2018-09-24: Closure
- Log: Closure
- Cast: Riesenlied, Ethius Hesiod, Jacqueline Barber, Noeline, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Sacred Grounds of Linga
- Date: September 24th, 2018
- Summary: Following a series of recurring nightmares, Riesenlied calls together those close to her to revisit the place where it all began...and to, finally, achieve some closure.
========================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>========================= The Sacred Grounds of Linga are an ancient cave system renowned for a bevy of rare subterranean plants and geological formations. Researchers in the nearby Academy City are known to pay for a wide variety of materials taken from the Grounds for use in their studies, and so the upper regions see a steady stream of Drifters. The lower reaches, however, are darker and more sinister, populated by strange and twisted monstrosities. A few stories are told of ancient relics being discovered there, some of them predating even the Metal Demon Wars, but few who enter the depths return to corroborate the tale.
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Profane Grounds of Linga. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Calamitous Climb *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The path to the Sacred Grounds of Linga was always steep and crooked, but now a Malevolent aura seems to issue from the cavern mouth. Darkness pulses and shivers, slowly oozing down the slopes, making the ascent ever more treacherous. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has rarely been out for Digs ever since she returned to Filgaia -- indeed, her hands have been more than full organising the efforts of the Azadians as they settle into New Petra with the Waysiders that aren't going to eventually accompany them to Elru. Yet, even in the midst of this...
Her sleep has been plagued.
She tosses and turns, rarely if ever getting rest as she shivers and lets out a strangled cry--
The lumbering movement of the great creature with winged claws, its bulk nestled with a presence unlike before...
--and as she wakes, she knows there is something that beckons her. This has been going on for days now, and she realises what it is:
She's being called, again... back to that place.
She's confided her nightmares such to Avril and Noeline, since they're closer to where she usually is -- and the Memory Cube messages come to very specific people -- Jacqueline Barber, and Ethius Hesiod, of all people. It reads as follows:
'I have been plagued with nightmares each night now.
Every night, the image is all but the same--
Those terrible winged creatures with the body of a bear.
That place calls me in my dreams, the place where it all began...'
(no, it's not silent hill)
Riesenlied looks no more confident when she shows up, as she senses the presence of Malevolence within the area. She glances towards the slopes and cringes for a moment, withering. "... can I... can I still do what must be done?"
There's a painful feeling in her chest as the Fallen Sword begins to throb, as if it knows what is inevitable...
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius has only recently played one of his most closely guarded hands out of necessity. From there, he's been... the same as always, outside of that. Distant, secretive, occasionally commanding, but mostly just there. Just another face, another head for the count.
Word comes to him that yes, they are returning to the Sacred Grounds of Linga. He remembers, inwardly, when he thought something important might be in there. He scoured this part of Ignas for far too long, with what he understood was an urgency that he find something here. Whatever that something is, it's not here - he's turned over just about every stone in reach.
He comes with Jacqueline, dutifully enough, but whether he does so out of consideration for the overworked, sleepless, sacrificing Hyadean or some other agenda continues to be out of reach of understanding.
His eyes narrow on the approach as he picks up what Riese and, likely, others have. The Lunar-transplanted spiritual stuff that should not be here.
Riese may question whether she can 'still do what must be done.' Ethius does not. He finds the highest vantage point he can before utilizing the personal hot air balloon made out of that patchwork loot sack to drift over to the next point of similar elevation. His movement is largely solitary, as though it would seem he might be intentionally keeping distance from a number of the gathered.
At least, until he starts throwing down ropes for the times he might get too far ahead.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Calamitous Climb. DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Calamitous Climb.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
A part of Jacqueline had felt a desire to return to that ruin - the Sacred Grounds of Linga - ever since she had heard what befell it. A part of her felt indebted to it - if it wasn't for what she experienced that day, no matter how painful it had been, she might not be here now. She knew it was fate the moment she saw the message from Riesenlied.
It was time for them to return. They'd made the promise what felt a long time ago, and while this wasn't the exact circumstances she had hoped for, a part of her was glad to have an opportunity to aid Riesenlied.
And so she approaches the slopes leading up to Linga, and as she does, she spots the person she came here for.
"Riesenlied, everyone! I got your message." Jacqueline greets with a wave. She's in full view now, and she seems to have come...rather prepared for what's ahead.
...She might be a little afraid, too.
She pauses for a moment, studying Riesenlied. Wordlessly, she reaches into her bag, pulling out a potion and handing it to her with a smile.
"It's okay. We can get through this." She says, trying to encourage her.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Calamitous Climb.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline never saw Riesenlied's original encounter with the denizens of Linga - but she saw enough of its aftermath to understand how much it must have taken out of her. If she's honest, it isn't odd to her at this point that Riese would be called back to the ruins; she isn't picking up on the same sense or anything, but she is starting to get a feel for how it works, and she'd make an educated guess that it's Riesenlied's own regrets leading her there, wishing to bring some closure.
To be honest, Noeline can understand that feeling. Their last trip to Linga feels like a lifetime ago; she was more brash and much flightier then, still attempting to hide everything and anything about herself and run some odd sort of interference to try to ensure that Riesenlied's secrets were not uncovered. She wouldn't have ever guessed at the time that it would lead her here - to return to the caves as a traitor, a mother, as Riesenlied's beloved, as a shaman of the Guardians.
Following those thoughts, she allows herself a soft little laugh, rueful and nostalgic all at once, as Linga comes into view - but she's quick to sober when she feels the emanations from the cave ahead, grimacing at the metallic tang of Malevolence in the air. "... as if there weren't enough to deal with already," she mutters to herself, shaking her head as she helps keep her partner upright. Jacqueline and Ethius both get a nod of recognition before she starts to concentrate, feeling the muted link to her Medium spark enough to form a dim barrier around them.
"I will try to push its effects back a little as we go, but I can't say it will help all that much, if I'm honest," she notes with another sigh, beckoning for Strife to wing to her side. Rather than accept the pod's help directly, Noeline just tilts her head, and the little ARM sinks low enough to allow Riesenlied to sit on its back.
"If you cannot alone, then we will be there to help you," she promises, a hand on the other woman's back to steady her as Strife lifts into the air. More assured in her steps, Noeline is not far behind, nimbly hopping from step to step - and when they begin to become scarce she settles for using her enormous sword as a walking stick instead.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Calamitous Climb.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It was here, over a year prior, that Avril had ventured into the Sacred Grounds on the behest of something she couldn't quite put her finger on and within had found a small scrap of knowledge, once long-lost. Those of the Nisan sect had been able to grant her some backgrounding on the message and its place in history, but...
She might have put such things out of mind entirely had Riesenlied not come to her speaking of a presence she had seen in her nightmares...
Originating, it seemed, from that very same once-sacred ground.
And Avril had told her of the fragmented note she had once found within, from Penuel, Bishop of the lost (and unknown to most) nation of Nimrod.
Now she stands before the entrance to the Grounds, gazing upon a pathway strewn with the tell-tale touch of Malevolence. In one hand, she bears the extended blade of Absolute Zero. In the other, she has produced the still-functional Sea Medium.
"We shall do what we can to quell what has taken root here," she states. In passing, she glances over at the hovering form of Strife, a slight smile finding its way onto an otherwise grim-faced look. "...What I gained from Uzda Il-jam should help."
Which is to say, the ability to resist Malevolence... and to an extent, lesser Domains.
"Jacqueline. Ethius. Noeline. Let us go forth," she says then, before lifting the Medium she bears. "Lucadia... help us."
Even against Mother's presence, the Medium still shines with light.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Calamitous Climb.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Calamitous Climb *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The path to the Sacred Grounds of Linga was always steep and crooked, but now a Malevolent aura seems to issue from the cavern mouth. Darkness pulses and shivers, slowly oozing down the slopes, making the ascent ever more treacherous. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust============================================
===================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 1 *>=================== ========================< Results - Calamitous Climb >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied purses her lips as she gazes to Jacqueline and Ethius as they arrive. It all feels too... unreal, as Noeline has expressed as much to her. So much has happened, between the unveiling of their true selves... and then the journey to discover their actual true place within the world, so to speak.
