2018-09-27: Chase Your Breams
- Log: Chase Your Breams
- Cast: Loren Voss, Celine Jules, Matilda Whitehead, Seraph Solanine
- Where: Adelyn Ranchlands
- Date: September 27th 2018
- Summary: A mysterious light shines across the sky, drawing a small group in search of its source. They find it. They eat it too. And many other things besides.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Bream Chasers. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== =======<* CHALLENGE - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality *>======= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It all started a short while ago, while you and your party traversed as you often do, and went about your day. What was to be an ordinary day quickly became bizarre when the sight of a red light shone across the skies -- along with the screams of nearby travelers and villagers shouting that it might be a monster. Make no mistake. There is Evil afoot here. It just so happens to be an Evil unconquerable through martial or sorcerous prowess -- rather, it is an evil that must be conquered through gastronomic keenness. Do you dare... chase after your Breams? When you finally catch up with the red monstrosity, you discover that there is a gigantic ruby-red sea bream roughly 12 foot in length. It charges at you, seeking to crush you with its sheer oceanic might!! The battle is fierce, and draining; curiously, an aura about the bream seems to promote hunger and thirst, depriving one of sustenance. By the time the mysterious ruby-red bream is brought down, it settles before your party, delicate flakes of firm whitefish flesh cascaded in bias upon a bed of romaine lettuce contrast with arugula. Garnished with slices of lemon, with a dangerous pale-red bhut jolokia sauce... an extremely potent and piquant pain that will require great strength of self to overcome. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
EARLIER
In the end, Loren's marching orders -- such that they were -- had been to take it easy.
Because it wouldn't be long before a force would set out for Elru, into a domain where it was uncertain whether they might return. Leah had given him a choice. And in the end, he'd decided to stay the course, whatever it might cost him.
So for the first time since Lunar -- which barely counted -- he's off without anyone (least of all Captain Petran) breathing down his neck and had head east, figuring at least he'd see how things were around Adlehyde.
It's a weird thing -- he'd spent so long thinking about what he'd do if he had some time off that now that weeks of it have been dropped into his lap he's struggled to find what to do with himself.
Maybe he should go stargazing.
It's in the middle of heading towards a likely-looking place that a brilliant red light streaked across the sky.
"...Are you kidding me," the young medic asked towards the heavens, before shaking his head and rushing off in the direction of the maleficent red glow.
MOMENTS AGO
Loren, sword in hand and allied with some Drifters -- one familiar as that Veruni's 'friend', the others not so much -- faces off against a mighty foe in the form of a gigantic glowing red bream.
...Honestly, he's encountered wierder things than a duel to the death with a monstrous red fish.
NOW
The final blow is struck. The fish is laid out before them, apparently dead. And in its death throes it...
"...This seems suspiciously convenient," Loren says, prodding the slices of perfectly cut fish before him with the tip of his blade.
Then he kneels.
Tentatively, he reaches out to pick up a piece, brushing a bit of lemon aside.
And being (still) a teenager and Always Hungry, and never yet meeting a meal he wouldn't put in his mouth, he pops it in his mouth.
"..."
He swallows, looking for the moment as if stricken. "It's... it's spicy," he gasps, but apparently is not about to be defeated just yet. He goes for another.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
There are some things that you can't just hear, you need to experience. One of those things involves giant sea breams. The many villagers and travelers that are about run and scurry about, retreating to safety. "Well, I'm sure it could be worse~." The Symbologist proclaims, Celine Jules moving with the others forwards - "Such a charmer, asking a lady like myself to accompany you~." Nevermind that Loren was a young medic and had been seeking others around to deal with such a 'monster'. Celine had been around near the town, haggling over some mystic artifact or cute jewl she could not do without, before she heard the cries of the red glow in the sky, and figured that it would certainly be more exciting - and profitable, perhaps - to go on such an adventure. "Maybe you're hoping I'd get hurt, so you can prac~-" Eyes light up and her teasing words vanish as she peers at a giant Sea Bream assaulting them. No quip about things being a bit too fishy, nothing at all! Perhaps it stunned Celine to silence.
However, as the fish flops it's last, Celine wipes the sweat from her forehead. The fire that she used had likely seared a few spots, and that would help when - it starts to dissipate into food. Not just raw sushi, but slices of lemon, arugula, lettuce along with it. A gasp, Celine watches as the fish becomes literal fish food before her eyes! The Symbologist has no clue at all about what kind of magics it would take... but a flying fish that size is already pretty magical.
"Oh how nice, a dinner adventure~?" Celine quips, wiking - before Loren prods the slice of fish with the blade - and pops it into his mouth. "Oh, hold on now, I didn't actually suggest we ea-huh?" He's not dying, but the spicy food...? "Spicy~? Oooh, now I'll just have to help myself, you wouldn't mind, would you?" She remarks, kneeling down as well to a seperate chunk of meat and lettuce and bending it around, taking a nice careful bite of it. "Oh I just love spicy thi-!" Celine's mouth stops moving for a moment and her eyes widen, beginning to water.
But to this young medic, she has to save face! She can't be bested by ... a spicy sea bream! "Ahaha, s-see nothing at .. a-all!~"
DG: Celine Jules has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda has ... seen this before, actually. ... and honestly, the novelty of the flying fish -- of chasing it down, of *bringing* it down, of its strangely, suspiciously perfectly prepared form -- hasn't worn off.
Matilda... stays cautious around Loren. She seems a little more... comfortable with herself, though, in the familiar white coat she often wears on Filgaia, than in the armor she favored on Lunar. ... kind of, anyway.
As they settle in with the extremely spicy fish, Matilda nods slowly, reaching into her pack and pulling out a flask of something or another. She looks inside it thoughtfully, making sure it's the one she was aiming for; when she's satisfied with *that*, she takes a drink before starting in on the fish in earnest.
"... After last time, I decided not to question it," Matilda admits, with a small laugh.
Her eyes linger on Celine for a moment. ... and another moment. ... annnnd another moment. "... Are you going to be all right?" she asks, eventually.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The Ruins of Altered Memory quickly becoming a... well... memory, Seraph Solanine eventually parted company with her sisters and brother in arms, all save one - The one who called herself Celine. Though an adventurer and possessed of magical skill, Celine seemed unable to see the Seraph, as of yet not having the proper Resonance. So Sola thought to go with her, She figured that "haunting" a single person might be an interesting change, it might be like having company, but only when you want it.
