2018-09-01: Dive Into Sin
- Log: Dive Into Sin
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Catenna, Prissa, Cyre H. Lorentz, Lydia Seren
- Where: Azado
- Date: September 1, 2018
- Summary: Half the Caravan Kinship plunges into the flooded ruins under Azado, seeking to escape the unstoppable Clysmian of Obsession.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has left your party.
DC: Cyre H. Lorentz switches forms to Wind Shaman!
DG: A party led by Ethius Hesiod is now entering The Flooded Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================================<* The Flooded Ruins *>=================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>========================================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
The terrifying rumbling from above gives some idea of what lay on the
streets of Azado. Whatever brought the tidal wave with it has not stopped,
and the occasional horrible groan of wood and shattering of stone indicates
that not all is safe in the city. The sewers, too, rumble and shake as you
move through them.
But there are deeper things hidden within these sewers, and you come across
one of several entrances... guarded by a sealed door. There are runes upon
it, glowing softly. Those with experience on Filgaia may recognize the runes
as Elw. The door has several sliding tiles, with images carved into them.
Slide them in the right direction, and the door will open.
Or, spend awhile breaking it down.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
It's been a day. It's been a lot of days packed in the span of a day. Ethius is still sluggish from a most interesting encounter of an unforgettable man and an unchained beast, but that is a story for another time. The situation above grows ever and ever worse, with the sewers continuing to collapse from the spreading ruin. Yet, the only way forward is through... and deeper.
Ethius takes point in spite of already accumulated injuries, and also because he seems to not care very much about how awful and gross it is to be in sewers so much as a soft glowing teal light comes from the strange eyeglass he carts around...
"I have found something of interest." He speaks to the rest as he ushers them towards a sealed door surrounded by most interesting and familiar runes. 'Familiar' in 'we've seen stuff like this before' to those from the Blue Star, not in the sense of 'we have no idea what it means.' They are engraved upon a bunch of sliding tiles, with various images.
"The tiles appear connected to the door's mechanisms," which is kind of obvious for any dungeoneer, really, but this is a time where there is no certainty to lean on... so, how are they supposed to slide things into place?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
When last we saw Catenna, she was clinging to a wooden slab as the Owlet gravity-tricked it over a waterfall and into the caverns below.
When now we see Catenna, she's landed in a large puddle somewhere in the flooded sewers. She's been badly battered by the slaughter inflicted on Azado by the huge Clysmian above - but much of her injuries have somehow been healed, probably by the Owlet perching on her head. It couldn't do anything for her dress and her inventory, though.
When Catenna does make it back to her knees, it's with a pained groan, rubbing her forehead. The underlayer she had on beneath the dress consists of her shorts, boots and a short vest. It keeps her decent for the most part. "What happened," she manages, pressing a hand to her forehead.
The Owlet blinks up at her. Then it hops up her arm and assumes a perch on her head. It looks up with visible worry in what passes for its face.
Catenna's still pale. "...Right, that creature," she murmurs. Standing unsteadily, she heads after Ethius as she realizes he's there.
There are men she trusts more than Ethius, but right now, escaping that creature that even Celesdue fears is the priority. She can feel the Owlet trembling a little as she approaches that sealed door --
--With runes on it? Catenna blinks. "...This cannot be an ordinary sewer...."
The Owlet hops off of Catenna's head as she extends a hand to touch one of the runes. It begins trying to move runes with one of its little feet. Catenna stares at it.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool The Owlet toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door. [OOC] Catenna says, "also bluray"
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
There are other people in the aftermath of the unthinkable. From a nearby flooded tunnel there is a sudden disruption, a thrashing in the water, followed by the abrupt and picturesqe rising up of a familiar tan figure. Prissa, bearing an improvised rope harness over her chest, rears up out of the water with a loud "PAH!" of her breath, turns round, and immediately starts hauling up whatever is coming behind her.
She looks over her shoulder and says, "Oi," before pausing as she draws out her cargo - which is Lydia - and hoists her onto the ground.
Prissa's attention turns to Ethius. "YOU," she says, before there is a sudden moment of tension in her frame. She reaches to her sash of blades, pulls one out, carves through the rope that was helping her tow her less buoyant friend -
And then points it at Ethius directly. She raises her voice. "Oui vilgehk yccruma! Dryd ec Sin ib drana, hud cusa draunadelym frydajan! Oui paddan damm sa fryd dra ramm ouin taym ec, Ethius Hesiod, un E femm kid oui mega y vecr yht ayd ouin pymmc vun pnaygvycd!" Prissa says, with an unwonted degree of heat and enthusiasm. Anger, in fact.
She shakes her head once, like a dog with water in its ear, and stalks forwards. Towards the pressure plates. The sword doesn't go away. She keeps shouting. "It will be catacomb if we do not hustle our bustle! Hesiod! I yell at you! That up there," she points the sword in the direction of what looms above. "That is SIN! Do you know Sin? No you do not! You had better have an explanation for why we insist on staying here, and if it is 'because Sin needs to kill us,' then I hope you like bleeding!"
Furiously, Prissa begins manipulating tiles with her hand that does not hold an Ethius-killing sword.
DG: Prissa has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Catenna would probably notice the scent before she sees the light. A familiar aroma of rich spices fills the air as something-- or someone-- trudges towards her through the filthy sewer water. "Catenna?" A voice calls, rushing over until it's right next to her-- and gently reaches down to help her back up to her feet. "Catenna, are you alright!? You're... In bad shape."
It's... none other than Cyre! Who has apparently been lost in Azado's sewers for a while. At least long enough to completely miss the advent of the catastrophic space whale. "What happened up there? I felt... Something strange. Like the whole world was... seizing, or something."
Cyre shakes his head, then moves to look at the strange door and its equally strange symbols.
"...This looks like something I've heard about in the stories," Cyre murmurs. "Doors like these, they're not uncommon in some of the ruins back home. I--"
SUDDENLY PRISSA.
Cyre turns and stares at her.
"What the hell is a Sin?" Beat. "No, nevermind. Let's just get this thing open and get out of here." And so Cyre... Begins helping, too! Or trying to. It IS an ancient Elw door after all. Not much just groping at it will do, but maybe there's something in the old stories that might help him here...
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
"The floating whale that rends cities! That is Sin!" Prissa explains in a mid-range screech.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I had no idea you were so religious," Cyre shakes his head. "...Man. Floating whale, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna noticed. Cyre's help... helps, of course. "Cyre," Catenna gasps, her eyes wide as she wraps her other arm around him to support him.
"Cyre... that creature, Sin... even the Guardians are afraid, Cyre! Celesdue herself trembled in my heart!"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia barely avoided having the Fereshte fall ON her thanks to a well timed barrel roll that Sin used in a one off joke attack but NEVERTHELESS probably saved her from becoming a smear on the bottomside of her own dang airship! Also nevertheless, Lydia sinks like a rock and even though she has learned treading water tricks, she is still likely the worst swimmer of the party. How is she going to learn how to become a blitzball ace like this?
