2018-09-06: How Prescient
- Log: How Prescient
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Lunata Croze, Shalune Amira
- Where: Cage Tower
- Date: September 6th 2018
- Summary: Josie recruits Shalune and Lunata for an expedition into Cage Tower. Lunata asks Josie for a favor. The nature of Metal Beasts -- and Metal Demons -- are discussed.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The plan for Josie's perspective had been relatively simple in the end:
Head west and investigate Cage Tower, specifically to see if anything could be shaken out of the ruin's aging stones. Story had it the ruins were as old as the Metal Demon War, and Josie's last trip here, nearly a year prior, had turned up some intriguing (but ultimately, mysterious) suggestions of the purpose of the tower and...
Well, let's face it. They're looking to try to negotiate or take on (nearly) all the Metal Demons. In either case they'll need more information and more bargaining chips/anti-Demon weaponry.
Which might be one of the reasons why Josie had gone looking for a certain pink-haired tinkerer.
"Looks like it's straight down," Josie comments, peering down into the pit. "Upstairs was some sort of Symbological oven," she explains, straightening from gazing into the abyss long enough to turn a look over her shoulder, back at both girls.
"Somehow, I don't think that'll be much use. Unless we could get Mother to jump in an oven for us?" She lets out a short, sharp-edged laugh. "Well, I suppose we'll see what we've got on down here. Mind your step, kids. ...Not that there's much of one!"
With that, the archaeologist starts to slowly and one-handedly make her way down the elevator shaft.
Penelope opts to simply wing on down, fluttering alone into the dark.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata kinda spent the entirety of the battle of Adlehyde on cleanup, squishing Metal Beasts and anyone unfortunate enough to have been forgotten by their leaders when they teleported away with the Rephaim... and now she's here, since -- let's face it, Shalune probably brought her along.
She hasn't been around in a bit, in no small part because she fought an Aeon with her own Guardian and pretty much paid the price for it (7 months 13 days, she just very recently found out).
"... are we just... going to keep calling her 'Mother'? Like-- not even a codename or anything? That's going to get confusing for anyone who still has a mom," Lunata muses somewhat idly, before staring down the shaft--
--and just throwing herself wholesale after Penelope into the dark. Yyyyyeah.
A moment later though, there's a loud, keening noise as the Yggdra Cable launches upwards and nearly takes the poor Little Dipper out as it bites its way through one side of the elevator shaft's wall, then the other. A noise of steam and winching is heard as Lunata's fall breaks.
"It's safe down here! No ambush or anything," she echoes out.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Yggdra Cable toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Said pink-haired girl probably doesn't count as a tinkerer at this point, even if she's too modest about her work to ever admit it; most tinkerers don't exactly have a golem of their own, nor significant experience with Veruni and Metal Demon tech, nor can they be found carefully trying to tear down a golem arm of suspiciously ancient make on a large tarp set up next to the Carakin.
Evidently doing her best to be upbeat, she's quick to agree to come along - and sure enough, she'd fussed and fretted over Lunata as well, doing her best to prod the waitress into taking a break. How exactly 'descend into a ruin' is a break in her mind is anyone's guess, but she's looking excited and ready for adventure as she hops aboard the Little Dipper and begins gently hovering downwards.
"... I wonder how big she is?" her voice echoes down the lift shaft. The pads on the base of her scooter thrum with power, providing a low and ambient kind of illumination which is completely ruined by the pair of flashlights she's taped to the sides of it. "Metal Demons and Metal Dragons both come in super-huge and tiny-cute size, after all. And, I mean, it's kinda a codename in and of itself, isn't it? 'Agent Mother, contact Agent Uncle, over'."
The silly voice she's putting on in an attempt to keep things light and clown around is cut off with a yelp; she has to swing to one side to avoid the cable streaking past her, and then she looks over the edge with a solid pout. "Lunieee! I've told you before, I made tether points you could use so you don't haveta just fling yourself downwards! Jeez!"
DG: Shalune Amira has used her Tool Little Dipper toward her party's challenge, Down the Shaft. ========================<* 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Yggdra Cable 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shalune Amira 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Little Dipper 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Hmm. Maybe," Josie says with a shrug. "My mother died when I was pretty young, so I didn't even think about it that way..." Her hand rests for a moment on her hip, her dark-eyed gaze tilted to the frame above the door to the elevator shaft. "So! Any ideas? 'Filgaia's Big Problem'? 'MAD', for Mother of All Demons? Hm... no, those are missing a certain something..." She sighs out a breath, before moving to sling over to a likely-looking handhold--
And to hang there with a briefly blank-eyed stare as Lunata goes catapulting downwards into the depths of the elevator shaft.
"Uh... kiddo?"
*SNAP* comes the line as it slams upwards and nearly makes Josie lose her grip in the wall.
