2018-09-04: Uncaged Exploration

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  • Log: Uncaged Exploration
  • Cast: Matilda Whitehead, Layna Manydays, Cyre H. Lorentz, Chime Isa
  • Where: Cage Tower
  • Date: 2018-09-04
  • Summary: Rumors of a new section accessible in the Cage Tower that may have useful information surfaced and a group of Drifters went to investigate.

DG: A party led by Matilda Whitehead is now entering Cage Tower - High Security.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Down the Shaft *>========================
|  Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The most accessible entrance to the basement of Cage Tower is an old lift     
 shaft. The lift itself is stuck on the lowest floor, and unpowered; broken    
 lift cables and the rusty remains of the lift's tracks offer a means to get   
 down without it. The only sources of light--aside from the ones you've        
 brought--are softly-glowing luminescent patches on the shaft's walls.         
                                                                               
 The sound of bending metal echoes up the shaft from below, faint and          
 distant.                                                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure=============================================

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Despite the fact that she's had several rough scrapes in the last week or so, Matilda... honestly is ready to just roll with it and start traveling and getting down to business. It's easier to keep herself -- mentally occupied, if she's doing something, anything, that isn't just sitting there tending her wounds. Besides -- she honestly wants to put many elements of her trip to Lunar behind her in a big way.

She's also finally gotten her signature coat back. With the hair dye job it makes her look maybe a little ... *too* bright, but, it's fine. She can deal.

She's gotten together anyone interested in traveling in short order, and has set out for the Cage Tower; even if she doesn't have the exceptionally talented young lady she would like to have with her to do some science here, she can at least poke her head in again and reacquire her bearings. As they arrive at the lift shaft, and find the elevator broken... Matilda frowns.

"... I suppose we're going to have to climb," she says, letting out a breath. She moves into the shaft, doing just that -- she's a fairly adroit climber... if a little overdeliberate.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Chime casually adjust her thick leather work gloves as she walks across the ground floor the Cage Tower humming softly with a bright smile. Stopping at the edge of the lift shaft, she peers down into the poorly lit shaft.

"Mmmm, fun~" she quips casually with a cheerful tone and smile before grabbing one of the lift tracks and giving it a few test tugs and shoves.

"I'm always impressed how long some things last,I wonder when we make metal this nice for weapons again." as she casually swings her four and half foot lithe frame out over the edge with a tight grip on the shaft and begins to climb down with relative ease herself humming as she goes.

DG: Chime Isa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Recent events have had Cyre acting a little more... Driven than usual. The revelation that the Hyadean Mother had awoken has consumed much of his attention since arriving back on Filgaia. Nevermind the obvious threat a hostile alien god poses, her awakening has apparently caused a bit of a stir among the Carakin's shamans. The Guardians have grown... more distant with the Mother's awakening. Cyre figures it's reasonable; they need all the power they can get to fight back against her influence.

But that doesn't mean he can just sit still.

Now, more than ever, is when those who follow the Guardians must stand alongside their gods.

And so Cyre is here! Investigating the Cage Tower for clues-- any clues-- that might help them fight against the Mother and her servants. This place studied Metal Demons, after all.

But for now... A climb! Cyre glances up the elevator shaft, ear twitching ever so slightly. "Right," he huffs as a breeze suddenly stirs, catching in the shaman's parachute and sending him drifting upwards, "Hold on. I'll head up and drop some rope.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Down the Shaft.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Filgaia. Though Layna was from Lunar, it felt more like 'home' to her than Lunar did right now. That was because this was where her crew was, and it was where her ship was. So, she isn't upset to be back. There's work to be done!

And right now, work meant exploring this old tower. She's been there before, for the sake of an ARMs Meister who'd repaired the revolver she'd found, but now she's here at Matilda's invitation.

"Aye, lass, looks like it!" Layna says, peering upward. She reaches into her coat, draws out a bottle and takes a swig before making her way upward. She's pretty quick about it, too.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Filgaia. Though Layna was from Lunar, it felt more like 'home' to her than Lunar did right now. That was because this was where her crew was, and it was where her ship was. So, she isn't upset to be back. There's work to be done!

And right now, work meant exploring this old tower. She's been there before, for the sake of an ARMs Meister who'd repaired the revolver she'd found, but now she's here at Matilda's invitation.

"Aye, lass, looks like it!" Layna says, reaching into her coat and taking a swig from a bottle before peering down.

That was pretty deep. She'd have to be crazy to...

...Oh, there she goes, she's jumping. Well, she has wind magic to slow herself down, and if it comes down to it, she can grab onto something...