"Wait," Lydia says. "What's Sin?" Pause. "Is that the giant whale? I hate that giant whale!" Her eyes are teary already. "I spent so much work on that ship and it just breaks it all apart again like it doesn't even care! I didn't even throw a meteor at it! Maybe I should've thrown a meteor at it. Lets see what Sin does with THAT." Actually Catenna can probably imagine what Sin could do with that and maybe throwing a giant meteor at Sin would be a bad idea.
Nevertheless, Lydia is wearing her thinking cat (Schrodinger) and she works on manipulating the tiles as well. "Wait, wait wait--when you told me before about 'washed away to sea'..."
Despite her partnership with Prissa no doubt playing a role in her presence in the Carakin in the first place, she does not seem to get what she's saying at all.
"--Oh, I guess 'Sin' is still 'Sin'." Maybe she needs a primer or something to start translating for her.
"Prissa is not from the Glenwood area," Lydia explains to Cyre. "Also I think that's the name of the whale, not like lower case s, Cyre."
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Schrodinger the Cat toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
================================================<* The Flooded Ruins *>=================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>========================================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
The terrifying rumbling from above gives some idea of what lay on the
streets of Azado. Whatever brought the tidal wave with it has not stopped,
and the occasional horrible groan of wood and shattering of stone indicates
that not all is safe in the city. The sewers, too, rumble and shake as you
move through them.
But there are deeper things hidden within these sewers, and you come across
one of several entrances... guarded by a sealed door. There are runes upon
it, glowing softly. Those with experience on Filgaia may recognize the runes
as Elw. The door has several sliding tiles, with images carved into them.
Slide them in the right direction, and the door will open.
Or, spend awhile breaking it down.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
===========================================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 1 *>============================================ ==========================================< Results - Duplicator-Sealed Door >========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass The Owlet 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Schrodinger the Cat 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prissa 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod 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> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren adds a moment after, "Really? Rigdobrite didn't seem nervous."
ELSEWHERE
Rigdobrite waggles tail happily.
DG: Prissa has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Outrunning a Flood *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Millennia-old flood control systems are, in truth, prone to failure. As you move down this hallway, you hear a terrible, groaning lurch. Then, there is a loud crack -- and a wall breaks open, as a massive gout of water pours down and splashes onto the floor. The waters begin to churn, then rush towards you. The way off is cut short -- and you need to run, quickly, to safety before the flood waters carry you away! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Even the Guarians? Cyre frowns, gently leaning in to support her weight. Chances are, he's probably a little more intact than she is at this point. "Let's keep focused on getting out of here for now. We can talk about... That thing later."
"Oh, its name is Sin?" Cyre shrugs. "Makes sense. So if she's not from Glenwood, uh. Prissa, where are you from? I'm guessin' it's not Meribia." Judging mostly by the language.
What the heck was that language, anyway?
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius keeps remarkable composure in the face of something that can and will kill him if Prissa presses the sword like five inches forward and maybe two to the left, in so much that his stare does not relent.
...
"Back home?" He turns his head further to Cyre, as though he were the one wielding the Ethius-Killing Sword...
The Owlet goes on ahead and solves the puzzle for all of them while they catch themselves up on the drama above, helping correct the idle mistakes others make with their divided attentions.
"This path does appear more structurally intact than the surrounding environs," Ethius says instead of the more economical 'this way seems safer' to justify the detour as much as he's willing to. He watches as Catenna and Lydia both come to. The Fereshte... a hand goes to his forehead.
It's all too much to take in at once, isn't it?
The door flashes brightly, the runes fading out of existence as the slide puzzle opens and allows them entrance, in which they all go through without incident.
"Miss Prissa," Ethius comments off-handedly, "I do... apologize." There's a pause. What is he apologizing for, specifically?
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa gives Cyre a goggling look. "In my hand is the riddle of steel, do not test me!" She takes a deep chest-heaving breath, lets it out, and is silent for two seconds.
"You speak true," she tells Lydia. "I am here because the ship on which I travelled, it was destroyed by Sin. This is its proper name, like - like the name it has, it is not the religion concept, that is 'ceh.'" She pronounces the word with more value than it usually has.
"The place is called Bikanel," she tells Cyre then, "and if Sin is here then it is probably destroyed."
She looks at Ethius. She sheaths her sword. She steps nearer to him. "Ethius..."
SMACK!
Prissa lowers her hand, having just given Ethius the back of it. "On the Farplane you'll apologize to me, because I will kick your ass up around your earlobes! You do not understand, the chance we have now is ridiculous! I only keep going because I hope my swords will be found by adventurers this millenium!" Lydia, in a twist, may have had to talk Prissa a little bit out of ABSOLUTE, MONOCHROMATIC-URSINE DESPAIR.
A stone wall groans as if it's heard it all before. Water begins to drip out of it as bricks peel back like melting vinyl siding. "Kuh!! RUN!" Prissa says, doing exactly that. The hallway doesn't seem to be tilted downwards too steeply, and where it does tilt down it tilts back upwards... It probably won't let ALL the water in after them, right?
Right?
RIGHT?
DG: Prissa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Outrunning a Flood.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Throwing a meteor at it would have been the very worst idea," Catenna opines with a wince. "Throwing anything at it was a bad idea. Anything that flattens cities on that scale...." She leans into Cyre, the Owlet toddling back up her arm to give him a worried look.
At least Rigdobrite isn't worried. Catenna blinks at Lydia a couple times. "...Perhaps Celesdue has a different view," she murmurs. "The creature did use similar arcana to hers, even if on a much more vast scale...."
When Prissa explains things, Catenna listens to her, tilting her head attentively. Anything that terrifies even the Guardians is something she needs to know. "...I am sorry," she murmurs to the swordsmith, moving a little closer to her. "...but we can punch Ethius in the face once we are safe. And I believe that even with Sin here, we can find a way to--"
The wall creaks and groans. Catenna cuts off in mid-sentence.
"Oh no... oh no!!" she gasps.
Old stone begins to give way. The water gushes through, spurting towards them. As the water sprays across her, Catenna squeaks, but gathers up the Owlet in her arms. "Cyre, hurry!" she cries out to her lover as she goes sprinting after Prissa as fast as her legs will carry her. She's still more sluggish than she would like; Sin put a beating on her more severe than virtually any she's ever experienced.
If the creature is as destructive as Prissa says it is, Catenna realizes, even her belief that they can survive might not be enough. Especially if it's still up there, waiting for them. Especially if they all drown in these old ruins. ...But, where else can we flee to...?
DG: Catenna has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Outrunning a Flood.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia places a hand on Prissa's arm, lightly. She isn't stopping her from slapping Ethius, but she is trying to calm her down with the power of APPRECIATION and FOND PHYSICAL CONTACT. She doesn't understand the language, but she didn't need to in order to get the gist of it (she assumes it was mostly telling off Ethius and freaking out about Sin). "It may not notice us down here. I mean, we're still alive so far. That means something.
Bikanel is destroyed most likely, and Lydia has little reason to doubt Prissa's word. Its capacity for destruction was even able to reach the ship. "I...I'm sorry, Pris. I hope your family's okay, but right now... I think we can amke it out of here."
She looks towards Cyre for a moment before back to Prissa. "If these are ruins like our ruins, maybe there's a way out of this mess. that's how it's worked so far."
