean's Buddy. The sooner she can get back to Hive's Haunt, the sooner she can ditch the human disguise (and start examining the frogs and lizards stowed away in the cages in her backpack). Not to mention recharge her scanner's makeshift battery, which wasn't nearly as good as the original.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline nods quietly. This had been...exhausting. Mentally, more than physically. She needed to rest and recuperate...at least, once they've gathered what they could and had some time to consider things further.

"...I agree." She says. She'd be glad when she got home again...