========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Down the Shaft *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The most accessible entrance to the basement of Cage Tower is an old lift     
 shaft. The lift itself is stuck on the lowest floor, and unpowered; broken    
 lift cables and the rusty remains of the lift's tracks offer a means to get   
 down without it. The only sources of light--aside from the ones you've        
 brought--are softly-glowing luminescent patches on the shaft's walls.         
                                                                               
 The sound of bending metal echoes up the shaft from below, faint and          
 distant.                                                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure=============================================
===================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 1 *>===================
==========================< Results - Down the Shaft >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Quartermaster's Stash               2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Reverse Parachute                   1   Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"The needs are a little different, I think -- sturdiness isn't everything for a weapon," Matilda notes. "Then again, weapons dating to this era are also of remarkable quality..." She's just sort of musing aloud, it seems like.

Cyre gives them a rope to work with -- a strong start, to be sure, and one which makes it terribly easy to traverse the shaft. Chime ends up hitting the wall as the rope swings slightly, once or twice -- but on the whole it's a pretty easy climb.

DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Advanced Terminal *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The screen of this security terminal still glows. It's the only source of     
 light in a darkened chamber. An access panel on its side has been pried       
 open, and there's a diagnostic program on its screen--it looks like someone   
 was halfway through hotwiring it, but didn't finish. If restored, it might    
 open some nearby doors, but be mindful of the eerie noises emanating from     
 the darkness. Is something nearby?                                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

The further they descend, the darker and darker it gets. It's more than a little unnerving, really, though Layna somehow manages to keep up her good mood. Eventually, however, they reach solid ground. Layna, who jumped down at her own pace, reaches it first.

"Hey, there's some light in here! I'm gonna check it out, aye? I'll holler if there's somethin' of interest!" Layna calls up, and walks over to it.

On closer inspect, that light is coming from the screen of a security terminal. Layna looks it over and frowns. She presses a button, but its locked up...has been for some time, now.

"...No dice. Can one of you do somethin' about this? This isn't my territory." She says, then takes a quick look around. ...Did she just hear something? It wasn't one of them, was it? She frowns.

"...Might wanna make it quick, at that."

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Advanced Terminal.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Chime doesn't really grunt or wince when she smacks into the wall, through her breath does catch each time. Being pint-sized probably doesn't help.

The red-head says in a cheery voice "Quality is the important part~ A metal that doesn't rust, or can withstand more pressure and heat, or well, some of the more really wierd traits I've seen and heard could be useful in any number of ways~ After all, a better weapon can help even the odds."

As Chime catches up to Layna she examines the terminal with a bemused smile, saying "Mmmm, I don't think I've seen something like this before~ But it's purpose it easy enough to discern." as she examines the door next to it for a moment, and then the mess of wires.

"Aww, well someone gave it their best try. Good for them. Time to fix it~" as she begins pulling small tools of various types from her vest, most them slightly rusty or with slight defects on them like cracks or chips.

DG: Chime Isa has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Advanced Terminal.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

This is... not *entirely* Matilda's territory either -- but it's becoming more and more of Matilda's territory, thanks in no small part to Kaguya's influence. When Layna says it's not hers, Matilda steps up, not far behind Chime.

"While you do that, I'm going to check my notes from the last time I came to this tower," Matilda says. "I swear we found something similar the last time, though it wasn't... *quite*..." With an airy gesture with a gloved hand, she finishes, "... like, this."

Sure enough, Matilda has notes. They'd be illegible to just about anyone else, of course. Matilda is a doctor.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Advanced Terminal.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

The party gets to the bottom (top!?) of the shaft, falling into the dark depths of the earth. Under normal circumstances, it'd be nearly impossible to navigate down here, but...!

For Cyre, this is just a minor inconvenience. Natural dark vision is a considerable advantage when everything drops to something approximately as black as Siegfried's heart.

Also, he has a handy portable censer that sheds just enough light to illuminate the terminal's shredded internal mechanisms. "Better hurry, folks. I don't like the sound of... whatever it is might be in here with us."

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Advanced Terminal.

=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Advanced Terminal *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The screen of this security terminal still glows. It's the only source of     
 light in a darkened chamber. An access panel on its side has been pried       
 open, and there's a diagnostic program on its screen--it looks like someone   
 was halfway through hotwiring it, but didn't finish. If restored, it might    
 open some nearby doors, but be mindful of the eerie noises emanating from     
 the darkness. Is something nearby?                                            
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 2 *>==================
=======================< Results - Advanced Terminal >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Portable Library                    1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Injure(1)|Slow(1)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >============================== =
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead 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: Chime Isa has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Alpha *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Large metal pods dot the walls of Cage Tower's underbelly. Some are too       
 eerily organic to be of Filgaian make, while others are obviously sealed      
 containers of some sort, marked with EMERGENCY RESPONSE. Something your       
 party did has restored power to one of these pods, and it hisses open,        
 releasing its occupant.                                                       
                                                                               
 The thing that emerges is a construct of some sort, its body heavily-armored  
 and equipped with flamethrowers on gimballed mounts. Symbological runes on    
 its body flicker, and a shell of ablative energy forms around it as it fires  
 on you!                                                                       
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna keeps watch. It's like she said - this isn't her territory. Things go much smoother without her getting in the way. Chime does some repairs, making a few adjustments here and there. Meanwhile Matilda checks her notes. Both of these tasks are made much easier thanks to Cyre, whose censer gives them a little extra light to work with.