"...A little warning next time, okay?" she calls down, before continuing to inch herself lower the hard way.
"...Good question," she answers Shalune belatedly. "I guess it depends on how they make more Metal Demons, right?"
She grabs onto a dangling section of elevator cord and swings over across the shaft.
"Do they hatch like birds? Live birth? Or do they just make them? ...Heh, I'd ask, but it's kind of embarrassing..."
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Beasts! *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It happens suddenly, while your party is busy with something else. Ozone fills the air, and several spindly shapes appear from out of nowhere, transported to your location by the facility's malfunctioning teleportation system. They look equal parts reptilian and insectile--their arms end in long, curved claws, and their mouths are full of needle-sharp fangs. They let out horrible screeching cries, and leap to the attack! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Sorrryyy," Lunata calls out in a way that kinda sounds like she's not totally sorry. Teenagers, geez. Shalune muses on how big Mother might be, and then she remarks...
"Maybe she's just human sized? Or maybe she's massive. You're right, there's no one size for all or anything... even in Wayside, there's all kinds of types." A pause. "Name, though, uh... ... get back to you--"
There's a growl from below, as Lunata glances around while she waits for Josephine and Shalune to make it down-- and then a gigantic Metal Beast that's a hybrid between a reptile and a mantis draws forward, forcing her to parry with Orochi-Agito at the last moment as she gets shoved against the wall in a shower of sparks.
"Ugh-- I guess there's still a bunch of live ones?!" Lunata calls.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts!.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Muu," responds Shalune with her cheeks puffed out like a hamster, but at least she seems upbeat about it; there's something comforting for her about just delving down into a ruin without too much of a care for the world, seeing what can be found below.
"Oh, oh, I know that one," she blurts as she safely descends, having been around Wayside enough to pick up on a few things. "They're pretty much forged and built, from what I understand it, just out of this blobby twisty living metal. Apparently, some of the Tainted are the way they are 'cause theirs was lower grade or something? Seems like nonsense if you ask me," she puffs up protectively, but then she does tend to use scrap for everything and anything, patchwork as ever.
Something makes her pause uncertainly, having a vague inkling of an oncoming attack - then she yelps as she sees Lunata suddenly get ploughed into a wall, and her hands tighten on the handlebars as she sticks her feet into two little straps on the base of her craft and turns the Little Dipper abruptly downwards. It doesn't have a lot of space to accelerate, but it doesn't need it, not when Shalune can choose to cut the engines and let gravity do all the work, crashing down into the creature rounded point first.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Could be. Or maybe she's the size of the Fereshte," Josie comments, carefully finding a ledgelike spot with a booted foot. Going this slowly costs her, but it's possibly the better option against a dive down the shaft into the less-than-soft rocks that are probably below.
"Built, huh? Guess that makes sense. ...I was sort of hoping for eggs, though, yeah?" Another step down. Whew... it's tiring.
"Besides, the stories said that there were things like dragon eggs... but, heh, guess that wasn't exactly true."
Considering she's met a dragon and Lombardia doesn't really look like it hatched out of anything.
Penelope is nowhere to be seen.
(a good eye will see a brighter patch of something tucked into a hole high up on the wall; the reason for why Penelope might have opted for tighter quarters becomes clearer soon after)
"Metal Beasts, huh," Josie comments; being last down has its perks when creatures begin to materialize out of the debris of the lower sections of the tower. She has enough time to gaze out at the oncoming horde, enough time to even watch as the younger girls engage the insectoid creatures and take a nip from her suddenly in hand flask.
After which she produces her rifle, using the bottom of the shaft as a sort of cover.
"Incoming fire, kids! Look sharp!" she calls out, trusting in Metal Beasts to be Metal Beasts.
...One wonders if they've come here recently, or if they were left here.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts!.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Beasts! *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It happens suddenly, while your party is busy with something else. Ozone fills the air, and several spindly shapes appear from out of nowhere, transported to your location by the facility's malfunctioning teleportation system. They look equal parts reptilian and insectile--their arms end in long, curved claws, and their mouths are full of needle-sharp fangs. They let out horrible screeching cries, and leap to the attack! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Tire=============================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 2 *>================== =========================< Results - Metal Beasts! >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 5 --(0)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Tire(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Lunata Croze has posed.
There's a rather loud *grunch* kind of sound as Little Dipper just literally squishes the mantis that Lunata's holding at bay. It seems like it'll work for a moment, before it starts howling again and flailing, which is enough of a pause to get Lunata swatted to one side and Shalune just kinda naturally tumbles off to one side because round.
Penelope continues being suspicious... and Jospehine plugs the Metal Beasts down with her rifle by the time Lunata gets free to start carving away with her blade, possibly aided by Shalune's makeshift bombs.
...
