2018-09-21: Fear No Evil
- Log: Fear No Evil
- Cast: Yarobeleedt, Neriah Parringer, Ambrosius
- Where: Uzda il-Jam
- Date: September 21, 2018
- Summary: What happens when a ^Long Voweler,^ a Satanist and a lovable garbleblob challenge Linaweyul?
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u9eNGFqGpU
DG: A party led by Yarobeleedt is now entering Linaweyul, the First Ordeal. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================ ============================================<* CHALLENGE - Gephyrophobia *>============================================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- At times in life, we are presented with seemingly insurmountable gaps with only the most threadbare of resources to cross them. And sometimes, this metaphor is taken to a much more literal level: vast white-yellow space surrounds you as you are transported to this strange, floating golden platform of an entryway. The path to completing this challenge lies in a doorway on a second platform a good few hundred feet from your own -- with only a very long, aging bridge to close the gap for you. Shining yellow panels are cracked and crumbling, parts of the bridge are simply missing entirely, and many more besides will break apart as you try to traverse it -- segments will, in fact, just fall off just before you step on them, as if deliberately trying to sabotage you and cast you to the white warmth of the void below. but life isn't worth clinging to because it's easy. So go cross your figurative-literal barebones bridge. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Intel indicates that there is increased Drifter activity at around ports these days. Why do they want to get off of the Ignas continent so badly?! It's nice there. They can be sitting ducks and just sit and wait for Mother to come wreck their faces in and save everyone some effort, but noooooo. Boo on them.
...More curious phenomena occurs. Strange, calming doors are popping up not quite 'all over' the place, but in 'enough' places that they warrant a look, and also warrant a relaxation and a basking in the desert sun. Funny thing is, though, they haven't really opened to anyone by reports. Nobody's seem to have come out of them, either...? It is a mystery.
Yarobeleedt slacks off near one door, feeling all is right with the world and that he of all the Metal Demons deserves it. Then he brushes an arm on a door and the door opens up like it doesn't want him to touch the door, ever, and is willing to accept the consequences of its actions in the name of not letting Yarobeleedt touch the door.
...That, or whatever mysterious forces within actually want him in there. He should squeal in shock and fear, but no, it feels too nice to do that. He helps himself in - and he might not have been alone in his idle curiosity, as he is dumped into a strange void, and then further into...
A vast space full of free-floating yellow crystals in a void. Ahead, is another platform-island of this yellow crystal where a door is suspended in reality. Between the platform they're on and beyond, a bridge that is going too far - both across space and time. Space, in that it is a long walk. Time, in that it looks decrepit and ready to collapse at any moment... and for something as alien-looking as the crystalline panel structure the bridge is made of, that's quite the feat. Some of it's already gone!
Yarobeleedt is bereft of commentary as he slithers across the bridge. He is not bereft of commentary when some of it collapses before he can crawl onto it. He is bereft of silence when he clings to the very side of the structures as though trying to hide from the crumbling pieces that he thinks are deliberately watching him.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Clutch Harness toward its party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah has been scarce lately. She's been roaming the countryside in search of a better place for her little entourage than the old house they're holed up in right now.
Meanwhile, everyone else seems to want to leave. Let them, Neriah reflects. Mother's not my problem.
For now, though, there's no reason not to lend Mr. Garbles a hand. The bridge between this platform and the next looks like it could plummet away at any moment now.
"Ah, I see," she says as she brushes a curl away from her cheek. "It wants me to be afraid of the bridge. Yeah. Yeah, fat chance."
Neriah tosses her head in a cascade of curls and proceeds to walk forward. The fact that she's wearing high, arched heels is probably not going to help her case, but she makes it from stretch of the bridge to stretch of the bridge with little difficulty - and frankly, if she runs into trouble, she'll just float away.
"I wonder what the point of this place is," she asks, all too aware that Yaro probably can't answer coherently.
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Finally, he was back on Filgaia. This meant that Ambrosius could finally, finally appreciate the simple pleasures that Lunar, primitive as it was, had left him bereft of. He could finally return to Gounon...and restock on their delicious apple wine. He had just put in his order and went to check on the small cabin that he had used as his base of operations when he was treated to an unusual sight - a glowing door at the base of a nearby tree.
He was curious, of course...and suspicious. He drew his revolver and stepped through, only to find...
"...You." He states simply, lowering his weapon at the sight of Yarobeleedt. Neriah, who was also present, got a much warmer nod of acknowledgment before he turned his attention to the area around him.
Whatever twist of fate it was that lead them all here, he supposed he might as well lend his hand.
"It is falling apart...iiincompetence...or deliiiberate saaabotage...?" Ambrosius comments.
Gradually he begins to make his way down the shining yellow bridge. He keeps an eye on the disintegrating panels...but still proceeds forward in his usual manner.
That is, slowly and steadily. In this case, the former is likely going to be more relevant than the latter.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================ ============================================<* CHALLENGE - Gephyrophobia *>============================================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- At times in life, we are presented with seemingly insurmountable gaps with only the most threadbare of resources to cross them. And sometimes, this metaphor is taken to a much more literal level: vast white-yellow space surrounds you as you are transported to this strange, floating golden platform of an entryway. The path to completing this challenge lies in a doorway on a second platform a good few hundred feet from your own -- with only a very long, aging bridge to close the gap for you. Shining yellow panels are cracked and crumbling, parts of the bridge are simply missing entirely, and many more besides will break apart as you try to traverse it -- segments will, in fact, just fall off just before you step on them, as if deliberately trying to sabotage you and cast you to the white warmth of the void below. but life isn't worth clinging to because it's easy. So go cross your figurative-literal barebones bridge. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 1 *>======================================= ==============================================< Results - Gephyrophobia >=============================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 0 --(18)--> 18 Pass Clutch Harness 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2) Effects: ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Neriah's very being carries a Presence(tm) that is frightening. Yarobeleedt, who is just shy of being afraid of even thinking of ^That^ by a name at all, feels much too relaxed in this place that the idea doesn't cross him that he should keep slithering further and further out, away.