But Solanine also needed to learn how to interact with humans now that she seems to be stumbling into those who can perceive her more and more often, a phenomenon Ragnell claimed was much more common on this Filgaia than on her native Lunar.
It might then seem an odd plan to follow the one person in the group that can't interact with her, but Sola was trying to look at the bigger picture. Celine was a particularly energetic and vivacious human, full of quirk and personality. This would let the Seraph get used to being around that sort of person - (a "worst" case scenario for someone who'd spent centuries alone,) without the "threat" of being the center of their attention. More useful still would be observing how they interact with other humans, giving her something of a crash course in their interactions, both in general, and specifically on this planet.
Today so far had been more subdued than others, relatively speaking, with Celine doing some enthusiastic shopping, when the Sea Bream made itself known!
Sola assisted as best she could, mostly with non-magical thrusting swordplay and finally the fish was slayed... then... layed.. across a plate with all the fixings... something Sola found especially confusing as her sword-work shouldn't have resulted in such delicate and elegant slicing...
An elemental spirit who has no need for food on a normal occassion, she feels an odd sensation that compels her to eat what has been presented in front of her. It's so new, so strange to feel such things that she gives in shortly, taking the lead of the others and beginning to munch on the delightfully spicy fish, unaware and perhaps not even caring who could see her, if anyone.
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== =======<* CHALLENGE - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality *>======= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It all started a short while ago, while you and your party traversed as you often do, and went about your day. What was to be an ordinary day quickly became bizarre when the sight of a red light shone across the skies -- along with the screams of nearby travelers and villagers shouting that it might be a monster. Make no mistake. There is Evil afoot here. It just so happens to be an Evil unconquerable through martial or sorcerous prowess -- rather, it is an evil that must be conquered through gastronomic keenness. Do you dare... chase after your Breams? When you finally catch up with the red monstrosity, you discover that there is a gigantic ruby-red sea bream roughly 12 foot in length. It charges at you, seeking to crush you with its sheer oceanic might!! The battle is fierce, and draining; curiously, an aura about the bream seems to promote hunger and thirst, depriving one of sustenance. By the time the mysterious ruby-red bream is brought down, it settles before your party, delicate flakes of firm whitefish flesh cascaded in bias upon a bed of romaine lettuce contrast with arugula. Garnished with slices of lemon, with a dangerous pale-red bhut jolokia sauce... an extremely potent and piquant pain that will require great strength of self to overcome. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 1 *>========================== =========< Results - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality >========= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celine Jules 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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. Seraph Solanine Standing at roughly 6'1, Sola is a tall girl with the look of a small girl. Lanky and slight of build, her ocean-turquoise eyes look out from behind circular rimless red tinted spectacles and a shock of short wavy hair, perpetually but not outrageously bed- headed. She wears an unassuming skirt-length brown linen jerkin (fastened at the hip by a worn black belt and iron clasp) with a detached dark-violet hood around her neck like a scarf. Underneath the jerkin are a simple faded cotton black doublet and breeches set, and from the knee down she dons purplish brown leather cuffed travel boots.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
JUST PRIOR TO A FIGHT WITH A FISH
That half-spoken innuendo, cut off as the fish descends, earns Celine a sidelong glance from the young medic. "Spare me," had been Loren's dry commentary as he assumed the ready stance that he'd only earned from countless hours of sparring -- and all the bruises and damaged ego that went with it -- from the woman known only as Cassidy. And after that, it's on.
Sometimes you have to take your combat practice where you can find it, even if that means fighting a real big fish.
(Though that other woman there, that tall girl with the messy hair, now that's a sword style he doesn't think he's seen...)
NOW
The fish meat glistens.
It does not at all suggest at first glance how mouth-numbingly spicy it is. In extremis, Loren draws away from the meal set before them and with a single cough, seems to attempt to excuse himself.
He at least manages to turn away before digging in his bag, pulling out a bottle of something, and chugging it in a mild panic.
Other people might be similarly afflicted.
But others -- either because they prepared or because they may not be human precisely -- persevere against the bream.
It's like they say: hold onto your bream.
(Is... that not how it goes?)
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Once he's wiped the sweat from his brow, Loren lingers -- his face still contorted in mild agony -- for the moment before turning quite the suspicious eye over at Matilda.
She may not be as horribly afflicted, after all, and he has possible grounds for regarding her with care just as she does with him...
DG: Celine Jules has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Country Pumpkin *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The pumpkin! A humble vegetable that literally grows on the soil, overlooked by so many, and abused by even more as a simple decoration for the Seed City celebration of "Halloween"! Perhaps it is no surprise that this simple root vegetable has taken the imagination of so many, with its delectable orange flesh that is succulent and sweet, yet with a savoury tinge when roasted. The dish before you has been crafted with rustic elegance, a roast pumpkin garnished with rosemary and fennel, yet hidden behind the carved pumpkin faces that express a myriad of emotions: Sadness, joy... What emotion is... best to experience this dish with? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
The sidelong glance, aimed directly at Celine, seems to have 'cut her off' somewhat, though it's the giant fish that had done it this time~. Loren, no matter how direct he might be, would have to chisel away at Celine's demeanor to get her to spare him. A witch, at least some have called her at least once, without any mercy - that is Celine! Noticing the air apparently eating, Celine blinks a few moments. "Oh, is it one of our spectral friends~?!" Celine adds, waving as she eats. "Good to... well, not see you, but have you again~."
Yet all the talking in the world, and spicy words, will not actually help you when you have such spices in your mouth! As Loren turns away in a cough, Celine, mouth full of another piece of Bream, lets out a soft giggle and smiles, swallowing it as Matilda brings such an attention to her. With a healthy grin and a wave of her hand, she nods, "Oh! Of course, this is nothing~. Unlike some people, ~I~ know my limi-" At which point Celine ends up on her hands and knees, trying to gulp air for a moment - apparently doing her best impression of the fish that was just before them. Thoughts shoot through her mind, such as 'How can a stupid fish be this hot!?' 'My magic isn't even close to this!?' and other random suffering thoughts as she has a few labored breaths - grabbing her staff and raising herself up onto somewhat shaky legs. "S-see.. absolutely... perfect." She remarks to Matilda, forcing a bit of a smile.
At least after this event, Loren has to deal with quite a bit less talking from Celine for a bit! Still, as they trudge on forwards, there's another dish that lies in wait for them. Sitting all alone - except itself, as there's quite a bit of it. Celine almost doesn't notice, trying to count to a number high enough to forget the burning in her mouth. Who knew the throat could burn so wonderfully? Yet anything that isn't the spicy fish may be an improvement. R-Right?