"Ugh, this white stuff kinda burns," Lunata complains as she throws away a rag as it sizzles lightly from where it's slicked with quicksilver blood. "'Living' metal? What makes it... living, exactly? Where do they get it from?"
A pause, as she stares at Josephine to go, "Why -are- you hoping for eggs? ... just to steal something and sell it?"
DG: Shalune Amira 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josephine holsters the rifle after a quick review of the Gawain-series' ARM's functioning. Then, she glances at Lunata to give her a lopsided grin. "Raise one, actually!"
She continues on a few steps. "If it's an egg, I can probably get it to hatch."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune is actually looking - gasp! - a little less round than normal.
That's not to say she's particularly harmed at all when she's thrown off the Little Dipper, because when it gets down to it she's always been a pretty hardy soul, with a natural toughness for nicks and scrapes born of climbing around machinery and smacking things with hammers. It's more that she's made a bit of an attempt to clean herself up a bit and not wear so many tatty layers, feeling a bit self-conscious about how young she must look next to Jay and Lunata.
Not that she'd admit that.
"Ah-- um, that one I don't know. I kinda figured I couldn't really roll up to someone in Wayside and ask to see some," she scratches at her cheek, the sheepish expression on her face recalling those times when she nearly offered to 'fix' some of the Tainted if she could. "Best guess is that it's like a liquid, I s'pose, but I don't know what'd make it different to mercury. They haven't gone 'round drinking every thermometer they see."
Josie gets what is, for Shalune, a terrifically diplomatic smile. "Maybe Miss Riese would know--" she starts to say--
--before squeaking with surprise as the wall next to her suddenly explodes outwards and a pair of mandibles clamp onto her shoulders. Thankfully, her coat is still enough to stop them immediately sinking into her - and thankfully, her noise is one of surprise, but not fright.
A little restricted, she's still got space for her hand to go to her belt, pulling out a short, thick rod and pointing it back over her shoulder.
The latest upgrade to her shotstaff is apparently to let it fire even when it's in a compact form, as there's a sudden burst of light and heat that threatens to singe her own ear.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata stares at Josephine for a long moment, and says, "Why don't you just adopt... I don't know, Riese or something, she basically gets hurt about as much as any other kid?"
Putting your own alts on blast with another notwithstanding, -and- the deep hypocrisy of her own statement notwithstanding-- she helps Shalune up after she's done cleaning her own blade...
... only to have those mandibles clamp onto her shoulders, and there's a little snarl as she goes, "Oh no you don't!"
Viewed from just the right angle: Lunata stabs her katana straight through Shalune's head!
Zoom to the proper angle: Lunata's shoving her weapon straight through the hole in that wall to just squelch whatever's inside. Hopefully it's not yellow bellied and badly translated.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's In The Vents.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Living metal... no idea. Maybe it's made from a few different things, yeah? Like a piece of bread isn't a meal on its own." Something to ask after -- and probably less awkward than querying after their means of reproduction.
Josie, for her part, waves a hand in the air. "Eh, don't worry about it. It was just a random thought, and I don't think I'd luck into a dragon egg, if they even hatch to start with..."
Though her lips do quirk in a brief amused arch. "Heh heh. You know, sometimes I wonder about that girl's upbringing..."
She might want to ask more about Metal Demon family life someday. Just maybe.
And then some nasty critter sseems to lean on right out of the wall and snag Shalune.
"--Now wait just a--"
Josie's quick draw is somewhat less quick for one long moment where it looks to her -- from her point of view -- like Lunata's just stabbed Shalune straight through the head. It takes her a moment, an eyeblink really, to realize this isn't so.
And then she slides the sidearm -- the Iron Cobra -- from her belt and takes one unaimed crack of a shot for the hole in the wall. Let's hope for no ricochet.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's In The Vents. DG: Shalune Amira 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 3 *>================== =======================< Results - It's In The Vents >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 5 --(3)--> 8 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 5 --(3)--> 8 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Shalune Amira has posed.
It takes an effort of will, but somehow Shalune manages to remember not to move at all.
Her own shot goes slightly wide, as the struggling of the creature pulls her arm back down towards her side - thankfully, the bolt of light just impacts against the wall rather than cut a hole in her own side.
The sight of Lunata raising her katana right at her sparks a tiny moment of fear - she's had a nightmare about this once, back when Lunata was at her most angry - but then her eyes harden with trust and certainty. Out the corner of one eye, she can see Josie begin to draw her sidearm, but there's no time or space to focus on it further.
And just like that, the hanging moment is over, as two attacks hit home just on either side of her head - the creature squeals in pain and convulses, its flailing giving Shalune time to just drop straight down out of its reach into a ball on the ground. The next moment it's evidently given up, retreating back into the vent and leaving a sickly yellow fluid...
