2018-09-22: A Deep Dive Into The Leck Mines
- Log: A Deep Dive Into The Leck Mines
- Cast: Fei Fong Wong, Lunata Croze, Elhaym van Houten, Josephine Lovelace, Xantia, Lily Keil
- Where: Adelyn Ranchlands
- Date: Sepember 22nd 2018
- Summary: The Black Wolves et al head into the Leck Mines at Fei's request, in search of more clues. The water proves treacherous, but ultimately they find something quite interesting.
DG: A party led by Fei Fong Wong is now entering Leck Mines - Flooded. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Dive Into the Dark *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The entrance to the Leck Mines is found at the end of a long mine track... or at least it was, before the mine's entryway was buried under a thousand tonnes of stone. Near the old entry, however, a massive hole dozens of yards wide has opened in the ground, giving you another way in... provided you're willing to dive into a pitch black hole that you're /told/ has water at the bottom. "Afore ye go, take these," mumbles Drifter Saul, handing out necklaces with crude Symbols carved into them - each emits a faint light that provides about 20 feet of illumination. "Ain't no way yez can bring torches er lamps down 'ere - 'em Symbols is good fer 'bout an 'our, no mer, but yez be out 'r ded innat time, so at's alls good. As fer air..." Saul snorts and spits over the edge into the hole. "Well, mebbe yez kin finds some pockets down 'ere. Good luck, folken." =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Last time Fei went to Leck Mines, he found a strange pendant (not the Nisan Cross) that nonetheless felt familiar to him (and to Elly, if she took a looksee). He thought it strange and resolved to return again someday.
Then, it turned out that OTHER drifters found another strange item in the ruins, a pauldron belonging to Siegfried that had been carved off him, apparently.
So Fei decided to take another group in to see if they could find something else. He asked the Wolves to come in case they actually did find something intensely personal he didn't want anybody else to find out about! And Lunata, because she's the most adorable lich queen he knows (and he's worried about huer, because she's the most adorable lich queen he knows).
"The ruins are, uh, somewhat flooded. I jumped into this death hole--er, this ... this hole before, and I can promise there's water there, so it shouldn't be any trouble."
Drifter Saul, nearby, hands out necklaces to the party that emit light around 20 feet. He says, "Fancy seein' yer here again. Funny place to take swimming lessons."
"Ha ha haaaa..." Fei says, giving Elly a small nod. "Well, here we go."
He jumps down.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata found out about Fei's desire to go to the Leck Mines from, of all people, Captain Maitreya: "'ey, you remember that Fei guy, right? Heard the Wolves are going to go and explore. You should go reconnect with people, it ain't healthy for you to just..."
He stares at where Lunata's fiddling with her console on the Rephaim. There's burger wrappers and candy bars and drink bottles scattered all about in it.
"... stay in there all day. C'mon, girl, git!"
~*~
"... I brought rebreathers from the Yggdrasil," Lunata offers, strangely feeling like she might have a bit more kinship with the sandcruiser these days than even the CaraKin. It's kind of weird... and she doesn't really like thinking about it.
She tosses a bag down and picks one up herself, slipping it over her face and strapping it to the back and staring at Drifter Saul. She fortunately can parse that thick Adlehydean accent, because she's from around...
She glances at Fei. "Right after you..."
She doesn't jump down, though -- she reaches to a somewhat unwieldy-looking metal box strapped behind her dress and jacket, which looks like it has a winch-and-tow cable contraption hooked up to a gun-shaped release valve that she points--
--and shoots, sending the Yggdra Cable gorging out and biting onto one side as she rappels down.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Yggdra Cable toward her party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly did like to take a look at jewelry.
Elly has gotten the bandage off her arm. It was broken less than two weeks ago, now there's just a lingering yellowish-purplish bruise where she actually hit the fencepost. In anticipation of the water, it is time for SWIMSUIT ELLY.
SWIMSUIT ELLY consists of thin cotton shorts, a pretty close-cut tunic, and a waterproofed-leather waist band with a sealable bag for the boots and a holster for the combat rod. "Oh, thank you," she says as she accepts the necklace of light 20' radius from Mr. Saul.
"- Ah! Thank YOU too, Lunata. I didn't even think he would have something like that, but I suppose being buried in sand is almost as bad as being buried in water. Submerged? It's funny... either way, it's the medium in which the -" The cable is already being thwipped out, as Lunata shows her willingness to do whatever a Lunie can.
She follows down the cable, bracing with those weird semi-gecko boots of hers and looking up as she goes. Down behind her she calls, "Other than the darkness this isn't so bad..."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Expedition Boots toward her party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Symbology, huh?"
Thus runs Josie's commentary on the subject as she toys with the pendant the old Drifter's handed over. "Don't suppose you'll be wanting these back? Heh, sure is kind of you..."
She'd heard the basics from Fei, and had thought to herself, more or less, 'might as well'. She's been gearing up to travel into the depths of Cage Tower again -- thinking there must be something more to that place, and that there might be something connected to the Metal Demon War -- but truth be told they've gotten a more solid lead from Leck of all places.
So here she is, slipping the chain over her neck as she eyes the depths below. "Fortunately, everything I've got is watertight," she comments. Indeed, even her coat's been set aside in favor of more form-fitting clothing. They're likely to get wet, though how bad it is down there remains to be seen.
'Flooded' suggests some impassable portions.
Penelope, perched on her shoulder, seems more dubious about this apparent plan of action.
Her gaze falls on Lunata/ "Lunie, fancy seein' you here. Hope you've been keeping up with your swimming lesso--"
She watches for a moment as Lunata goes rappeling down the side.
"...Gotta get one of those sometime," she murmurs, before turning to the Drifter rope-and-pray standard.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia is hype for this adventure. Granted, she is hype for most adventures, but this one has special meaning. Fei found something he recognized in these mines. If there's possible clues to Fei's memories in here, of course her hype levels are going to be maximum! She may well be the one who wants to find out more about that the most, quite possibly beating out even Fei himself. He didn't used to care about his past at all, but now here he is, following a lead on his own accord. She's so proud!
Naturally she didn't need to be asked twice to come along. Having spent the whole trip imagining everything they might find, she's particularly eager to get on with things, about to wave Saul's offer right off as she activates her ARM. "Why do we need those, there's plenty of light coming from this!"
Xantia stop waving your energy blade around, it's not safe. But it does give light, she's not wrong.
Seeing others stop to accept the necklaces though, she sighs and takes one as well. Can't hurt, she supposes. She doesn't argue when Lunata offers rebreathers, not so much because she doesn't know how deep it is down there or how long she can hold her breath, but because it's the Death Waitress and you don't say no to the Death Waitress. "Thanks! ...um, how does this work?"
After being either helped or imitating others who put the masks on, she wastes no more time in rushing towards the hole, jumping down without hesitation. "Here we gooo~"
No special water clothes for her, just the usual. And she's carrying a heavy hammer on her back, to boot. But since this is Xantia, it would probably be weirder if what she was doing made complete sense.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily came along, as she was asked. She raised no objection to Lunata's theoretical presence. Any questions about whether she was ready to get back into the field were met with a one-eyed stare, and upon hearing the general plan...
Well, here as she's shown up Lily is dressed a bit differently than usual. But enough about that in a moment.