"Aye, lad. I don't think we're alone." Layna says, cracking her knuckles. Soon, the repairs are completely and the doors slide open. The lights soon follow, slowly flickering back on.

"Well, guess we oughta get in there and see..." She says.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Between Chime's tools, despite two breaking and being discarded, and Matilda's notes the wiring is cut, rearranged, and reconnected. The screen blinks off, on, off, on and then runs through it's diagnostic and the door lights up and opens.

"See, that wasn't hard~" Chime remarks cheerfully with a smile as she puts her tools away and moves through the doors first, fitting between them before they even fully open. Which is why only her back is visible as the door finishes open. "Oops, Maybe it wasn't /that/ easy~" she quips in a singsong amused voice as from the walls pods begin to open releasing constructs of some sort.

"Oh dear."

DG: Chime Isa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Alpha.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Oh, it's *this thing.*

Matilda seems quite ready to go when the emergency response construct arrives; this was... within tolerance zones, one would suppose, of what she expected here. "Hmmm... if you have any ability to do so, try overheating it! Usually things of this nature tend to be close to their maximum heat tolerance...!" she offers.

Unfortunately, Matilda doesn't have any such options *herself* -- just the ability to offer suggestions. Her own solution is a little more straightforward; she withdraws a pistol from her coat, takes careful aim, and starts firing on the shell of energy around the Sterilizer.

Sometimes, you just have to take the simple approach.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Alpha.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Aaaaaaaaand there are robots.

Yep.

"You know, when I said I heard something scurrying around in the dark," Cyre grouses as his hand falls to the mediums hidden under his cloak, "I was hoping that I'd conjure like, too-large rats or something. Something nice and easy and not killer security droids." Nothing ever goes as you plan, unfortunately. The shaman sighs as his hand wraps around the stone tablets...

Is he going to transform? Here? Now? On something like this, with the Guardians in such a dire state?

No. Not quite.

Cyre darts forward, wind surging around his limbs. His mouth unhinges, disgorging a catastrophic sonic shockwave that launches him up into the air. Another shockwave blasts downward, sending him rocketing into the machine monster with a vicious, shamanism-powered flying kick...!

The Nahual Arts extend to more than just... Turning into a giant tiger monster, it seems.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Gale Claw toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Alpha.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Yeah, this wasn't...ideal.

"Watch out there, lass!" Layna calls out, sliding into the room alongside Chime. A walking bundle of flamethrowers...that wasn't quite what she expected to run into here today.

"Overheat it, huh? Aye, I might have the thing for that." Layna says. She recites an incantation and leaps over the others, landing atop the shell of energy. One hand holds on tight while the other raises up. The bracer around that wrist begins to emit flame...which is then whipped up by conjured winds into a drill of wind and fire, which Layna /punches/ down into the shield, hoping to pierce right through it and into the construct beyond.

She then leaps off, right as Cyre comes hurtling toward it.

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Alpha.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Alpha *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Large metal pods dot the walls of Cage Tower's underbelly. Some are too       
 eerily organic to be of Filgaian make, while others are obviously sealed      
 containers of some sort, marked with EMERGENCY RESPONSE. Something your       
 party did has restored power to one of these pods, and it hisses open,        
 releasing its occupant.                                                       
                                                                               
 The thing that emerges is a construct of some sort, its body heavily-armored  
 and equipped with flamethrowers on gimballed mounts. Symbological runes on    
 its body flicker, and a shell of ablative energy forms around it as it fires  
 on you!                                                                       
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 3 *>==================
========================< Results - Sterilizer Alpha >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   0 --(15)--> 15                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      5 --(25)--> 30                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     0 --(15)--> 15                 Pass
Gale Claw                           4   Combat  Effects: Efficient and Rally  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           10 --(25)--> 35                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           40 --(10)--> 50                Fail
Conditions: Injure(2)|Wound(2)
Effects: 
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - It's In The Vents *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A nearby vent grating bursts open from the inside, and a horrifying creature  
 surges towards you. In the darkness, it's difficult to get a good look at     
 it, but its spindly arms end in long, curved claws, which it hooks around     
 whomever's closest to the grate. The thing scuttles backwards, trying to      
 drag the unfortunate soul back into the vents with it. Convince it that this  
 was a bad idea.                                                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Chime is quite quick to fade back, letting Layna and Cyre take the front in the fight. Not that it helps her at all against a flamethrower. Her crossbows click and clack as she pulls them from their holsters on her thigh-high boots and fires off a few shots to help, aiming for joints. Not much help, but it was better than nothing!