"Or he just wasn't around. Rigdobrite's all over the place you know?"
She grimaces faintly before looking back to Ethius. "...What are you apologizing for, specifically?" She asks, vocalizing the very narrative comment in Ethius's own pose.
BUT THEN
Lydia's eyes widen as she starts running, firing a portal into the ground before them and then one further up the slope to get a little bit of extra distance on the flood.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Outrunning a Flood.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius starts to face away from Prissa as they crest the other side of the door. A part of him is thinking he should burn it all behind him to be saf--
SMACK!
The man takes an exaggerated tumble onto his knees from the smack to the back of his head. Maybe that should slap some senseless screaming panic into him. A lot of senseless screaming panic into him. He is taking their chances for granted, isn't he? His body language, still, is far too reserved for someone who is already wounded from not all that long ago--
"..." Is his response, or lack thereof, to Lydia, his gaze re-focusing back into that unyielding stare of his. "I would rather--" Drip. Drip. Drip... drip... some water drips on his stupid Ethius head. Drip. He looks up.
"...I must concur about the need to vacate." He staggers after them far too sluggishly while the walls groan. He draws the harness for that patchy sack thing with a grace that normally does not come from someone currently suffering a post-pounding present-pounding headache as he gesticulates with the hand now within the patchwork bag and chants off the proper syllables to cast some Symbological heat in it and hover forward at... a clip that is still slower than one would like, and his feet will have to touch back down when going back up the incline ahead, but this ensures he doesn't trip and hit his head or something before then.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Outrunning a Flood.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I mean no disrespect," the shaman chuckles, "Just trying to... Lighten up the atmosphere a bit. But I guess it's not really the time. Ceh, huh," Cyre repeats the unfamiliar word. "...Sorry about your hometown. But if Azado's a properly blasted hole now, then it's probably not safe for anyone right now. It's probably only a matter of time 'till Malevolence sets in. We need to move."
And so they do!
After Ethius gets smacked. Cyre just kind of shrugs. This is a thing that happens pretty frequently. Clearly Ethius Did A Thing and earned that specific whack, as he usually does. And then--
Water.
A lot of water.
"Damn," Cyre swears, surging away from the crashing waves. "Catenna! Hang on tight!" He leans down, sweeping her up into his arms. A sudden gale screams past their ears as Cyre's trusty parachute inflates, flinging them at incredible speeds in a direction distinctly 'away from here.'
The wind might also help Ethius move a little quicker, too.
You know, so he doesn't drown and is still around to smack more later.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Outrunning a Flood.
============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Outrunning a Flood *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Millennia-old flood control systems are, in truth, prone to failure. As you move down this hallway, you hear a terrible, groaning lurch. Then, there is a loud crack -- and a wall breaks open, as a massive gout of water pours down and splashes onto the floor. The waters begin to churn, then rush towards you. The way off is cut short -- and you need to run, quickly, to safety before the flood waters carry you away! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
=======================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 2 *>======================== ========================< Results - Outrunning a Flood >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prissa 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ethius Hesiod 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Reckless(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Ancient Door *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Some ancient doors have keys. However, when parts of these ruins flooded, the key to this particular door washed away. Where it is, only the fish know. Nonetheless, a door engraved with runes and slightly glowing stands between you and your destination -- blocking off the hallway. You will need to force your way through this one. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa has no time to weep. Lydia's words make her stop her critique of Ethius. She growls at him - actually growls - but the running is too urgent.
The water floods after them. It seems to be about to overbear them, to sweep them away, despite their haste and their leaps - but there is a strange and anomalous dip in the water, as if the force of the torent is... confused somehow.
This is because of the portals. What happens here is mathematically indescribable, but it means that the pressure of the air is ear popping, not that the pressure of the water surges over and drowns everyone (even the owlet!).
"Guardians?" Prissa asks Catenna, panting, as they reach an area where the water's rise is a matter of an inch a minute or two, rather than 'all of it, coming in now.' Some of the drainage is still working, for now.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
With a yelp, Catenna finds herself swept into Cyre's arms. The Owlet hops down and rides along on her chest as she accedes, curling tightly into Cyre and his kittychute.
Only once they're clear of the flood does Catenna give Cyre a small kiss on the cheek, brief and tentative. Her body language is subdued and a bit tentative as she slides out of his grip in front of the crumbling chamber they've found themselves in. The masonry seems to hold more here; water drips in from a few smaller cracks and wells at about ankle-deep, but the walls do not seem quite ready to give out just yet. Nor does the door in front of them. Catenna presses her lips together firmly, moving forward towards it. She lays a hand on its surface. "...The Guardians are the spirits of Filgaia... the Blue Star, as you would call it. They each embody an aspect of existence and nature. I follow Celesdue... she who is the Moon," she explains to Prissa even as she tries to put some pressure on the door, trying to get a sense of whether or not it will give.
It doesn't. "Perhaps there is a key," she murmurs as she gazes up at those shimmering runes. Sliding her palm across it, she crouches at the foot of it.
And frowns. "...There was a niche for a key. But it's gone," she reports grimly as she straightens up again.
With no way to force the door with her own strength, Catenna resorts to plan B: She reaches into her pack and comes up with a crowbar. Gods only know where she got it, but she attempts to wedge one end into the door - but she's not used to working with workman's tools, and it shows. She simply doesn't have the upper body strength to do this herself.
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Ancient Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius doesn't seem too emotionally moved by being growled at. He could probably use more head bonking even before they find way to safety--
Prissa asks a question to Catenna about the Guardians, and he shoots a look for all of two seconds before closing his eyes and lowering his gaze. A... sense of resignation...? Maybe? He steps quietly across the damp sewer mud, which is kind of a feat. He's not so much leaving a 'splash,' as though he were consciously trying to suppress the sound of his movement.
He holds a hand out and starts to flutter his fingers, way off to the right-hand side of the chamber. He quietly utters more syllables, muffled under the bandanna around the lower half of his face. Great, he's going to melt the door in a space of poor ventilation and possible volatile component--
...No, it looks like he's trying to apply this heat to the runes themselves, as though their very appearance were a grievous offense more than anything - or perhaps a residual trust in the handy crowbar that Catenna managed to get her hands on.
He'll only start doing this to the door proper if someone yells at him to.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mysterious Ancient Door.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa breathes heavily. Catenna poses her an interesting point. A problem. She considers. She thinks. She doesn't look at Ethius.
As she digs out the head of a hammer and affixes a wooden handle to it, she says to Catenna, "But this is your Moon, not so? Even the name, 'Lunar,' I am told it is like the name for a moon in your language. Yes? So, then, I have never heard of this Celesdue. Is she strong here?"
Prissa swings her metal-beating hammer around with vicious force to try to smash the lock out of the door entirely!!
DG: Prissa has used her Tool A Hammer toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Ancient Door.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Guardians are the Baskar's gods." Lydia says to Prissa, a bit less dramatic than Catenna's method of explaining it. "Rigdobrite is whom I'm bonded too, and Solais Emsu. Rigdobrite, uh, is the Guardian of the Stars." She grins faintly. "He's my favorite."