"Hm," Lily remark as she looks over the Symbological necklace, and turns to look over Lunata again. "...Useful," she agrees about the rebreathers. Lily sets one over her own face, as well, pulling it over and making sure it doesn't mess with her eyepatch's strap before letting it rest. A look to Drifter Saul. "I'm sure there's nothing extra-dangerous down there."
This is not swimsuit Lily precisely, because it doesn't match what she wore at the beach. Over the actual swimsuit, she wears a loose draping charcoal skirt gathered with a belt around her waist, soft-soled shoes, and a loose cloth shirt with draping sleeves in the same color. It... isn't very protective, but it isn't going to weigh her down that much, either. And for that matter--
Her ARM is bundled up, her satchel waterproofed, and Dog looks down dubiously at the death hole. "...Dog. Like we practiced." A turn, a look at Penelope. "You're not going to like this much," she says to the bird, and lifts her hand. After a moment's concentration, blue circuitry gleams brightly enough to shine vaguely from beneath her shirt's fabric, and Penelope is safely enclosed within a sphere of ice... As is Dog. Dog barks from within it.
"Here, Xantia. Like this."
And then she dives in. Not a big deal, right? At least she can swim.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dive Into the Dark.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Dive Into the Dark *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The entrance to the Leck Mines is found at the end of a long mine track... or at least it was, before the mine's entryway was buried under a thousand tonnes of stone. Near the old entry, however, a massive hole dozens of yards wide has opened in the ground, giving you another way in... provided you're willing to dive into a pitch black hole that you're /told/ has water at the bottom. "Afore ye go, take these," mumbles Drifter Saul, handing out necklaces with crude Symbols carved into them - each emits a faint light that provides about 20 feet of illumination. "Ain't no way yez can bring torches er lamps down 'ere - 'em Symbols is good fer 'bout an 'our, no mer, but yez be out 'r ded innat time, so at's alls good. As fer air..." Saul snorts and spits over the edge into the hole. "Well, mebbe yez kin finds some pockets down 'ere. Good luck, folken." =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
=====================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 1 *>===================== =======================< Results - Dive Into the Dark >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Yggdra Cable 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Expedition Boots 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Fei Fong Wong 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>=========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Green Algae *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Green cave slimes were a notorious and dangerous hazard in the Leck Mines - acidic to the touch and capable of consuming an unwary miner in a matter of moments, they could cling to the ceiling and drop down upon their prey, burning them alive. The flood has put paid to that little tactic - but unfortunately the slime has proven resilient to the aquatic environment, and is now advancing in a slightly more diffuse, but still terribly acidic, cloud of green goo. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Wound============================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"ow! Oof! Ugh!" Fei shouts as he bounces off the side of the hole a few times before finally SPLOOSHINg into the water. Maybe some folks should've waited a bit before jumping down after him but TOO LATE. Xantia and Lily have similar issues of not exactly jumping 'straight' down as much as they'd like. Maybe Xantia mimicked Lily a little TOO well there.
Nevertheless, Fei is mostly just mildly bruised rather than owned and nobody else has any trouble hopping down. Frankly, using a cable probably, you know, helped a great deal there. Maybe Fei should've waited to use the cable.
Yeah. That's probably it honestly.
Fei, down below, adjusts his rebreather to make sure it's still secure.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly took a rope! When she hears splashing and can get a look at just where to go, she is able to wrap herself round the waist in order to pull off and stash her boots. It's kind of precarious, but the thing about these little bubbles of light is that it makes it easy to forget just how high up you are. She goes the rest in her bare feet, and slides into the water without great drama.
"Whew... Everyone's alright?" Elly says. She looks over towards the black water and then reviews where everyone is. Her eyes widen as she says, with surprise and admiration, "Lily - you really sealed them both safely in there... That's excellent thinking. I imagine," and here Elly turns to look back out onto the green water, "that - "
Elly looks out again.
The slime is attracted to the light. Being, of course, a mine-based organism (as opposed to amine-based), it was used to being heterotrophic and adventurertrophic, but its first and greatest love had been light. The algae slurbles up. It glorps in a coruscant of sulfrous bubbles. It rears up over the surface of the water and goes for Elly who --
"!!!!!!"
A mirror smashes!
-- is now standing on a helpful little ridge. ETHER -> SEALED, at least by the words of Mr. Leck Drifter upstairs, and so Elly has to resort to trying to clobber the creature with the rod of the moon. "Hah - wooh!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Lunar Rod toward her party's challenge, Green Algae.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly doesn't actually have sealed magic, the script just glitched when moving her around.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata glances back towards Elly with a look towards her boots, nodding as she says, "... way I heard it, it came with the ship from what I know? Dunno, didn't ask the Captain..."
She bobs her head one way to Xantia on her way down as she goes, "Oh, you fit that over your nose and mouth and tighten the strap behind-- try to take short breaths so that you can conserve your air supply for longer, too."
Lunata kind of lights up at Lily's presence, but particularly Dog and Penelope as they're... encased in ice. "... hmm... we have hot dogs at the Saloon, but not cold dogs. Perhaps... a new kind of dessert..."
Lunata, you've already unleashed Bream Chasers into the world. Don't push your 'artisanal' science further than you're willing to pay for.
Josie gets a glance once they're down and she comments, "I could ask if the engineers could produce another one, but this was... uh, experimental on account of--" A pause. "Possibility of high impact death, they said."
... so why are you using it, Lunata?
But the slimes soon come, as Elly points them out and she furrows her brow. Her sword isn't of much use here, neither is her shotgun... what kind of weapon could she use here--
She brandishes the ARM anyway. It's new to some people, a matte-black shotgun with the most ludicrous engraving on the side:
'Zeldukes is in Heaven now'
"If I can just..."
... the shotgun begins to glow as familiar electric-red energy starts to run through it. "... Charge Shot!" Her arm snaps back as she fires a blast of energy from both barrels that's more underwater-friendly, because them's the rules in JRPGs.
Did... did Josie program something like that in? Is she just that good an ARMs meister??
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Green Algae.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
In the end, Josie rappels down the side of the entryway into the dark depths of this opening to the Leck Mines, and for a moment stands on the very edge of the waters. "...More extensive than I'd thought," she comments, releasing her grip on her rope. "Looks like the end of the line for you, though," she informs her bird, who dutifully wings up into the air--
Before magic encircles and ensorcels the pigeon. With a splash, the ice-encased pigeon lands in the drink.
...And soon after begins to bob along, not particularly unlike a hamster in a wheel. Is she going to be okay like that? ...Maybe?
Josie, for her part, just shrugs. "Thanks, Tiger. That's one less problem."
Briefly she hesitates as Lunata replies to her earlier comment. "Yeah? Experimental because--"
Josie is silent for a good five seconds. "On second thought, let's table that one." It's a comment that includes the part where she sideeyes Lunata, then glances over at Lily, as if doing some mental comparison mathematics here.
Young ladies: reckless even by one Josie Lovelace's metrics.
And after that, Josie herself slips into the water, swimming over to give Penelope's ice orb a push.
It's not long before they meet that most dreaded and common of cave foes: the slime. ...Adapted to the current flooded location at that. Leaving Penelope to drift for the moment, Josie herself hauls up onto a small stone outcropping here in the depths, then pulls from a satchel strapped at her hip...
Yes, it's booze. It's cold down here so she's going to warm up a touch before doing things like--
Oh, or maybe she'll just point and shoot while she's having a drink. That's a possibility, isn't it?