Ambrosius takes a slow, cautionary approach. The bridge seems to peer into his hesitation - his fear of the consequences if he takes it too rash, and eventually, the bridge crumbles all around him until there is nowhere to go.
Neriah keeps a much more steady, confident pace. The bridge plays along with this, for a time, as her heels sassily click on the cracking crystal underneath. She all but dares it to make a move to stop her.
It doesn't need to 'stop' her, it just needs to fall apart, and fall apart, it does.
Yarobeleedt 'lasts' the longest, in so much that he curls around one panel like one might a jealously guarded item. To either side of him, nothing but void. He cackles as he stakes his claim.
Then realizes it's not actually connected to anything, and there is a short-lived yelp as a warm light takes them and deposits them back into... another indistinct yellow crystal platform, before a shield-like barrier that beckons them forward. There is a sense of a long fall, but no hard stop. They are simply there, now, and 'there' wants them to come forward once more.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>======================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dystychiphobia *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You are on a trolley. That becomes overwhelmingly and immediately as soon as your senses return to you -- some manner of self-propelling wagon is sending you careening down a long, gold-stoned path, with the exit and most likely objective a shining portal at the very end of it. Seems simple enough, right? Except for when a tremendous, skull-faced serpent easily ten times the size of your trolley comes bursting out of that portal and barreling down the same pathway, mouth agape and heading straight for you. There is little room to evade; little chance of brute forcing your way through something moving -that- fast; little chance of preparing a fight before it consumes you whole. Continuing on might mean certain death, but jumping off may not be much better. What, then, do you do? Think you can get the creature to divert from its path? Time for an extra-special fun game of chicken. Hurray! =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Overwhelm======================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius falls, and Ambrosius frowns. He doesn't actually seem too troubled by this turn of events. By the time he decides of a course of action to get him out of this predicament, he and the others find themselves in front of a barrier.
Ambrosius studies it for a moment, looks to the others...and then steps on through. This time, they all find themselves moving forward in a structure similar to a wagon, on a path of golden stone. At the end of it is a portal - the destination.
Of course it won't be that easy.
A tremendous, skull-faced serpent - more than ten times the size of their trolley - erupts out of it, barreling down on them with its mouth agape. Ambrosius stares. There is no room to evade. Leaving the trolley, too, might be unwise. What should they do?
To Ambrosius the answer is simple. He raises his hand, facing toward the beast. Water begins to surge around him, before firing off in a massive, high-pressure beam.
In this situation, the simple answer seemed the best choice.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dystychiphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah ends up standing on a patch of open air as the bridge fall into the rift below her. She lowers her eyelids slightly.
Finally, she sighs and closes her eyes, letting herself drop. It is not a straight fall because Neriah cheats and just descends in a controlled manner.
It doesn't matter how fast or slow she falls. Some force is determined to put her in the trolley anyway. The girl - dressed somewhat stylishly today, in a crisp black suit coat over a matching vest and flared slacks - sinks back in the cart, surprisingly calm as it goes rumbling along.
Ahead of them, something horrifying bursts into view. It is supposed to scare Neriah.
She just lowers her eyelids. "I've seen worse," is all she says as she lifts something from her sleeve in the few seconds they've got. It's a small lens, the type she used to use to analyze rocks and treasure chests in her past life.
Here she squints through it, focusing her attention on a particular part of the huge serpent-thing. Straight down its gullet. The girl levels her free hand, curling her fingers taloniously.
And then she unleashes hell itself.
The horrible, curdling sensation of Valmar magic erupts through the narrow corridor as Neriah fires an immense beam of black flame from her hand. The skullsnake is now being borne down on by another face - the gaping maw of one of the Faces of Valmar. It is actually smaller than the snake but Neriah's trying to shove it down the thing's throat.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Excavator's Lens toward her party's challenge, Dystychiphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt keeps his distance when one of the very many people he despises (if a little less so than usual today, for some reason) approaches the barrier, as his unfocused eyes peer along out towards the void that surrounds them. It's kind of a nice void? Like it's a void that makes no sense and should be scary with no way out or back but he sort of digs it.
He does not dig being suddenly put in a minecart next to ^That^ and ^Long Voweler^. He only sees what's emerging for a fraction of a second before deciding on a course of action. He shrieks as he raises the goopier arm--
He lowers it just as fast that there's a wet, violent smack of the cart because it is just behind ^That^ and he knows better and he averts his eyes before he can see the unlight erupt.
So he raises his more solid arm and just prods at Ambrosius' back, like to shove him forward.
Yarobeleedt is confident in this decision, because it also stopped him from being eaten by that giant ^Black Fuzzy Lizard^ on the top of that very tall tower. Trying to sacrifice ^Long Voweler^ in any and every situation is always the correct answer as far as he's concerned!
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Dystychiphobia.