She's a much different person now than she was before -- the degeneration that has set in since her meeting with Equites has made her a much less able Drifter, and she's not particularly shy about admitting that.
"Thank you..." Riesenlied whispers to Jacqueline, looking at Ethius as he moves on ahead and throws ropes down. In his own way... even if she doesn't quite know his motives... she at least knows one thing he might agree on:
The Malevolence does not belong here.
She takes a drink from the potion and sits on Strife as she holds onto Noeline's hand and looks towards Avril, with a comforted smile. She's more encouraged that she's here -- and she wasn't aware of the note she'd found from the nation of Nimrod... what kind of secrets lie within?
The power of Lucadia makes for easier climbing -- Riesenlied still finds herself slipping as she gets closer to some of the Malevolent taint on the slopes, and Jacqueline's had to use more potions earlier than she might have liked, but...
... they make it to the top. Will it be funny thieves again?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=============================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Gella Going Gone *>===========================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
WHAT A LUCKY FIND!
...is what you might have said, if some other group of adventurers hadn't
gone and opened every single one of the dozen treasure chests in this room.
To make matters worse, the door at the far end of the chamber is blocked by
a giant mound of rubble - as though these same fiends used high explosives,
magic, picks, or other devices to blast their way through, heedless of
anyone who might follow in their footsteps.
What fiends.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Overzealous======================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
All of them have been spiritually hardened from the trials laid bare before them. Some find answers. Some find new questions. They all find at least some sort of consensus as to why they might be gathered - disparate lot as they often are - as regards a given location or looming threat.
In this given moment of their fleeting existences, all of them, they can come to agree on something moments after Ethius takes the lead with a raised palm out - the sorcerous equivalent of pointing a gun. Will it be funny thieves again, and will Ethius slay them out of convenience or some other inscrutible reason for snuffing out life where it appears needless?
"This chamber appears empty." Ethius remarks, and he's right. Aside from the Malevolence lingering, there is indeed nothing. Nobody here, though there are some old, rusted, abandoned camping supplies. None of the treasure chests littered about this place - a storage area, or an old treasury? - contain anything. To make matters worse, even the treasure chests are no longer any good for that purpose. Smashed, rotted, it seems kind of a stretch to even consider they might have once held something valuable like, say, ?HERBs.
All that is left is ruin. Rubble forms blockades from whatever lies ahead, a threat to progress as much as they are a threat to stubbing one's toes. The spiritual venom churns, trying to reach out into doubts and fears about the merits of even being here. Is there anything of true value left? Is this nothing but just vacant real estate for whatever creatures dwell here? Is this something any one of them can do anything abo--
"The chamber is ventilated enough," Ethius declares, "I will melt away the rubble." He doesn't seem bothered by it, as he starts on one of the usual higher-yield heat spells in his tattooed selection.
A new complication may soon arise - each damaged rock exudes a thick, choking miasma. Less truly poisonous in the physical sense, but something overwhelming as if wanting to try and convince them to turn around. Like this isn't worth their time...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gella Going Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Of course." Jacqueline says with a nod toward Avril, and presses forward. The Malevolent miasma issuing forth from the cavern makes the ascension more difficult, but Jacqueline is worried more about Riesenlied than herself.
Eventually they do make it up without too much difficulty, and right inside they find...
...Nothing. Well, not nothing, exactly. There's some rubble there. Jacqueline sighs and massages her forehead. While Ethius gets to doing what Ethius does best, Jacqueline rummages through her bags. She passes out some more potions, designed to help fortify them against the powerful Malevolent aura emanating from the stone.
"Don't be afraid to let us know if it starts to become too much. We can always back out and try again later." Jacqueline says, looking toward Riesenlied.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Gella Going Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"The Malevolence grows ever thicker..." Riesenlied remarks as she observes while Ethius works his way through the rubble. She shares a worried glance to Jacqueline for a moment, and nods towards Avril as she says, "We'll be relying on that power, then... whatever we can do."
Jacqueline encourages her to not overdo it; she nervously nods for a moment. "You too," she admits. "I'll help as much as I can."
As Ethius starts melting things away, though, she rummages through her pack and procures a certain glowing green instrument.
She draws breath into her lips as she plays from her flute. ... she idly thinks how the Riesenlied of a year ago probably wouldn't bother with such things like music... how much she wanted to be like Siegfried that she eschewed the personal things that enamoured and made her heart full of wonder, like song.
But no, not this time. She plays the Melody of the Cucco:
-------------------------(<)---
-------------(>)---(>)---------
--------(v)--------------------
---(A)-------------------------
Curious, is it not, that she is plagued by the nightmares of such winged creatures that she summons winged creatures which are the stuff of nightmares of others? The irony may very well be lost to her, though, because the cuccos descend like a flock of death from the skies.
Now... what happens again when Cuccos touch Malevolence??
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Gella Going Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"At the very least, we should be able to learn more about what seems to have happened."
Perhaps there might be more information here from that time in Filgaia's history -- the nuns at Nisan, as she had explained, had thought it dated back to roughly the Day of Collapse, perhaps all of a few decades prior.
But of more import now is the Malevolence that's taken root here -- a rude shock in the weeks since they left Lunar. No sooner had Avril gotten used to again the absence of Malevolence than she was now here again encountering it. Passage up the slope is thus appropriately difficult to attain, though perhaps with what remains of Lucadia's felt presence in this world -- set within this Medium -- she's able to help make the difference. At any rate, once they venture within -- once she tucks away the Medium -- she's able to for the moment appreciate the changes in their surroundings.
The damage which has been done here. "Oh..."
Her brow creases.
"Ah-- Ethius, is that wise?" Avril ventures.
"Here. If we change the temperature about the rocks, it should make removing the remaining stone," by explosions "easier."
Stepping forward, Avril takes a moment to focus.
A sheen of frost begins to form on the rocks, summoned forth by her will alone. They soon glitter in the light.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gella Going Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Whatever the ruins might be whispering in the corners of her mind as they make their ascent, Noeline makes sure to pay it as little attention as possible. That has always been her defence against Malevolence - to stand against it with her head held high, with a certainty and confidence in herself and her thoughts aimed forward to try to pierce it like a wave. For an identity that started out as a disguise so long ago, it has become a point of pride for her to be so sure of herself now.
"I agree with Miss Barber," she notes quietly to her partner, trying her best to be tender. "There is no rush here - even if your dreams say otherwise, your health surely comes first. Besides..." she mutters as she looks forward to watch Avril call upon Lucadia. "... this may be a little dangerous without the Guardian's protection. Even the Original Artificial Mediums are having some problems contacting them," she nods to the silver-haired Drifter.
Whereas others concentrate on the rubble itself, Noeline prefers to turn her gaze to the open treasure chests, kneeling down for a moment to examine the means with which they were opened. "... these are-- relatively fresh footprints," she realizes with a frown, looking to one side to check the next as she lets out an overly heavy sigh. "I sincerely hope no-one chose to come through here with the Malevolence in full sway - but then, I suppose we're doing exactly that, so perhaps it's a bit too much to hope for."
Bad jokes and grumping also seem to be a Malevolence defence.
So too is open caution, as Noeline glances up at the flock of cuccos as it descends and gives them a deeply suspicious look. She's not about to get in the way of the impending scattered debris, but she does watch long enough to pick out a tell-tale flash of white metal in the midst of yellow feathers and beaks, and one of the cucco calls mixed in with the others isn't quite genuine, a synthesized and tinny sound.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Gella Going Gone.
=============================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=============================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Gella Going Gone *>===========================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
WHAT A LUCKY FIND!
...is what you might have said, if some other group of adventurers hadn't
gone and opened every single one of the dozen treasure chests in this room.
To make matters worse, the door at the far end of the chamber is blocked by
a giant mound of rubble - as though these same fiends used high explosives,
magic, picks, or other devices to blast their way through, heedless of
anyone who might follow in their footsteps.
What fiends.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Overzealous======================================
========================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 2 *>======================================== =============================================< Results - Gella Going Gone >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Superheating and then cooling things just as fast makes them brittle. Between Ethius and Avril together, they have a workable system in which to make the matter of clearing away debris an efficient, almost hassle-free process no matter what the Malevolent miasma might try to imply otherwise. Brewte Force is passed around in which to help empower and recharge oneself, but then...