"Well, that was exciting~" she chimes in a cheerful voice, "It can always get better through~".

"Shall we continue?"

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Beating up a bunch of robots doesn't really help much when you're still not making much actual progress. Cyre sighs and rubs at his shoulders, still sore from recently being trapped underground by a gigantic evil space whale. "Right. Let's... hold on."

The shaman pauses, glancing about. "Something's wrong. I can hear--" Cyre is interrupted when suddenly something awful and covered in black chitin explodes out of a nearby grate and hauls him back up into it by the shoulders. "Augh!" Cyre screams, kicking uselessly into the air as he tries desperately to PUNCH THIS THING IN THE FACE.

This is hard because its face is 'mostly teeth.'

He... might need some help here.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, It's In The Vents.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"...Aye." Layna says with a nod, extinguishing her bracer. They might need to stop for a second and...figure out where they're actually supposed to be heading. She looks around for a second, but she fixates on Cyre when he says something's wrong. It makes sense that he'd hear it first...

...And unfortunately, he's the first victim of it.

"Hold on, lad! I've got ya!" Layna shouts, rushing toward the thing and uppercutting it in the jaw before reaching for one of those spindly arms and trying to give it a good /snap/.

She doesn't care too much about the teeth - she's punched teeth out before and she'll do it again.

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's In The Vents.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

As the vent burst open, Chime's response isn't shock, or being scared, maybe a little surprised, but mostly she breaks down giggling. "It-it burst, chichichichi, out of the vent like, chichichi, a cliche horror story monster~" her voice bubbling with amusement and cheer as she works draws a bead on the creature attempting to maybe eat Cyre's face so it could have a face made of less teeth.

The red-head child-sized elf doesn't stop giggling either as she takes her shot with a crossbow bolt.

DG: Chime Isa has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's In The Vents.


<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

If there's one thing Matilda absolutely *won't* abide, it's attempts to abduct her fellow dungeoneers. She doesn't hear it skittering as clearly as Cyre does, owing to not being as close to the vents -- though once it *does* attempt to abscond with Cyre, Matilda's quick to spring into action.

She goes into a long, low leap toward the vents, drawing the silver blade she picked up on Lunar; without a moment's hesitation, she attempts to solve the problem in the simplest, most direct solution:

Stab it in the head.

The genuine excitement from Chime gets a brief, unnerved look -- but not more than that yet. They have other things to attend to.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's In The Vents.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - It's In The Vents *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A nearby vent grating bursts open from the inside, and a horrifying creature  
 surges towards you. In the darkness, it's difficult to get a good look at     
 it, but its spindly arms end in long, curved claws, which it hooks around     
 whomever's closest to the grate. The thing scuttles backwards, trying to      
 drag the unfortunate soul back into the vents with it. Convince it that this  
 was a bad idea.                                                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 4 *>==================
=======================< Results - It's In The Vents >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   15 --(0)--> 15                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      30 --(0)--> 30                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     15 --(10)--> 25                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           35 --(10)--> 45                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Wound(1)
Effects: 
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead 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> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Grah! Hands off, you damn creepy crawly!" Seriously! Barely a day on Filgaia and already some kind of horrible mutant wildlife is trying to kill him! Has he been on the moon too long!? Has it made him soft??!!

Unfortunately, neither his fists nor a crossbow bolt to the face do much to deter the chittering beast. It screeches greedily, its needle-like limbs scrambling to drag Cyre deeper into the vents. Oh no...!

And then a pirate punches it in the teeth and a neon swordswoman stabs a silver sword into its broken maw. The creature screams, dropping Cyre onto his ass and scurrying back into the safety of its vents.

"Ughh," Cyre groans, wiping the lingering ichor from his face. "T-thanks, ladies. Nice save."

It looks as though the creature dropped something, too. Is that a card-key...? Maybe that'll help them get through a door or something.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Across the Incinerator *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The floor ahead gives way to a sheer drop. Reddish runes glimmer faintly on   
 the walls of the darkened room below, and the smell of soot and rust lingers  
 in the air. Bits of rebar and twisted girders stretch across the gap, but     
 none span the entire chasm--getting across will require planning and careful  
 jumps. At least you can be glad that the incinerator below you is no longer   
 functional.                                                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

With that... bit of unpleasantness out of the way, at least, they can *finally* move forward. It would sure be nice if something didn't attack them for just a few short moments!

Good news: that finally happens. The group is able to progress into the next room, and the next -- at which point they find a massive chasm that is an incinerator, stuck open. Matilda looks down at it... and can't help but be relieved that it looks like it's off. It's at least not... *instantly* lethal if they fall... that's good, right?