======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>======================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dystychiphobia *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You are on a trolley. That becomes overwhelmingly and immediately as soon as your senses return to you -- some manner of self-propelling wagon is sending you careening down a long, gold-stoned path, with the exit and most likely objective a shining portal at the very end of it. Seems simple enough, right? Except for when a tremendous, skull-faced serpent easily ten times the size of your trolley comes bursting out of that portal and barreling down the same pathway, mouth agape and heading straight for you. There is little room to evade; little chance of brute forcing your way through something moving -that- fast; little chance of preparing a fight before it consumes you whole. Continuing on might mean certain death, but jumping off may not be much better. What, then, do you do? Think you can get the creature to divert from its path? Time for an extra-special fun game of chicken. Hurray! =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Overwhelm======================================
=================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 2 *>================== =========================< Results - Dystychiphobia >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 18 --(8)--> 26 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 23 --(8)--> 31 Pass Excavator's Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 23 --(13)--> 36 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Slow(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt 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> Ambrosius has posed.
Right as Ambrosius prepares to fire, he feels something shove him. It pushes him forward, just slightly - but just slightly is enough to disrupt his aim. Rather than piercing right through, the high-pressure beam of water scathes the side of the terrible serpent. This only seems to anger it, and cause it to barrel toward them at increasing speed...
...But suddenly, it stops abruptly. It tries to retreat backward, but its momentum keeps it going. There almost seems to be fear in its movements, but it suffers from the same restrictions the party does.
The black flames of Valmar erupt forth from Neriah and into the serpent's throat. It writhes and thrashes as the black flames consume it from the inside out. That which remains proves no further obstruction as the trolley continues forward into the portal it emerged from.
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
==============================================<* CHALLENGE - Xenophobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Before you are two doors. Two doors, on a tiny island, surrounded by
nothing. The doors are both equally indistinct save for colors, one red and
one green. Opening either shows absolutely nothing behind them, only the
selfsame emptiness that surrounds you. It is clear that you must choose one
of these doors to go through, but there are no indicators or clues which
should be chosen over which, and both are perched precariously at the very
edge of the island. A complete unknown. But one must lead to the exit, and
achieving this challenge.
... Right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Treasure=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
They are further ahead down the odd yellow crystal road, in so much that what's 'behind' them is longer, as if they are progressing. Yarobeleedt continues to cower for a little while, only to look up and become immensely disappointed that ^Long Voweler^ is still with them. He sulks as he sluggishly undulates along towards the next barrier, and then...
They're on a tiny island, which is surrounded by a nothing that is somehow even more nothing (or less anything) than the void they usually inhabit. A tiny island that ensures there is never enough space for the three of them to ever be fully apart if they have a falling out and decide to draw lines as to who stays where, but this is digressing from the main topic at hand.
There are two doors that are stationed within this void, at the very edges of the island. One is red. One is green. They are the same size, made of the same material... everything except color. Yarobeleedt decides he doesn't want anything to do with these two and takes the first opportunity he has to leave by going through the gre--
He closes the door. He goes to the red one instead, opens it...
"There is all thingless?!" Nothing? He screeches, then covers his mouth... then has a hoarse little chortle. Maybe they didn't hear him. (They probably did.)
"...Oh! Oh. There is surprise." He looks back to them - well, more to Ambrosius, because there is not enough courage in him to look directly into the irises of Neriah for more than maybe two seconds, tops, at once. "There is super prize! In both. You should take. You unserve it. Yesss..." He slithers away from the doors, slowly, suspiciously, as he wrings a wet arm and a less wet arm to unpleasant squelchy grinding. "Following all, for beating the thing!!" That is kind of sound logic, maybe, and a rare show of humility for their combined efforts in defeating the serpent thing that is not believable at all. Two doors, two of them, if he can get one of each to go through them then he can maybe have this entire island for himself! (Why does he want it for himself? He's that spiteful and petty over a patch of nothing.)
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Xenophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The huge serpent goes down. Neriah lowers her arm, flicks her head, then takes stock of the situation.
Then she smiles. "Aw, Mr. Garbles. Be nice to Ambrosius," Neriah chides, reaching out to gently pat Yaro on the... the blob. On the blob.
Through the barrier they go - and they appear on an island. An island where they're left with two doors, and no clues. Opening her mouth, Neriah seems about to suggest something.
She stops. As much as she's fairly sure she could rip this island a new doorway and find her own way out, she... actually isn't that sure she could, to be honest with you. And things might get worse. When Yarobeleedt immediately changes course on her, Neriah just looks at him.
Then she smiles a little smile and gives him another pat on the shoulder. "Aw, it's okay, Mr. Garbles. You don't have to be so selfless. I wouldn't want to steal your treasure from you. Besides, I've got everything I need."
Reaching for the green door, she swings it open, gesturing with her other hand to invite the metal blob through. "Here, why don't you...."
Neriah trails off. Then she frowns. "...Maybe let me check it first," she says in a more muted tone as she fishes her lens out and squints into the nothing.
Tries to squint past the nothing.
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Excavator's Lens toward her party's challenge, Xenophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
...Well, regardless, it seems they were successful. Ambrosius straightens up somewhat, and once more makes his way into the next barrier.
They appear on an island with two doors - one red and one green.
There are no clues or hints to be divined here, and brute force would not aid them here. There is nothing to do but choose.
Ambrosius glances toward Yarobeleedt with a frown. He finds it highly suspicious that the slimy creature suddenly becomes so selfless.
He watches as Neriah reaches for the green door and tries to study it with a lens. In response, Ambrosius walks up to the red door and opens it.
He does not immediately step through it, however. He turns his own critical eye upon it, trying to see if there's anything he can figure out before he steps through.
...But maybe, in the end, the choice is not in 'picking the red or green door', but 'picking a door at all, not knowing what lies ahead'?