Riesenlied pulls out the flute, and plays the song. Ethius turns his head slowly, as another shadow fills the chamber already covered in purple shadow--
"Move." That's Ethius' only word before he has to ACTION DIVE out of the way of a flock of cuccos that turn the situation into utter bedlam. It is not certain as to whether the mob of angry feathered death creatures understands the reason why Riesenlied calls to them, but the way they just hop around and bodily slam into things kind of does the trick. Big pieces of debris are smaller. Excess dropped bottles of Brewte Force are guzzled. Trouble gets in some experience in the art of nature documentary.
Some of the cuccos even consider the smaller pebbles to be akin to grains and just gobble them up as if to assert their true place in the food chain - even over rocks - before they take off.
One of them found a ?HERB, turns out, and the cucco turns their head at them as if to let them know that they have it, and that our heroes don't. That is their only loss.
The way forward is open - if not clear as to what actually lies past the hampered visibility thanks to the lingering clouds.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Jellies *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The wall fungus has spread to the floor of this part of the Sacred
Grounds...and it's exceptionally slick, to boot. Worse yet, Malevolence has
mutated the ooze - it gives off a faint acrid scent and a quiet sizzling
sound that suggests it may be corrosive, at best.
Making your way through this part of the halls will require some careful
coordination.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes... My connection to Lucadia has never been as great as your own," meaning Noeline's link to Duras Drum, "but I have noticed the change. The Medium does still seem to work as it should, however. Perhaps it was made to function even if something were to happen to Lucadia's power?"
The origin of these Original Artificial Mediums is still a mystery.
"I suppose even the shamans must be having difficulty hearing the Guardians now..."
Focused at first on her spell, Avril is not aware of a dark force beginning to spread into the cave.
Not, that is, until Ethius utters his word of warning.
She jerks her head back just in time to catch the spread of many small birds inwards
and immediately takes several quick steps back, steadying herself against the rock wall as the birds whoosh on in.
"...So those are 'cuccos'. I see."
The way is clear once the birds have dispersed.
The way is unfortunately, as the first footfall beyond the cloud of dust the birds have left, quite slick with something.
...The smell in the air suggests slimes.
Though none do come lunging out. Instead, it's unsteady footing all the way through, with portions of floor eaten out by corrosion and others -- still underway? -- are coated with a filmy substance.
A filmy fungus, as it turns out.
"Be careful where you step," Avril cautions. "I feel as if some parts of the floor here might not be stable. It may be possible to fall through."
Through to... where?
"Lucadia, speed our passage," she invokes, apparently unwilling to let this one potentially prove too dangerous to their exploration.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied stops to listen to Avril and Noeline for a moment, furrowing her brow. "Is their behaviour different to that of the-- stone tablets that we saw back at the Temple? I still do not... know so much. When we go to Elru... if that Medium still exists there..."
She shivers for a moment at that thought, wincing as she thinks of what may happen. The fear of rejection runs high...
... and she pauses, as she bristles and realises that the Malevolence around her is starting to influence her thoughts. No, she has to stay strong...
She birstles again, nodding towards Noeline as she encourages her about how there's no rush, breathing a bit hard. She looks to the footprints as well and looks to the floor... coughing for a moment as she looks at Jacqueline.
"I remember... you provided us with filtration cloths..." Riesenlied speaks of the alchemist, thinking of their much earlier time.
She might need Strife's help again...
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Riesenlied gives Jacqueline her assurance and Jacqueline nods, offering her a smile. She then glances back as Noeline speaks.
"...Hm. This may turn into a rescue mission..." Jacqueline murmurs. Or at least, that was the best-case scenario. Worse, was more bandits.
...Though she's not sure who that would be worse for.
This goes entirely out the window, though, as there is a sudden influx of cuccos. Jacqueline yelps and cowers behind a hastily-invoked earth pillar as the cuccos do as cuccos do, swarming the obstacle until nothing remains.
She then exhales and steps aside, cautiously following the others through the newly-opened gaps.
"Yes, that's what I've heard from Cyre, Catenna, and Lydia." Jacqueline confirms with a nod toward Avril. "I can't even feel Grudiev from mine anymore."
She just hopes that she'd still be able to use it whenever she needed it most...
Meanwhile, Avril points out the film of slime on the floor, and Jacqueline shivers.
"R-right..." She says. She hesitates to do anything to effect the fungus itself - she's not sure what kind of react burning it or freezing it would have. And with the walls covered with that same substance, an earth pillar seems unwise...
Riesenlied does remind her of something, though.
"Ah, yes! That's a good idea. We encountered an unpleasant haze before...I imagine the Malevolence has only made it worse." Jacqueline replies. She draws some from her bags and passes them around, then ties her own on over her nose and mouth before proceeding forward carefully.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
It takes a little while for Ethius to come away from the wall he has his back to. "Yes. Those are." The tone of voice is the same as always, tempo, pitch, and everything - but it is clear he has an understanding of where he stands in the food chain there.
He comes along up behind Avril as she mentions compromised footing. A hand goes to his forehead - he does recall dealing with a similar issue a long while back. He gets the quarterstaff out as a makeshift walking stick--
Acrid smoke rises from where the butt of it makes contact with the ground ahead, and he retracts it back.
"Corrosive." He comments. He holds out a hand as if considering whether or not to ignite them... but settles, again, on re-tying the harness for the Hot Air Sack to try and drift through, so long as the elevation level of the passage remains reasonably level.
All this talk about the Guardians and their connections. He had something with Rigdobrite, back on that night with the statue. They did speak to him then. Was there a connection between him and the Guardian before Lacour? He's not sure. He didn't feel an overwhelming sense of relief and... connectivity?... with the world around him, and yet, he doesn't feel that great a loss.
As he takes Jay's filtration mask, he only has the understanding he can go forward, for as little he can say or assure to others. He finishes up the respective Symbology spell to fill the makeshift hot air balloon with air of the appropriate temperature.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... I suppose it must be something like that," Noeline admits with a nod at Avril's suggestion. "Or at the very least, it is clear that these Mediums were 'made' instead of 'created' - an important distinction, since that often tends to mean things like contingency plans or safeguards. As wise as the Guardians may be, I--" she pauses, and lets out a quiet snort. "I cannot say that they are big on hedging their bets."
She chuckles, leaving it at that as the cuccos clear the way forwards; once their fell work is done, she offers Riesenlied a light shrug.
"I cannot say for sure, unfortunately - I've only ever known how to use this one, and even then it's in a rather different manner to most, as far as I can gather. But-- Odoryuk has already manifested through you. I would like to think that the Guardian's acceptance will do much to finish the work you've already begun in bridging that gap." Her voice is quiet but certain, perhaps welcome against the cloying doubt of the cavern.
Strife seems all too ready to assist Riesenlied once more - the pod has gotten quite used to helping her rather than Noeline when it comes to digs as of late, and it seems to have encouraged the little device to be a bit more clingy towards her. Once upon a time, the spy might have been possessive - but here she just chuckles, letting the ARM take care of Riesenlied as she glances forward at the passageway and gauges the best way through on foot.
"I do not know for sure if I even need one myself, but-- I'll take it regardless," she nods to Jay with thanks, and lets out a sigh. "That said, I-- remain rather skeptical that we'll be called upon to rescue anyone. The lay of the land is rather inhospitable, and if they got this far in..." she trails off, shaking her head. The meaning is clear - she doubts very much anyone who ran into trouble would be in much of a state to come out again.
Her steps are light as she nudges into the path, then begins hopping from rock to rock; it's reflexes more than speed that save her repeatedly as she tries to pick a safe path through the littered passage.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Jumping Jellies.
=========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Jellies *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The wall fungus has spread to the floor of this part of the Sacred
Grounds...and it's exceptionally slick, to boot. Worse yet, Malevolence has
mutated the ooze - it gives off a faint acrid scent and a quiet sizzling
sound that suggests it may be corrosive, at best.