"Nice shot!" she calls out. "Careful, make sure you don't hit Red--" Is she taking on the role of instructor still?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Green Algae.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Oh, I see!" Xantia appreciates Lily and Lunata's help in figuring out what rebreathers are for. This is only the second time she can remember that she will be swimming at all, this is veering into Advanced Knowledge for her. Yet she doesn't even raise an eyebrow at seeing the ice-encased animals accompanying them. Nothing unusual going on there.
The way down could've gone better. While Xantia doesn't make pain noises on the way down, she does impact the sides a few times on the way. It's not until hitting the water, and coming back up to the surface, that she complains: "Ow ow ow... stupid hole, why didn't it go straight down?" Perhaps a better question would be why she assumed a natural rock formation would make for a safe and easy way down in the first place, but an even better question would be who would ever expect her to ask the most logical questions.
Still, that wasn't so bad, and Xantia doesn't seem at all bothered by the weight of the hammer on her back, managing to swim just fine. It's something she never even stopped to think about, being able to swim. She just had to do it that one time back on Lunar, so she did. Nobody ever told her that's supposed to be something people have to learn. But then, it's hardly the first thing she spontaneously managed to do when she needed it most.
It doesn't take long for the first Problem to arrive, in the form of... who knows, in their current diffused form Xantia can't even tell they're supposed to be slimes. It doesn't really matter, it's something icky in the water that looks Bad, so instinctively, she swats in its direction. Just as instinctively, she creates a wave of force, pushing through the water at high speeds, to try and knock the threat back away from her. Very, very far away.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Green Algae.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong says, "Oh, yeah..yeah... I'm okay!" He surfaces long enough to say that though this is an RPG you can never be sure if he'll just suddenly be able to talk underwater somehow even diregarding the rebreathers. "You?" He is being pretty quiet but that's maybe understandable considering what may be at stake ofr him down here. Despite his words to Xantia, it IS strange that he is even this determined to find out about his past down here. Do as he says not as he does? Maybe.
Still, being in a party with Elly, he appears with her when the mirror smashes. He flicks the RPS Badge into the air and uses it to send plasma surging towards the Slime harassing Elly!
And then he jumps back a bit and shifts his pressure between two feet while his ATB gauge resets.
Fei squints at Lunata's ARM. The words, specifically.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Green Algae.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"A cold dog?" Lily asks Lunata. "...What would that be?"
Agility, not Lily's strong suit. She looks around once they have some stability though, turns to Elly and looks quietly pleased. "Thank you. ...We should look after them." A beat, "Not a problem, Josie." Then, she considers. Then, Lunata mentions the risk. "Maybe I could use one of those," she answers thoughtfully.
Really?
But... Uhhh. Wait. Slime. Slime, and that is not great. As it rears up the surface and goes for Elly, Lily narrows her eyes, looking sharply towards it.
"Why did it have to be slimes?" she mutters.
Lily glances to Lunata's gun, lifts an eyebrow, and then lifts her hands, which flare violet. At the same time--
Dog's sphere wobbles and then shoots forward, launching against the slime cloud that is attacking Elly. And in turn--
Lily starts disintegrating liquid. It is probably mostly slime, but it might be just water. It's hard to say.
"We should find an air pocket when we can. I want to give them a chance to get more air."
Pause. "...If a speck of this slime survives we're going to have a problem."
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Green Algae.
===========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>=========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Green Algae *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Green cave slimes were a notorious and dangerous hazard in the Leck Mines - acidic to the touch and capable of consuming an unwary miner in a matter of moments, they could cling to the ceiling and drop down upon their prey, burning them alive. The flood has put paid to that little tactic - but unfortunately the slime has proven resilient to the aquatic environment, and is now advancing in a slightly more diffuse, but still terribly acidic, cloud of green goo. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Wound============================================
======================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 2 *>====================== ===========================< Results - Green Algae >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(10)--> 10 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Lunar Rod 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Dog 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Fei Fong Wong 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Wound(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
So it turns out that Elly getting a script glitch was a bad thing, because the slime goes "splurt" around her Rod and does not fall asleep.
Lunata raises the topic of Cold Dogs and also raises her ARM. Elly looks towards the engraving. (Somewhere far away, Erzebet Mara Lefanu is giving thumbs up in approval, but she's not here now. Much like Zeldukes isn't.) The charged-up THWAM makes the slime produce the exact same "splurt" sound it did when Elly struck it.
Josie drinks. This is a wise decision.
Xantia's swatting backhand knocks the slime back aaaand yup it went "splurt" again and is now 'standing' atop the water and undulating unpleasantly. Dog smashes into the Slime, sending it splashing towards Lily, who starts disintegrating what is probably it.
In the end, though, it is Gok-- er-- Fei who seems to prevail - for the advantage of his chi blasts is that they're able to burn through a bunch of goop at once. After the THING is gone and a lingering fish-tank smell floats in the water, Elly says, "Um."
"You asked why it didn't go straight down? I imagine this mineshaft was made to follow the ore vein that they were trying to extract... so it would move in unpredictable directions. If they were just carving out a great underground space, they could operate much more uniformly, but unfortunately that wasn't their goal..."
Thanks for the instructing, Elly!!
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== ============<* CHALLENGE - Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares? *>============= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Rickety catwalks criss-cross the Leck Mines, forming a three-dimensional lattice you can use to propel yourself forward as you swim. At some point prior to the mines flooding, an ore cart fell from a higher track and landed upon a lower one, spilling a load of iron ore all across the narrow path ahead, blocking the tunnel forward. But you're underwater, so who cares? These heavy stones seem much lighter underwater (thanks buoyancy), and you shouldn't have to roll too many out of the way before you can squeeze through the top. =Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Yeah, a high impact death is probably not gonna bother Lunata that much, isn't it? Reckless young ladies, reckless young ladies, thy name is Lunata -- and Lily, and... well, really, Josie's probably amongst the relative minority here, isn't she?
"I got it," Lunata calls back to Josie as she winces as her shots don't quite find the mark. Still a looong way until she'll be really comfortable with it, but at least she can cheat in ways...
Like, oh, plugging her own blood into the bullets to make them charge up. Xantia blasts them with force, Fei with chi and Lily combines with them.
"Yeah... we don't want to get stuck without a way back, but at least I've got enough Cable to retrace our steps," Lunata comments as she gives her wire an experimental tug. "... that makes sense, I guess," she also comments to Elly.
The team have to splash down again towards a flooded section -- and Lunata holds Saul's necklace and points towards where an ore cart's spilled over and blocked the way forward with a whole lot of rubble in the way.
She pauses, and then focuses as she holds that shotgun out and decides to try the lifestyle that is 'shotgun your way through all your life problems'.
... maybe it'll work out??
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Well, at least the slimes are gone. The remnants still leave a painful burning sensation though, so Xantia wastes no time in getting through that section of the water. Only then does she comment, "I didn't know fighting underwater would be so different!" That didn't work like she was expecting at all!
Xantia needs to be told the obvious a lot, or find them out the hard way, like just now. Don't count on her to be thinking of the way back at all either, thankfully Lunata is on the ball there.
Finally, they arrive at an area that looks a bit more mine-like. Still flooded, of course, but at least you can sort of tell what it used to be like. Which makes Xantia feel right at home - she has an odd sort of nostalgia for mines, having worked in them a lot back when she was all on her own. So much hauling and smashing rocks. Good times.
