2018-10-13: The Fine Distinction Between Fear and Cowardice

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========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
================================<* CHALLENGE -  *>================================
|Type:             |Dungeon Ability:           |Challenge Rating:            | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------

=Dungeon Conditions: =========================================================
DG: A party led by Talise Gianfair is now entering Linaweyul, the First Ordeal.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Gephyrophobia *>==========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 At times in life, we are presented with seemingly insurmountable gaps with    
 only the most threadbare of resources to cross them. And sometimes, this      
 metaphor is taken to a much more literal level: vast white-yellow space       
 surrounds you as you are transported to this strange, floating golden         
 platform of an entryway. The path to completing this challenge lies in a      
 doorway on a second platform a good few hundred feet from your own -- with    
 only a very long, aging bridge to close the gap for you. Shining yellow       
 panels are cracked and crumbling, parts of the bridge are simply missing      
 entirely, and many more besides will break apart as you try to traverse it    
 -- segments will, in fact, just fall off just before you step on them, as if  
 deliberately trying to sabotage you and cast you to the white warmth of the   
 void below. but life isn't worth clinging to because it's easy. So go cross   
 your figurative-literal barebones bridge.                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

The mysterious entryway from the surface of Filgaia was unexpected. Talise can't even begin to comprehend how it's possible for time and space to warp in such a way for the group to return to Linaweyul, within the bounds of Uzda il-Jam. She is fairly sure that's on another world.

Or was it always on Filgaia? It hurts her head to think about it and she tries as hard as she can not to.

Especially not with a vast, empty space of white-yellow nothing floating around the group. They have stepped out onto a golden platform, but cannot step back. "I already don't like where this is going," Talise says, shifting in her polished armour and looking across the gap at the bridge ahead of them - aging, crumbling, and full of gaps, yellowed panels hanging from it in a show of dilapidation. And yet, at the other end, there is another platform - and a doorway, waiting for them.

Talise cringes a little. It's not exactly the same fear as falling off the fuggin' ropes. This is worse. She's a heavily-armoured six-foot-two duelist. She's not going to make her way across this easily. One misstep will send her plummeting into the abyss.

"Ooooookay," she breathex anxiously. Steeling herself, she steps gingerly forward.

The tile Talise brings her foot down on wobbles perilously. She pales, clutching the side of the bridge with one hand as she tries as hard as she can to get around those gaps. "Damn it, damn it," she whispers to herself, looking back to check on the others.

Am I just holding them back...?

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy is definitely not being held back, slowly, gingerly picking her way along herself, arms clinging tightly to Chauncey's plushy form. "I hate this," she says in a queasy voice.

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval's been here before. This does not mean it's comfortable to be here - the air surroudning the chamber that leads within this next strange realm of yellow crystal, oh yeah, definitely relaxing. But the idea, the knowledge that something awaits further in, that's always going to stick in one's mind even when a great calm would otherwise rest them and prepare them for the trials ahead.
     The water spirit is generally compelled to let himself sink to lower altitudes where opportunities arise, either out of sheer laziness or just that it's simply a facet of water itself.
     He doesn't look down. He might not even be looking much at all, since his eyes appear closed with that flushed, dumb look on his face.
     "Ahh... c'mon." He reaches out with one hand to the far bigger and stronger (and much more corporeal) Talise, and the other to Sephy. This is a reassuring gesture, sure, but there's almost nothing reassuring just looking at how his feet drag, skip, or otherwise make a parody of the idea of walking straight as he seems to stagger between cracking panels.
     He does want to see what's on the other end of all this, while the 'other end' is prepared to once more show him things he doesn't quite want to see or acknowledge - but that's later.
     ...or sooner.

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle does not have any answers as to where Uzda Il-jam might actually be. It's a little beyond her experience. She did volunteer to come, though, which speaks well for her courage, if nothing else.

"It could be worse," she says to Talise, by way of trying to sound encouraging. "There could be monsters, too." It probably isn't helping much. At least if they fall here, they're going to be teleported instead of splattered against the ground too far away to see.