Ambrosius shuts his eyes and steps through.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Xenophobia.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
==============================================<* CHALLENGE - Xenophobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Before you are two doors. Two doors, on a tiny island, surrounded by
nothing. The doors are both equally indistinct save for colors, one red and
one green. Opening either shows absolutely nothing behind them, only the
selfsame emptiness that surrounds you. It is clear that you must choose one
of these doors to go through, but there are no indicators or clues which
should be chosen over which, and both are perched precariously at the very
edge of the island. A complete unknown. But one must lead to the exit, and
achieving this challenge.
... Right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Treasure=======================================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 3 *>======================================= ================================================< Results - Xenophobia >================================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 26 --(20)--> 46 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 31 --(25)--> 56 Fail Excavator's Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 36 --(25)--> 61 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
What lies on the other end? It looks like nothing, from their side. The powers of this place sense the hesitation within each of them. Yarobeleedt goes without saying, who seems perfectly happy to instead freeze up as every fiber of his being contracts and collapses on himself as Neriah gives him gentle, friendly pats and by the time he's compelled to try and help himself through to get away, he decides he doesn't want to and just clutches the frame out of fear, shaking his head over and over again and babbling incoherent excuses.
Neriah can see a glimmer of something when she first opens, but not in the physical sense. It's difficult to impart as a means of light or sound - but a sense that maybe there is something different, if she is willing to leave it all behind. Something better? Something worse? To stay here means to accept staying on this tiny little island of nothing, which Yarobeleedt seems intent on doing.
Ambrosius steps through, and before he closes his eyes, he gets the same strange sensation. What would it be like to leave behind his present course, even knowing the decay facing his people? Is there another way, on the other end, if he's truly willing to let go and see? That he closes his eyes, this sensation is cut off as he steps through into... nothing.
Nothing, but the same platform before the barrier ahead in the weird yellow crystal world that now hosts the three of them once more.
DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Anthrophobia *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Before you is a simple, if intricately-carved, stone wall. There is nothing
behind you but shining white, and nothing in front of you save that wall. A
wall that looks almost suspiciously cracked. By this point, you know what to
do with suspiciously cracked walls, right? You get your gear, get your
explosives, and you -- wait. Is that wall getting smaller? -- No. No. That
wall is... running away. Yes, the wall will swiftly start to back away with
the groan of stone and shifting fall of dust and debris the very second you
get ready to demolish it, like it was afraid of you. Meaning you're going to
have to chase after it like you were the villain in a horror movie to smash
it down if you want to proceed any further. Nothing worse than a genre-savvy
wall.
It turns out, humans were the REAL monsters all along...........
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"I'm beginning to get the idea that whoever designed this place didn't actually mean for anyone to figure out what's going on with it," Neriah suggests as she falls into step beside Ambrosius, adjusting the collar of her jacket. "Or if nothing else, they had a weird-ass sense of humour."
But there's a wall ahead of them, and that seems straightforward enough. On a lark, Neriah looks over her shoulder.
She lowers her eyelids. "Should I ask where the last room went?" she sighs.
Ah well. It's a cracked wall. It seems like it's right in her wheelhouse. "Yeah. The masonry's totally gone here," she says after a look through her lens. "Probably the foundation shifted and loosened things up. Should be pretty simple." With a huff, she draws the shovel she's had slung over her shoulder and --
"nope nope nope nope," the wall says as it creaks backwards.
"Wait, what," Neriah says with a rapid blink. She advances on the wall again and brandishes her shovel.
"nope nope nope nope," says the wall. It trundles backwards several more feet. Dust and a few pebbles leak from the masonry behind it.
"Hey, get back here!" Neriah shouts at the wall irrationally, running after it and waving her shovel. "Get back here so I can knock you down!"
"nope nope nope nope"
"Stop it! This isn't funny!"
"nope nope nope nope"
Neriah jumps at the wall, but it slides back and she lands on her front, rolling forward. She comes up spluttering with rage. "Granas damn it! I'm gonna break down this shitty wall!!"
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Incidentally, the wall presently has a scythe-like Yarobeleedt arm embedded into it, and connected to it is a Yarobeleedt. Its feelings are probably well-warranted in this case, as is Yarobeleedt's angry screeching as he twists and tumbles across the void in its wake.
"hex hex hex hex hex"
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"Iiindeed..." Ambrosius replies with a glance toward Neriah. He doesn't specify which part he's agreeing with - in this situation, probably both, considering what they encounter next.
There is a cracked wall. Neriah suggests they break it and Ambrosius nods. He reaches into his poncho and draws out a silvery device. After a moment of concentration, a swirling, high-pressure blade of water emerges...
...and, seeing that they're going to try to break it, the wall begins to bolt. Neriah runs after it, but Ambrosius just walks forward toward it, slowly and inexorably.
No one has to guess what he plans to do when(if) he catches up to it.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Anthrophobia *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Before you is a simple, if intricately-carved, stone wall. There is nothing
behind you but shining white, and nothing in front of you save that wall. A
wall that looks almost suspiciously cracked. By this point, you know what to
do with suspiciously cracked walls, right? You get your gear, get your
explosives, and you -- wait. Is that wall getting smaller? -- No. No. That
wall is... running away. Yes, the wall will swiftly start to back away with
the groan of stone and shifting fall of dust and debris the very second you
get ready to demolish it, like it was afraid of you. Meaning you're going to
have to chase after it like you were the villain in a horror movie to smash
it down if you want to proceed any further. Nothing worse than a genre-savvy
wall.
It turns out, humans were the REAL monsters all along...........
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
===================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 4 *>==================== ============================< Results - Anthrophobia >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 46 --(10)--> 56 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 56 --(5)--> 61 Pass Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 61 --(5)--> 66 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 40 --(15)--> 55 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Overwhelm|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
"nope nope nope nope," says the wall as it slides backwards. But it is slower, because it has a Yarobeleedt stuck in it. Things move slower when blob'd.