She collects all the Guardian baseball cards though. She also brought along a baseball bat that she bashes repeatedly against the door to try and get it to, well, go down. She has no time for this rune nonsense.
"OPEN ALREADY STOP BEING A DICK." Lydia says. "Man if only Tadpole was here. She's a great swimmer."
She beats her baseball bat into the door with a similar but not quite exact-time rhythm as Prissa thus making it sound even more obnoxious.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Ancient Door.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Ancient Door *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Some ancient doors have keys. However, when parts of these ruins flooded, the key to this particular door washed away. Where it is, only the fish know. Nonetheless, a door engraved with runes and slightly glowing stands between you and your destination -- blocking off the hallway. You will need to force your way through this one. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Honestly, it's probably for the best that Cyre wasn't topside when Sin went to town on Azado. It means that he's in relatively decent enough shape to make sure certain people don't go for another dip in the drink.
But then...
The party, having escaped the floodwaters, finds themselves faced with that gravest challenge to all adventurers.
<A LOCKED DOOR>
"Ahhhhhh crap," Cyre mutters with a sigh. "We're probably going to have to bust it down aren't we?" Yep. At least Catenna has a crowbar.
Cyre helps with that too. He's a helper.
Also Catenna's arms are noodly. His aren't much better, but between the two of them, they're at least more of an udon than a ramen.
"What she said," Cyre says of Lydia's Guardianism Explanation. "I walk with Fengalon, Guardian of the Wind. Though I also have ties to Solais Emsu the Sky Guardian, too. Wind and sky, they go together pretty nicely, yeah?"
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mysterious Ancient Door.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Ancient Door *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Some ancient doors have keys. However, when parts of these ruins flooded, the key to this particular door washed away. Where it is, only the fish know. Nonetheless, a door engraved with runes and slightly glowing stands between you and your destination -- blocking off the hallway. You will need to force your way through this one. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
========================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 3 *>========================= ======================< Results - Mysterious Ancient Door >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prissa 5 --(7)--> 12 Fail A Hammer 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 35 --(5)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 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> Catenna has posed.
With a heavy breath, Catenna tries to pry the door open, but eventually has to take a break and sinks back. She fans herself with one hand. Catching her breath, she looks up at Prissa. "The other Guardians... hah... they are distant here, I am told... but Celesdue I... Celesdue I have felt more closely than ever. Her essence is very strong here... and her Statue was here, as well."
She ignores Ethius's look. Guardian statues have been found on Lunar. This is part of their domains, too. And she's not inclined to hide things from Prissa that Prissa might find useful to know.
As Ethius tries to melt the door off, he finds himself working alongside the more expedient methods of Prissa and Lydia, pounding on the door with large, blunt objects. Cyre tries to help with the crowbar.
But the glowing runes on the door continue to glow impassively, and the door itself gives way only a little... to push deeper into its frame and jam awkwardly. Pounding for the next half-hour might wedge it out of there. But the water and Sin won't give any time to the group.
Catenna eventually drops her crowbar, wiping sweat from her forehead. "This is pointless," she huffs. "Let's double back... I think I saw an arch in the wall back a little ways. We might have to swim to it but it is better than wrestling with this door all day!"
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================ ==================<* CHALLENGE - Batten Down the Hatches *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The tidal wave and the ensuing destruction have caused no small amount of flooding in Azado, and that water has to go somewhere. Parts of the ruins have always been prone to flooding. When you enter this room, this proves true. A gout of water comes bursting through an open doorway, and begins to fill the room. If you don't move quickly to, somehow, barricade the entrance, then you may find yourselves swiftly underwater. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Well. That's about what Cyre expected, to be quite honest. Doors! They're kind of jerks! The shaman huffs and rubs his raw palms against his pants. "Well, that sucked. You said there was a way out further back tho-- wait."
Cyre's ears... Twitch.
Twitch-twitch.
Twitch.
--!--
"Ah crap, we've got--" There's a great big -CRUNCH.- The runes on the door's surface flicker and flash as the thing suddenly comes unjammed! This is not at all a good thing, because there is so much water pouring out from the doorframe. "--Trouble. Ahhhhh damnit!"
Cyre hurls himself forward, trying to force the door back shut in a cruel inversion of what they were just doing. "Hold it shut! Ethius! Ethius we need you to SET THE STONE ON FIRE or MELT IT or SOMETH-Ghhff!" Cyre yells as a jet of water socks him right in the gut.
Seal the door, or else everyone drowns! Or at least gets very, very wet.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Batten Down the Hatches.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
So much for getting to double back.
The door unjams in a massive torrent of water, mocking their efforts to try and pry it open. Water gushes through the opening that's been created.
"This isn't going to work!" Catenna protests, but she throws herself at the door anyway. Her shoulder slams into it painfully, jarring her. Wincing, she nevertheless reaches across her body to slap her opposite palm against it.
Getting a solid footing proves harder than she thought. She just about slips, ending up crumpling against the door before clawing her way back up and again trying to jam the door back into place with a shoulder thrust that has her fairly negligible body weight behind it.
Look, she's slender and lightweight enough that she could manage a pretty good Jean act, she doesn't have the physical strength to force a door like this, okay?!
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Batten Down the Hatches.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius turns his head back towards the door at about the same time Cyre does. He's already moving to hold a hand out...
Yeah, that's not going to do any good, Ethius, they're already getting washed in displaced water. He slams a hand into the wall for the closest he's going to get for a handhold as some move up closer to try and hold the door closed.
"Of course." He replies too calmly. He might not be able to be heard because rushing water is loud, loud, loud, as he flits the fingers on the raised hand.
That's one of the few good things about having Ethius around. He can be belittled and bullied to seemingly very little consequence for how unrepetant he can be for those awful things he can do at the drop of a hat, and he's still of a mind to comply with reasonably-worded requests to the tune of 'MELT STUFF OR WE DIIIIIEEEEE'
He accounts for where Cyre and Catenna are lining up their bodies as to work out where to apply the sorcerous heat. A well-disciplined focus allows him to hear his own chanting in his head above the roaring waters as he completes the spell, sweeping a precise application of high heat to try and weld the door shut from the side further from where the current living bodies are.
It's a very dry affair, but that might be a good thing if it actually stays that way?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Batten Down the Hatches.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa still has her hammer out.
The hatch isn't sealing? Well, Prissa thinks as she looks at Ethius, she has a solution to that. The sledgehammer is raised --
CLANG!! A single violent blow to force the hatch nearer to shutting. Prissa stands ready to give others. The hatch perhaps cannot take many - but it only takes one moment for Ethius to seal the breach! Right?
RIGHT, ETHIUS?????????
DG: Prissa has used her Tool A Hammer toward her party's challenge, Batten Down the Hatches.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia still has her bat out. You know, maybe there's a reason that Lydia and Prissa got along so well. Naturally, Lydia swings her baseball bat at the hatch as well to try and help it. Honestly, it might be smarter of Lydia to use her own limbs than try to beat it with her bat but she nearly got squished by an airship today so she's kind of venting a little bit. EVEN IF THAT MEANS CYRE DROWNS.
Or gets very wet. And you know how cats are with baths.