Even without that background, nobody should be surprised at Xantia's solution to the problem at hand. As much as she respects Lunata's choice to use force to get through every problem, she'd have to argue that a gun is just not the right tool for a job like this. Thankfully, she brought the perfect one!
"Aha! I knew this would come in handy!" With that, she takes the hammer out of the bindings on her back and starts smashing. You don't even have to move things that are in such tiny pieces that they can't block the way anymore! Overkill? What's that?
...Anybody want to tell her you're not supposed to be able to swing a hammer with that much force while you're underwater? She's just going to keep breaking laws of physics if nobody explains them to her.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Megaton Hammer toward her party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is honestly more like Steampunk Gohan.
"It's okay. Slimes are tough." Fei says. "....I guess." Wait that doesn't sound like he's too certain there!! Will Fei be certain? Will he admit that he's kind of surprised the team had so much trouble with a slime monster?? And what is Frieza up to?! Find out on the next episode of DREAM CHASERS Z!
Fei would consider Josie both reckless and young even if she is not, like, a teenager. Of course in some cultures 30 is about as old as you live before you die, ha ha ha ha! Existence is meaningless death is certain! Though of course with Lunata here, maybe it's something you can still enjoy.
Fei takes in a deep breath himself and crouches down to help dig away at those boulders.
"I swear we moved these the last time we were here..." Fei murmurs. "Maybe this is a different path."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Probably some kind of ice-based desert? Ice cream in a cooled steam bun, or something," Josie suggests. Symbology certainly makes a lot of things possible in places where it might not be possible.
Just try having shaved ice at a festival in Bledavik without it.
Even Josie squints when Lily mentions that she'd like to try something like that... rappeling ARM Lunata's been using. Really?
Of course, even her judging eye will have to wait -- they have a bit of a slime (algae?) problem to handle. Taking a shot at it while having a cold (?) one doesn't end terribly well -- or at least, it fails to do much except result in a low 'glorp' where said slime takes a hit from a sidearm.
In fact, none of them really seem as if they're having a super great time against this foul mutant slime variant.
This might be why Josie holsters her ARM and goes back to drinking. ...Sometimes it's just like this.
"Try aiming more to your left. Seems to keep veering off that way, yeah?" she says, once the waters have settled out, caps her flask, and slides back into the water. "Good storm, though."
She paddles along, occasionally giving the rather bemused Penelope's ice sphere a push.
And treads water there for a moment at the point in the venture where they come across a spilled mine cart and the rubble thereof blocking the path, all of which are sunk beneath the surface.
Also the point where Lunata decides that SHOTGUN is the answer.
"Sparky, Junior. Lemme give you a hand with this." What's this, is Josie opting for the sensible approach when she takes a dive under the surface to dig and hack at the stones in their way with her mattock?
Honestly it's probably just because she doesn't have bombs (which might be questionable down here as is).
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei instinctively frowns when he remembers how many bombs were used the first time he was here.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Ugh," Lily answers, shaking her head. The matter of the mine at least--Well, she'd rather be thinking of that. At least, "Then the cable we'll need to look out for," Lily nods to Lunata. It appears that she's... trusting her here. She pauses, though, and adds, "...You're making progress on your shooting."
Lily doesn't focus all that much on her necklace, or on the darkness down here; she conjures a bit more of her own, since she wants to study the necklace later, and looks to the ore cart, thoughtfully. Lunata... starts to shoot them.
Lily approves of that.
"...Underwater fighting isn't my area either," Lily admits to Xantia. She does not tell Xantia she's breaking the laws of physics when she starts swinging though. Maybe later, when it can be a cool lesson about her powers instead of possibly biting them in the ass. Instead...
Lily straightens, still in the water, and lifts her hands again; they're bare, with a couple of bracelets at her wrists, and thin chains wound about the right. The others are working on getting the ore out of the way. This is a good plan. So, Lily supplements it by, with a flash of blue, Lily takes the rubble that's knocked out of the way and encases it, too, in enough ice to keep it moving farther away.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Rocks.
Big stone rocks, as Tila Tequila, aka Regional Slaughtercorpswoman Tequila, said - the same sort of rocks that the heroic Juggalo people hurled upon her before the perfidy of the Swiss. But that was long ago, and far away, and the Juggalo people prevail - ask Sheriff Sugar Wolf, over in the Seed Cities.
Be that as it may, Elly comes up to the rocks a little late to the party. Xantia's already hard at work, and Fei's working with the boulders. So what is there for Elly to add as she paddles up along people. She ducks her head below water - because the Symbological light still works fine - and gazes ahead.
The water's peaceful like this, Elly thinks. Perhaps she remembers, obscurely, swimming late at night.
Her eyes close.
The water around her shifts... and as Lily immobilzies the rubble, she gives the sudden surge of tidewater that moves to push THROUGH the barrier in a gentle and leisurely way. The water goes over the frozen section like it was rock! Which, really, ice is. If you think about it, water is just molten ice.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares?.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== ============<* CHALLENGE - Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares? *>============= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Rickety catwalks criss-cross the Leck Mines, forming a three-dimensional lattice you can use to propel yourself forward as you swim. At some point prior to the mines flooding, an ore cart fell from a higher track and landed upon a lower one, spilling a load of iron ore all across the narrow path ahead, blocking the tunnel forward. But you're underwater, so who cares? These heavy stones seem much lighter underwater (thanks buoyancy), and you shouldn't have to roll too many out of the way before you can squeeze through the top. =Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
=====================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 3 *>===================== ==============< Results - Spilled Mine Cart... But Who Cares? >=============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Megaton Hammer 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Fei Fong Wong 30 --(30)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Vault(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata shuffles well out of the way and gives a silent (since underwater) thumbs-up to Xantia, watching with no small amount of awe as the Megaton Hammer just goes and squishes a whole bunch of ore at once. There's truly no kill like overkill... who says that all you need is kill?
She seems content to not point out physics, because let's be fair, she's probably just as bad at obeying them as Xantia is at times. Fei digs away and helps, with Lunata bobbling to hum and think whether she's been here before... it's been so long.
It was a different time then.
Lunata keeps Josie's advice in mind as she looks to the shotgun again and backs away as Josie smashes it through with her mattock and Lily comments on her shooting. Yeah, she's making progress... it'll be a while before she gets it where she wants it to be, though. Lily sustains the rubble already out of the way with ice, which also has the side effect of making them cooler down here!
Elly looks onward and finds light beyond!
While the others are working, she looks to Dog and Penelope and keeps unreeling that cable, careful to make sure they can retrace.
DG: Xantia has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== ===============<* CHALLENGE - Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A large boulder has rolled onto the path in front of you and partly the door ahead. The buoyancy of the water around you /should/ make moving it an option... but you spot a few tell-tale bubbles of air leaking out from the corners of the doorframe, meaning air is probably trapped behind it, forming an imperfect vacuum seal. With enough muscle - or the right Tools - you may be able to dislodge it, and catch a few precious breaths to boot. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia repeatedly raises the hammer above her head in some kind of victory animation, which is silent and a little silly-looking since it's happening underwater. But that doesn't matter, what matters is smashing was done and a good time was had by all. Well, Xantia doesn't see why anybody would not enjoy a rousing spot of rock-smashing, anyway.
That done, she needs a moment to get the hammer back into its bindings before continuing further on ahead, where the party finds... one of the particularly large rocks from before, which was too large to get smashed, and got knocked further down the tunnels instead.