... half of which is gunked over Shalune's pink hair, as she makes a pricelessly sulky expression. Thankfully, this particular creature doesn't appear to have been acidic, but its blood certainly doesn't smell all that pleasant either. "Uwaaah..." Shalune whines as she tries her best to wipe some of the viscous gunk off.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Altered Drones *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A low hum precedes the arrival of several strange objects, each roughly the size of a human head. Arrays of glassy lenses, strange manipulator arms, and odd symbols hint at their original function, but whatever these constructs once were, they've been reconfigured into something more dangerous. Strange, biometallic material pulses around holes in their casing, and extrudes into long, whip-like blades. Whatever altered them also made them extremely aggressive. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie at least has the decency to look a little bit sheepish. "Sorry 'bout that, kiddo!" she calls out to Shalune, pacing over a few steps as she holsters her sidearm. "Still, whatever that thing was, it's learned its lesson," Josie says, while glaring daggers into the now empty (and slightly sticky with yellow goo) crevice the thing crawled back into.
'I've got my eyes on you', that glance might as well read.
"...Here, use my canteen," she says, tossing over her water bottle next.
Before whipping her head over to the still-untraversed corridor. "Something's... making my teeth hurt," the archaeologist comments aloud.
The dull barely-audible hum grows louder by degrees.
Before a series of the things, glittering with ancient tech and strange mechanisms and boasting a quite definite hostility, buzz their way on into the room.
"Looks like we're making nothing but friends today," Josie comments, before she glancs over at Shalune. As if to say, 'are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
Though they might want to think fast -- these things are moving quickly and they're armed.
With a mutter beneath her breath and the barest waggle of her fingers, Josie casts a burst of light -- that little handy sphere of light she often uses, this time keyed to 'detonate' in a flash -- for the foremost of the group. Maybe it'll stun them, and then they can take them out with a minimum of damage to the parts!
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Altered Drones.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
There's a sigh of relief as she holds her hand out for Shalune again, and says a little more carefully, "Sorry. ... really had me on edge, that one," as she sets the katana aside and helps Shalune mop her head of pink hair off with another cloth. Which is probably starting to dig into her napkin and tablecloth supplies, but what can you do?
Lunata looks towards Josephine's sidearm and says, "... d'you take pupils on, by the way? I've been-- wanting to... learn how to use an ARM, sometimes. From someone who's not my dad," she adds with a scowl, glancing towards Shalune's shotstaff again.
Josie comments her teeth's hurting, though, and she can ehar it too-- and the drones emerge. "More Metal Demon things? Or...?"
She doesn't dwell on that question much longer, because she just charges forward -- past the group of drones, conveniently looking away from Josephine's 'flashbang' spell...
... then wallruns up, before bounding off for a cleaving hack.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Altered Drones.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Thank youuu..." bawls Shalune to both her companions, her quiet desire to look more mature and strong for Jay and Lunata's sake taking a momentary backseat to the side of her that just goes 'ewwww, groooooossss' and fusses over her hair. Knowing full well how important it can be to conserve water, she only uses a splash of it - but that's at least enough to get the worst of the splatter off of her.
She can at least give Lunata a bright smile afterwards, hugging onto the other girl - carefully - as thanks for her help. "... it's okay. I knew you'd come through! Ah-- I guess this one'd be a little weird to try to learn with, huh?" she adds sheepishly.
When the odd, half-mechanical creatures swing into view, Shalune doesn't actually return Josie's glance - mostly because her own gaze is set dead ahead at them, her brow furrowing as she tries to pick out details of their construction. "That-- that looks like it could be Elw-made, but it kind of feels like something's off," she mutters more to herself than the pair with her. "Too crazy and chaotic, maybe? I mean, the Elw liked neat, regular shapes from what I've seen, and--"
Her thoughts are broken when a strange protrusion, half shattered metal and half odd tissue, whips through the air towards her; she's fast enough to roll under it, and when she pulls herself back up to one knee it's with the now-extended shotstaff over her shoulder, pointed directly at the centre mass of the nearest creature as it spits light in that direction.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Altered Drones.
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Altered Drones *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A low hum precedes the arrival of several strange objects, each roughly the size of a human head. Arrays of glassy lenses, strange manipulator arms, and odd symbols hint at their original function, but whatever these constructs once were, they've been reconfigured into something more dangerous. Strange, biometallic material pulses around holes in their casing, and extrudes into long, whip-like blades. Whatever altered them also made them extremely aggressive. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
===================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 4 *>=================== ==========================< Results - Altered Drones >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 8 --(25)--> 33 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 8 --(15)--> 23 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shalune Amira 8 --(25)--> 33 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Backup Generator *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The smell of ozone lies thick in the air. Ahead lies a door whose sign is still legible: AUXILIARY POWER. Inside, the remains of some sort of massive generator spark and hum, still active after centuries. At one point, it looks like it had metal shielding around its strange, crystalline innards, but something has stripped it away like the rind of a fruit. Now, the generator's cabling lies all over the floor, electrifying anything it touches. Fortunately, there's a path to the other side, but to use it, your party will have to get through without touching anything electrified, including most of the floor. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's Josie's turn to regard Lunata for a handful of moments. "...You want to be a student, huh? So fixing or -- alright. You want to learn how to shoot, then." She pauses, looking the girl over again with a somewhat expressionless look on her face.