Making your way through this part of the halls will require some careful
coordination.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright=============================================
====================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 3 *>==================== =========================< Results - Jumping Jellies >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Riesenlied 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Overzealous(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I have gathered from speaking to Catenna and Cyre, along with research of my own that these Mediums -- the Originals -- may not function the way their own do. Among other things, it appears that anyone is capable of using an Original Medium."
Such as Noeline herself.
"The method of creating them also seems to have been different, though how different I cannot say. ...I had thought another crucial difference was their inability to allow users to speak with the Guardians, but this appears to have been incorrect."
Again, case in point: Noeline.
"Until recently, I had only been able to 'sense' Lucadia's intent. Now, I cannot feel even that. Only whatever power remains in this Medium is available to me now, I believe. If even a shaman devoted to their name cannot hear them speak..." she ventures, at Jacqueline's statement regarding the now-limited ability of the shamans they know to access that power.
Aru Solato itself was lost to her, perhaps utterly. She cannot tell.
"Take care where you set foot," she cautions, as they make their way through the hall. Before she attempts to access some of the Guardian's left-behind power.
...Perhaps Mother's interference has spread further than they thought--
For Lucadia's power barely carries them past the worst corroded sections they can see...
And does little against the most corroded sections, which they can't see, not until the point in which they step upon it -- they, excluding Noeline and Ethius, at least for the moment -- and the stone flooring gives up the ghost and collapses, dropping them down to the floor below.
This is a good time to scream, if you're the screaming type.
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Forgotten Filligree *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Up ahead is a large bipedal statue of indeterminate origins, its features worn away by time. In between the statue's legs, you can just barely make out a door...but it's blocked by large chunks of metal engravings that have fallen off the statue over the centuries. Clearing the way will be tough, tiring work... and to make matters worse, the debris has a sort of picked-over look, as though some previous group has kept all the chunks of valuable metal. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline frowns slightly at Avril's summary of the differences between the Mediums; it's not really a topic she'd ever thought a lot on, not when she could just take it at face value and accept it for what it was. Hearing Duras Drum through it had just seemed to be a natural extension of her learning how to channel the Medium's power. "... about that... we met a man named Elvis. He was looking into the Guardians, and how to contact them, in hopes of battling the Zopt Syndrome. I suggested he might be well served trying to find and talk with you about this style of Medium--"
She doesn't get any further than that. With a sickening lurch and crash, the floor suddenly drops away from many of their group, some of the rubble and dust thrown up obscuring Strife's flight and sending the pod spiralling down as well. Without so much as a thought, Noeline swears under her breath and kicks downwards, giving chase in the most direct way she can.
When the noise of shifting stone and the acrid stench of Malevolent mould dissipates slightly, it reveals the group have slid their way down into a long-forgotten chamber. Hints of stoneworking on the walls suggest a temple might have stood here long ago; the remnants of a warrior's statue would seem to bear that out, though it's long since lost both arms and much of its torso, the rubble of stone joining several large slabs of metal whose etchings have been replaced by more of the cloying moss.
Noeline coughs as she picks herself up, squinting against the gloom at first; thankfully, Strife is still able to fly, beeping forlornly as a its lens emits a source of light. Quickly, the spy crosses to Riesenlied, checking first that the other metal demon is alright and then helping lift her up in her arms. "--we should leave quickly. This can't be a good place to stay," she mutters as she looks first at the blocked passageway, then at the ceiling where they came from.
Fortunately, there is a sound from above - that overly synthesized chip that heralds Trouble 'flapping' its way down with a pair of very fake wings, a beak attached to its front by string. It crosses to the rubble, and begins to ram into it in a series of hard pecks - and then the focusing lens glints dangerously. There's more noise from above - and with a sense of expectation, Noeline quietly clears her throat as she steps far back from the obstacle.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The floor gives way beneath them, and they begin to fall. Jacqueline does not shout out, however. Thinking quickly she draws a Crest from her pouch and casts it over as many members of the group as she can reach.
A buoying force emerges around them, slowing their fall and dampening their momentum so that they drop lightly, rather than falling dangerously.
"Is everyone alright? I cast as quickly as I could..." She says, placing the Crest back in her pouch before rummaging through her bags for more potions. She quickly goes to tend to anyone who needs it.
She doesn't worry about the statue for now - there are others more suited to that sort of work.
"I agree...hopefully there's an exit past here. We can't exactly go back the way we came..." Jacqueline replies, looking up at the floor above them.
...Well, they'd think of something.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Forgotten Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Unfortunately, Riesenlied is indeed the screaming type--
"A-aaah!"
--and as the floor gives way from underneath them, there's a horrible lurch and a weave of those sickening fungal scents as she coughs, even through the filtration cloth; the Malevolence has made it thicker and more difficult to resist, and her head spins long enough with her doubts and fears made manifest as she tips from Strife and groggily catches Noeline's arms and lets her partner bring her up.
She takes a moment to quaff one of Jacqueline's potions, feeling a bit guilty at how much sustaining power she's requiring. "The voice is... getting closer and closer..." she admits, looking more and more distracted. A pause, as she gazes towards the blocked pathway and the statue before them.
Trouble, it seems, has become the impromptu leader of the flock of fell cuccos, because a wing of three have gathered by her side to keep pecking away at the rubble.
Jacqueline asks them if they're all right; she rubs at the already-aggravated calf from a certain fated run to the Ruins of Altered Memory, but otherwise says, "... I think... we may only be able to move forward."
A pause.
"It's waiting for us..." she speaks, trying to not make her voice tremble.
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Forgotten Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Noeline is not alone in decisive action. The moment it seems as though the floor's about to give out - and it does - Ethius inwardly finds himself content that he chose to use a less resource-efficient set of heat spells so that he can very easily let up on the gas and descend. He can't go down fast enough to reach and grab someone with a hand, but if someone's fast enough, they can grab one of his legs for a gentle(r) descent.
When they arrive in the new chamber with the picked-over statue bits. He touches down with a certain calm the situation doesn't warrant. They just fell a ways, and going back up the way they came may not be an option.
"Does it anticipate us, Miss Riesenlied?" Ethius asks as he approaches the blockage with an outstretched palm. Of course he's going to try and melt it into slag. If it already knows they're coming... well, that's just another complication to deal with.
He turns his head towards Trouble as it makes weird beeping noises. As though he might have the memory of a goldfish, he turns his gaze back upon the fallen statue debris in the way and continues his spellcasting, heedless of the inevitable that is about to befall this chamber.
"Whether we are 'all right' is immaterial at this juncture, Miss Jay," Ethius continues, as he sure looks like he's not about to be all right if that noise above is what everyone may or may not already know is above, "what is important is--"
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Forgotten Filligree.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Elvis? You spoke with Elvis?"
...is as about as far as Avril gets before one wrong step (and the potential misfire of Lucadia's latent magic) is part of the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back that is the flooring here.
She cries out as she plummets, though fortunatly the drop is not a long one -- and be what it may, Lucadia's magic has some effect if nothing close to what it once had.
She rights herself, standing amidst a descending fog of fungal filaments and spores, only to cough, shoulders hunched. Waving a hand in front of her face, she tries to clear the air, but Noeline does have the right of it -- this is not a good or healthy place for them to stay.
"Yes, it seems as if there's a weak spot here," she says, echoing Jay as she points. "Perhaps if we were to apply force here..."
She steps up to the statue, touching it with a hand as an icy film spreads across its surface, coating and sinking its frosty tendrils in deep.
As before, then -- mix ice and fire in equal measures.
"We must make haste. I do not think the ceiling above us is stable..." Taking a step back, the silver-haired woman is able to at last take in their surroundings.
"I wonder if this may have been a temple. The statue certainly does suggest it, does it not?"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Forgotten Filligree. DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Forgotten Filligree.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Forgotten Filligree *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Up ahead is a large bipedal statue of indeterminate origins, its features worn away by time. In between the statue's legs, you can just barely make out a door...but it's blocked by large chunks of metal engravings that have fallen off the statue over the centuries. Clearing the way will be tough, tiring work... and to make matters worse, the debris has a sort of picked-over look, as though some previous group has kept all the chunks of valuable metal. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
===================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 4 *>=================== ======================< Results - Forgotten Filligree >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(0)--> 20 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 35 --(0)--> 35 Fail Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Noeline has posed.