"What a strange... second course...~" Celine still tries to keep her head, "I don't know about you... but I'm relieved it's not something stranger." As it's actual food, it's still something odd. "They could have... improved the atmosphere though.
Surrounding the dishes of roast pumpin are pumpkins, carved in those myriads of emotions. Sad. Happy. Fearful. Frightened. Screaming. Angry. All of it on display - just like the food.
Celine stares at them all and looks down. "I guess ... anything's better than more of that fish~." She so states with ~relief~. Perhaps that is her choice, here, of emotion. Yet ... roast pumpkin? The relief suddenly may not match what she had intended, once more freezing as she takes a bite into the dish. Swallow. "Could... be worse..~."
DG: Celine Jules has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren lifts a blond eyebrow when Celine speaks of 'spectral friends'. Though while the bulk of his attention is quite on the fish so kindly laid out before him, he does take a look Solanine's way.
'Spectral', huh...
Solanine doesn't seem the least bit spectral to him.
Just like 'Spring Breeze'. Must be one and the same.
Of course any careful spy work here is soon waylaid when he discovers the cruel horrible nature of the food in which he has partook. Suffice to say, even the spices on display in Bledavik are a lot by Solarian standards.
This is practically chemical warfare.
"Ugh," he manages, once he has the ability to speak again. "I should have known better than to eat something dropped by a monster..." he continues to grouse, trailing along behind the rest as they venture off in the direction from which the horrible bream had emerged. Perhaps there's some clue to--
Or maybe an equally incongruous platter of roast pumpkin.
He stares them down.
"This has to be some sort of trap," he declares, continuing to give the veggies the hairy eyebrow. "And why the carved faces? It's off-putting."
Like they're announcing some horrible curse. In spite of himself, he shudders.
No. Don't think about that. Focus, he prompts himself. Rooting in his bag, he palms something from within the depths, downing it with a bit of slight of hand.
And then tentatively reaches over and picks a piece of pumpkin from the platter, ostensibly to inspect it closely.
It smells nice.
His stomach growls in spite of itself.
And he pops the piece in his mouth.
...What a weird flavor.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Modafisol toward his party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda looks to Solanine only briefly; while she sees Seraphim, she doesn't quite... *understand* them, and in cases where one isn't drawing attention to itself excessively or talking, Matilda is inclined to just let things be. She focuses on Celine, instead, watching her as she extremely fails to eat spicy food. "... Quite," she offers, mutely.
Matilda takes a moment to take a long drink and compose herself after eating some exceptionally spicy bream, though she seems to be doing much better than Loren about it. "Surprisingly," Matilda says to Loren, "I don't think it's a trap! I've seen these before, every now and again..."
"... But I've never actually thought of them as something you *eat*," she admits, a little lamely. Reaching into her pack, she pulls out a book and says, "... So I won't, actually! All of you are free to eat as you will." She nods, firmly, trying to distract herself from hunger --
-- with knowledge.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
Though she took to the initial eating immediately, Solanine begins to feel the burn..! Is... all human food on Filgaia like this? She'd had a brief infatuation with eating long ago, but abandoned it quickly due to the cost, it being a mere luxury for a spiritual being. If she was prone to talking she certainly couldn't now, and eats at a brisk pace, seeking to quench the fire of the fish with... more fish? She's new to this!
She does reach a sort of equlibrium with the spice and the group is victorious..! For the moment, as laying in wait for them is more Gour(d)ers! A strangely festive pile of pumpkins! The main event is roasted, with an oddly festive arrangement of carved uncooked pumpkins... Their emotions aren't hard to read, but such chaos, and emotions at all? Are they maddened? Are they daring us to eat their fellows?!
Solanine smiled and waved to Celine when she thanked her "spectral friend" for tagging along despite herself, though she knows Celine wouldn't respond, she was however deep in the gastronomic fires of the bream and foodlust to notice Loren's noticing her. She does heed his words now about this being a trap. This DOES have to be some sort of trap. She's seen plenty of baited traps set by humans before, and that's the closest thing she can think of, though she has noticed a particular absence of such thoroughly and lovingly prepared human meals lying unattended in the paths of her previous travels... Still... her body wants to eat it. What strange sorcery..?
She stabs a roast pumpkin from afar with her war-rapier blade, and pulls out a skull-shaped lantern. She "lights" it with a spark of elemental Shadow and inspects the food with its strange black light thoroughly before coming to the same conclusion as Matilda has, for now, and takes a bite out of the sworded pumpkin like a kebab.
Oh thank the Goddess, it's nothing like the last one.. sweet, relatively bland and creamy. What a relief.
DG: Seraph Solanine has used her Tool Skull Lantern toward her party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Country Pumpkin *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The pumpkin! A humble vegetable that literally grows on the soil, overlooked by so many, and abused by even more as a simple decoration for the Seed City celebration of "Halloween"! Perhaps it is no surprise that this simple root vegetable has taken the imagination of so many, with its delectable orange flesh that is succulent and sweet, yet with a savoury tinge when roasted. The dish before you has been crafted with rustic elegance, a roast pumpkin garnished with rosemary and fennel, yet hidden behind the carved pumpkin faces that express a myriad of emotions: Sadness, joy... What emotion is... best to experience this dish with? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 2 *>========================= ======================< Results - The Country Pumpkin >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Modafisol 2 Wits Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Solanine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Skull Lantern 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Portable Library 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Celine Jules 5 --(5)--> 10 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Celine Jules has posed.
Celine eats a few more pieces, thankfully it seems to calm down the burning in her mouth. To Matilda, she nods. Quite! A smile even, as she eats more. "It's not so bad, you know..." So claims Celine as she takes another scoop with her glove - but the glove has seen worse. With a floating sword, stabbing through a pumpkin, disappearing, Celine muses. Well, everyone seems to be doing well enough.
Looking at Loren as he pops a piece into his mouth, Celine nods her head. "It's got an odd taste, doesn't it?~" She asks, "You're a growing boy, so you should definietly take allll the chances you get~! Not just to eat y-"
That's about when Celine bends over and grasps her stomach with both hands, the staff magically floating still in the air as Celine focuses on not losing it infront of the others. Not just her lunch, really. There's an odd gurgling sound, and Celine looks over to Matilda and for once, takes a moment - and firmly shakes her head. "You.. made the right decision..."
Forcing herself to stand tall, Celine digs the staff into the ground - it seems though the pumpkins are happy (mostly), and the rest light up - signalling completion!?