Matilda starts to crawl along a length of girder, saying, "Be careful -- try to tap any new foothold or handhold you plan to use with some force, first." Again -- her climbing style is... deliberate, even downright slow.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Across the Incinerator.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Still giggling to herself slightly, Chime beams a bright smile at Cyre, saying "It was mostly their work~" motioning towards Matilda and Layna. She can be heard chittering softly to herself "I'mma use that in the next scary tale I tell a group of children~" as she follows along, reholstering her crossbows on her boots.

When they reach the next area, she moves up to the edge to peer over, taking a sniff and says in a cheerful voice "Soot and smoke with hints of rust~ Something hot and fierce down here. Hmmm, used to remove or to smelt I wonder? Or power?" she askes herself more than anyone in particular at the end as she begins to survey the beams while waiting for Matilda to clear through part of the beams before following. No reason to double up.

Once Matilda is clear of a few beams, Chime hops up onto one and walks along it. The child-sized, lightweight clearly has no fear of heights as she hums while walking around, carefully watching her steps.

DG: Chime Isa has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Across the Incinerator.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Yeah that wasn't fun," Cyre sighs, flicking a bit of gross goo from his fingers. "I really didn't miss being almost eaten by horrible mutants. Being on the moon was a little more relaxing overall, I think. Like a vacation. But I guess it's back to the grind."

Speaking of which!

There's a great big hole in the ground! It reeks of... Burning things. That's a scent that Cyre's become far too familiar with as of late. It conjures memories of Adlehyde two times over, of Hope Springs, and... Of being personally set on fire no less than three different times in the past few months.

It's not a nice smell, it's also one that Cyre recognizes instantly.

"Suuuure is," he mutters at Chime's keen observation. "Wonder if this was some kind of specimen incinerator or something. Burning metal, would make sense if they were setting Metal Demons on fire here. Anyway-- I'll see you guys on the other side? Don't worry, I'll lay some rope."

Again, Cyre goes for a bit of a glide. Isn't flying kind of cheating?

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Across the Incinerator.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"No problem, lad!" Layna says, sending him a grin and a thumbs-up. They move along, and they come across...a /rather/ deep pit. Layna whistles.

"Now that sure is a thing, ain't it?" She remarks. Now, normally she'd jump across here...but there isn't a lot of windflow to take advantage of, and she needs a little more of that than Cyre does to do /her/ brand of cheating.

She also doesn't want to fall in and accidentally activate those runes. She's not sure what they /do/, but it's probably something unpleasant.

"Force, aye? Well, that's one thing I'm good at." She remarks with a chuckle and begins to move along, glancing at Chime as she does so.

"You seem to know your stuff, lass. What do you do, if you don't mind my askin'?" She asks. ...She seems to have no problem making smalltalk while sidling across a precarious ledge above almost-certain death(or at least grievous injury).

"I'd offer ya a drink, but my hands are a little occupied here. Once we get to the other side, though!" She says.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Across the Incinerator.
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Across the Incinerator *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The floor ahead gives way to a sheer drop. Reddish runes glimmer faintly on   
 the walls of the darkened room below, and the smell of soot and rust lingers  
 in the air. Bits of rebar and twisted girders stretch across the gap, but     
 none span the entire chasm--getting across will require planning and careful  
 jumps. At least you can be glad that the incinerator below you is no longer   
 functional.                                                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
===================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 5 *>===================
======================< Results - Across the Incinerator >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   15 --(0)--> 15                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      30 --(0)--> 30                 Pass
Quartermaster's Stash               2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     25 --(0)--> 25                 Pass
Reverse Parachute                   1   Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

To everyone -- even Matilda's -- great surprise, probably, almost none of the girders, beams, and chunks of rebar are appreciably poorly supported. The latticework of wreckage is actually quite strong -- in no small part, probably, because some of the beams have been fused together by heat that is no longer present.

Once they all reach the other side, Matilda... takes a moment to stand and stretch before proceeding. Her slow, deliberate, crawling approach is -- singularly tiring. She needs a moment.


DG: Chime Isa has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Hive Core *>========================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 At one point, this room must have been one of the facility's generators, but  
 now it's a nexus of Metal Beast activity. The walls are covered with silvery  
 pods of various shapes and sizes, and the exits are almost completely         
 overgrown with biometallic tissue. The generator still glows and hums, but    
 now it's covered in layers of metal flesh, tentacles tipped with blades and   
 eyes. Whatever this thing is, it's drawing power from the generator.          
 Destroying the generator might allow you to take it out.                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Moving with ease across the beams, Chime remarks in a cheery voice "Mostly I fix things that others of my skillset choose not too because of the stimga attached to them. I also make things on occansion, through I need a proper smith to forge some of the items~" and she hops off on the far side with a jangling noise, a soft thumping clanking noise from the boxy toolcase attached to the back of her belt at the small of her back.