Things also move slower when they get blasted. Ambrosius does just that. Water slams into the wall faster than it can back up. It doesn't say anything this time but it continues trying to creep back, but it's slower yet in the trying. A few bricks crumble away, a few more skewed at funny angles. They jam into the floor. The wall groans as it gets stuck, straining to move backwards.
That's when Neriah pounces on it. She whirls her shovel and starts driving it in.
Bricks fly from the wall. Ambrosius joins in too - and he plows straight through the partial fissure Neriah created. The wall shudders and slows down.
"ow," it says, before it goes still entirely.
With a sigh, Neriah gets to work prying Yarobeleedt out of the wall. "Honestly, Mr. Garbles...."
DG: Yarobeleedt has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================ =============================================<* CHALLENGE - Nyctophobia *>============================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 4 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- This area dank and dark, though not pitch black -- a long series of corridors, each one blocked off by a sealed door that requires defeating the Hellions assembled to progress further. Unfortunately, these Hellions seem to be impervious to harm... at least, until you exposed them to literally any form of light you can find, from shafts of it piercing through the ceiling, to any you may generate on your own. Light that, sadly, does not last long here when exposed to these Hellions until it is completely snuffed out and unable to be used again; to defeat your enemies and open the way forward, you're going to have to be conservative with whatever sources of light you might have on hand... and eliminate your enemies very, very quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Secret===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
It is indeterminate as to whether or not Yarobeleedt is so deeply embedded in the wall as to be difficult to pry out of its ruins, or that he seizes up as Neriah lovingly and carefully moves to extract him without harm. All the same, what awaits them is a sight not dissimilar to their time on the minecart. What's behind them is longer, so they have progressed further down this yellow crystal path. Yarobeleedt slyly slithers forward as if hoping to get away from the two of them without being seen, and then nothing can be seen following the warping light.
Eyes adjust. Not nothing. Very little. There is a length of tunnel to progress through, and at the end of that one... is a door that is sealed, mystically, pulsing visibly if not with light, as if to say it is there. Yarobeleedt is also there, and taps at it with the less solid arm.
Then there are fearsome roars, as shapes pile forth from the darkness with the barest illuminations of colors highlighting features. Scaly bodies, veiny wings, purple cores, blue... legs? Shoots of light from above are fleeting.
"AAAAAAAAAA," goes Yarobeleedt.
*squeak*, goes something else. *squeak*
That damnable toy effigy of Stare Roe bounces about. It is in the form of the Guardian of Light, after all, and interestingly, the way the light shoots hit it wherever it passes, it seems to magnify its reflection - and this is a good thing, too, for no matter the amount of incredible power any one of them (...two of them) can bring to bear, they only seem to have damage land 'for keeps' if it's while the light shines on them.
*squeak* doesn't count as bonus HP damage. Maybe bonus to sanity damage.
Nonetheless, the barely illuminated Hellion creatures roar, flail, and spellcast away in the darkness.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Toy Guardian toward its party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius doesn't give the remains of the wall any further thought. Nor does he give Yarobeleedt any further thought, but at this point that's probably the expected course of action.
They pass through the next barrier...into complete darkness. Ambrosius frowns. He reaches into the depths of his poncho and draws out one of those metallic canisters he always keeps on him, flips the switch, and sends it rolling forward. It emits a cool, pleasant mist as it does so, refreshing the party...and clinging to the bodies of the enemies in the room.
The light shining onto them from above and from the effigy of Stare Roe causes them to almost shimmer, making them easier to spot as well as getting a little more use out of the light.
And Ambrosius, of course, has one more trick up his sleeve. From the depths of his poncho he draws his ARM, Vertias Varia. He takes aim and begins to fire rapidly, unleashing bright, searing beams of energy in the enemy's direction.
And unlike a certain robot, his lasers aren't dark elemental.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Mist Canister toward his party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
There's darkness around her. Only the subtle suggestion of shapes. Neriah can tell she isn't alone - there are, at least, signs of Yarobeleedt and Ambrosius around her. And something worse.
She can make out shapes. Feel their malice. Sense them more than see them. Creatures of malice that circle and slash towards her. There are roars; there are attacks coming in.
Neriah takes a step to one side. Something winged whistles past her. Her heel clicks against something. She can feel looming menace behind her and whirls away from it; something heavy whistles through the space where she was standing. A subtle flicker of movement over there - something else grasping for her. A flash of a shockingly human face.
Neriah slides past, beginning to realize something. Light would probably kill them.
Generating light is a problem for her. She is as much a creature of darkness as any of these Hellions. The light of Valmar does not truly shine - it simply pulses like a cold substance. It cannot radiate the way this battle calls for.
Somewhere in the dark, there is a sudden flash. It coincides with a loud CRACK and a hiss like steam escaping from something metal. The muzzle flash of an arm. It rings out again, brief and decisive.
Neriah has not had to use her mother's ARM for awhile. The power of Valmar has been sufficient. But now, she needs the light.
It feels like light's been a little scarce in my life lately....