DG: Seraph Solanine has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Seraph Food Cake *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Angel Food Cake, named so after the mythical figures in Granasian and Nissan faiths, is a lightly-flavoured vanilla cake with a sponge-like texture that's so delicate and fluffy that it's described to be like "floating on the wings of an angel". Or some culinary poets do say. The Seraph Food Cake appears to be someone's idea of taking it to the next level, because this cake's batter and subsequent rise in the oven is whipped so light you need to be Resonant to see it. The cake part, anyway. There's a mercifully mundane layer of baked cinnamon crumble at the base for the unresonant... but that's terribly unsatisfying, now is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The pumpkins light up to signal their victory and the party proceeds onward to the next sort-of-surprise culinary challenge! This one is a surprise, at least for one person in the group, who sees just a normal, oddly wide cinnamon crumble. Like the mysterious down home country grandmother who roasted the pumpkins was conscripted to also bake a cake for a wedding, but by gum, stuck to what she knew best.
Those possessing Resonance however know that Grandma was Touched By An Angel and produced a cake so heavenly that it somehow became the purview of the Seraphim themselves! For them, at least visually, is a light and fluffly layer of celestial chiffon with a hint of vanilla!
Sola seems to think of home for all sorts reasons, and silently leads the charge, quickly cutting it intp sixteenths with graceful slices of her two hand-hilted rapier.
She nods to the others, then helps herself to a prime slice after giving it a look over with her lantern again. She can sense the magic from this one for certain, but is its true nature dark and spicy like the cinnoman crumble lurking beneath the airy layer of cherubic cake?
DG: Seraph Solanine has used her Tool Skull Lantern toward her party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Strange, but I've had stranger," Loren replies to Celine, before she takes a tenor that just earns her a look that verges on the boundary between skeptical and disconcerted. "Uh. No. I'm almost twenty."
He looks like he's seventeen or eighteen. The curse of the baby face.
"So these just naturally end up freshly roasted and laid out on the road?" he asks Matilda as he turns the cut of pumpkin in his hand this way and that, as if to inspect it a moment (while the savory smell beguiles him with its whims). "Well," continues, layering the sarcasm on extra thick, "I suppose you learn something new every day."
And yet, he's still the one who puts it in his mouth.
Fortunately it doesn't taste like it was poisoned.
Probably.
If anything, he just feels mildly suspicious. More than he already was, anyway.
"...Using us as lab rats, are you," he snarkily asides to Matilda.
It still, notably, doesn't stop him from grabbing another piece. It's a welcome change from the fish's burn.
And if he's poisoned, he might as well die with a full stomach.
(Loren has experienced: the emotion of suspicion!)
(...but it's not all that unusual from normal Loren)
So instead he takes the moment -- as the pumpkins light cheerily -- to regard Solanine, as she pulls out that lantern of hers, and invokes a power he can just sense. Hm. So that's how their magic works...
Leaving the lit pumpkins behind, it's not long before they find another... strange deposit of food in their path.
This one's a cake.
It's a cake so unearthly that even Loren has a double take, blinking and again going for the 'something' he's got in his bag. Time for another dose, perhaps?
But the nose can't be fooled. He can smell it in the air.
And he approaches the cake, sword drawn.
Time was, he'd given another girl grief for attempting to eat a cake in a dungeon. But this one at least seems like it was... freshly baked?
And he's still hungry.
So he cuts a slice and resolves to never speak of this to anyone.
(It's a good cake though)
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Modafisol toward his party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"Of course I did," Matilda says, with just a hint of a smile on her face at Celine. "Part of dining well is knowing your limits." She nods once, firmly, before turning her attention forward -- to the mysterious cake before them. She blinks a few times, as she starts to focus in on the spongey, fluffy texture before them.
"... You know, this is *much* different from last time," Matilda reflects aloud, her head canting slowly to the side as she studies it. "The last meal was much more savory -- this feels much more like a light main course and a heavy desert... I wonder why it's so different?" Granted, it could always double back to savory on them.
After a second, for Loren, she adds, "... Well, not freshly roasted, no. But unusual, pattern-carved squash varieties... that's not so abnormal, really."
At the follow-up comment, Matilda adds, "Just you."
Matilda promptly digs *deep* into the cake without further comment. Unlike the pumpkin, this is exactly her speed; she's always been a baker (and indeed stress-bakes), so immensely fluffy baked goods get her going just about instantly. "Ah -- thank you," she adds, to the Seraph, as the cake gets carved into so many pieces so quickly.
She pulls a pencil from her pack, and takes some notes on the flavor profile. She *really* wants to duplicate this by the time she sees Kaguya again.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Portable Library toward her party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
The woman, Celine, carries herself forwards with the lacking of grave that a woman dealing with gastrointestinal issues and a slightly burning mouth may. Still, she tries to keep her pride - and it mostly works as long as her mouth is somewhat closed and her movement is somewhat diminished. It's all about perspective. Such as. It could... always be worse?
A slice of cake, no, many of them, are cut - but Celine only notices the crumble. "... Oh thank goodness, something bland..." She remarks.
Honestly, Celine would have been all 'Well, then to be a strong man, you should eat up~' but the beat has been skipped since then - especially with her growling stomach. Watching Loren go to eat a cake, she regards with suspicion about how Loren eats it, about how another chunk of cake slides up into the air to be eaten as well. Finally, she glances at Matilda. "Dear, what do you think?" She asks, curiously, before glancing at Loren. "If even you seem to think this one's a good idea, then how can I resist~?" The sorceress remarks, with a shrug - only to feel the growling, burbling of her stomach. "...I really shouldn't..." She remarks, but watches as even Matilda digs into the cake. "Oh, that settles it then! Save me a piece! You have to exceed yur limits to get stronger, right~?" Is the remark to Matilda before she beams, leaning forwards and grasping the cake - one of the pieces the seraph cut, and moves to try and take a bite out of it.
With any luck, Celine won't end up having the mixing flavors make this awkwards.
Additionally, it's likely Celine may just shove the 'invisible cake' into her face and give herself a slight surprise!