"Well then, what do you want to learn how to shoot? If it's your Gear's weaponry, you'll have to work that one out on your own, but I can probably give you some pointers. If you're talking personal ARMs... you've come to the right place. You have one already in mind?"
By which she probably means, 'do you have an ARM?'
"I might do you a favor for a favor for shooting practice, but if you need an ARM... I'll have to charge you on that one," she explains.
Then that strange vibration buzzes outwards through the air, sending teeth and bone ajitter with the pulse that goes beyond the audible range.
Light flares out.
"Elw, you think? Looks like it's been altered," Josie says, pulling back a step as another one charges right on through the lingering dazzle of her light spell. Another follows suit, pressing in; a well-placed lash slashes through the sleeve of her shirt and draws a line of red across her left bicep. Josie hisses in irritation, forced in the end to let loose with a bolt of electricity...
Which naturally fries that one. A bullet takes care of the other harrying her.
A cleaving blade -- as Lunata drops upon her enemies and lays into them -- takes out yet another trio.
And the last, lonely drone...
Taken out by the shotstaff.
They might be able to salvage a few parts from this, but the stilled remnants are looking a little bit fried and broken.
"Damn," is Josie's assessment.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata descends with a tired wheeze on the other side, a little nicked from the hail of bullets on her rather reckless jump. Fortunately, all the drones are down by the time she recovers.
"I'm..." Lunata pauses, as she hefts her katana up again and looks at it. "... not going to be able to rely on this forever," she remarks, but not in a regretful tone -- as if to imply that she's going to have to -- or want -- to fight against it.
"My Gear's weapons... are fine, actually," Lunata comments. "Whatever strange muscle memory this cube imparted on me extends that far too. But... I guess -- it's about learning something for myself that didn't come from the Medium."
She laughs at Shalune and says, "Yeah, too weird. I'd want something that doesn't try to fork into five and make me dinner for a start, Lunie. Also, no, I guess I've got to find an ARM first, Josie."
She scratches her head and says, "I've got... some money, but I'm not exactly swimming in it. I can totally feed you or give you room and board in Adlehyde, though..."
As Shalune and Josie consider what they can acquire from the fallen drones, Lunata notices--
"Wait, do you smell that?"
The smell of ozone is thick in the air from ahead, and a door marked AUXILIARY POWER lies ahead. The remnant of a massive generator sparks and hums...
"Ah, geez, it's a live hazard in here--!" Lunata steps back as live sparks fly out. "I might..."
She reaches towards the box-like contraption that the cable is stored in, and guns it forward--
--and the ex-waitress lurches forward, hopefully over the electricity and pinning it towards the ceiling as she glides onto the other side. "I'll try to make a rope using the Cable, but can you find something else to stop it?!"
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune hesitates to take the shot, but-- the whip is coming down towards her, and she'd more interested in being alive than keeping souvenirs. She's got enough to go on already. "... I don't know," she says eventually in response to Josie's question, straightening up as she does so. For once, she looks almost solemn, frowning in thought as she nudges the scattered pieces with a boot. "... it wasn't even that it looked altered, so much as just-- wrong."
The mechanic pauses, looks at the biomechanical pieces - and quietly decides not to keep any of them. She doesn't shiver as she tucks her staff away, but it's pretty clear she's really not liking the idea of keeping the bits in case they decide to start moving again somehow.
Shaking it away, she breaks into a smile at Lunata. "Ah, well-- you know, I know a couple of places where we might be able to find some busted ones for cheap? A lot of people sell broken ones, when all they really need is a decent fix job. Maybe not the shooting, but I can teach you maintaining it, at least."
She's already wrinkling her nose in familiarity when they turn the corner, and the sight of the busted generator isn't much of a surprise to her. "See, this is why you need maintenance," she huffs, already pulling out the Little Dipper once more to hop onto the back. Piloting a metal flying scooter through a bunch of arcing cables might in any other situation be a deeply terrible idea - but for some reason, the craft doesn't appear to conduct.
Over the din of crackling sparks, she pauses to begin following the paths of the myriad cables, following them upwards towards the roof as she calls: "Look out for a stop button! There's probably one around somewhere on the walls!"
They need to be fast: already, her hair is getting dangerously frizzy...!