The far side is a corridor, but a glow is visible even from a distance. And the source of that glow, POWER! Well, a power source and active biometallic tissue. Talk about overgrowth. "Oh my~ That's certainly impressive. I wonder if it was already here and just reawoken? Do you think it grew out from the walls, or from the generator to the walls?" she quips as she scans the room quickly aware they're in danger. "Right well, if someone can get me a clear path to the generator." as she reaches behind her with a clicking noise from the box as she undoes a clamp and pulls it around

Inside the box is a multitude of carefully organized and very well maintained ARMs Meister tools along with gunpowder and other items. From the box the Meister pulls a fist sized bomb and quickly closes and reattaches the box to her belt. "This should do a great deal of destruction~" her voice very bright and chipper.

DG: You use your Tool Path Maker against your party's Challenge, The Hive Core!
DG: Chime Isa has used her Tool Path Maker toward her party's challenge, The Hive Core.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"That so, aye? Well, more power to ya, lass! I can definitely approve o' doin' somethin' most folks would frown at." Layna says with a grin. She /was/ a pirate, after all...if her outfit wasn't enough to figure that out.

They finally get to the other side and find, well...

"...What the hell is this?" Layna asks, staring at the overgrown generator with a raised eyebrow, then glances toward Chime.

"...I dunno, lass, but whatever it is, we're gonna hafta kill it." She says. Was this.../thing/ also a Metal Demon? It wasn't like any she'd ever seen.

"Kinda wish I brought my drill with me...but I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way!" Layna curls one hand into a fist and ignites the bracer on that wrist. She then recites a quick incantation and /punches/ forward, releashing a burning shockwave at the generator!

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hive Core.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Well.

This is certainly pleasant.

"I'm willing to bet that they noticed their Mother's awakening and started taking over the facility to serve as some kind of forward base," Cyre growls at the veritable infestation overtaking the primary reactor. "Look at this thing. It's siphoning the tower's energy to fuel its own growth. There's no way in hell I'm letting this stand. We need to blow it sky high."

Fortunately, Chime seems to have an idea.

"Yeah. We'll clear you a path," Cyre grunts, squeezing one hand into a fist. Spheres of light appear in a tight halo around the shaman, then unwind into an array of arcane circles. They flash in turn, then blaze with light, unleashing a torrent of prismatic energy down the nearest walkway-- and the reactor at the far end.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Hive Core.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Well... one thing at a time. Matilda looks at the generator, then the overgrowth -- then the creature itself. She takes a deep breath, and says, "Let's -- get to work, then." The compounder reaches into her pack, fishing for something -- she hopes Elvis didn't take it by mistake...

... okay, cool, it's still here. After a momentary sigh of relief, Matilda dashes a bottle of something against the generator and its immediately-surrounding overgrowth; it fizzes and bubbles on impact, eating away at everything. This... is all she really has, for this sort of issue. She's certainly not physically strong enough to just... go at it the way Layna does.

She sure likes watching her work, though.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, The Hive Core.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Hive Core *>========================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 At one point, this room must have been one of the facility's generators, but  
 now it's a nexus of Metal Beast activity. The walls are covered with silvery  
 pods of various shapes and sizes, and the exits are almost completely         
 overgrown with biometallic tissue. The generator still glows and hums, but    
 now it's covered in layers of metal flesh, tentacles tipped with blades and   
 eyes. Whatever this thing is, it's drawing power from the generator.          
 Destroying the generator might allow you to take it out.                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 6 *>==================
=========================< Results - The Hive Core >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   15 --(0)--> 15                 Pass
Bubble Lotion                       2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      30 --(15)--> 45                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     25 --(15)--> 40                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Path Maker                          4   Brute   Effects: Liability, Efficient,
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           90 --(0)--> 90                 Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)|Strengthen(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 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> Chime Isa has posed.

Chime ooos as MAtilda throws something at the generator that makes it fizz and bubble and the metal starts falling away. "That's neat~" she says, and then she not there, the child-size elf dashing down the cleared path that Layna and Cyre forced open knocking bladed tentacles aside. Sparks are visible as she strikes something from her vest on the bomb before the short wick takes, and the she drops into a slide three forths of the way tossing the bombing right into the opening MAtilda's bubble lotion had made and scrambles back the way she came.

Not five seconds later, the generator explodes outward in pieces and the tentacles begin to lose mobility immediately as it's size requires much more power than it suddenly has. "That was fun~ What was that?" she askes Matilda, "That looked really useful for a number of things I can think of~" before glancing around to see which exits if any were opening as the biometallic mass began to wilt or shrink without power to sustain it.

DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Plunged Into Darkness *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The generator dies with a horrible crackling noise, underscored by the        
 unearthly screeching of the beast clinging to it. The lights flicker and      
 fail, leaving only a dim red glow near several pods marked EMERGENCY          
 RESPONSE. The bad news is that the beast is still alive, and still glutted    
 on the power it siphoned. It searches the darkness for whatever disturbed     
 it, tapping the ground with its tendrils and listening for any noise. The     
 sterilizer drones inside the emergency pods might prove invaluable, but to    
 get to them, you'll have to keep the monster distracted.                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

The generator explodes, and the terrible /thing/ lets out a screech and flails wildly as flames lick at its flesh. Soon even those flames go out, leaving them all in complete darkness. Bladed tentacles lash out blindly. Layna presses her back against the wall as one of them comes swinging out.