DG: Celine Jules has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Seraph Food Cake *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Angel Food Cake, named so after the mythical figures in Granasian and Nissan faiths, is a lightly-flavoured vanilla cake with a sponge-like texture that's so delicate and fluffy that it's described to be like "floating on the wings of an angel". Or some culinary poets do say. The Seraph Food Cake appears to be someone's idea of taking it to the next level, because this cake's batter and subsequent rise in the oven is whipped so light you need to be Resonant to see it. The cake part, anyway. There's a mercifully mundane layer of baked cinnamon crumble at the base for the unresonant... but that's terribly unsatisfying, now is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 3 *>========================= ========================< Results - Seraph Food Cake >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Modafisol 2 Wits Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Solanine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Skull Lantern 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Matilda Whitehead 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Portable Library 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Celine Jules 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Seraph Solanine has posed.
It's not often, in the tumultuous life of Drifters, but sometimes... things aren't so bad and the universe is full of blessings. The foe before them is "just" a delicious cake! It has no twists, turns, or horrible surprises!
It doesn't open up for the Goblin King to challenge them to a duel and reveal it was made with warg milk.
It's not actually a strangely arranged poisonous mushroom colony!
It doesn't even contain a hidden core of Ghost Pepper Bream, no Montbreamzuma's Revenge!
It's just a lovely cake, on a lovely day, and even an extra empyrean surprise for those who might've only expected an earthly cinnamon crumble!
Everyone eats all they'd like and are able to cease when they're done.Sola is no expection, though she's certainly curious how the cake was infused with Seraphic magic. She finishes hers with courtly manners, and waits for the others if she was indeed the last to finish. Though she started eating without regard, something about the cake leads her to end the meal with more reverent etiquette, in absence of other Seraphim, she plays the Heavenly Host.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Loquatious Loquaciousness *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- In a rather ghastly turnabout that few could've seen coming, a fruit salad of bright and vivacious colours emerges before you -- primarily garnished with slices of loquat, a rich and decadent Meribian favourite with its lemon-fresh yellow colour adding the vibrance of summer to its mix. No, what makes this one rather terrifying is that the loquats start speaking, speaking rather loquaciously: "Loquat! No, I'm a high cat, I'll have you know! "Hey! Hey! Loquat me! I'm quite the loquer I'll have you know!" You'll need to put this one under firm loqu and key... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda leans back a little, clearly content with the, frankly, staggering amount of cake she just ate. "... Mmm, I'm stuffed -- really, I don't think I could eat another..."
'Loquat! No, I'm a high cat, I'll have you know!
Matilda pales slightly. "... These again?" she murmurs, more than a little disconcerted. Retrieving a fork, Matilda gives it a quick twirl in her hand, narrowing her eyes at the fruit salad.
"... These, again," she reiterates, a little more defeated-sounding than before. "So -- I suppose I should explain this. Loquat... are delicious. These -- talk. I'm fairly certain they're just preprogrammed phrases with loquat puns, but..."
Matilda goes to stab one with a fork before bringing it to her lips. "... Even knowing that makes it only marginally less unnerving."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Loquatious Loquaciousness.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"In the middle of a lightly-wooded area?" Loren asks again, stretching his arms wide as if to invoke the heavens in his plight. He may be pushing his luck.
And when Matilda fires back with a comment that it's just him, he closes his eyes as if pained and sighs out, "Wonderful. I see she's rubbing off on you."
These two must have some past history.
"...Speaking of, where is she? Abandoned you?"
There's a word in a certain language that means, 'a face that calls out to be punched'. Perhaps it might be apt right now. Perhaps.
But for the time being, there is a cake.
And what a cake. It's probably the best cake he's ever eaten. He tucks into it, which might be a very strange sight from Celine's angle, as he apparently goes all in on a piece of something that isn't there.
Only when he's finished that piece does he cough and have the brief decency to look a little embarrassed. But still without any potent regrets.
Until, at least, a bowl of fruit starts making...
Loren's brow knots.
And he makes a face as if he's been mortally wounded.
"Someone with terrible sense of humor. That doesn't even make any sense. Ugh."
He fishes in his bag again, pulling out a bottle of something from his medical kit and downing it.
(It's an antacid.)
And then he advances on the bowl of fruit and with deliberate malice...
"Loqu on the bright side--"
Grabs for one of the forks and stabs the fruit that is talking now.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Loquatious Loquaciousness.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
Celine's stomach ache seems to have helped her. In the moment she is able to plow the cake into her face, she stops due to her stomach - and her nose wiggles against the light fluffy topping. "Oh my!~" Chowing down on the cake after the first bite, Celine actually goes back for seconds - well, a small chunk of cake. "There's more to this than meets the eye, isn't there~? It's like there's a whole extra layer of something... like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't figure it out~." She beams.
What a surprise that might be, hmm~?
"Oh, dear, I'm sure you can~." Celine remarks, getting up to walk forwards before .. food just... appears? "Why, I'd say they were trying to stuff us~. I'd say I have to watch my figure... but a salad never hurts, does it?" She asks of Matilda - even if she doesn't expect a direct response on it. With Matilda paling, Celine raises an eyebrow. Picking up a fork, Celine moves it down towards the Loquats. "Delicious? Well, that's all you needed to say, dear." Celine states, the lavender haired symbologist piercing one or two with a fork, "I hear enough voices, a few extra inside me won't hurt, you know~?" She gives a good natured giggle, however older it is with her, and then tries to down one or two slices.
"I've been called a man eater a few times, but still... this should be easy, then~." As Loren calls it terrible, Celine waves a hand at him, gloved, and still pumpkin colored from before. "Oh, look who's all grouchy after cake~. I think these little puns are just charming. After all, why not have a little fun with your food?" The spat between Matilda and Loren isn't lost on her however, as she oh so happens to wander past Loren with a loquat, "Anyways, don't loque at me~." Celine actually states, winking at the other two, "Unless you're," "LOQUEING" "Thank you~ -" She states to the food, "For me to get involved in the little tit for tat you seem to have going~."
DG: Celine Jules has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Loquatious Loquaciousness.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
Seraph Solanine blinks with wonder at the Foequat..? What in the world..?
She looks at Celine momentarily, wondering if she'd be the type of human that would enchant their food to talk to them if there was no one else around, a type of person Sola is now certain must exist to have created this... this. (No, Celine is energetic, but she wouldn't go that far, she decides... she...hopes..? Please don't think it's cute and adopt one..!) Sola listens to Matilda's explanation with relief, but it confirms that this was the doing of someone not a natural phenomenon.
Apparently they don't need to stop to breathe, so it was around
"What's the matter?! Loquat Loquat your tongue?!"
that... she'd had enough.
Sola reaches into a pouch at her side and pulls out a small seed. She low squats (!!! It's spreading!) and slaps the seed to the ground in her own shadow, visibly transferring shadow energy to it until a black sprout rises. Sola grabs onto it and pulls upward!