Xantia would have pointed out 'hey, it's the one that got away', excited like she just got see an old friend again. Would have, except she can't. This tunnel has a very low ceiling at the far end, so she'd have to swim back in order to surface and say anything. This is where those rebreathers are going to come in especially handy.
Of course, swimming back would be an option, but Xantia doesn't bother. Instead, she grabs hold of the rock and starts pulling on it, expecting to move even that large of a rock with ease. Maybe that would've even worked, if it wasn't for the vacuum effect keeping the rock tightly pressed against the door opening beyond.
Perplexed, but no less motivated to make this work, she motions underwater for the others to come over to this rock, and then sets the example of what she wants people to help her with by going right back to what she was trying to do before. Hammering the rock didn't break it last time, so she's not trying that again, thereby avoiding getting it stuck in there even tighter. Sometimes the things she does do have some amount of thought behind them.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Well, the shotgun also didn't work last time, and Lunata's not about to ignore Lily and Josie's advice, really. She puts the gun away and instead takes... her sword out, which--
--at least, to her credit, she's not trying to do anything like slash at the rock or anything futile like that. Instead, breathing carefully through the rebreather, she joins in as Xantia motions what she's trying to do. She thinks and...
...focuses, stabbing the sword through one of the sides to pry through and hopefully dispel the vacuum that it's created, and if not?
A priceless death-katana is as good a crowbar as any, she rations.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong says, "Thanks for the help, Josie."
Of course, LAST time there wasn't...a boulder after the boulder so maybe this time it should be all good. Fei isn't so ready to try and explode a hole through this one--he might destroy whatever is behind it, after all--and it might also cause the world to cave in on everybody's heads. Or worse!
He takes in a deep breath and gets to work again, trying to wobble the boulder so that Lunata's attempt to find a place to pry it out has an easier, like, swordhole to pull it out...from? Fei is'nt sure what you call that area since you don't usually use a sword to do it, but he's sure he'll think of something eventually. Either way, he isn't terribly concerned. Xantia is around and if it gets frustrating enough she'll probably just use her electric...
...hmm.
Fei puts his back into it.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway. DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly's brow furrows as their removal of rocks reveals a single large rock. How many rocks are there! Elly thinks.
Probably a lot, Elly reasons, getting the rebreather into place. Lunata is stabbing the rock in full obedience to the ancient aphorism of the Shimadagumi: 'Boku wa iyashi ga hitsuyodesu'. Fei is applying strength. Elly reaches out...
And this time she does the obvious thing and moves to try and weaken the integrity of attack. The interior structure of the stone may become more friable - why, if people are really lucky, it'll bust to sand and dirt in Fei's strong, yet caring hands.
Her other hand gives Xantia a thumbs-up! Yeah!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Resurfacing as soon as she's able to loosen the debris, Josie takes a deep gasp of a breath, followed by a nod and a flash of a grin Fei's way that might have to suffice for a thumbs-up sort of gesture. "C'mon, let's see what's left ahead," she suggests, before kicking up a short wave to send Penelope bob-bob-bobbing along.
Though with the next stretch forcing them to duck low under the water...
"Guess we can try to see if this holds," she says, before diving down with Penelope's sphere tucked awkwardly under her right arm.
It's exactly like having a floatie. She finds that it's rough going, bumping along the roof of this tunnel here.
But at least it's not long before they find a boulder in their path some some promising features appended to it.
Which is to say, the airbubbles. Leaving Penelope's ice sphere to bonk against the tunnel roof for the moment, she kicks off towards the boulder and once again, brings her mattock to bear.
This time, it's with the pointed pick end first.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== ===============<* CHALLENGE - Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A large boulder has rolled onto the path in front of you and partly the door ahead. The buoyancy of the water around you /should/ make moving it an option... but you spot a few tell-tale bubbles of air leaking out from the corners of the doorframe, meaning air is probably trapped behind it, forming an imperfect vacuum seal. With enough muscle - or the right Tools - you may be able to dislodge it, and catch a few precious breaths to boot. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
=====================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 4 *>===================== =================< Results - Big Boulder Blocks Bassageway >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Fei Fong Wong 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong 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> Xantia has posed.
It was a straightforward plan, if you could call it a plan, getting that boulder free from the doorway by means of pulling. Xantia doesn't find it so easy however, even with Fei's help. Josie gets her mattock involved, and Lunata... uses a priceless artifact as a crowbar. Is it any wonder Xantia is a fan of the Death Waitress? That is totally her style.
It is, however, also taking forever like this. It takes a little Etheric assistance from Elly and Lily to wear down the rock itself, eventually causing it to break into pieces small enough to get sucked out through the vacuum. Which, as it turns out, is strong enough to pull everyone right along after it, sending them through the tunnel beyond in a bit more of a hurry than they were probably prepared for. It might have been a fun waterslide-like ride, if it wasn't for all the uneven rock formations in the way, and the fact that they don't exactly have a ton of distance from one another.
Once the rapid subsides, Xantia is finally able to surface, significantly more bruised than before. Especially in the ego, as failing to move a rock is not something that happens to her very often. "That was not as much fun as I thought," is her succinct judgment of the situation.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Goblin Submariners *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- No, seriously. Shuffling toward you is what appears to be a large, crude diver's bell - a bolted-together metal bell with a single thick glass window on the front, through which you can see a goblin on a chair. It points excitedly toward you as it spots you, and then a few goblins duck out from under the lip of the bell, fire spearguns in your direction, then pop back up under cover. It's a cheap tactic, but it's really effective - though all you need to do is break the bell to ruin the goblins' day. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Stupify========================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The rock just... refuses to break. Easily, that is.
And when it does, it turns out that the rock had been sitting as a sort of seal on a gap. The only good news is that they are able to breach surface and get their requisite gulps of air in, but it's small comfort for Josie after they're all battered and clattered around the sides of the tunnel. Even Penelope looks somewhat worse for wear, dazed and confused inside her sphere as they now drift amidst a tunnel that at least has more air between the water's surface and the ceiling.
Any tranquility that might be sought here is dampened with the sudden rude emergence of a steel ball with a glass plate across its front from the sunken portion of the mining tunnel.
It's followed by the Goblins within then firing spearguns, a rude tactic by any means, particularly when there's not much space to dodge.
Josie, seconds after a spear nearly strikes her clean through reacts as any Drifter of her calibur would:
She immediately draws her sidearm and fires.
For the glass.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goblin Submariners.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
A YEAR AGO, MILAMA DESERT, OUTSIDE THE GUARDIAN TEMPLE
The Rephaim splays its extremities, erupting in an all-encompassing eruption as Kislevi troops surround the Caravan Kinship.
And when the light fades away... the Gear itself is gone--
A YEAR AGO, GOB'S HIDEOUT, THE BADLANDS
--landing in a smoking pile nearby a large abandoned manor. A Gob perks up and looks towards its companions. "Gob? Gobu?" (What do you think it is, gobu?)
"Gob gob gob!" (It's our queen! She has returned!)
...
Lunata Croze leans with extremely bad posture in a I've-Become-Dracula Bad Ending pose on her throne; several Gobs cool her down with large banana leaves they've procured from somewhere. A junior goblin serves her a luscious meal of lamb shank in a stewed mango curry.
"This feels weird, but... kind of nice... gobu."
A pause. Oh no, she's picking up the speech tic... gobu.