"...Damn, it isn't dead." She hisses. In response one of those blades comes flashing toward her, which she narrowly avoids. ...Okay, so it was sensitive to sound. Good to night.

She draws out her telescope and uses it to take a good look around the area. She spots the dim red light and zooms in closer.

...Another Emergency Response pod? There was always a chance it could turn on them, but...

She isn't sure the others can see her, but she gestures toward the pod, points to the others, and makes a pulling motion. She then reaches down for a piece of debris from the generator that Chime's bomb made and tosses it in the opposite direction of the pod. It impacts the metal and makes a loud /CLANG/, which the beast immediately goes for.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

As the lights flicker, Chime tilts her head, and then says "Oh... Yeah.. I guess it would have it's own reserve of power or access to another smaller source else where maybe." and rubs her chin, her voice cheerful and curious as ponders. She glances about the room, and then nods at Layna.

"Agreed, think you two can get the pod open?" she askes of Matilda and Cyre, before "Oh~ I can help distract it I bet~" Chime says with an amused voice, a book coming out into her hand as she walks away from the group and begins to read loudly while skipping, "Heated pickle plums added to hot tea can help lower one's temperature to get over a heat sickness faster~. Grilled spring onion fresh from the grill wrapped in gauze and bundled help improve blood circulation and reduce inflammation when appled to the injury~" Also moving as she speak in a random pattern as she reads off... old home remedies? "Grated ginger and seasame oil applied to the temple and forehead can relieve a headache~" her voice bubbling with cheer and amusement.

DG: You use your Tool Cure-Alls against your party's Challenge, Plunged Into Darkness!
DG: Chime Isa has used her Tool Cure-Alls toward her party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda goes *dead* silent when she sees the creature isn't dead -- conveniently a good plan, given the circumstances. When they discover that they need to distract it while they find a more... indirect, solution, Matilda is about to suggest a very complex plan --

-- annnd Chime just rolls out, wandering and reading loudly. Well... that's... a thing that technically... Matilda has no actual response to this. This is honestly the most nerve-wracked she's been about the particular flavor of someone's assistance on a Dig since at least Ethius.

Nevertheless, she starts scooting toward the emergency response pod, checking her notes on the place for any guidance once close enough to the light to read.

DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Damn, it isn't dead," Cyre spits. Almost the same time Layna does, actually. He glances briefly her way, then barely stifles a laugh before flashing a quick thumbs up. Of course, she can't see it, but he can! Kind of. That's what matters in the end.

"I'm going to be basically worthless when it comes to getting that thing open, so I'll leave that to you guys. Let's see if we can't make life a little harder for this thing." Cyre takes in a breath and leaps toward a nearby scaffold, then another, before finally coming to a stop 'behind' the creature.

The shaman's eyes shut tight, focusing on the air currents swirling through the room. He reaches out to them, whipping them into a frenzy of gales that rush in at the creature from one angle, then another, then another again. It may not be as distracting as, say, jumping in as a horrifying elemental force made manifest, but poking the beast from every which way is about as good as Cyre can do to help at this point...!

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Plunged Into Darkness *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The generator dies with a horrible crackling noise, underscored by the        
 unearthly screeching of the beast clinging to it. The lights flicker and      
 fail, leaving only a dim red glow near several pods marked EMERGENCY          
 RESPONSE. The bad news is that the beast is still alive, and still glutted    
 on the power it siphoned. It searches the darkness for whatever disturbed     
 it, tapping the ground with its tendrils and listening for any noise. The     
 sterilizer drones inside the emergency pods might prove invaluable, but to    
 get to them, you'll have to keep the monster distracted.                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 7 *>==================
=====================< Results - Plunged Into Darkness >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matilda Whitehead                   15 --(5)--> 20                 Fail
Portable Library                    1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Captain's Telescope                 3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     40 --(0)--> 40                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chime Isa                           45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Cure-Alls                           1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse              
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Matilda Whitehead           90 --(30)--> 120               Pass
Conditions: Stupify(2)|Weaken(1)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Matilda Whitehead has successfully explored Cage Tower - High Security!
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>=======================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - A Lockbox *>==========================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 At the end of a short hallway is an old storage room--cold storage, judging   
 by the chill in the air, and the frost on nearby surfaces. The security door  
 has long since been pried open, and most of the inside is a wreck, but        
 there's a small lockbox sitting near the door. It looks undamaged, and        
 preservation Symbols indicate it might hold perishable materials.             
 Interesting.                                                                  
                                                                               
 OOC: You should send in a +request to staff about this Discovery!             
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

The plan is launched into action. Chime darts out...and begins to read loudly from a book!? The creature lashes out at her with bladed tentacles...but her small size makes it difficult for it to hit. And if that wasn't bad enough for it, Cyre soon begins the most high stakes game of 'I'm not touching you' that anyone might have ever been played - manipulating the wind currents to poke it from every angle.