A Shadowy Mandragora shrieks at the end of her hands and sends a wave of illusory sonic shadow energy crashing towards the motormouthed melange....the sprout is small enough not to decimate the food, just to quiet it..! she'll eat it when it's not moving..!
She hopes everyone else agrees and will understand the interruption in hindsight.
DG: Seraph Solanine has used her Tool Mandragora Seed toward her party's challenge, Loquatious Loquaciousness.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Loquatious Loquaciousness *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- In a rather ghastly turnabout that few could've seen coming, a fruit salad of bright and vivacious colours emerges before you -- primarily garnished with slices of loquat, a rich and decadent Meribian favourite with its lemon-fresh yellow colour adding the vibrance of summer to its mix. No, what makes this one rather terrifying is that the loquats start speaking, speaking rather loquaciously: "Loquat! No, I'm a high cat, I'll have you know! "Hey! Hey! Loquat me! I'm quite the loquer I'll have you know!" You'll need to put this one under firm loqu and key... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 4 *>========================== ====================< Results - Loquatious Loquaciousness >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 5 --(12)--> 17 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 0 --(7)--> 7 Pass Mandragora Seed 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 0 --(7)--> 7 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celine Jules 10 --(12)--> 22 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Secret(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
As the massive mandragora quiets the loquats for a moment, Matilda manages to spear another one; on the other hand, the cure may be slightly worse than the disease, as it were, putting Matilda distinctly off of the act of eating more loquats -- or really, much of anything.
Without her eating at the moment, though, the loquats are allowed to steadily increase in both quantity and quality(?) of puns, until every one of them is both shouted and cringeworthy. Getting through them takes some time.
Time Matilda spends staring daggers at Loren, saying nothing just yet.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The deadly four known as the Quarter Knights have certainly left their mark in Filgaia, when they descended upon Adlehyde at the peak of 499 PC. This next dish appears to have been made in their... dishonour? It isn't quite clear, but you do have a quartet of deadly delicacies to contend with. Just one is enough to overpower your palate, let alone four! From the top left: A dangerous cheese only known amongst select communities, in hushed whispers, as Brieserk; with a gleaming white rind cascading like a shock of war hair, and a shocking interior that knows nothing but battle with the palate... The newest cheese and one with the very least known about, Lady Havarti cuts a striking figure with an ominous red rind that seems impenetrable. Some say the cheese has been left in torpor for an extraordinary amount of time, and others say this was a fond acquaintance that was stolen from Monterey Jack, which has been so warped by... ... the Fetalhazred, a feta cheese so nasty that the mad creator of this dish felt the need to put a tablecloth over it. And last, but certainly not least, the leader of all the cheeses looms upon its own corner, a blue cheese of such maturity and certainty that it will undoubtedly cut down any who unwisely stand before it... Stiltonfried, always paired with its eternal partner in life and death, Encheedu. This may be the most dairy situation your group has ever been in!! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Reckless, Fright, Overzealous==================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
At least he's not the only one who feels like they've reached their limit with these... horrible punning fruits. Even if for a moment the ringing cry of the Mandragora echoes in his ears.
Loren has clearly made a friend today.
He levels an unfortunately dispassionate gaze back as the loquats continue to pile up, forming an ever more formidable obstacle of fruit (and horrible puns) for the four of them to get through.
"It's none of your business," is his response to Celine, between bites. It's coupled with the sort of look that suggests he'd rather die than put up with any more of these talking fruits, yet he fails to do anyone the favor of actually doing so. No, he still perseveres.
And eventually even this is traversed. Is this the last of the terrible dishes to lie in their path?
No. Not by a long shot.
The heavens part, shining down a single stream of glittering sunlight upon...
the cheese plate.
There's a long, long moment as Loren regards the cheeses.
They're labeled. Helpfully.
"'Stiltonfried'? Brieserk?"
His soul for a moment, it seems, if his expression is any judge, has left his body.
"Whoever made this needs help," is his final assessment.
There's a pause. "Besides, they're missing one. Or at least, they should replace one."
Boomerang, Boomerang, what sort of cheese pun can you make with--
oh no it's spreading
He stabs his sword into the one with the strikingly red rind with force. Maybe it's time to eat these before it can get a toehold.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
Celine, actively encouraging the loquats, does not help best the challenge as they keep appearing. "Oh, that's... that's just so charming~. I can't do it!" "It's loqay~." Celine puts down the plate as the problem seemingly on a whim, and looks at the others. "Well, it could be worse at least~. I think they're charming little things." The woman gives off a little laugh, before there were... put beforth something so terrible. a gleaming white rind cascading like hair. The Lady Harvati, with a red rind that seems sickly. Fetalhazard! And yet another cheese, Stiltonfried and Encheedu.
Celine, normally so talkative and inquisitive, takes a single look and holds two fingers to her mouth.
Looking to Matilda, then to Loren - what she gets is a word of advice to 'not get involved'. "I didn't realize it was that serious, between you two~." Celine remarks, shrugging as her gaze unfortunately is dragged back towards the cheeses and the plate they rest on. Loren goes towards the blood red??? rind of cheese as Celine hip-shakes her way towards the Stiltonfried and Encheedu, "Well, I know which one I'll be trying~. I'm sure it'll treat me well.. after all, it seems to be paired~." She muses, smiling towards Matilda who is staring daggers at Loren. Well, it's certainly more serious than she thought. Letting out a heavy sigh and shrugg, she looks down towards the cheese, "So, who'd like to go double dutch with me on this? A pair for the paired food? Well, mr, or miss spectral, how about it~?" She asks, holding it up and popping the Encheedu straight into her mouth!
This could come back to haunt her - but at least she'd have a partner in grime!
DG: Celine Jules has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Finally! The cheese platter! Matilda's been waiting for this!
It is the return of this, after her *last* unfortunate experience with the ruby-red sea bream of doom, that keeps her from reaching over and stabbing Loren with a fork. Instead, she simply offers, lips pursed, "She's still on Lunar. More than that is hardly any of your business." She then glances toward Celine, noting, "Ignore him," tone turning just a hair nasty.
... And then she returns her attention to the cheese platter in earnest. She immediately goes for the Lady Havarti; she doesn't make any entreaties to go doubles on anything, or even wait for one hot second longer than she has to. She just eats.
... She's from Krosse. She -- she likes cheese.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The signficance of these Warriors of Whey is lost on Solanine, fresh from falling from the moon, but at least they weren't saying anything.