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================ =============================================<* CHALLENGE - Nyctophobia *>============================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 4 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- This area dank and dark, though not pitch black -- a long series of corridors, each one blocked off by a sealed door that requires defeating the Hellions assembled to progress further. Unfortunately, these Hellions seem to be impervious to harm... at least, until you exposed them to literally any form of light you can find, from shafts of it piercing through the ceiling, to any you may generate on your own. Light that, sadly, does not last long here when exposed to these Hellions until it is completely snuffed out and unable to be used again; to defeat your enemies and open the way forward, you're going to have to be conservative with whatever sources of light you might have on hand... and eliminate your enemies very, very quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Secret===========================================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 5 *>======================================= ===============================================< Results - Nyctophobia >================================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 56 --(20)--> 76 Fail Toy Guardian 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 61 --(20)--> 81 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 66 --(15)--> 81 Pass Mist Canister 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 55 --(10)--> 65 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Overwhelm|Overzealous(1)|Secret(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The *squeak* stream stops as it ends up within the purple-hued trunk of a tree stump Hellion, which is both a relief but also an immediate complication as now they need to engage the light sources as the limited, short-lived resources in which they are intended to be. Yarobeleedt's indiscriminate flailing is otherwise lost in the wake of what the others put forth.
Neriah is confronted with a terrible fear - she has grasped Valmar's power, and is now being met with something that such ageless strength cannot reliably overcome on its own. The Hellions seem empowered by this moment of doubt and worry, and swarm ever more violently as she fires off shot after shot into the darkness.
Ambrosius, analytically, puts down a calming mist to try and bring an ease to the party that is simply not there. Neriah is confronted with something she cannot simply Valmar at, and Yarobeleedt is... themselves. Visibility rapidly dminishes, and he is forced into the uncomfortable position where it is not a matter he can simply scientifically deconstruct as a series of sure-fire steps to take, as Veritas Varia's light does not quite have the shine that the test demands of them.
They go down fighting as hard as they can, and just as it seems like their lifeblood would be taken from them... they are simply deposited, physically intact, back into the long yellow crystal road.
There is one last *squeak* as the void forcefully ejects the toy back against the back of Yarobeleedt's head, whom vehemently covets it because he wants to destroy it... he clutches it as he gibbers and rocks back and forth, indistinguishable from a child clutching a prized teddy bear for comfort as he squeezes the thing.
The mist from before follows. Now it's calming and refreshing... and a reminder that they're all right, for now, if still hopelessly lost in a weird yellow crystal-based void.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>======================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Aerophobia *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Have you ever wished you could fly under your own power? No? You already can and asking that question is pointless and doesn't apply to you? Well. Shut up. The point is, you're flying -now- whether you could or not before, and you are flying the -moment- you are transported from Linaweyul to this challenge. Immersed in clear skies and a bright sun above, you find yourself soaring through the clouds; you can control your movements, though experience of course counts for much (natural flyers need not apply, spoilsports), and it would seem your exit point here is a large, shining ring somewhere near the horizon. Simple enough... except that power to fly you doesn't last forever, and must be periodically recharged with motes of glowing gold sprinkled throughout the sky. Motes that grow increasingly less frequent the further in you get. Better hope you know how to plan an efficient flight chart, lest you end up dropping. Except for the natural flyers. Because again. Spoilsports. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Hopelessly lost in a weird yellow crystal-based void. It was fascinating, in its own way. Were the situation any different, Ambrosius would be trying to study it as best he could. ...But besides the crystalline structure, there were know indentifying features that he could discern. And whatever sorcery was maintaining these barriers...well, it was hard to study it when touching one brought you to a mysterious and strange trial.
Like this one, for instance - the moment one of them touches the barrier, they find themselves in mid-air...but they are not falling.
No, they're flying! Ambrosius frowns and looks down. This felt...unusual. He could control his descent with water somewhat, but he had never actually flown before under his own power.
It was a strange sensation, but he tries to get it in control as he looked around. Up there, in the sky - a shining ring near the horizon.
Their destination, obviously.
Ambrosius tries to will himself in that direction, and along the way, he finds himself flying through a golden mote. It seems to give him a little more of a boost. He makes a point of heading toward those.
But will it be enough...?
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
Neriah doesn't seem to be especially afraid, if we're being totally honest. She's facing all of this with what is, at best, irritation - and while she can't really do much damage with her mother's ARM, neither can something like a few Hellions actually hurt her appreciably.
More than anything, she's just tired. She doesn't like having to play defensively. Destroying everything in front of her is easier.
Except right now, there's nothing that needs destroying. There's just flight.
Neriah's flown before, but not at this altitude. "Huh. I wonder if I could fly like this normally," she says before coasting along and giving it a shot. She taps into her own power and turns her head upward a little. With a billow of long dark curls, she sails upwards and vanishes from view.
Several seconds pass.
"iyaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Neriah yelps as she plummets past Ambrosius and continues on downwards. "-AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
Several more seconds pass.
"Rassin frassin gold sparkle stupid forced mechanics," grumbles Neriah as she floats back up into formation with Ambrosius. She gives him a look. "So apparently it won't let me dark-cheat on this one. This place is such bullshit."
DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt is a lowly, cowardly slug-serpent-whatever who only ever seems to get anywhere by hiding, lying, cheating, and trying to attack from angles and locations that are difficult for others to reach. Being underneath a rock to be crushed and/or forgotten seems to be the natural place for someone like him to crawl back under, or otherwise be swept.
Then he is flung into the air, high, high, high above the ground, and... he's not screeching in fear, or flailing in silly ways?
Oddly enough, Yarobeleedt kinda-sorta just... floats along, beady unfocused eyes finding some way to be level as he traverses the open air. Even his arms - well, the more solid one, the goopier one has problems being held in place - are held in such a way to allow his movement to be more aerodynamic.
Huh.
"Fufufu," he goes, his long blobby serpent-like lower body curled inward about as well as it's going to, as he drifts to and fro. "So tiny. Must be tiny. So tiny need big microscope? Macroscope?? Cope with so small... fufufu...!" He may not be inherently aware of the importance of the golden sparkles beyond that his drifting route seems to take himself through them naturally. He...