Even as Jacqueline's sorcery starts to slow everyone's fall, Noeline seems to somehow slip past the spell in a burst of Duras Drum's power; it's not that she's rejecting the help so much as she's fairly sure she can take the fall better than others, and prefers to be nearer to the ground, the sooner she can pick Riesenlied up the better. Still, she offers an amused and thankful sigh as she nods her head in respect to the maneuver, and to the way the alchemist distributes potions afterwards.
Noeline leaves the barrier to the cuccos, resting her hand on Riesenlied's arm. "... it's alright. We're here," she reminds the other metal demon, doing her best to keep that certainty and surety in her voice. Though the cuccos seem more skittish down here - as if closer to something they can recognize as an enemy - they are held in check by the occasional beeps and whistles of Trouble, steering them back to their work.
Ethius' spell tears away much of the barrier that the cuccos don't have handled - and in some cases, frees up their work for them as the moss melts away first, loosening the plates from where they were more or less welded to the wall by the stuff. "A temple to whom or what, I cannot say," Noeline comments, as Avril tries to apply some assistance with an array of temperature changes; the stone seems resistant to it, almost, or at least is too solid to be particularly affected, but it at least allows more of the bronze plating to be torn and cuccohandled away.
When all is said and done, the doorway is clear - and Noeline pauses quietly as she lets their audience clear out, rather than risk trying to push through them. "Whether it anticipates us or not, we really only have one way forwards, I fear."
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Hellish Halls *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It was... this way, right? Or maybe that way? All these passages look the same, and it's hard to tell just where you're supposed to go. It'll take some careful thought to find your way through this maze of corridors and get back to a familiar landmark. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The party moves on ahead through the rubble of the statue, following after the cucco parade. While there are footsteps ahead of them, they vanish shortly. It's hard to tell why.
As they proceed the path eventually begins to split off in several directions, and it becomes clear what's happening - they've landed themselves in a maze. Jacqueline frowns intently.
"...This place...I recognize this hallway. We went through here before, on our second foray into this place." Jacqueline says, looking toward Riesenlied. "We were...looking for any trace of you we could find."
Unfortunately, it had been a while. She couldn't remember the way to go...and even more than that, the haze of Malevolence that now pervaded the Sacred Grounds made it difficult to concentrate, and obscured any hints they might be able to use to progress.
"...Well, nothing to do but start searching, I suppose..." She mumbles.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellish Halls.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied quietly nods towards Ethius as he approaches the blockage. "... I think so -- no, I feel so. Not through any kind of physical sense or anything... but..." A pause. "Perhaps the Malevolence has been drawn to the scene of the killing from last year..."
She hasn't quite realised that, and once more she's filtered herself into the thought. So many owlbear bodies strewn about, with the remnant of Hyadean tainted blood from where her sword carved them...
...
Anyone would grow resentful at seeing their brethren cut down.
"It might be possible..." Riesenlied admits to Avril as she steps closer, coughing just a little more as she looks to Jacqueline while having Noeline support her. Her words are helping centre her as she thinks on what the merchant has said.
"... I made you worry... I did-- I really wanted to relay that I made it out, but... I was out of options." Sending a Metal Demon scout would've only made things worse, after all. Still...
"Let me try the Tear -- I may be able to gather a sense..."
She closes her eyes and focuses upon its senses--
And the light from the necklace starts to emanate as it latches onto several ambient trails from presences left within the past. "I can sense... something..."
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Hellish Halls.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
There is a reason why Ethius' dialogue cuts off as abruptly as it does - he disappears momentarily under the flock of angry feathered fiends, crawling out the other side clutching his head. It's less 'grievous, life-threatening experience' and more 'this would be a funny video on a website' but once more, the man's almost single-minded drive gets a humorous reminder that maybe there are some things he should do a better job of heeding. He'll be okay.
Jay reminisces over the location as they once again reflect on that series of events that seemed to tie their fates together. Through their journey and trials to prove themselves to the Guardians and others, Noeline and Riesenlied together have made countless allies across borders of species, cultures... and maybe even worlds.
Then there's this man, whose ultimate place in all of this continues to be indeterminate - and even now maintains some level of physical distance from Riesenlied as though it were something of great import as he gets out that infamous lens of his.
"If any engineering mechanisms are intact enough to be observed, they may yet provide an alternate landmark for navigation," so Ethius claims as he holds the Spectral Lenss up for all to see, to ensure they're on the same page--
Riesenlied gets out the Tear, focusing to bring it to light, and Ethius somehow finds some way to be further off even when he's already up against the wall!! Still, he goes through his own Symbological spellcasting processes to impart a touch of electrical power into his own device. Bringing it up to one of his eyes, he'll call out if anything interesting connections between devices show up - traps, locking mechanisms, etcetera - and where.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Hellish Halls.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The metal resists her magic to some degree, but in the end --
What matters most is that they're able to proceed through the opened hole and out into the hallway beyond.
Though Avril again watches the cuccos as they depart, her gaze tinged with some mixture of curiosity and wonder. ...Tinged with mild concern when Ethius staggers to his feet, perhaps not long after he'd been trampled by the horde. "Are you alright?"
There were just so many of them.
"Have you been here before?" Avril queries of Jay, tilting her head to one side. "I see. Then perhaps we may be able to reorient ourselves after that fall. Do you think it far from the destination we intended? I have only been here one time, myself."
Or perhaps it's as Ethius says -- perhaps there's something left in the very walls that they could use as a means of finding their way.
"Perhaps if... hm. I have heard it said that moss tends to grow on certain sides of a cave wall, should there be plentiful water. If that is true, then we may be able to orient ourselves respective to where water is most likely to have collected. Given the structure of this cave, perhaps that would take us further in." It's as good a guess as any.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellish Halls.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"I remember the passageways themselves," Noeline confirms to Jacqueline with a mild frown. "But not so much the route through them. And, to be quite honest, I assume the Malevolence will have had a hand in remaking them either way. I would not be surprised if we find ourselves going around in circles, or else any marks we make are removed. On the other hand," she trails off as she glance at Riesenlied, helping the other metal demon along. "Perhaps we will be helped by this force which is waiting for us."
For her part, she has no helpful tools, nor unusual technology - unless you count Strife and Trouble, who are apparently anchored enough to reality to cheerfully bob along a couple of the passageways, letting the light of their shining lenses lead the way. At least it helps cut through the darkness a little, and offers a bit in the way of reassurance that they aren't completely surrounded by gloom.
Still, she does allow a spark of Duras Drum's power to escape her as she concentrates; it's a rather outlandish hope, perhaps, but part of her wonders if the Guardian of Illusions might help in staving off the Malevolence's pervasive atmosphere, and the obfuscation it's likely to cause in finding their way through the maze ahead of them.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hellish Halls.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Hellish Halls *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It was... this way, right? Or maybe that way? All these passages look the same, and it's hard to tell just where you're supposed to go. It'll take some careful thought to find your way through this maze of corridors and get back to a familiar landmark. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
===================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 5 *>=================== =========================< Results - Hellish Halls >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(5)--> 25 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 35 --(5)--> 40 Fail Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - (Ob)noxious Owlbears *>====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The stench of Malevolence is almost tangible here in the depths of the
Grounds, but it seems you have one challenge left before you can confront
its source...
Part owl, part bear, and part hate, an owlbear is a giant monster with the
body of a bear and the head of a very angry owl.
Also, in the months since Ignas's Drifters left to Lunar, they have learned
to use shotguns.
And so an owlbear (the Linga Academy-approved word for a gathering of
owlbears) of owlbears owl out in fury and bearrel their way toward you,
firing as they go.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"...Maybe." Jacqueline murmurs in response. ...She didn't like the idea for being partially responsible for what has happened to this place, but... Well, it had happened, and there was no changing the past.
"...It's alright, I understand. You must've been in a difficult position...and I imagine you were still wounded from the fight." She replies with a nod.