Lydia has noticed that something is going on strange with Ethius, though maybe 'strange' is what most people would call a reasonable reaction to evident occurances but even so.
"I feel like this is the third or fourth time this planet has tried to drown me." She mutters.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Batten Down the Hatches.
===========================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================ ==================<* CHALLENGE - Batten Down the Hatches *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The tidal wave and the ensuing destruction have caused no small amount of flooding in Azado, and that water has to go somewhere. Parts of the ruins have always been prone to flooding. When you enter this room, this proves true. A gout of water comes bursting through an open doorway, and begins to fill the room. If you don't move quickly to, somehow, barricade the entrance, then you may find yourselves swiftly underwater. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
======================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 4 *>======================= ====================< Results - Batten Down the Hatches >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 7 --(10)--> 17 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 7 --(20)--> 27 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 7 --(10)--> 17 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 7 --(20)--> 27 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prissa 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail A Hammer 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
The good news is: The party manages to seal the door. Hooray!
The bad news is: They only do this because Lydia hits the thing at just the right time for Ethius's magic to do its terrible work on the stone. Why is that bad? It's bad because of what happens when a ton of heat meets a ton of water going rapidly from high pressure to low pressure.
An teeth-clattering kaboom blasts Cyre and Catenna and Prissa clear of the sealed door as a massive bubble of steam forms and then ruptures. It has to go through a lot of water to get to them, so nobody ends up with any steam burns or anything, just... Maybe a few bruises. And a lot of wetness.
"Ugh," Cyre grunts, his fluffy hair laying mat-like across the top of his head. "I... Hate sewers. And sewer dungeons. Everyone... everyone okay?"
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
================================================<* The Flooded Ruins *>================================================= ========================================<* CHALLENGE - Rusted Treasure Chest *>========================================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- In a recess in this corridor, you find an ancient lockbox. The Elw-made lockbox is not locked, but it seems that the outside of it has rusted shut. It will need some elbow grease to open it -- but too much force risks destroying the contents. Which could be anything! Why, it could even be treasure! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
True to what Catenna says, there is an arch in the wall back a ways. They do, indeed, have to go through some water to go check it out, but it's a risk that's worth taking. The corridor is narrow in that there isn't much standing room, but the path ascends a ways so the water can't reach up there (yet). The whole sewers are still rumbling and the sounds of rushing water are everywhere. There's a few droplets of water suggesting that maybe this place won't be secure for long... but it's a quiet moment.
In comparison.
It is becoming less and less certain where, exactly, they are hoping to bury their bodies in advance. These would be nice alcloves to lay down in for eternity, though. They're person-sized. They might even have been intended for remains to be placed, but if so, there aren't any remains that remain.
There is a lockbox, rusted shut and ancient but with a few of those glowing runes on there meaning that the lockbox was of some importance to someone so, so many years ago.
"This way," Ethius says, which is kind of needless because there's only one way forward and everyone's eyes still work fine... unless he's trying to coax them away from the lockbox, as if not to let them be distracted by it.
It's too heavy to take with them. Maybe if they can open it up reeeeeaaaaal fast, they can keep what's inside...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rusted Treasure Chest.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna is tired and sore by the time the group ends up going back through the arch. She has to swim through part of it because the water has become so deep. She comes up soaking wet, momentarily grateful that she isn't trying to swim in her dress and that there isn't much left to soak up water.
Aside from her hair. It clings to her face, neck and shoulders in wet coils, and her bangles have come loose. But atop it, someone is high and dry: The Owlet, settling in. It still looks worried, but not damp.
Drawing her silver sword as if as an afterthought, Catenna shoulders through that arch, then in behind Ethius as he spots that box. "This looks ancient, Ethius," she murmurs as she kneels by it.
Something flickers in her memory. Running her hand along the outside of the box, Catenna looks it over intently - and then she widens her eyes, her mouth opening slightly. "Those runes look familiar," she breathes. "Could this be....
"...Could these ruins be of the Elw...?"
With a bite to her lower lip, Catenna pulls her prybar out again. She attempts to wedge it under that lid, putting a heel down on it and trying to lever it open, even if it's just a crack...!
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rusted Treasure Chest.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"What," Cyre asks, incredulous, "And leave this perfectly good treasure chest sitting unopened? Come on Ethius, what do you take me for?" Someone who is, presumably, more interested in getting out alive than tempting the wrath of the mimic gods, probably. "Look at this thing," the shaman says, tracing his fingers across the strangely luminescent runes. "It was probably made by the same people responsible for the doors and the ruins in general. We might be able to find a clue as to what this place's purpose is, and why it was under Azado all this time."
"...Elw? Really?" he murmurs, sharing a meaningful glance with Catenna. "Well, that's even more reason to see what's inside."
Cyre goes and tries to pry the box open, but...
*Click*
"Eh?"
*Click-click*
"...What," Cyre mutters, reaching down to rattle at the very rusted-over coffer. "Should Elw chests even be capable of rusting? What the heck is in here?" Maybe it's just the whole 'it's been sitting down here for thousands of years' thing. That's probably the problem.
Well, Catenna still has that crowbar, so maybe they'll actually get lucky this time.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa did hear everything about the religious stuff, it's just that the hatch was more of a concern. You could say it was kind of a Hatch Chilly. I mean, Prissa wouldn't, but you could, if you wanted.
"Ajan cehla E kad drec ryssan so meva ec y rayb uv cred! Rana, Sin! Oui lyh ryja drec dint!"
Prissa hurls it into the mud. A few moments later, they come upon...
Prissa digs out a knife and crouches down to try and force the hinges. "Could be emergency gear," she says, "or some kind of machina. This place, it is not the same building as the city up top. Perhaps what is down here was made deeper." After a moment, Prissa says, "You think the Elw, these people, they invented machina? You call it the ARM, I have had this conversation with Lydia."
DG: Prissa has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rusted Treasure Chest.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"In my experience," Lydia tells Prissa. "The Elw mostly invented problems." She looks towards Cyre. "Why wouldn't Elw chests not be capable of rusting? Isn't half the stuff they made all broken down anyway?" She strains her ears, but this time she only gets the word 'Sin' out of what Prissa is saying. It'd be nice, she reflects to be able to talk to her for real. Maybe she could ask about it. But it would mean more studying. Or hunting down language primers, which would be even worse.
Lydia didn't throw away her hammer but she wouldn't want the reverb to mess with Prissa's own work so this time she just turns her arm into sharp looking flesh blade and starts digging around the opposite hingers with her limb.
"Maybe there's Sin Repellant in here." She mutters.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rusted Treasure Chest. DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rusted Treasure Chest.
================================================<* The Flooded Ruins *>================================================= ========================================<* CHALLENGE - Rusted Treasure Chest *>========================================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- In a recess in this corridor, you find an ancient lockbox. The Elw-made lockbox is not locked, but it seems that the outside of it has rusted shut. It will need some elbow grease to open it -- but too much force risks destroying the contents. Which could be anything! Why, it could even be treasure! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
===========================================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 5 *>============================================ ==========================================< Results - Rusted Treasure Chest >=========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 17 --(18)--> 35 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 27 --(28)--> 55 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 17 --(28)--> 45 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 27 --(18)--> 45 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prissa 32 --(28)--> 60 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Overzealous(1)|Tire(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
They pick at it. They speculate. Ethius 'wins' only in so much that he is moving ahead and expending energy instead melting an unseen door in the way of... progress? Are they progressing? They're going somewhere.