The loquats in the fruit salad just got worse and worse, so much so that though she normally releases her mandragoras after harvest, she'd kept this last fellow just in case... but forgot to use it, they just needed to eat the loquats and be done with it, and painfully, eventually, they were.
She hadn't had much experience with cheese... they all seem... rather rich tasting. A squirming under the table is seen, and Sola looks down to see the Mandragora trying to fight its way off of her belt. She sighs, removes it, and conjures a small grater from shadow. She holds a hand over its mouth and grates off a leg, it screms small screams but to no avail,
She tries some shavings with the Stiltonfried and the Brieserk and to her delight the Mandragora's horseradish-y spiciness helps cut down on the richness... she offers some to the rest of the group... those who can hear her notes that she cautions not to eat to much. They can be poison in large quantities, but a little bit of zest as a pallet cleanser is all that's needed, and small quanities are a potent cleansing medicine as well.
DG: Seraph Solanine has used her Tool Mandragora Seed toward her party's challenge, Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The deadly four known as the Quarter Knights have certainly left their mark in Filgaia, when they descended upon Adlehyde at the peak of 499 PC. This next dish appears to have been made in their... dishonour? It isn't quite clear, but you do have a quartet of deadly delicacies to contend with. Just one is enough to overpower your palate, let alone four! From the top left: A dangerous cheese only known amongst select communities, in hushed whispers, as Brieserk; with a gleaming white rind cascading like a shock of war hair, and a shocking interior that knows nothing but battle with the palate... The newest cheese and one with the very least known about, Lady Havarti cuts a striking figure with an ominous red rind that seems impenetrable. Some say the cheese has been left in torpor for an extraordinary amount of time, and others say this was a fond acquaintance that was stolen from Monterey Jack, which has been so warped by... ... the Fetalhazred, a feta cheese so nasty that the mad creator of this dish felt the need to put a tablecloth over it. And last, but certainly not least, the leader of all the cheeses looms upon its own corner, a blue cheese of such maturity and certainty that it will undoubtedly cut down any who unwisely stand before it... Stiltonfried, always paired with its eternal partner in life and death, Encheedu. This may be the most dairy situation your group has ever been in!! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Reckless, Fright, Overzealous==================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 5 *>========================== ==================< Results - Quattro Fromaggi de Cavaliere >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 17 --(20)--> 37 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 7 --(15)--> 22 Pass Mandragora Seed 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 7 --(20)--> 27 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celine Jules 22 --(20)--> 42 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ===========<* CHALLENGE - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' *>============ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The legendary King of Beasts, Ragu o' Ragula, looms before you-- No, wait, sorry, this is the legendary King of Pasta Sauces, Ragu alla Ragula... it is tough to culinarily point out where 'alla Ragula' comes from, exactly, but tales of the legendary King of Beasts' trillion degree of heat-- whoops a part of it just catches on fire --might point a little to the kind of deadly cultivars used in this piping red-hot sauce, composed of bhut jolokia, ghost peppers, Shevat reapers, and who knows what else lurks just underneath of this practically deadly culinary finale. At least the rigatoni noodles that come with it look nice. So the only question becomes... Have you told your Waitress... 'SAYONARA?' =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Somehow, Loren did not get a fork stabbed into his thigh. How will ever remain a mystery.
"I don't know what you're thinking," he remarks off-handedly to Celine, "But you're wrong." To Matilda, meanwhile: "Hmph. Fine, do as you wish. It isn't my concern what happens on Lunar."
He starts in on the red-rinded cheese. It's...
It's rich. And there's a lot of it.
There are some limits to the things Loren is willing to put in his mouth. Among them: the seeds of some openly screaming plant. Still halfway through -- still halfway, no matter how much of this cheese he might cut into, there's just too much of it -- he lifts a hand palm out towards Solanine as she politely offers. 'No thanks', in other words.
Somehow, he manages to finish the cheese. Everyone might finish the cheese they've chosen. It won't come easily.
But the feta...
still remains on the plate. It practically fulminates with stench.
"No," Loren says, flatly, before he turns and walks off, apparently leaving this one for the proverbial birds.
Make that two things that Loren definitely won't eat.
But he doesn't get far. There is incongruously a table. It's set, for four. It's a pasta dish.
On close inspection, one can see the tongue-scalding heat rolling up off of the dish. Loren's eyes water.
This seems like a bad idea.
This seems like a trap.
This seems like something best avoided.
And yet, he's hungry...
And it smells delicious.
Grabbing a fork, he takes a seat and draws himself up. Perhaps if it were eaten quickly--
He's going to regret this.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
The pasta, too, is familiar -- and almost disappointing, since it comes after so many desserts this time! Matilda's tongue hungers for sweet or oily, not this extra-spicy, extra-savory wildness! ... But one doesn't get to choose the dishes in a situation like this.
Or one's fellow diners. Matilda continues to consider stabbing Loren in the thigh, but does not. Patience.
Matilda decides to play inventress -- at least a little bit -- with tonight's iteration of the great, dark bream. With Fetalhazred left to the birds, she has an opportunity --!
-- to protect herself. She reaches into her pack again, and starts alloying that intense spiciness with other, milder flavors. The cheese goes *right* in; a moment later, a small vial of something *else* does, too. It might not neutralize it, but at the very least...
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Bubble Lotion toward her party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
Alas, Celine cannot hear the explanation from Solanine - and this singular take of cheese becomes something that turns her face, and pallate, green. Barely able to swallow it, Celine is finding herself having more than a little trouble stomaching, literately, the rest of the dungeon. "Oh ... I don't think I've ever been tired out from adventure so much..." Celine remarks, rubbing her stomach through the purple cloth. It's really quite... quite... well it's suffering, that's what it is! "Sure thing~." Is Celine's response to Matilda. Oh, yes, getting between the two of them might be a mistake.
She'll probably still do it - or try. Though she doesn't have to walk far, turning to talk to Loren. Her mouth opens up, "S-" And Loren's already responding to her, hands on her own hips as she lets out a good natured chuckle. "If you say so~."
Yet of all the things to face in the end, not walking that much more, she ends up watching the legendary king of pasta sauces come together and literately catch on fire before her, Celine's eyes widen somewhat. "This has to be some kind of mistake... I'm not really quite a fire eater. Any hidden talents you two - oh, sorry, three~ - want to bring up?"