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Yggdra Cable toward her party's challenge, Backup Generator. DG: Shalune Amira has used her Tool Little Dipper toward her party's challenge, Backup Generator.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I hear you. Something's off about this. It reminds me a little of those Metal Beasts, but I can't say I know those from Fengalon outside trading shots with 'em a few times."
Lunata isn't the only one giving that sword a long hard look.
"Hm. Well, can't blame you on that one, kiddo," she says. "It's always good to have more than one way to skin the cat, or however you want to put it. Yeah? ...Or just doing it for yourself. Heh..." Her glance turns towards Shalune.
"Oh, yeah. I'm sure you could find some scrap parts. It'd take a bit of time, but nothing too long. A week, maybe? That's including collecting parts and the assembly. Faster, if you've got someone with a workbench I can borrow."
Josie pauses. "Maybe out in the Seed Cities, or Aveh, if you don't. I'm running a little low on my kit, anyway."
The perils of living on the moon for about five months.
"Anyway -- let's call it a deal, shall we? You kiddos still have that Golem -- if that thing can get up and running, well... it's not really an even trade for you, is it?" Her lips quirk lopsidedly. "Still, it's your planet too. What have you got to lose?"
Before they follow the scent of the ozone and find a generator that's definitely had better days.
"Huh. Bad stuff," Josie comments, watching the sparks sizzle through the air.
Penelope stays defiantly outside.
With care she starts to make her way towards the opposite wall, tracing the cabling. "If there's not a button there's probably a hub for this -- if worse comes to worst, we'll break it."
And hope they don't all get electrocuted, but so it goes.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Backup Generator.
=======================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Backup Generator *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The smell of ozone lies thick in the air. Ahead lies a door whose sign is still legible: AUXILIARY POWER. Inside, the remains of some sort of massive generator spark and hum, still active after centuries. At one point, it looks like it had metal shielding around its strange, crystalline innards, but something has stripped it away like the rind of a fruit. Now, the generator's cabling lies all over the floor, electrifying anything it touches. Fortunately, there's a path to the other side, but to use it, your party will have to get through without touching anything electrified, including most of the floor. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
==================<* Cage Tower - High Security - Round 5 *>================== ========================< Results - Backup Generator >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 33 --(15)--> 48 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 23 --(30)--> 53 Fail Yggdra Cable 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 33 --(30)--> 63 Fail Little Dipper 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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: Shalune Amira 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> Lunata Croze has posed.
Josephine finds enough of a route towards the cabling to lead towards a fuse box, and Shalune suggests finding a stop button. Lunata stares towards the fuse box and yells:
"I can't find a Stop Button there's only one that says OFF!"
A pause. "Oh..."
Lunata throws the lever, and the electricity mercifully peters out, but at the cost of Shalune's hair being a luniefro... maybe...??
Lunata's hair isn't doing much better either. "... whew. I wouldn't have wanted to get cooked there," she murmurs, rubbing her chin. "Ugh, I want to have a break and have soup..."
A pause, for a moment and she nods to say, "I'll figure something out. Worst case, I raid dad's cabinet and grab something he doesn't want me getting my hands on." Lunata... you're getting to be such a rebel...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
The mechanic sags on the Little Dipper, sighing out in relief. She's developed a healthy respect for electricity in her line of work; it's not the first time she's had to jump away from an arc or get her coat singed by it. With another pout, she squints as she picks at her hair, then touches the nearby wall to let herself ground; she doesn't yelp, but there's a telltale snap of static electricity.
"Mm... I'm sure we'll get a chance soon," she says sympathetically to Lunata, then bobs as she guides the Little Dipper onwards, trying to track down what exactly the auxiliary power was auxiliary to. "But, um, I really think all you'd have to do is ask Mrs. Croze real nice and she'd probably get you something wildly dangerous. ... maybe that's not the best plan, I guess, but..."
So focused is Shalune on following the wires of the generator, she doesn't notice at first that the room has abruptly opened up around them into a larger chamber - it's only once her mind registers the way in which the ever-present thrum changes that she looks up, and has to pause in sheer astonishment at the degree to which the generator has been co-opted.
"... u-uhhh... I guess we know how Metal Beasts grow after all," she wavers as she tries to take it in, her mind stuck both yelling about the danger and taking in as many details about the organic metal as she can. She allows herself a single pouting moment, glancing to Josephine before eying one of the pods. "... are you gonna risk taking one of those?"
"We need to tell Miss Riese about this place, I think," she adds at a mumble, already eying the generator. "But-- I bet we can probably slow down their growth a bit if they don't have a power source, right?"