"Yes, I have. But..." Jacqueline frowns and stops, folding her arms in front of her. She fidgets a little...and then sighs.
"I don't really...remember." She admits. Noeline makes the point that the Malevolence may have reshaped the hallways...in which case, Avril's advice, though helpful, may not apply in this situation.
Riesenlied senses something up ahead, but it isn't long before the Malevolence seethes, as if trying to disrupt her. Before it can take hold, however, Noeline lets loose a spark of power. It's a small, transient thing...but it's just enough to drive away the Malevolence, at least for a time.
And in that time, Ethius will be able to spot something with his lens. Following it will lead them successfully through the maze.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The nightmares, as it turns out, were very true.
As the group come across the last perch, the sensation of Malevolence is thicker than ever -- near to the point there the ground is puissant with its presence, the ground nearly invisible from where the purple-black inkiness has taken over. And within this morass of darkness...
The owlbears. Five of them gathered, who turn and gaze towards the group. As Ethius asked earlier -- they seem to have anticipated their presence. In an instant, they seem to pick each of them out, possessed of a look of malice and hurt that seems beyond any particular animal, no matter whether it is a cross of two particularly devastating animals or not.
There is a roar--
And another, and a third--
A chant that seems to echo and shake the soul as they cry out for their fallen, where past a year ago they lay on the ground (save the one a certain suspicious Drifter took away for studies), now nothing more than a grim reminder of what has happened...
... and two of them charge, backed by the remaining three -- who've learnt, somehow, to use gunsmoke ARMs. Shotguns.
"L-look out...!" Riesenlied's head whirls again as she nearly chokes from the sensation of Malevolence stymied within the air. The owlbear closes in on her and grabs onto her, dropping all sense of tactic or effectiveness as it just SEIZES her and threatens to crush her whole.
The battle is very, very quickly joined.
This, in many ways... was where it all started.
How will it end?
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Already, Noeline's hand is grasping at air - a timeworn instinct making her feel for her weapon, ready to summon it to her side at any time. It isn't just the air in this place, or the creeping sense of danger - she's used to that already - but more a feeling within her that they're being led towards some kind of confrontation. Perhaps it's a spy's instinct, rather than an empath's.
"Why in the hells do they have guns?!" is the first thing she can think to blurt out, her mind having to take a moment to catch up as it resolves the different aspects of the tableau in front of them. That moment of hesitation is all that's needed for one of the owlbears to rush forwards and grab Riesenlied - and in response Noeline bunches her muscles and launches forwards, the enormous sword she habitually uses winking into its hands as if waiting for this instant.
The tight quarters don't seem to hinder her at all, at least not in this opening strike - fuelled by Riesenlied's cry of pain, she simply heaves it straight through the rock and fungus that try to interrupt its arc, shattering the stone in a shower of pebbles as she brings the white steel down on the first of the owlbears. The strike is not intended to kill, or at least that isn't its goal - first and foremost, her mind is screaming at her to get Riesenlied clear, give her some space, let her use the Dragon's Tear to face the Malevolence down.
She ducks a shotgun blast, feeling the heat of it sear her skin. "Mr. Hesiod! A smokescreen would be nice!" she calls, and twists to drive the butt of her weapon forwards and simply bash the first owlbear back and away from her partner. "--Riese!"
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, (Ob)noxious Owlbears.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In this case, with the reshaping of the passageways by Malevolence...
Yes. Yes, it becomes very clear very quickly that it's no longer necessarily obeying past conditions or what someone might term a sort of 'natural logic'. Still, other people are able to see the right of it, and they venture forth--
Avril stops dead, as one might put it, just moments before anyone clears the threshold into the very heart of darkness within the Profane Grounds themselves.
"I... I sense death," Avril utters, her gaze blank for an instant.
It's almost as if what waits beyond is both terrible and something she had come to know before... but when? Even if what they think lies beyond is here it can't be as wretched as the sense that's descended upon her would imply--
"Ah," she utters next, at the sight of the owlbears, stirring properly from the reverie that had gripped her. "Riesenlied, are these the creatures that so haunted your dreams?"
The foul things turn and howl out an unearthly chant, sufficient to make the blood run cold. Avril, already with Absolute Zero in hand, begins to start forward
only to draw up short, and dive, off to one side. The bullet zings past her, sending a few severed strands of silvery hair aflutter in the air in its wake.
"They have ARMs," she observes, her expression turning steely. In those heartbeats before that cry steals her attention; a wide-eyed gaze jerks the Hyadean's way. "Riesenlied--"
Noeline has the matter in hand. She can see that.
"Allow me to support you two!"
So instead she lunges forward, intent on keeping the owlbear horde back and away from the pair. A flash of light is the only warning the owlbears will get, gunsmoke ARMs or not.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, (Ob)noxious Owlbears.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The mysterious white-haired Symbologist exhales with closed eyes as he approaches the chamber in which they were previously overwhelmed. He holds onto the memory tightly - the moment Jacqueline and himself saw more of Riesenlied, and had themselves questions. The encounter which truly brought them all together - the kind merchant, the courageous dreamer, and the dauntless luddite. Those who would soon find themselves in the company of the coy protector, and yet further fold in the icy enigma. (Maybe it is more they are folded into her story...?)
The owlbear rattle out their war cries, and Ethius opens his eyes when he catches the slightest sound of--
"ARMs." He remarks. "They have them."
He crosses one arm inward with the slurring of a few syllables so rapidly spoken they could be misconstrued as even being less than that, and not more than a fraction of a second later, there are loud electrical sparks and sounds as buckshot bounces off of of him. Buckshot that embeds itself in the architecture ahead of himself, as narrowed eyes stare down the large, nightmarish creatures that were too much for them in the beginning.
Noeline calls for a smoke screen, and with a flourish and efficiency expected of him, it is provided. One spellcast later, he throws the activated Powder Grenade down with a focus upon the back-up trio that are pointing ARMs at them - the intent to clog up and render their weapons inoperable, allowing the group a key window of time in which to engage and defeat them before they realize their weapons are compromised.
He does not dwell upon the contradictions and negative emotions stirring so thickly in the air. He knows why he's here. Though the owlbear have proven wily and powerful foes in the past, he bears a stronger clarity of purpose than prior. They are still stronger than him. They are still faster than him. He only concedes one thing about them -
They're in the way. What does Ethius do to things that are in his way? Over a year and a half later, that seems an easy blank to fill.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, (Ob)noxious Owlbears.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Death...we must be getting close, then." Jacqueline murmurs, looking toward Avril as she speaks. She proceeds forward carefully...but stumbles back in surprise as the almost overpowering sense of Malevolence hits her. Its greater here than anywhere else in the Sacred Grounds...they must be approaching the source.
But before they can face that...they have to face the spectre of their past.
Jacqueline looks upon the owlbear quintet as they roar - a chant for fallen comrades. It strikes fear into her heart, and she finds her breath caught in her throat. She finds herself frozen in place...at least until they start to charge, at which point she regains her senses enough to draw out a Crest and bring up a pillar of earth just in time to protect herself from a hail of buckshot.
She presses her back up against the pillar, and breathes deeply before reaching into her bag, drawing out a book. She flips through the pages, looking for the entry on owlbears. She doesn't read it aloud, like she normally would. Instead, she focuses on the information in the book - tries to assuage her fear by reminding her what their weaknesses were.
"...Okay." She says, breathing out and putting the book away. She dives out from behind her pillar and draws out another Crest, emitting a wave of force toward one of the owlbears with the goal of knocking it clear off its feet - and if it disarmed it, that'd be a nice bonus, too.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, (Ob)noxious Owlbears. DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Bella Aeterna toward her party's challenge, (Ob)noxious Owlbears.
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - (Ob)noxious Owlbears *>====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The stench of Malevolence is almost tangible here in the depths of the
Grounds, but it seems you have one challenge left before you can confront
its source...
Part owl, part bear, and part hate, an owlbear is a giant monster with the
body of a bear and the head of a very angry owl.
Also, in the months since Ignas's Drifters left to Lunar, they have learned
to use shotguns.