"I would find that unlikely, Miss Catenna," says Ethius, who is clearly wrong because these symbols very much look like stuff they saw on the Pleasing Gardens. Even he should know that, he was there.
...What if it's a subject he's intentionally trying to avoid? He can't go much further without noticing that they're messing around with the box. The crowbar doesn't seem to find purchase. The knife doesn't force the hinges. Lydia goes at it by hand, and there's a horrible grinding...
A hinge pops off for Lydia to grab and take. Yay, free hinge! It's rusted and useless but a fun souvenir! But then the crests glow and there's an ear-splitting hiss of air as the lockbox compresses itself further closed... like a security measure.
It will never open again.
The droplets start to intensify. This corridor could collapse at any moment. Last chance if you want your corpse to lay to rest in the alcoves here! Going once, going twice...
...
Okay.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Puddle Jumper *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter this room, you find that much of it has flooded -- and you enter on a second level. There, you discover that the waterline is at the edge of the platform you enter. A door across the way provides an exit. Between you, however, is a pond -- and some debris, ranging from loose tiles to driftwood, has floated in. That provides a means to hop across. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I'm going tow onder what's in that chest forever." Lydia mutters.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
"At least for the rest of our lives," Prissa says grimly.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Which will be forever." Lydia says stubbornly.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
"Even if not for Sin I probably only have another ninety years," Prissa counters, but there is a crack in her gloom tone.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Ninety years?" Cyre sniffs, "That's quitter talk. One hundred at least. Go big or go home."
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
More water gushes into the corridor. Droplets pour down around them, soon intensifying to a flood. Catenna gasps, scooping up the Owlet and dashing away. "Quickly, before we drown!" she cries out as she rushes down the hallway, her heels splashing in the water as it accumulates, rising from mere puddles to ankle-height to higher up as the group rushes along. Catenna darts around a corner, kicks down a rotting wooden door -
And lets out a startled yelp as she realizes the room ahead of them has completely flooded.
It's a two-level room - but the water has risen to swallow the floor below them. The group is on the second floor - but most of that floor has crumbled away to leave an enormous hole, and the water there is already up to everyone's ankles. Catenna points across the room as she spots something. "There -- an arch!" she calls, pointing to a platform opposite the one they're on. Indeed, a stone archway yawns open, waiting for the group.
Bobbing bits of tile and wood float atop the water. Catenna eyes them dubiously for a moment. "We might be able to hop on those," she suggests. Then she pauses. "...No. Those wouldn't support our weight. I don't think...."
They can support the Owlet's. It hops off Catenna's head and jumps to a tile, then looks back at her.
Catenna considers a moment, then sighs. "Cyre, if you must jump, jump," she suggests.
Then she undoes her vest and slides out of it. She's decent underneath, at least - there's a wrapping there. Shucking the vest into the ambiguous hammerspace that is an RPG inventory, she brings her hands together, then arcs forward, knifing into the water with a picture-perfect dive. Breaking the surface with a breath, she begins to swim towards the platform.
Turns out Catenna's a pretty strong swimmer. Who knew?
DG: Catenna has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Puddle Jumper.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"You'll make it to a hundred. You're going to become one of those ancient wrinkly swordsmiths who is super cantankerous but lone heroes come to seek her to help forge the ultimate blade that will vanquish the ultimate evil." Lydia says. "You'll make them do awful honestly meaningless chores to test their worthiness but really just to kind of piss them off a little."
Lydia nods once. "It'll be a dream come true."
And with that she starts hopping between pieces of debris, naturally using her portal pistols to help close the distance. She's a dirty cheater. A cheater cheater cheater.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Jump? Jump? Oh Catenna, darling, please.
"You know," Cyre says as the water rushes in and Catenna dives gracefully right into the water. He's... Just sort of hovering over the top of the water, using his parachute as a glider as he drifts gently toward their not-so-distant destination. "I was going to offer to carry you along up here, but..."
"Well," Cyre laughs mischeviously, "You went and jumped in. And it turns out that it's pretty fun watchin' you swim from up here, to be honest."
Even in crushing despair, terrible danger, and impending doom...
Cyre still finds time to get his flirt on.
What a dork.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, Puddle Jumper. DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Puddle Jumper.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Cyre, you are incorrigible!" Catenna huffs as she pops up from the water, waving up at him.
It is somewhat offset by the fact that she's dripping wet.
"Besides, I'm soaked," she huffs. "You would be too."
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
"That is on top of the twenty I have already lived," Prissa sniffs, as they wade forwards. The water dips down, and Prissa looks down, then up at the arch. Exhaling, she tells Lydia, "Do you think you can - yah, there you go."
Considering for a moment, she rubs her chin, and then just kind of uses Lydia's portals instead of swimming.
Maybe she just needed to blow her head of steam off by smacking Ethius and several other large objects. Does hitting resistant things work out her stress? Or is she daring to hope?
DG: Prissa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Puddle Jumper.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Puddle Jumper *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter this room, you find that much of it has flooded -- and you enter on a second level. There, you discover that the waterline is at the edge of the platform you enter. A door across the way provides an exit. Between you, however, is a pond -- and some debris, ranging from loose tiles to driftwood, has floated in. That provides a means to hop across. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The odd man in takes stock of the situation with an acceptance of where they should be going next - or where they can be going next - about as soon as Catenna points it out. Once more, the harness comes onto his wrist and blah blah blah this is well-known ceremony.
Ethius drifts along under the power of the inflated loot sack, drifting over the waters cautiously and carefully in so much that - like Cyre - he's basically on duty if the Owlet slips and falls in the water or if it looks like Catenna might be in trouble. Cyre has far more ease of air movement than he does if it comes to that - Ethius can just maintain present altitude reliably.
Sooner or later, unless obstructions are present coming from the ceiling, he'll complete drifting over there.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Puddle Jumper.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Puddle Jumper *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- When you enter this room, you find that much of it has flooded -- and you enter on a second level. There, you discover that the waterline is at the edge of the platform you enter. A door across the way provides an exit. Between you, however, is a pond -- and some debris, ranging from loose tiles to driftwood, has floated in. That provides a means to hop across. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
========================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 6 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Puddle Jumper >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 55 --(0)--> 55 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 45 --(0)--> 45 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 45 --(0)--> 45 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prissa 60 --(0)--> 60 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod 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: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Water Level *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the depths of these flooded ruins, you find salvation. Those who were at
the Pleasing Garden recognize, instantly: a circular room, with a
crystalline structure in the center. A teleportation station, which will
activate a wide-area teleportation for smaller people. Those in Azado could
be whisked away from the thing destroying their city.
However, there is a problem.