He looks like he's having fun, for someone who has never flown before...?
This means if any of them struggle they should totally just latch on and let him carry them, because it's about time he's carried his own weight. Maybe he can carry theirs two, too, while he's at it.
DG: Yarobeleedt has used its Tool Clutch Harness toward its party's challenge, Aerophobia.
======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>======================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Aerophobia *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Have you ever wished you could fly under your own power? No? You already can and asking that question is pointless and doesn't apply to you? Well. Shut up. The point is, you're flying -now- whether you could or not before, and you are flying the -moment- you are transported from Linaweyul to this challenge. Immersed in clear skies and a bright sun above, you find yourself soaring through the clouds; you can control your movements, though experience of course counts for much (natural flyers need not apply, spoilsports), and it would seem your exit point here is a large, shining ring somewhere near the horizon. Simple enough... except that power to fly you doesn't last forever, and must be periodically recharged with motes of glowing gold sprinkled throughout the sky. Motes that grow increasingly less frequent the further in you get. Better hope you know how to plan an efficient flight chart, lest you end up dropping. Except for the natural flyers. Because again. Spoilsports. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
=================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 6 *>================== ===========================< Results - Aerophobia >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yarobeleedt 76 --(0)--> 76 Pass Clutch Harness 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neriah Parringer 81 --(0)--> 81 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambrosius 81 --(15)--> 96 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 65 --(30)--> 95 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2)|Secret(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius sees Neriah beginning to fall down. He reaches out, but is a tad bit too slow to catch her before she passes him. Fortunately, she's soon able to resume flight. He just sends her a nod of understanding.
Soon, though, Ambrosius runs into a problem of his own. He's not fast enough to make it to the next mote. Just as it seems like his flight is about to run out...he sends out a burst of water behind him, pushing him forward just enough to grab onto Yarobeleedt.
Normally he'd never do this, but the situation called for desperate measures.
But soon, the golden ring of light is right in front of them all. It'll be no trouble to pass through it now.
DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Arachnophobia *>==========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The final boundary is touched. And in a flash of light... darkness is the
first thing to greet you. Darkness, and a sticky sensation that clings to
you, making movement difficult at best. And as light streams in, you will
see the reason why: you're stuck. In a web. A very, very large spider's web.
And when there is a very, very large spider's web, it stands to reason that,
well...
... there is a very, very large spider.
You can hear it, mandibles chattering unseen in the darkness. And the more
you linger here, the more it becomes visible, from long, spindly, fuzzy legs
to its multitude of eyes... to dripping, venom-filled fangs. It approaches
slowly, as if it has all the time in the world -- and it is clear, that if
you want to overcome this challenge and reach the end of this place, you
must break out of this web and escape before that spider reaches you. The
second the spider reaches you, that challenge is failed. So. Best get to
destroying some webs. If not just for the sake of your sanity.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Weaken=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
It's a good thing Neriah managed to grab another gold sparkle. She glides along towards the ring, trailing golden sparkles behind her, as this suddenly becomes a Sonic the Hedgehog title.
When they touch that final boundary, the open sky fades away entirely - and the sensation of flight becomes a gut-churning descent. Something lurches. There is a sense of falling - and then the feeling of landing on something soft.
Something soft and sticky. Whatever caught you feels at once both silky and sticky. Neriah squirms a little, grimacing. "What the hell is this now," she growls, clenching her teeth and rocking herself from side to side --
Something goes click. Chitter.
Neriah's eyes dart towards the sound. She can't quite trace it. Again it clicks, closer now. From somewhere above, rays of light creep through, as if through a canopy of thick overgrowth stirred by a grim wind.
Those brief flickers of light reveal what is true. The three are trapped in a massive spiderweb, stretched out between unknown points, suspended over nothing. And the source of the chittering is...
...better left unknown. Looming over the upper part of the web is an immense spider, many times larger than even a Quarter Knight. Its vast legs could span a city block. Venom drips along its mandibles as it slowly approaches, creeping its way downwards. Compound eyes glint in that low, shifting light.
Neriah widens her eyes a little. "Nope. Nope nope nope," she says as she squirms a little -
Maybe I shouldn't just cheat this one, she muses. How did I survive these before I broke the Chains again?
Against her better judgment, Neriah doesn't just try to kill the spider. Instead she sheds her jacket. Leaving it stuck to the web, she wriggles her arms out of it, reaching for her shovel. With a growl she begins to attack the web filaments with the head of the trusty spade. "Quick, break out," she calls to Ambrosius and Yaro. "I'd rather not get eaten by that thing, thanks!"
DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Arachnophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt's tranquility is broken as Ambrosius grabs hold of the blobby bulk of Yarobeleedt. "No! Nonononono," he protests, "do not give the parental displeasure!!!" Um. Grounding? Flailing as Yarobeleedt might, the whole lack of cleanliness this implies aside, Yarobeleedt's pulsating, bloated, festering, sweaty, pus-filled (maybe), malformed (definitely) slug-for-a-lower-body is actually kind of comfortable? It's very strange, but, moving on... Yarobeleedt looks dejected when he touches back down on the ground again back in the yellow crystal void, so sad about his loss he fails to acknowledge that they are fast approaching the very end of the yellow crystal road.
The final boundary is breached... and caught in a spider's web they go, as Yarobeleedt only takes scant moments to look up into the clicking and the chittering, then back to ^That^ and ^Long Voweler^ where they are. He wiggles. He's stuck. He wiggles some more. He's still stuck. Even when he tries to form his more solid arm into a sharp, serrated sword-axe-hammer-wrench(?!) to try and tear up the silky trap, he starts to relax as he comes to one conclusion.