~*~
NOW
Lunata stamps her feet and expresses, "What are you doing, my vassals!?" as she watches a spearhead fly above her own. "This is shameful behaviour, gobu!"
She procures something telescoping and stamps a flag with the waving banner of Gob Nation (which is mostly a Gob head with a giant doofy grin). "By the honour decreed upon me by your brethren, I demand you cease this at once, gobu!"
...
...
Of course, the fact that goblins and Gob (and Hob-Gobs) are probably distinct entities may ruin Lunata's plan, gobu...
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goblin Submariners.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly stares dead ahead at the improvised submersible. Indeed, it's such a bizarre piece of legacy technology that even she, Miss "I went to school and I got pretty good grades even if Kelvena did better in a way that I have feelings about that I haven't completely explored despite our extended close proximity which gave me complicated thoughts that I didn't express due to the fact that Kelvena never spoke up and I didn't want to be rude" (that phrase is shorter in Solarian), doesn't even...
Understand at first. She peers.
A speargun fires. A spear whips through the billowing red mane that is trailing behind her. Elly can feel it tug as the barbs snag some of her hair.
Lunata plants her flag.
Elly draws out her Rod - and she plunges it into the stream bed, bowing her head as she kneels before Lunata. "What is thy bidding, my liege?" Elly says. She's getting into it!
Also there is ice starting to form in the passage from whence came the goblin submersible. Sneaky.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Lunar Rod toward her party's challenge, Goblin Submariners.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
A YEAR AGO, GOB'S HIDEOUT
Fei, having been robbed of most of his belongings (and clothes)...well honestly, that's really all you need to know. And they briefly, in fact, stole Fei's most treasured possession.
NOW
Fei takes out his RPS Badge and he looks at it. He looks at the goblin. He looks at his RPS Badge. He looks at the goblin. Josie already started shooting but Fei looks at the RPS Badge and he looks at the goblin a third time.
Then he promptly charges and starts what is known in some circles as clobbering time. He has a lot to work through. Despite his reasoning, he is not actually enjoying it too much, just striking methodoically before the spearguns take something even more valuable than treasure away from him.
THAT'S YOU, HIS DEAR FRIENDS!
Of course mid punch he has to stop and ask, "Did you just gobu?" of Lunata.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Goblin Submariners. DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Goblin Submariners.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
When you're banged up and feeling a little down in the dumps, there's nothing like a good fight to perk you fight up! And there's few things as suitable to serve as punching bags than...
"...are those Goblins?" Xantia might be more excited about this if it wasn't so unexpected. After all.. Goblins? Here? Now? Xantia has thought 'these guys show up everywhere' before, but she sure wasn't expecting to see them in a flooded mine of all things. Even if it is in a... whatever that's supposed to be they're in, who knows.
Of course then they start firing spears and all concerns become moot. Nothing for it but to start punching. Which Xantia would've started doing immediately, but she pauses when Lunata suddenly throws a fit, and... looks impressed?
"Wow, I didn't know you could speak Goblin!" Yes, she's for real right now.
Of course, she's not going to let that stop her from doing that punching she was thinking about. And this is where Fei's earlier fears come true. At least it's clear in advance, Xantia's body starting to emit a glow which quickly grows alarmingly bright, before she unleases a lightning punch directly for the Goblin 'vessel'.
The electricity spreads a bit more than she probably intended, because water. Although only for a short moment, after which it all just sort of... flows back towards Xantia, who isn't harmed by this incident one way or another. But was everyone else so lucky...?
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Goblin Submariners.
===========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Goblin Submariners *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- No, seriously. Shuffling toward you is what appears to be a large, crude diver's bell - a bolted-together metal bell with a single thick glass window on the front, through which you can see a goblin on a chair. It points excitedly toward you as it spots you, and then a few goblins duck out from under the lip of the bell, fire spearguns in your direction, then pop back up under cover. It's a cheap tactic, but it's really effective - though all you need to do is break the bell to ruin the goblins' day. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Stupify========================================
======================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 5 *>====================== ========================< Results - Goblin Submariners >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Lunar Rod 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 40 --(0)--> 40 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Dog 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Fei Fong Wong 70 --(15)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Water Falls, Everyone Dies *>================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you approach a junction in the tunnels, you feel yourselves being pulled forward, as though the water was flowing of its own accord... which is exactly what would be happening if, say, you were approaching the part of the mines that water was now flowing /out/ of, possibly dumping into a giant, bottomless, spike-walled pit or something. /Greeeeeeeeat/. The next few seconds are key - if you can power through the current or somehow blast part of the tunnel around the corner, you may be able to get fast before the current sucks you down... and then out. And then waaaaaaay down again. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The bullet bounces right off the glass.
"Huh," Josie says, in those moments before Lunata voices her AUTHORITY until the masses.
The... goblinoid masses, that is.
Come to think of it, what are the relationships between Goblins, Gobs, and Hob-Gobs? Is it merely linguistic, or is there some darker DEEPER truth at work here in Filgaia?
Maybe it's best to leave this one for the scholars, though. In any case, the goblins on board have stopped firing (or doing anything much at all besides sit there in the water) and the one at the controls seems to just be gaping as she waves the flag of the Gob Nation...
Elly's Thespian skills probably aren't hurting.
In fact as the song goes they
NEVER SEE IT COMING~~ o/`
when Fei, Xantia, and Elly's sinister magics all unite for the task of making the goblins regret they ever took up submarining (and hemming them in here for good measure).
Red lights flare from within the submersible as it begins to steadily sink beneath the... waves. Sure, the waves. It'll do.
"Huh," Josie says again, genuinely nonplussed. "Well, let's get going."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata pauses as she watches the submersible sink beneath the waves and... then lowers her head, taking off her rebreather like it were a peaked admiral's hat and putting it to her chest. "We pay our respects, and then move on in memory of those that have gobbed when they should have hobbed instead, gobu."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei straightens back up, cricking his neck. There, he thinks, this will surely make all the pain, suffering, and all of his sorrow at having his pants stolen fade away.
"Careful with this junction," Fei says. "The current here is incredibly fast." He looks back as he's walking. "So what we have to--" He pauses, looking at Xantia for a moment because she did, in fact, unleash electricity under water, but he doesn't say anything. "--what we have to do is somehow power throuuughaaaaaaaah!!"
He apparently forgot exactly hwere the current starts flowing because he is immediately pulled away from the group and sent spiraling through the flowing waters and threatening to, well, be lost to the tides... OF VENGEANCE GOBU!
"Iiii forgoooot hooooow terriffyyiiing thiiiiis waaaas! Pleeeaaaase doooon't uuuuse boooombs??"
Do it. Use the bombs.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Mother's Cross toward his party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"A little, yeah," she answers Xantia. "Got stuck in this hideout in the Badlands for a while... it's not hard once you know the basics?"
Lunata winds up rattling a little as she follows Fei, thoroughly soaked at this point and kind of silently astounded and impressed at the same time that the Yggdra Cable hasn't snapped yet... though now she faces the conondrum that--
--that the current is going with them and pulling them forward. She turns and seizes the cable as she bites her lip and goes, "Fei! Catch!"
She throws herself against one side and loops one of her metal hooks onto her manuevering gear and throws another length of Yggdra Cable for Fei to hopefully grab onto.
It's pretty much all she's got at present.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Gobu gobu.