This whips it into a frenzy....but unable to actually see what was touching it, it merely lashes out at nothing time and time again.

There isn't a whole lot of light for Matilda to read with, and the commotion going on behind her might make it difficult to concentrate...but eventually, she'll find what she needs to get it open.

Inside the pod is another Sterilizer. Thankfully, this time it's faced with a problem that's higher on the priority scale than the party. It lashes out at the beast with flames...and, thankfully, manages to burn open one of the exits that was being blocked off.

"Let's move!" Layna says, dashing through. Eventually they get to the end of the short hallway beyond it, and find what appears to be a cold storage room.

It looks like they weren't the first one here...but that wasn't to say there was nothing of interested left. Inside there's a small, pristine lockbox coated in symbols. Layna reaches for it...and then stops.

"...This looks important." She says. She doesn't touch it just yet. She doesn't know Symbology - for all she knows, they'll explode if someone touches it.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

The small book the elf was reding from vanishes back to where ever in her vest she had it, and Chime quickly follows the group out of the generator room with a bright smile. "That was fun~" she remarks cheerfully as the reach safety more or less. Then she notices the storage room and looks around at first the wreckage, and then the box.

"I've seen that symbol all over Krosse at the inns~ Preservation of organic items. Mmm, fresh vegatables all year around is nice." Chime remarks rather casually as she moves up to look down at the box more closely.

"I'd assume through, this one does not have anything delicious to eat, but maybe something delicious to learn~" with a slight nod. "Through... Why is it here when everything else is wrecked or taken?" she asks, moving slightly away to better examine the rest of the room for a few moments.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda's knowledge of Symbols is -- passing. She learned her letters in Marze, and it'd be hard not to pick up a little... but much more than that is beyond her. She's no symbologist.

Once she scoots toward the box, though... she's able to at least give Chime's interpretation the nod. "Yes, that's right. I think if we wanted to do much with this... well, we can *take* it, but if we want to open it... hmmm."

Matilda considers this. "Let me send a message ahead to Dr. Jeane and find out who's still in office in the Agriculture or Symbology colleges, the next time we track down a Memory Cube. I'd rather go to Marze for this sort of thing, but..." ... yeah, that's not happening. Or at least, not without risks that Matilda doesn't want to incur without a plan.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre is a little brother. Barely. He learned from an early age how to properly annoy the ever living hell out of everyone and everything around him.

It's practically his birthright.

He gets a sort of smug self-satisfaction out of the way he puppets the abomination this way and that. His ego is rapidly quashed when a tendril gets far too close for comfort and the shaman backwheels into a hasty retreat. Best to let the robots deal with this thing now. Time to go...!

...To a freezer.

With a thing...!

A locked thing.

"Huh," Cyre huffs; well, it's not... /immediately/ a solution to their Mother-shaped problems. "I think the historical linguistics department down at Linga still owes me a favor, but I'm not sure if there's much overlap with their Symbology researchers. Well, anyway, Linga's probably as good a place as any." Even if Marze would probably be better. But...

Well uh. That whole place is super haunted right now.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Preservation, huh?" Layna asks with a glance at Chime, looking back at the box again. Matilda backs her up and Layna nods.

Matilda offers her solution, and Cyre soon follows it up with an agreement.

"I'm probably still on the top of the 'Public Enemy List' down there, so, uh, aye, probably best to avoid Krosse." Layna says with a nod toward Matilda. She wasn't looking for a confrontation with them...

.../Yet/, anyway. That would come in its own, sweet time.

"Linga it is, then! If you know what you're doin', lass, I'll leave it to you, aye?" She says. "Can't help but be curious, though..."

She was a pirate, after all. As a pirate, it was her duty to know what was inside locked containers.

<Pose Tracker> Chime Isa has posed.

Chime rolls her shoulders, it's not really a shrug but it's certainly a whatever motion. Smiling brightly, she turns back to the others and says "I suppose it is. Hmm, I wonder when the next tournament of arms is~ I remember having a steady flow of side work last time I was in Lacour for that."

Looking to Matilda, she says "It sounds you've the best chance of getting into hands that can make good use of it young lady, so why don't you take it~ Through do stop by Adlehyde, you'll likely want company should the Metallic Ones choose to take issue with it, or to deal with what I would assume the most likely request from the researchers in turn for conducting a study on it." with a bright smile. "I'm sure it'll be an interesting time regardless, and make many a good tale." the four and half foot tall elf says in a cheerful voice.