"Wait. Am not the most familiar?? Not close." Yarobeleedt rationaizes. "Not winning to make the friend with...?" He eases and cackles. As far as he knows, he's not going to be the first one eaten, and the idea of any one of them being eaten feels him with such ease and relief that the probing into the fears of one's psyche gradually loses its grip, and Yarobeleedt's newfound ease might give him the strength to tear free.
...Maybe.
DG: Yarobeleedt has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Arachnophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Darkness. And...something else. Ambrosius can feel something sticking to himself, restricting his movements. And something is fast approaching. He can't see what he is, but he can get a general feel based on the noises its making. Its huge, and judging from what they're on...
A giant spider. Fantastic.
Ambrosius shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Agreed." He replies to Neriah, then focuses his Ether. Water begins to wash over him, wearing away at the threads keeping him stuck to the web - just enough to free his arms. Once they're free he reaches into his poncho, once more drawing out the silvery device from before. Another blade of water emerges from its end, which he sends sailing repeatedly through the webbing binding him.
He had no intention of remaining stuck here - as much as Yarobeleedt might hope that'd be the case.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Aqua Cutter toward his party's challenge, Arachnophobia.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Arachnophobia *>==========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The final boundary is touched. And in a flash of light... darkness is the
first thing to greet you. Darkness, and a sticky sensation that clings to
you, making movement difficult at best. And as light streams in, you will
see the reason why: you're stuck. In a web. A very, very large spider's web.
And when there is a very, very large spider's web, it stands to reason that,
well...
... there is a very, very large spider.
You can hear it, mandibles chattering unseen in the darkness. And the more
you linger here, the more it becomes visible, from long, spindly, fuzzy legs
to its multitude of eyes... to dripping, venom-filled fangs. It approaches
slowly, as if it has all the time in the world -- and it is clear, that if
you want to overcome this challenge and reach the end of this place, you
must break out of this web and escape before that spider reaches you. The
second the spider reaches you, that challenge is failed. So. Best get to
destroying some webs. If not just for the sake of your sanity.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Weaken=========================================
===================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 7 *>==================== ===========================< Results - Arachnophobia >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yarobeleedt 76 --(100)--> 176 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neriah Parringer 81 --(100)--> 181 Fail Trusty Shovel 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ambrosius 96 --(100)--> 196 Pass Aqua Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Yarobeleedt 95 --(10)--> 105 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Hesitate(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: Yarobeleedt is too exhausted to continue! DG: Neriah Parringer is too exhausted to continue! DG: Ambrosius is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Yarobeleedt has successfully explored Linaweyul, the First Ordeal!
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Gate Keeper ~ Facet of Fear *>=================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
It is dark here. So dark one could scarcely see what is immediately in front
of them. There is but one, guiding light here -- a shining rune of the roman
numeral I, glowing upon a far away wall. Underneath it, there reads a single
word:
I
LINAWEYUL
The closer you get, the brighter that crest shines. As if begging to be
touched. Demanding. And when you are close enough, you /feel/ words,
rippling across every single one of your senses:
WOULDST THOU BREAK THE SEAL?
Do you dare to reach?
OOC: You have unlocked the Facet of Fear optional boss fight. This is
intended to be a high-difficulty fight with non-standard mechanics that may
take more than one session of RP to complete depending on how long it takes!
If you would like to attempt it, please send in a +request to schedule it,
and also keep in mind any major fears your character might have!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.
The problem with fears like this one is that escaping them takes a lot of time. A lot of effort. And the group has no shortage of the latter, but a keen shortage of the former. Neriah's shovel tears away part of the web and Yarobeleedt manages to wrench part of himself free - but it's not going fast enough. The spider creeps ever closer. It hovers over Neriah first, a couple of feet away.
Neriah draws in a slow breath. She levels her right hand, narrows her eyes, and begins to charge herself up.
Until Ambrosius takes decisive action.
He lands a water blast just in the right place. The arcing blade slices through silken strands like butter - and the entire lower half of the web gives way. All three trapped badniks plummet away from the spider and into the depths. Neriah gasps as air rushes past her. Down, down, down they fall...
...until the three touch down, slowly and delicately, to make a soft landing before a wall. A single rune glows upon it.
I
LINAWEYUL
They feel the words more than hear them. A question. Break the seal? Dare what's within? Neriah looks at the glowing numeral upon the wall, flicking her curls back and taking a moment to collect herself.
"Mr. Garbles," she says quietly, "you don't have to stay if you don't want to."
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt's fear overtakes him as the web blows apart, as though it overtakes the much more rational thought that they don't want to be in the web. He clutches onto the silky, sticky strands as the other two plummet for a little longer, before the spider looms ever closer - hungry as ever.
He lets go, and plops down with more comedy in the gentle impact than the others with a wet 'plop' on the dark, dark ground, in a world devoid of color or light - aside from the one shining rune on the wall ahead. His head perks up to something being said.
WOULDST THOU BREAK THE--
Neriah gently intones to her Metal Demon friend that it is okay if he doesn't stay, and as it so happens, he appears to have assumed permission that he does to get the hey out about a fraction of a second after his affectionate nickname is said. All that's left is a trail of... well, it's a useful trail to determine which way to go for one to leave, yes.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius slices away at the web, and as such they begin to plummet. He readies himself to break his fall, but that proves to be unnecessary - they all touch down at the bottom of the chamber, dark save for but the shining rune.
Ambrosius approaches it and studies it with a frown. Wouldst thou break the seal? That was a difficult question. He glances toward Neriah, judging her reaction.
"...I shall follow your lead." He states. Though he is curious, he has no particular desire one way or the other.