"I can hear it," Elly says as she comes up near Fei. She drips for a moment, shaking some of the lingering water out of her hair along with ANOTHER spear that apparently ricocheted and got tangled up and which she had NOT noticed, good lord, Elly thinks, what -
"Fei!!"
Elly immediately leaps after Fei which was, she realizes immediately after she feels herself yanked on by the current, incredibly stupid.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"...So that's why," Josie says on the topic of speaking Goblin, treading water. Within her sphere, Penelope glowers, though at what or who, no one can be certain.
Maybe just at the fact of... everything, at the moment.
It's getting a little trickier to tread water now. Almost as if they were being tugged along by a--
"Hey kids! Look sharp, we've got a bit of a current going--"
More than a bit, she realizes, but opts not to ammend.
Way, way more than a bit.
"Tiger! It's your show now!" she shouts, before reaching over to hurl Penelope's sphere into the air... whereupon (with Lily's input) it cracks open; for a moment, Penelope is resplendant among the glittering shards of ice. She hovers there in the air for a moment (or as close to hover as a bird of her type can manage, which is to say she circles there in the air for a moment) while Josie tends to the more immediate problem of not going sailing over whatever fresh hell lies behind the corner by drawing and slamming her mattock into the rock wall. Maybe it'll be enough to use as a grip.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Well, that was fun. Xantia is appeased after doing her part in sending the Goblins down the watery, electrified depths. Fei only gets a pleasant smile when he looks at her. Completely unaware of having done anything potentially very dangerous. Probably not a big surprise. Who'd ever second-guess anything that worked, anyway? Not her!
Good cheer immediately makes way for panic when Fei gets caught by the current. What happens next is obvious. Elly and Xantia simultenously yell, "Fei!!" and immediately dive right after him. Equally obvious is the fact that this quickly causes the both of them to be caught by the current as well.
Xantia, however, still manages to steer her trajectory somewhat, simply by swimming. Another thing that having super strength is useful for. But even with her ability to fight against the current, she just isn't managing to get close enough to Fei (or anyone else, for that matter) to... Actually she doesn't even know what she'd do, she didn't think that far ahead. Not wanting to lose Fei is plenty to risk your life without any actual plans, right?
At least nobody has to worry about Xantia using bombs, she doesn't have any of those. What she does have is that hammer, which she eventually smashes into the side of the tunnel in an attempt to redirect the current through a newly created opening. Exactly how much thought was put into that decision is debatable, but maybe it'll work out, somehow?
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Megaton Hammer toward her party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Meanwhile, where is Dog?? And where is Lunata's soup of the day thermos?
A tiny blackboard sign floats by, which reads:
TODAY'S DUNGEON SOUP
Chana masala chickpea curry with lamb, prunes and almonds
garnished with fresh ginger and coriander
served with a side of garlic naan and poppadums
Dog is needless to say very, very, very comfy right now. :3
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Water Falls, Everyone Dies.
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Water Falls, Everyone Dies *>================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you approach a junction in the tunnels, you feel yourselves being pulled forward, as though the water was flowing of its own accord... which is exactly what would be happening if, say, you were approaching the part of the mines that water was now flowing /out/ of, possibly dumping into a giant, bottomless, spike-walled pit or something. /Greeeeeeeeat/. The next few seconds are key - if you can power through the current or somehow blast part of the tunnel around the corner, you may be able to get fast before the current sucks you down... and then out. And then waaaaaaay down again. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Tire=============================================
=====================<* Leck Mines - Flooded - Round 6 *>===================== ===================< Results - Water Falls, Everyone Dies >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Mother's Cross 4 Brute Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Megaton Hammer 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Rune Chain 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Fei Fong Wong 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Stupify(1)|Suffer(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has successfully explored Leck Mines - Flooded!
==========================<* Leck Mines - Flooded *>========================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Secrets of the Past (1) *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- After making it past the fateful junction, you force your way against the current and through a crack up ahead, from which the water is pouring... and then suddenly, you're breathing fresh air! You emerge in what can only be described as a river, flowing through an enormous underground cavern - almost a mile across, with a ceiling hundreds of yards over your head. Even more strange, upon reflection, is that you can /see/ that distance; for the first time since you entered the cave, your vision is not obscured at all by darkness or water or anything else. It is then that you realize /why/ this is - every surface of this cavern is glowing, pulsing with light. The effect is not synchronized - different sections of the place are pulsing at different rates, with different intensities, but the net effect is an omnipresent, omnidirectional aura of light... and of power. Whether you rely on senses mortal, magical, technological, or spiritual, you can be sure of one thing: something enormously significant happened in this place a long time ago... so significant that this cave is still bathed in its echo to this day. As you step out of the water, something metallic glimmers in the distance. Upon closer inspection, it is the remains of a dark black helmet - sheared in half by some unknown force - with a single horn emerging from the temple at the horizontal, curving at a sharp angle to point forward. You should send in a +request about this Discovery! =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Well maybe it's a little less horrifying than everybody thought. Everybody manages to power through in time to reach Fei no problem. Even Elly who literally just jumped in like Fei. Maybe she had to learn how to swim in Solaris...SWIM IN BLOOD. And also water.
Which one is Tiger again, Fei thinks distantly. Dog even gets to have a Comfy on the way down, easily having the easiest time of it. After all, Dog knows the ancient swimming technique of Doggy Paddle and even has a ride.
Fei lashes out with a hand to catch Lunata's cable, which he holds onto one handedly. Fei doesn't reach for that little silver chain he often reaches for in times like these, but he does gesture forward with one hand away from both himself and Lunata. But he doesn't do anything for a while, largley to avoid hitting his friends. It's only when Elly and the friends are at the very least adjacent (or ahead of him) that Fei unleashes a hefty blue energy burst away from his body, sending a backlash of current that only pushes everybody along even FASTER. Josie, with her grip, is able to swing the group onwward as they pass into...
..an open cavern. Along a river.
This is the cavern Fei had been to before. When he finally recovers enough to pull himself out of the river, offering Lunata and Elly a hand if they need it, he says, "This is it."
Every surface of the cavern is glowing and pulsing with light. There is a great deal of power here and even without seeing anything, it's easy to tell that something major happened in this place once long ago.
Fei says, "It's the same place... I guess I should take a look around and see if we find anything new. Maybe something will trigger...something."
Of course, the one with the best senses here is, frankly, Dog. Dog barks suddenly and rushes off for a bit before coming back, wearing a familiar damaged helmet on their head. They bark once more and paw at their cheek, bonking the helmet and shattering it in two pieces. It was just barely hanging on it seems.
Fei crouches down and picks one of them up. He frowns at it, staring at the horn protruding from it. Just one.
"It really was Siegfried." Fei says quietly, lowering his head. His grip on the helmet is loose. "I feel like I've been here, long ago..." Fei closes his eyes. "...But I don't see anything new. Was it really me? Or was it...someone else?"
He sighs, as if exhausted. "Was he really betrayed...?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata manages to tug the rest of the way up with a groan and finally reels in the rest of the Cable once they come onto the enormous -- simply enormous cavern, a mile wide... hundreds of feet before them.
"Did a... Gear do this? What's with the power running through this place?" Lunata whispers, with a not small amount of awe. "It feels like... remnants..."
A pause, as she narrows her eyes and watches Dog retrieve the helmet and gives Dog a scritch on the ears and goes, "Good job."
A pause, as she stares at her empty thermos. "Not good job." She whines. "I wanted some soup...!!"