Not waiting for her answer, she digs through her pack, chewing her lip as she does so. She hasn't used any of her bombs in a long time - it didn't exactly feel right to on Lunar - but now is pretty much the perfect chance. Sweeping forward on the Little Dipper, she's met by a chorus of chittering as she heaves an arm forwards, tossing a suspiciously small and round item through the mess of tentacles that try to block.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hive Core.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
ARMs, by contrast, usually aren't electrified, but you might be surprised. That and her interest in machines at large, as well as a basic grounding in (electrical) Symbology have similarly given the generally wild archaeologist a healthy respect for anything running a current...
Such as this room. "Cables are coming from over here!" she calls out--
Lunata throws the switch.
"...You know, that coulda gone a little better," Josie says, when she at last pokes out of from where she'd found cover. But that chiding, such that it is, is there and gone. "Still, we're alive."
Before she hops over the cabling and exits out into the chamber where this room seems to be funneling them. "Anyway," she says, glancing back at the girls, "if you bring me parts, I'll do one custom. But I'll need the parts. I'm almost fresh out of all my scrap. I'm even out of screws--"
She seems to take in that look on Shalune's face, and at last turns to look at what the generator's been repurposed for.
"...Guess so," Josie says, gazing at the contents, one eyebrow arched as if she's mutely impressed. "Guess so."
She's already drawn out the mattock from her kit.
"Nope. I'd love to know how one of these things worked, but to be honest, kiddo? This is a case of 'too big for its britches'. We've got the upper hand, so~!"
She walks on over to the generator and heaves a swing right for it, as if to make a nice divot for the incoming explosive.
"Let's break it to pieces."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, The Hive Core.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"There's no way this was left here active like this all this time. The Metal Demons must've taken over this facility to produce more shock troopers in the time we're gone," remarks Lunata with a face as she stares towards the layer of metal flesh and tentacles and blades.
She scowls just a little at Shalune's idea to collect it, though. But Josie seems to have the same idea. "Yeah, agreed..."
She nods at Shalune, and walks towards the other side as she experimentally heaves Orochi-Agito over her shoulder. "One, two and..."
She's just attempting to chop through the cabling and deprive the writhing Metal Mass of the power that it's consuming.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 48 --(0)--> 48 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 53 --(0)--> 53 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalune Amira 63 --(0)--> 63 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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. DG: Josephine Lovelace 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> Shalune Amira has posed.
"--I wasn't being serious! I mean, this is Miss Josie, it's like a fifty-fifty chance!" blurts Shalune as she looks to Lunata with a downcast expression. Fortunately, rather than swing at one of the pods, Josephine is aiming for the generator instead, leaving the pink-haired girl to breath out a sigh of relief as she nimbly pilots the Little Dipper around past the creature's flailing limbs, hunkering down as she watches the bomb sail innocently towards the hole freshly busted in the side.
The creature aims to try to block it, but Lunata's strike sends it thrashing wildly rather than thrashing focusedly - giving all the opportunity needed for the device to sail into the generator. There's a couple of metallic rings of it bouncing off of components--
"I don't know... this doesn't look like anything that was intentional or ordered. Maybe they were, I dunno, wild and they just happened to find this place? Ah, look out," she adds as she hunkers down on the Little Dipper, hands over her ears.
--and the metal bulges outwards unnaturally, twisting and pushing. There's a long drawn-out squeal of angry metal, then a rebounding and resounding 'THOOM' that echoes around the enclosed chamber, rattling bones and leaving all other sounds overcome. Once all is over, there isn't a great deal of generator left.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
And then, considering they just jacked up the generator but good, the power within the bottom of Cage Tower dies down with a low descending hum. Silence settles across the room.
Before then the emergency lighting slightly further afield kicks on in a dull red.
'EMERGENCY RESPONSE' reads the scrolling text.
In the pod, something large and dark against the dim lighting shifts, sliding long glittering tendrils out from its podnest. It's searching, you see.
Feeling out.
It can't see, but it can hear. It can feel.
And while it's unwilling to rouse itself, it still seeks whatever has cut off its food source. Soon, it might rise altogether.
Josie reaches out to pat both girls on a shoulder then point, a difficult-to-see silhouette herself in the clinging dark. She points for the pods lit with the dull red light.
Then she turns for the questing beast, fingers already tracing the line of a spell--
The dull whirr of wings in from beyond is the first suggestion that there may be a wrench flung into her plans.
Here comes Penelope.
HERE COMES PENELOPE.
Done with her cozy rest back out near the elevator, it appears the bird is a little worse the wear for it. Can birds wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Or is she just annoyed at being left behind?
Whatever the reason, she dives for the Metal Beast's tendrils. Is this a distraction, or just a larger problem?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata glances towards the redness and furrows her brow, saying, "Ah... I've had enough of this..." with a grouse as she procures her thermos. "I've got an idea."