"My, you're really going to push yourself to eat that raw? You know, you really should ask your elders for some help now and again~." Celine remarks, grasping the staff that has so far gone unused - and twirling it about in the air. "Doesn't help that much for taste, but I've burned myself plenty - so how about we make sure that none of us lose our tastebuds, hmm~? How dos that sound?" The staff glows at the very top, and as surprising as it may seem, small, glowing bits of enery, begin to appear over the various tongues of those around - including Celine's, before vanishing.
"Alright, that should do it~!" Celine remarks, "Now time to dig in! You know, I bet this'll taste half normal with the heat dissipated a little!" She brings up a chair if there is, and then takes a nice amount of it straight into her mouth. The actual literal fire is probably not going to bother her quite as much if she didn't do this, but it might give her, and others, a fighting chance!
DG: Celine Jules has used her Tool Symbological Staff toward her party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The spice returns, and oddly, Sola missed it?
It was painful but also exciting, and the underlying flavors behind the burn were just exquisite..!
At times Solanine wishes this challenge was presented as a course with the last one, but Matilda to the rescue! Clever thinking!
Celine seems excited as ever, and Loren is already eating at top speed? if they thinks they can get through it, perhaps they can? Maybe a little bit of the group's enthusiasm is rubbing off?
Maybe.
Sola's mandragora root wouldn't help here at all, so Sola tosses it aside and the one-legged root hobbles off with relief.
She waits for the pasta to no longer be on fire, then... What else is there to do but eat?
Is her tongue glowing?
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ===========<* CHALLENGE - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' *>============ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The legendary King of Beasts, Ragu o' Ragula, looms before you-- No, wait, sorry, this is the legendary King of Pasta Sauces, Ragu alla Ragula... it is tough to culinarily point out where 'alla Ragula' comes from, exactly, but tales of the legendary King of Beasts' trillion degree of heat-- whoops a part of it just catches on fire --might point a little to the kind of deadly cultivars used in this piping red-hot sauce, composed of bhut jolokia, ghost peppers, Shevat reapers, and who knows what else lurks just underneath of this practically deadly culinary finale. At least the rigatoni noodles that come with it look nice. So the only question becomes... Have you told your Waitress... 'SAYONARA?' =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 6 *>========================== =============< Results - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' >============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 37 --(0)--> 37 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 22 --(0)--> 22 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matilda Whitehead 27 --(0)--> 27 Pass Bubble Lotion 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celine Jules 42 --(0)--> 42 Pass Symbological Staff 3 Brute Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Hesitate(1)|Overzealous(1)|Reckless(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Bream Chasers!
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Recipe of your Breams *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's over. It's finally... over. The Bream lies defeated before you, merely a fish-head and tail and spine as you finally carve through all layers of culinary oddities that have come your way. Through hard work, camaraderie, and the spirit of kinship you've gathered together and prevailed before evil itself. And your reward... A detailed, beginner-friendly recipe of any of the foods you encountered along the journey?! As well as tips on how to load it into a sealable canister, in the case that you want to create a food-related Tool out of it... Beware, heroes, that evil does not perpetuate itself within your heart... (NOTE: You may, optionally, choose to create a food-based Tool out of this Dig! Treat this as a buffing-type Tool that empowers your team with the rich calorie content within...?) =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
At the first bite, he already knows where this is going to go. Still, there's little he can do except grin and bear it.
Or maybe not so much grin as wince and grimace and bear it.
This is before a spell rolls out -- Symbology, a part of his mind speaks up -- across the lot of them, embuing him with the protection and will to carry on.
Or at least, granting his mouth the first part, and the rest of him the latter. That part's key.
Matilda meanwhile finds the edge she needs to help propel herself over this wall of metaphorical fire, mellowing out the heat of the dish to edible levels.
And as for Solanine and himself... well, all that's left is to soldier on. Until all that's left is the bottom of the bowl and some remaining traces of sauce.
So in the end it's just them, the empty plates, the incongruous table...
And not far behind them, the still and very bony form of the apparently defeated bream. Was it this that was testing them?
Loren glances back at it, slinging an arm over the back of his chair.
"...You know what, I don't even want to know anymore," he says, as with a puff of golden light a scrap of paper appears and drifts to the ground, the last thing to be dropped by the defeated demon-red fish.
He's honestly content to let dead fish lie, so to speak.
<Pose Tracker> Celine Jules has posed.
As Celine finishes chowing down on the pasta, Celine lets out a soft sigh, carefully licking the remnants of the sauce away - and then stopping, and finishing the licking towards Loren. You can't let one of those things go to waste, after all. Finishing, she smirks and looks over to Sola-no, she still can't see the Seraph. To Matilda and nods. "Oh! Not a bad idea, either!~. ... You really liked that cheese though, huh?" Celine asks, blinking. Well, at least someone did!
Wait.
"That ... stupid fish did all this?! What kind of magic is - oh~." Peeking closely, Celine glances down at the broken, beaten, eaten fish as peers closer. "Oh, but who knows what it could be~!" Celine scoops up the paper that Loren drops to the ground, "I bet it's something..." Peering, Celine blinks twice. "Oh, my~. I guess this is kind of a teasure, isn't it?" She cheerfully adds, "I know they say not everything that glitters is gold, but I haven't come across any jewels or treasures that smelled of fish before! Mmm, maybe it'll have some value to someone!"
Celine of course would carefully place in her ... pocket.
Lacking pockets, it still vanishes, placed somewhere. Your guess is just as good as any. "It was a pleasure to meet both of you...~ And I hope you two make up whatever's really bothering you two." Not that she, in particular, can really comment on anything. "Don't be a stranger though, hope to see you two again soon. And my spirit friend, feel free to haunt me anytime~." Celine cheerfully adds. "Well, if you'd spare the times when I'm in the bath, I'd really appreciate it~." Not that she's suggesting anything.
It just, you know, likely happened before.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
Sola takes Loren's lead and eats, and eats and eats and It Is Done..! They are done? Aren't they? She doesn't eat too often, but they've gotta be close to eating more than their body sized at this point? How long has the fish been there? ...has he lost weight?
Celine says her goodbyes to the the others and Solanine waves and bows goodbye to them as she does. The Seraph does notice a paper, even after Celine had taken one, was the fish ensuring that it bestowed a copy on each of its Worthy? ... those pepper dishes were good... and that cake she could bother to have around all the time, though she probably shouldn't let anyone know lest holiday legends begin of angels bearing special cakes..!
Sola decides to continue following Celine for now. As the Seraph learns from her, maybe Celine will gain resonance from having her around so often..!
But that day isn't today: for the bit about the bath... well... Sola gives an answer, but Celine can't hear it!