She slumps and stares towards Fei and says, "... dunno. All I know is that he's the guy who's turned our city to absolute pot," with a scowl.
Yeah, much less sympathy than a certain wiggly-horned Hyadean here.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't even know exactly how it all happened in the end, all she knows is that in the end, she managed to make it to Fei, who by that time already had his hand on a cable and seemed to be doing alright. Then the next thing she knows, there's a blast of energy, things are moving fast again, and then she's laying on her back somewhere in a place filled with light. She remains there for a moment, getting her mental faculties back in order, but once she does has no trouble getting back to her feet.
"What is this place...?" she asks no one in particular, seemingly mesmerized by all the shiny. So mesmerized that she doesn't really pay attention to what everyone else is doing for a while, just slowly pacing around the room. Putting a hand on the wall periodically, seeming deep in thought.
She can feel... something from all this. While she can't identify it, it's that feeling that's actually mesmerizing, not so much the shininess of it all. That feeling of... power. Power once unleased here, that still remains in some capacity. What happened here...?
A sudden bark snaps her out of it, drawing her attention. Moving to Fei as he speaks the name 'Siegfried', she questions, "Did that belong to him?" She's quickly distracted from that as she studies Fei's reaction. She recognizes that reaction, all too well. Being on the verge of remembering something important... but not quite being able to grasp it. There isn't anything more vexing than that.
Suddenly, Xantia's voice sounds out again, far more cheerfully than before. "That's great, Fei! You're getting closer! If you keep chasing that familiar feeling, I'm sure you'll remember more in no time!" It's up to her to keep things positive, make sure he doesn't get discouraged. Because if it were her, that's what she would've wanted others to do for her.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Yeah, Elly had to learn. There was a pool. It was rectangular and boring.
Fei's Evasion Move and its heroic flash speed them along. Soon enough, Elly finds herself feeling less claustrophobic, the light from her symbolic pendant reaching out and - is it reflecting? she thinks - no:
It's huge. And it's alight!
"Oh my goodness. Fei! You've been here before? This exact place....?" She knew he'd found the locket, of course. For a few moments, Elly marvels at the place.
Dog comes forth. Elly drips, but also looks to Fei, to Dog... and then finally to Lunata.
"... I'm sorry about the soup," Elly says, which is absolutely true. (Her stomach is growling faintly, if thus far in a way that only she can hear.) "As for Siegfried..."
"... I feel strange to say this. I worry I'm defending someone who's beyond redemption, because at one point he might have been different. Every wicked person was a child once..."
"But Fei and I - both of us have had... memories. I don't understand them completely, but they're of a time when Siegfried behaved differently, when he was a different person. It was hundreds of years ago... and we don't understand the memories. If it hadn't been correct in so many ways, I might think we've just been... the target of some kind of psychotronic weaponry."
The camera pans back down to Elly, her eyes on the ground. They lift, along with the corners of her mouth, just a little, when Xantia speaks up.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "I'm not sure." to Lunata. "But I know we've run into people before of intense power before. It might not have been a gear." He hears Lunata's words on Siegfried. He can't blame her for them, not really, or at leaste he shouldn't be able to but slowly he is starting to resent words such as these. Part of him wishes he could hate Siegfried as much as they do. It would make his life so much easier. He wouldn't have to go dredging around in ruins like this, at least. Xantia tries to encourage him but Fei bristles. "I don't want to remember."
BGM INTERRUPT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGz1BdP_XTY
This begs the question of why Fei bothered to come in order to remember more in the first place. He looks towards Xantia, immediately regretting the tone. "...I'm sorry. I hope you find what you need, but it's not my dream to remember." He looks back at the helmet in his hand. "The only reason I'm looking into this...is because I'm desperate to find something, anything that can stop this from getting any worse. Maybe it doesn't exist, and that's why I haven't found anything."
His grip tightens along the helm and for a moment it looks like he might throw it away in frustration, but Elly's presence soothes him just enough. More than her presence, her words.
She has always understood him so well. Even so shortly after just meeting him. She knew he wanted to blame others, but ultimately blamed himself. She knew exactly what he was thinking, but she was still so kind to him. If she were any other Solarian she would have saw him as some dumb surface kid and shot him in his face, he imagines, or tried to plug him for information. Or kidnapped him.
"It's funny," Fei says to nobody in particular, but his gaze has turned to Lunata. "Folks were able to forgive me for what I did to Lahan, but I guess that's just because they were never there for most of 'em. Easy to forgive something that never hurt you. Makes sense. I imagine since Neriah doesn't leave much in the way of survivors far as I know, hands will be extended her way until she destroys herself."
He looks towards Elly for a long moment before back down at his feet. "I can't help but wonder if this man so similar to me has helped make Siegfried into the man who he is today. Siegfried keeps telling me I remind him of this Lacan. Even though we are not the same person, we are so similar perhaps we cannot be forgiven either."
He places the helmet in a bag. "Let's go."
He makes his way back towards the current, fully intent on leaving the way he came in.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It takes some doing but--
"Huh." Josie hauls up onto the shore, Penelope alighting on a rock nearby. Somewhat more broody than usual, the bird immediately takes to grooming. A single white feather with a black tip flutters down to rest on the damp stone.
"Guess this is the place, Junior? You see anything?" Josie, for one, seems to opt to sit on the side of the still-flowing underground river. The reason why becomes apparent when she pulls out a still-dry cigarette at the water's edge and, with a snap of her fingers and an electrical spark, lights up.
"Lunie, how's that ARM working? Holding up?" she asks, before the commotion from across the room finally prompts the archaeologist to stand. "Find something?"
She ambles on over to get a closer look.
Crouches, to take a look at the helmet. Cigarette between her lips, she peers closely at the broken helm, prods the horn with a pair of fingers.
She exhales smoke, taking her cigarette in hand.
"Yep. Sure looks like his. You think you can... huh." She tilts her head to one side, then looks between Fei and Elly.
"'He was an old friend of mine', as the song goes. Heh... You kids really are all full of surprises."
She stands, dropping her cigarette and brushes her hands off on her pantlegs.
"Well, let's pack it up and get on out, shall we? We're not going to make any breakthroughs down here."
"Maybe Sunshine can tell us a thing or two about this."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia's smile wavers briefly, parsing Elly's words. Remembering things that, all things considered, couldn't possibly be real, but still feeling real... that sounds familiar. Lily mentioned that before, too. What's going on? This feels like there was some kind of... Massively Unreal Shared Hallucination going on, or something. But that would be ridiculous. It better be ridiculous, she'd really rather not feel like she'd need to worry about how real any memories she finds are, too.
But those are concerns that remain in her mind. No need to make a whole discussion about that right now. Right now she's choosing just to be optimistic. Which is barely even a choice, it's just... what she does.
Of course, that ends when Fei snaps at her. She wasn't expecting that. She doesn't understand, even as Fei apologizes, and explains. She just looks at him like a deer in headlights, until she finally casts her eyes downward.
For all the similarities she sees between her and Fei... she can't understand that part of him. That part that so violently rejects the notion of remembering. All of her good intentions won't help if she doesn't know the right way to cheer him up. Anything she could think of to say would probably just hurt him. Like Fei's own well-intentioned words hurt her, not long ago.
And so she doesn't say anything else. When Fei makes to leave, she just wordlessly follows after, at a bit of a distance. Isn't there anything more she can do to help him...?