And so an owlbear (the Linga Academy-approved word for a gathering of
owlbears) of owlbears owl out in fury and bearrel their way toward you,
firing as they go.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
===================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 6 *>=================== ======================< Results - (Ob)noxious Owlbears >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Beam Whip Mode 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Powder Grenade 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Bella Aeterna 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Efficient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 90 --(0)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The owlbears do not look any less pleased to see Noeline; there's a shatter of rock and debris as the Hyadean brings her enormous sword with great force down upon the owlbear and draws a clean wound from it--
--which is enough for the seizing owlbear to let go with a howl that is equal parts agony as it is pain.
It hurts...
Death. Avril senses death...
There is little more than daeth and pain here. The grief and loss of a creature that cannot comprehend the great and unnatural movement brought upon its habitat, whether by Drifters and Metal Demons who were just trying to survive, or the great movement of Malevolence as it roils from its very nest in Krosse, nearby.
She takes decisive action, and the beam sword-whip flashes forward and cleaves one of the gunsmoke ARMs and sends them lurching backwards.
Make it stop...
These stories truly congregated here, as Ethius reminds himself -- the moment in which there was the barest hint of a great mechanism at play, beginning from the most benign and seemingly innocent droplets of rust-red blood.
Rust-red blood gathered into a vial, which Jacqueline has lamented not acting on quicker, as if it could impede the advance of Siegfried's armies.
The Powder Grenade explodes into a cloud of dust, enough for several slug shots to run utterly wild and give Ethius time to create grave-dust into the shotguns and render them inoperable as one of them -explodes- as the owlbear tries to pull the trigger.
No more... please...
Jacqueline draws the Crest and refers to the codex. No matter the Malevolence, no matter the kind of advanced techniques that these creatures gather by wielding guns or swords or anything else they can care to think of--
--knowledge is her ally, and the Codex's lines propel that wave of force as one of them crashes onto her pillar and is blasted back.
End this...
Riesenlied coughs as the Malevolence roils about her, that throbbing pain in her chest growing ever and ever stronger. Every fibre of her being pushes her to draw the hilt of that sword--
--draw upon it!
cut them down!
Rend them asunder!
"No... no!" Riesenlied barks to no one in particular, tears welled up in her eyes. "Not again... that is not who I am! I was pretending... I was..."
The owlbear is given pause, as she finally draws a familiar instrument -- the guqin -- and rests it upon her lap. There are no blades to be had, no Fallen Sword nor carnage or massacre.
What there is instead... is music.
The notes echo throughout the forest, as the roil of Malevolence threatens to drown it. In reverb, the light begins to swim and form stronger and stronger motes as a clarity of thought and purpose is made wordlessly across the participants...
And... in the end...
The owlbears pause. They turn, one by one... and they march, deeper yet into the forest. Their hearts and souls have been irrevocably stained by Malevolence, and it may yet be longer before they can be rid of it and return to the way they were. Perhaps the only option for them is to dig deeper into darker recesses of the world and avoid contact, tainted as they are.
But what is clear are the thoughts echoed to all the Drifters as they vanish into the woods:
...Thank you...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=============================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Punishing Piston *>===========================================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
With the owlbear of owlbears defeated, the source of the Malevolence
profaning this place can be found in the chamber beyond!
Unfortunately, the door to it is already closing, thanks to some ancient
mechanism triggered in the fighting. If your party can manage to hold the
door open long enough, someone might be able to slip through and grab the
item that's causing so much trouble, but it's been a long dungeon and you've
had no time to rest since the fight...
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Their destined encounter does not end in death and destruction - but some sort of understanding that maybe they do not seek to perpetuate this cycle of violence and grief. The owlbear vanish, leaving the five of them to progress towards where the concentration of Malevolence is at its thickest. To the origins of whatever has invaded and corrupted this place...
"Miss Riese." Ethius turns. He stands far from her. "Miss Noeline. Miss Jay. Miss Avril. I am certain the origin of this invasive presence is ahead. It will fall upon us to deal with it decisively." He turns back, as the approach inward...
A familiar grinding noise, to something being activated. Ethius' stride hastens, and when he hastens, that's a cue everyone else should too - whatever mechanisms determine the event, the clock's ticking. A great stone door starts to grind shut. Whatever is inside cannot be seen clearly from those on the other side of it. To go there is not just a matter of holding the giant stone slab open for long enough for someone to grab.
It is also a test of one's faith and conviction. Are they willing to reach into the other side, no matter what it might be? Are they afraid of what's there, or what might happen if they are too slow? The giant stone door-slab continues its descent, giving one no time to truly ask themselves this. They have to have their answer, and act on it, as of before they even set foot in the chamber.
Ethius' answer is as predicted - he grabs the other Powder Grenade, activates it with the appropriate Symbological spell, and hurls it upwards towards any exposed mechanisms that might be there in an attempt to jam it and slow its downward grind.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline backpedals, preparing for a continued assault from the owlbears. It wouldn't be over so simply, would it? But...before anything happens, there is a song. It swells wordlessly, reaching all of them. Jacqueline pauses, and watches as the owlbears retreat.
...And then she sighs, dropping to her knees and drawing a deep breath. She might have shed a few tears, too. It didn't change what happened in the past...
...But now, at least, she feels that parts of her that were stuck back there can move on.
And move on she must, for Ethius reminds them all that their work here is not yet finished.
They still have to attend to the door.
Jacqueline nods and brings herself to her feet, joining the others in the room.
"...I think I may have just the thing for this." She says, and draws her Crest. A pillar of earth shuts up in the doorway, in the hopes of preventing it from closing by completely blocking the mechanisms trying to pull it shut.
She doesn't even take the time to question whether this might be the right way to go about it - not like she might have in the past.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks, rather predictably, very exhausted after all that; the close shave with nearly getting crushed by an owlbear to pouring a lot of her energy into musical empathy isn't a sequence that leaves her with a lot of energy; she's shrivelling a bit as she clings to Noeline's hand and takes the chance to have her help her up again, Strife on her other side as she's supported to her two feet.
"Yes..." Riesenlied answers Avril, a little too late on the topic of the creatures that haunted her dreams. "... I can only hope we can give them a little measure of peace."
Ethius starts to hasten, though, to the point where she almost expects him to announce, 'Move,' in that way of his; but she's stumbling and not particularly fast on her feet.
She does agree that the invasive presence... it falls on them to deal with it. "Yes... that which does not belong here..."
She might not have the energy to run and move the door herself, but those same cuccos that harrangued poor Ethius earlier -- hopefully not flocking over his face again like last time! Perhaps they can peck at the door enough tos low it...
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Absolute Zero cuts not flesh but metal, ruining and scattering one of those weapons to the four winds.
...Did something that had been predestined been changed? Had some cycle been interrupted, somehow?
Avril, having drawn back after her initial strike, bears witness to a minor miracle.
Music echoes off the wall.
This time, she is permitted to stay her hand, remaining firmly planted as the owlbears bid their retreat into the once-Sacred Grounds.
"...Perhaps, in time..." she dares to utter, returning Absolute Zero from whence it came.
Perhaps in time--
But it's a sentiment that has no space in which to fully manifest.
Ethius speaks to the heart of the problem.
And Avril herself can feel it. Hear it, as the wall begins to grind its way shut. Time is of the essence, should they want to find what foul thing has nested at the center of the Grounds.
Even if she ran for it, it's not a certain thing she could reach the closing door, let alone put her shoulder into it and attempt to slow its advance. Even with Lucadia's (fading) power.
So, instead, she opts for the next best thing:
A little bit of hope.
And a pressed button.
The little device in her hand goes 'click'.
The stone begins to shudder.
It's timed perfectly with Jay's own Crest.
The pillar carries a certain something along with it as it rises:
A most definitely broken-beyond repair piece of a Golem.
It's the head, this time. Just the head.
...
Its eyes flare one last time with a terrible determined power--!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, Punishing Piston. DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's living metal is yelling at her following the encounter with the owlbears; she can tell she's feeling worn out and beaten up, though she manages at least to keep her feet through sheer force of will, letting Riesenlied's song wash over her like a nostalgic note that cuts through her weariness. She's about ready to see the sun again, and perhaps fall over into a comfortable armchair with a book for an unspecified amount of time.