Lunata stares down towards the silhouette of the Metal Beast firmly--
--and then unveils the picnic mat she's been saving all of this time. In just the span of a few seconds, she's unfurled five (four regular size and one pigeon size shotglass) cups laid in each cardinal direction, and then put up her little blackboard which reads:
TODAY'S SOUP
Roast garlic and butternut pumpkin soup
garnished with chives and a dollop of creme fraiche
and served with rosemary garlic bread
The scent is pretty astounding, considering how thick with ozone the air was just a moment ago, and she doesn't seem to be brooking any disagreement as she stares the Beast down and orders:
"Sit. Eat."
Then she sips her soup as well, because like heck she's going to stop souptime for anything in the world.
Not even Sin would stop her.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Soup of the Day toward her party's challenge, Plunged Into Darkness.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune's ready and alert; she swings in next to Josephine as the creature roils and bubbles and searches for them, the Little Dipper's hover pads a soft and tiny light in the darkness. Her craft moves unnaturally quietly beyond a tiny thrum; it gives her the mobility she needs, and she nods in solemn readiness as the woman points out enough of the plan for her to fill in the rest in her head.
She nods, and grips her hands on the handlebars--
--and Lunata's tone stops her dead, effectively paralyzing the mechanic for a long moment as the waitress taps into a decade or so of Aunt Hilda's tough-but-fair lectures and the dreaded spectre of an expertly-swung ladel should she not.
The next moment she's shaken out of it, gunning the scooter forwards for the red glow. "--save some for meee--!" she whines forlornly as she darts forwards for whatever awaits them.
DG: Shalune Amira has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 48 --(0)--> 48 Fail Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 53 --(0)--> 53 Pass Soup of the Day 4 Wits Effects: Liability, Efficient, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shalune Amira 63 --(0)--> 63 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Cage Tower - High Security!
========================<* Cage Tower - High Security *>======================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Spare Parts *>========================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- ARY STOCKROOM. Inside are rows upon rows of crates--most of them have been smashed open and looted, but some of them are still intact. Inside is a plethora of odds and ends, mostly spare components for computers, security systems, and other electronic devices. They would be very valuable to anyone who works with ARMs. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Penelope, as it happens, fleetingly nudges the expedition team into the camp of a 'a problem'. She is only a pigeon after all, and the tendrils neatly evade her full-on charge... and writhe more animately in its search for the ones who have INTRUDED. This causes a wee bit of a problem for Shalune, since the tendrils go a-seekin' right for the dull light of those pods to one side. It looks quite bad--
--Josie, in the heartbeats between their luck turning south casts forth a light spell, the sphere dancing on her fingertips--
--And Lunata sets out the soup of the day.
The tendrils twitch. Then slide along, as if seeking out what that could ever be.
It finds the soup.
And then Shalune reaches the pod and finds the emergency purge switch in the form of the sterilizer drones.
Getting them activated isn't difficult.
They go to work quickly.
In the end, it's Drifters: 1, Metal Beast: 0.
Josie stands there for a moment in the dark room, light hovering over her hand. She squints up at a sign in the semi-darkness.
AU... ARY STOCKROOM.
"Hmm."
FIVE MINUTES LATER:
A lot of the crates inside are empty or trashed. A few, though, hold a great treasure.
"Hey, Lunata. You said you needed an ARM?"
When Josie straightens, her arms are laden with odd bits and pieces of metal. Some of them are a little familiar in scope, if not in and of themselves.
"Think I got you covered with this."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The garlic's been roasted to cut down on its pungency, and also brings out a subtle flavour of sweetness...
The butternut pumpkin, pureed until it's a thick creamy consistency, provides all the body you could ever want in a soup...
And the hint of parsley for freshness -- coupled with the tartness from the creme fraiche...
"... if only I had some more bread," Lunata cups her cheek and realises-- eh? Where'd the Metal Beast go? Oh well.
She stares towards the stockroom a while later, glancing around and peering towards Josephine at the odds and ends she's scrounged up. "Huh... all of that can make an ARM?"
She's got a thing or two to learn...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
When Shalune darts back out of the pod, it's with her face absolutely lit up and positively sparkling. It's a face she makes rarely, and the fact she's making it without being actively glommed onto Lunata or Jay's side probably means that she's found something curious and interesting to focus on. To lend weight to that theory, her backpack has been shrugged off her shoulders, now sat on the bed of the Little Dipper and bulging in a suspicious fashion.
... funnily enough, the number of sterilization drones is down by one. At least, if they had a manifest to compare against...
Later, she's swinging her legs off the side of the Little Dipper, the machine hanging in mid-air as she gives Josephine first-pick of the spoils - especially because she's cradling a bowl in her lap, a spoon stuck in her mouth as she 'mmm's over the soup. "Maybe not all of them, but you're gonna find some suitable parts," she offers brightly, and dunks some bread into her bowl. "You can do a lot from that, even if you're not cheatin' with a pot like mine."