You have entered on the third level of a three-tiered room -- and it is
flooded. You will need to swim down, and swim past some fences and rails
that pose obstacles, to activate the teleporter. The activation is a simple
matter of pressing the crystal into the receptacle. And, of course, you will
need to hope enough others can do the same...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna turns out to be a very strong swimmer - but then, she does come from the wilderness. Why wouldn't she be able to swim rivers and lakes? This is significantly smaller than a lake.
Flirting Cyre or no, the Moon Shaman slashes through the water swiftly and reaches the platform, clambering up onto it smoothly. She whips her long, dark hair out behind her with a spray of droplets, raking her hands through it. Then she looks back to watch Cyre soar along like a flying kitty - and then jumps a bit as Lydia and Prissa pop up beside her.
"No matter how many times I see that, I will never quite get used to it," Catenna admits with a blush, then sidles to one side as she watches Cyre and Ethius both drift and float along, respectively. The two land, and the Moon Shaman checks around her. "Right, are we all--"
She pauses. "Of course," she says, turning to wait.
The Owlet doesn't have a problem either. The tiny bird hops from piece of debris to debris like a little bouncy ball of fluff. Soon it hops off a chunk of wood and onto the platform, then hops upwards.
It perches on Cyre's shoulder. Kitty's warm and dry.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
After hopping about for a bit Lydia says, "One hundred and thirty three then," grinning faintly as Prissa uses the portal. "Sweet, if things keep going this well then we might get outta here to, I dunno, somewhere without a giant whale."
She keeps on hopping along before entering a new room and then suddenly stopping.
It's a room that looks JUST LIKE the room at the Pleasing Gardens. You know, the room that teleported everybody else to this planet in the first place or 'this hellhole' if you prefer. Lydia doesn't look too happy to see it though and there's one clear reason why.
It's a three tiered room. She's on the third level.
5rThe teleporter is on the bottom level, underwater.
5r"Maybe," Lydia murmurs, popping a portal onto the floor next to her and another one into the water underneath. She closes her eyes for a moment and then says, "I took lessons from Rebecca." She says with a small nod.
"So I just need to remember to swim!" She jumps in.
...
...and promptly sinks like a rock, crashing through several obstacles along the way.
Schrodinger decides to stop existing for the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Pff, you love me for it. Besides, being wet makes it better," Cyre snickers as he lands, relatively nice and dry and now home to an adorable little owlet.
Cyre wiggles a finger through the owlet's fluffy, fluffy feathers.
And then they find... A room. It's not a room Cyre would recognize. He was outside getting his face punched in by the real goddamn Lord of Calamity. But he can tell that it's somewhere important. His adventurer sense is tingling.
"I think we should probably take this slow. You don't know what kind of traps there might b-- or Lydia could just jump in. That works too." Cyre huffs, hands on his hips. He glances aside to the little owlet perched on his shoulder and taps mildly at his chin. "Alright. Cat, leave our little friend to me. I'll keep us safe."
How?
Well, once upon a time, Cyre travelled through a place called Rujm el-Hiri where he exhibited a very interesting application of his strange Baskar parachute.
That's right. It's time for the return... Of the Baskar Bathysphere!
Cyre packs his pockets full of rocks and then pulls his parachute up and over, filling the inside with a burst of air. Once it's filled, he hops in after Lydia, inexplicably managing to sink in spite of... You know, being filled with air.
Maybe that's what the rocks were for.
...Yeah, probably.
But hey, at least this way he and the owlet will be nice and dry on their way down! Hooray!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, The Water Level.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
There's a teleporter down there. "Then it is!" Catenna gasps, cupping her hands to her cheeks. "This ruin must be an Elw ruin! Then that means that... those who came here from Lunar were not just humans... but the Elw as well! Incredible...!"
The assumption nearly bowls her over, mentally speaking - but there's action to be taken, and she forces herself to focus on the task at hand, slapping her hands together wetly. She gives herself a vigorous shake. "...Right," she murmurs. "If we can just get down there, then we may be able to figure out how it operates. And if it can bring us back to Filgaia...."
Catenna glances at Prissa, then, as realization dawns on her.
"So, Prissa," she says conversationally. "You like to travel, right? How would you like to see the Blue Star?"
Catenna turns to tend to the Owlet - but Catenna's got the little bird covered. She blushes and touches a hand to her cheek, charmed at the sight of his playing with Celesdue's fluffy totem bird. And the the Baskar Bathyscaphe challenges the depths, and Catenna looks on with a lopsided smile.
But then there's herself. Again Catenna puts her hands together and dives one of those photogenic dives. There's very little splash as she knifes into the water.
There are more obstacles down there than she thought - but Catenna has momentum and full lungs on her side. She's somewhat more agile than the kittyscaphe but has lung capacity to worry about and can't take too much time. Smoothly, she snakes between a few rusting rungs, then dives deeper, pulling herself ever closer to that teleporter....
DG: Catenna has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Water Level.
=============================<* The Flooded Ruins *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Water Level *>=========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
In the depths of these flooded ruins, you find salvation. Those who were at
the Pleasing Garden recognize, instantly: a circular room, with a
crystalline structure in the center. A teleportation station, which will
activate a wide-area teleportation for smaller people. Those in Azado could
be whisked away from the thing destroying their city.
However, there is a problem.
You have entered on the third level of a three-tiered room -- and it is
flooded. You will need to swim down, and swim past some fences and rails
that pose obstacles, to activate the teleporter. The activation is a simple
matter of pressing the crystal into the receptacle. And, of course, you will
need to hope enough others can do the same...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, The Water Level.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa looks to Catenna. She looks back the way they came, even as Lydia dive bombs into the water. She looks back at her. "I think you are saying the impossible," she tells her, "but it is impossible also to survive Sin if you don't have the power."
Looking down, she considers. And then she just kind of dives in and power-swims to the bottom of the water because she can apparently breathe water or something.
(Not really. She did get a few quick breaths and a half-inhale before she dived.)
DG: Prissa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Water Level.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The waters being what they are, the water in this room is oddly clear - as though the water itself wanted to say 'oh hey, take a look at what's in here! Especially you, white-haired guy.'
"...It is." He murmurs, not intending to be heard. Catenna might. That might be a tacit admission that his dismissal earlier was an intentional obfuscation. Why?
A hand goes to his forehead as he turns away from the lot of them. The open conversations, discussions of likenesses and differences in terminologies...
...
...
...
Ethius looks back into the water and stares at the construct down in the water, sizing up the decor of the chamber as Catenna invites Prissa to come to the Blue Star.
There's all the markings, the runes, the everything. All this while the portal near him is gushing out water, as the water tickles at his boots and positively mocks him. Somehow.
The Hot Air Sack's harness is still on one of his wrists. He casts up some more heat for it and floats over to the next available landmass in which to get a better look at the entire construction. It gives him the opportunity to call out any prospective hazards or other things of interest to anyone who isn't already jumping into the water.
He closes his eyes again. The world above rumbles some more. This chamber might soon be forfeit too. He holds his hand out towards the water as he re-opens his eyes...
...
He decides against. The portal a ways off continues to spew water as if to ask him if he's going to jump in there already.
"...I am not yet satisfied." He murmurs. There is only one way forward, and that is to jump into the water from a different direction than where Lydia is going.