It's a thought she tucks away for later... because in the here and now, she can hear a low but constant rumble and the grinding of stone against stone. That in itself is terrifying, forcing her gaze upwards - she has no desire to be buried in some Malevolent cave, after all - and it's something of a relief to see that it's just a door across the way slowly closing itself to seal away whatever is within. But her instincts are still flaring hard, and she doesn't need Ethius to tell her to start moving and do her best to stop the door from closing.
So she hauls herself back up to her feet, pushing against the floor as she starts to will her legs to begin moving. "--Trouble!" she orders, and there's an answering beep as the little robot rushes in to try to help - but there's very little the robot can do against such a well-worn and strengthened mechanism, and she knows it'll only be a stopgap.
Instead, she opts for a much less subtle method, calling her sword back to her hands as she sweeps forwards. Skidding low, she slides the slab of metal along the ground, catching it under the door - and then hefting it upwards like a lever, doing her best to simply prop the door open and force its descent to slow, shifting the metal into a strengthened bar to act as a fulcrum.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Punishing Piston.
=============================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=============================================
===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Punishing Piston *>===========================================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
With the owlbear of owlbears defeated, the source of the Malevolence
profaning this place can be found in the chamber beyond!
Unfortunately, the door to it is already closing, thanks to some ancient
mechanism triggered in the fighting. If your party can manage to hold the
door open long enough, someone might be able to slip through and grab the
item that's causing so much trouble, but it's been a long dungeon and you've
had no time to rest since the fight...
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
========================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga - Round 7 *>======================================== =============================================< Results - Punishing Piston >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(0)--> 25 Pass Remote Golem Override 4 Brute Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 35 --(0)--> 35 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 40 --(5)--> 45 Fail Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Suffer(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Profane Grounds of Linga!
=============================================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>=============================================
==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Really Awful Herbs *>==========================================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Inside the chamber was... a strange herb, oily to the touch, and fairly
pulsing with Malevolence. Removing it from the Profane Grounds may lessen
the curse upon this place... though carrying it may have an effect upon the
holder...
Please send a +request to let us know of your success!
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The door will close. There is nothing they can do to stop it from doing so. If they hesitate for so much a moment, it will close before they can take whatever is beyond it. Powdery dust precedes ear-splitting shrieks of stopped-up stone. An earthen pillar impacts like a driven railroad spike attempting to impact deep into the earth. Cucco hordes rage forth and express their displeasure. A resolute blade moves to stave off the inevitable for as long as she needs. A mysterious Golem head's eyes light up as it surges forth, slowly being crushed under the door.
There is but a narrow space for someone to reach in and take it. A disgusting oily 'feel' to the space beyond might repulse. If it does, they cannot retrieve it - whatever it is. To the soul resolute in purpose to reach in and draw back what they grab, they will have themselves...
?HERB? obtained.
It pulsates with Malevolence. It doesn't look like anything they've seen before... only that it it fairly soaked in the stuff. Huh. That's not good news, if the Maleovlence has taken such root that it is now being readily brought forth through plant life like this...
...but it needs to not be here.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's lips thin for a moment, but Ethius' words resonate in her once more.
It will fall upon us to deal with it decisively.
She reaches forward as she keeps those words in mind, echoing and alive as her resolve builds even as the last of her strength starts to ail her. The plight of the owlbears is still well upon her mind -- it is not by their doing that their habitat was so thoroughly overturned.
She is not the Shepherd. She does not have the means to cleanse Malevolence, like the silver flame. But all the same...
"... it hurts... but..."
She seizes forward with that misshapen Hyadean hand of hers, scales twisting and roiling as she draws it back and feels its oily substance and the feeling of Malevolence within it.
"Hyadeans... cannot be infected by it."
Her hand is shaking gently, but she keeps strong as she stands the fallen -- and places it in a safe container for the time being, letting a soft breath of relief.
"This won't remove the root of the infection, but... it may tell something of why the Malevolence spread here in the first place. Whether because of K.K. and what they have done in Krosse... or because of something else."
She bites her lip.
"Thank you for responding to my message, Miss Jacqueline, Mister Ethius..." She looks to Avril and Noeline. "And for supporting me too, as always..."
There's a tired, but genuinely satisfied smile on her face.
"I feel like I can move on from something that had been plaguing me for all this time..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline can't reach in personally - she instead focuses on keeping that earth pillar standing - just long enough for Riesenlied to reach in and seize what's inside.
And it's...an herb? Interesting!
"...Yes. I hope so." Jacqueline says with a nod...and then sends Riesenlied a warm, friendly smile.
"Of course! Whenever you need my help, I'll always be there." She says. "And, admittedly, I feel the same way...I feel like some weight's been lifted from my shoulders. I'm glad to...finally get some closure here."
As for the herb...Jacqueline takes another look at it.
"I think...we should take this back to Mariel. She might be able to discern something from it that we can't..." Jacqueline suggests. She didn't know how Mariel knew the things she seemed to, but she seemed to have a close connection with the planet and plantlife.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The Crimson Notble can't help but watch with some amount of trepidation as Riesenlied carefully tucks the flower away. Perhaps Hyadeans can't be affected by Malevolence - but she can't help but realize that for a very long time Hyadeans were never meant to talk with Guardians either, nor build a family of orphans and a settlement of care for those who need it more.
Still, the look on Riesenlied's face is one of relief, and Noeline allows that to buoy her up in term, letting out a heaving breath of her own. "... well, of course I would come along for something like this," she chuckles fondly. "Let us hope that, in time, the land will recover. Or at the very least we can find a way to better cleanse it, with the source removed."
With a sigh, she looks back at the network of caves. "Mariel might be a wise idea. I've been meaning to talk with her as it is. For now, however, I will settle for getting out of here and curling up, quite frankly."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The door hits the ground with an earth-shattering 'thud' moments after Riese draws her hand back. Had she lingered a moment longer, she would have been down an arm entirely. The Malevolence within the chamber continues to churn and rumble about as the oily herb continues to drip its nasty dew within from wherever it is stowed away.
The strange man has a palm pointed out, as though he might've been inches away from assuming the Golem head that surfaced was a threat against them. If it was... the door just took care of it. He relaxes the palm as he observes what Riese is holding - and her rationale for taking hold of it. If her people cannot be infected by it, then... she is the safest choice for holding it.
Her contented smile should melt the heart. This place caused much heartache and contention for many - the place where an exposure led several down towards a path of discovery that was ultimately too late to do anything about. All that has transpired since... it could all be traced back to here.
Ethius brings a hand to his forehead, looking away as Riese and Jay exchange mutual relief about the situation. Ever since he became aware of himself and his location, it has seemed as though everything has spiraled out of control further and further. So many things seem to reach out to him and say, 'notice me, Ethius,' and yet not a single one of them seems to speak as in specific to what it is he's looking for. He is presented, again and again, with new problems and challenges - the likes of which sometimes seem to exist as such only to him. He maintains his feelings that they are problems and challenges that he must address, to some end. This is but one of them.
"I will do what must be done," are his words in response to Riese and Jay alike, with the same tone and pace they may have become accustomed to hearing of him, no matter how artificial it can often sound, "of this, you can be certain."
Mariel... the Beastwoman cultivator that the Caravan Kinship has recently taken aboard. He recalls what happened the last time they brought aboard a florist whose work was so immaculate as to seem impossible to ever witness upon Filgaia itself.
...
"I am in agreement with Miss Noeline. Our business with this location has concluded," so he declares. He remembers his excuse for making off with that sample of Riese's blood. The very idea he would eat a rotten owlbear corpse... hm.
Come to think of it... his eyes widen noticeably for a second...!
========================<* Profane Grounds of Linga *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Recipe for Disaster! *>==================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion |Challenge Rating: Nope | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ethius has regained some of his lost memories! It comes to him that he might be able to prepare some... dishes... off of... noxious, unpalatable ingredients such as... ... No. No. No no no. A thousand times no. This card refuses to continue down this direction. Instead... Ethius has learned the recipe for Gooey Stuff! =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Overwhelm, Madness, Fright=======================