Ethius has demonstrably shown remarkable ability to keep composure even through some very unpleasant environments - like this sewer. The scents don't bother him. Dead bodies seldom get anything out of him. He must be very good at holding his breath.
He is. Lungs hold what air he gathers like it were a talent he had previously developed in some span of time before he awakened in Lacour's mountain ranges, swimming down further and further.
He moves to pull away debris in the way of the sunken construct. He has no concerns about his own reserves of oxygen, though they deplete faster with every motion he makes. That unnatural calm holds.
Like there's some greater purpose that guides him, requires him to keep what wits he has about him when he's not being smacked about his dang fool head. He remembers how the construct appeared, even when his primary glimpses were in the middle of pitched life-and-death combat with one Lady Harken while flame and a giant mace filled the chamber all about.
He still doesn't have his answers as to why... anything.
This is his only way forward, whether he likes the answers he's looking for or not.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, The Water Level.
===========================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Water Level *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the depths of these flooded ruins, you find salvation. Those who were at
the Pleasing Garden recognize, instantly: a circular room, with a
crystalline structure in the center. A teleportation station, which will
activate a wide-area teleportation for smaller people. Those in Azado could
be whisked away from the thing destroying their city.
However, there is a problem.
You have entered on the third level of a three-tiered room -- and it is
flooded. You will need to swim down, and swim past some fences and rails
that pose obstacles, to activate the teleporter. The activation is a simple
matter of pressing the crystal into the receptacle. And, of course, you will
need to hope enough others can do the same...
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
======================<* The Flooded Ruins - Round 7 *>======================= ========================< Results - The Water Level >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 55 --(0)--> 55 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 45 --(0)--> 45 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 45 --(0)--> 45 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prissa 60 --(0)--> 60 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has successfully explored The Flooded Ruins!
===========================<* The Flooded Ruins *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Teleporter Activated *>====================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You swim down into the depths of the teleportation room. It is hard, but you
manage to press the crystal into the activation chamber. There is a moment
to wait -- perhaps to swim back up -- as other groups must also press in
their crystals. When you look around, you realize: this room is similar
enough to the one in the Pleasing Garden that it must be part of a network.
Then, however, the room rumbles. There is a flash, as all of you are whisked
away.
You have returned to Filgaia.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia forgot to invite Prissa but honestly, Prissa is coming along whether she wants to or not considering the alternative is 'get eaten by Sin'. Lydia sinks like a rock, cheeks puffed out. She is more pouting that she didn't achieve buoyance than she is drowning. She is remembering Rebecca's words to remain calm if nothing else.
Prissa is a little slower than everyone but only because she is actually swimmming and most of the people here are sinking which is a demonstratably faster way to get the bottom of something, even with the rock air balloons, but she can at least catch up to Catenna.
ultimately everybody has to press a crystal before the portal starts shining brightly. It's as simple as that.
The room starts rumbling. Is it sin? Is it?
Lydi looks back to Prissa as if to take one last look at Lunar. A lot has changed for her on the moon. She got involved in a war, got stabbed by a ninja/child soldier, melted by a dragon and a Rosaline.
Maybe she even grew up a little.
She smiles. Thank you, Lunar, she thinks.
There is a flash of light!!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
In a way, Catenna is of two minds to be leaving Lunar behind. On the one hand, this is an alien world, with alien problems, beset by alien menaces - and the real task she has to complete is on Filgaia. Preserve the remaining Statues. Defeat Mother. Save Filgaia from the Hyadeans.
And yet... the presence of Celesdue has been stronger here. And Lunar has given much to her. New insight into what it means to walk in the light of the Moon.
She cannot take the time to appreciate these emotions. With a look back towards Prissa, Catenna slides her crystal into place, still with enough breath to focus on the deed.
The chamber rumbles. Deftly, Catenna swims away from her crystal and towards the Kittyscaphe. She can't slide into it, but she can keep close to Cyre. Wherever they end up, she won't go through what happened before, where she was separated from him by a trick of magic and time, winding up with a caravan of illegal dancers.
This time, she vows as she takes the edge of Cyre's bathyscaphe, she'll be with him, wherever they end up.
The light shines and engulfs them....
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The strange man finishes assisting in pushing in the crystal. He wasn't conscious for the teleportation last time, but putting two and two (and some other larger, esoteric numbers, some of which are imaginary but are necessary parts of the equation) together tells him what he already knows from jumping into the water - there is no going back.
Ruin all around, from above, that none here can escape. Enough lingering issues on Lunar he feels must be addressed, sidetracked by... this. It is vexing. Everything has fallen ever further out of control... and yet he knows he does not want the alternative, whatever it may be.
Through the clear water, his eyes fall upon Prissa once more. Maybe he wants to be smacked in the head underwater!! He regards her for a few moments - again - before his eyes avert.
Like guilt? It's only striking because he virtually never looks despondent about much of anything, ever, but the light overtakes the sight...
The light shines and engulfs them...
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre has had... An interesting time on Lunar. A positive one, by and large, except for all the times he was set on fire. Like, this has been a disturbingly immolation-filled visit to the moon. But on the other hand...
When you grow up in the middle of the Badlands, you... lose sight of how beautiful nature can be. Even for a Baskar, that's something so hard to keep hold of when you're surrounded by wasteland on all sides.
Cyre thinks back, briefly, to that night in that starlit spring not far from Vane. To the forests and mountains, thriving with life. He breathes a long sigh as the teleporter warms up, reaching a hand to gently stroke the little Owlet's chin. He smiles and reaches gently through the cloth of his parachute to confirm Catenna's presence on the other side.
Wherever they end up, the journey will continue. There'll be more opportunities, more time to see the world unfurl its mysteries and beauty. And he'll have good company for the trip.
But... First thing's first. If this brings him back to Filgaia, he's headed home.
Cyre's still gotta fulfill that promise he made.
<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.
Prissa has no last words or looks for Lunar. She grips the strap of her drum and wonders - is it true? Was I only being sad? Is Home gone? Is everywhere on Spira a sodden ruin now? Will Lunar fall beneath the fury and gravity of this cursed creature?
There is a flash of light.
LATER.
"... So," Prissa says. "This is the Blue Star? Truly?"
-=-
Lydia thinks about what it was like when she first arrived on Lunar and recalls she appeared right in the aftermath of a war. Hardly the most welcoming of introductions so she looks back to Prissa, smiles to her and says, "That's right. Welcome to Filgaia." She used to hate this place, used to hate it so much she wanted to leave it forever. But now? She simply says, "Welcome to my home."
-=-
Prissa smiles at Lydia, tiredly. Perhaps hesitantly.
She takes a deep breath and lets it out, shading her eyes to look at the horizon. Upwards. Towards where she would expect the Blue Star to be. There is nothing there, for it is dusk and there is dust in the sky. The air smells breathless here to her, in a way she cannot place.
Then she begins to sing at the sky. Her voice is a sort of approximate high alto, and she does not - for obvious reason - have a lot of recent practice. Fortunately the song is slow, and the tune is melancholy, and carries fine with just one vocalist. And perhaps the point is: Now, she can sing.
ieyui - nobomeno
renmiri - yojuyogo
hasatekanae
kutamae.