Not that Tethelle especially wants to test that.

Tethelle doesn't rush across immediately, preferring to take a moment to focus herself, almost to meditate to control her discomfort. Only then does she start to move across, moving lightly as she draws on the power in her half-cape to make her a little lighter on her feet and ease the passage for the rest of the group with some helpful winds.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Feather Cape toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna tried to think about it. But the more and more she tried to wrap her head around how they could possibly be here in Uzda Il-jam again, the more her head started to hurt, too. She eventually decided it was probably better not to worry it and just roll with it.

She was pretty good at that.

Venturing into it this time takes them to a long, aging bridge. It looks like it's about to break at any minute. Layna frowns, massaging the back of her neck.

"Well, this is quite the challenge, aye? Careful now." Layna urges. She reaches into her coat and draws out a bottle, taking a swig before passing it along.

"Alright, I'm gonna try to just run it. I can probably carry one o' you." Layna says. And then she rolls her neck, recites an incantation, and then...books it. She moves quickly, with the wind at her step. She's hardly even touching the bridge as she moves...but that might not mean anything here. The bridge almost seemed to have a will of its own - there's no telling if it'll hold up.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"How does this even work?" Rosaline quietly asks as the group enters Linaweyul. 'This' being the way this place is accessible from Filgaia. Are they on Lunar right now? Hm. Perhaps it's best not to think about this too hard, at least not right now.

Her hair stands on end as she makes the mistake of looking down through the gaps in the precarious half-bridge, letting her see the abyss below. She momentarily forgets to breathe, but presses on.

As usual in this sort of situations, Rosaline is light-footed and steady in her balance. There is a close call with a collapsing tile, but she recovers quickly after a high-pitched yelp. It's a good start, at least.

Still, for the millionth time, she finds herself wishing she still had some of her Hellion abilities. The ability to float around would be very useful right now.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gephyrophobia.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Gephyrophobia *>==========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 At times in life, we are presented with seemingly insurmountable gaps with    
 only the most threadbare of resources to cross them. And sometimes, this      
 metaphor is taken to a much more literal level: vast white-yellow space       
 surrounds you as you are transported to this strange, floating golden         
 platform of an entryway. The path to completing this challenge lies in a      
 doorway on a second platform a good few hundred feet from your own -- with    
 only a very long, aging bridge to close the gap for you. Shining yellow       
 panels are cracked and crumbling, parts of the bridge are simply missing      
 entirely, and many more besides will break apart as you try to traverse it    
 -- segments will, in fact, just fall off just before you step on them, as if  
 deliberately trying to sabotage you and cast you to the white warmth of the   
 void below. but life isn't worth clinging to because it's easy. So go cross   
 your figurative-literal barebones bridge.                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
===================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 1 *>====================
===========================< Results - Gephyrophobia >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     0 --(23)--> 23                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      0 --(18)--> 18                 Pass
Quartermaster's Stash               2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 0 --(18)--> 18                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     0 --(23)--> 23                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    0 --(23)--> 23                 Fail
Feather Cape                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       0 --(23)--> 23                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair 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> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"Yeah... yeah. You're right," Talise answers Tethelle with a tight smile. When Lanval holds the hand out, Talise takes it and squeezes tightly for a moment before letting go and beginning to make her way across - still ginger, but a little more sure of herself.

Surefooted Layna manages to scoop Sephilia up into her arms. The pirate's adept footwork carries her and the girl to the end. Tethelle goes sailing from tile to tile, Lanval after her, and Rosaline bounding about with ease, Talise bringing up the rear. It seems like it's going to happen.

Until a couple of tiles fall into the rift just before Rosaline is about to land on them.

Another tile gives way. Talise yelps as the floor falls; she spirals downwards after Rosaline. Tethelle's jump carries her over one gap... and into another. And Lanval simply phases through the floor.

Layna and Sephilia, standing on the ledge, are left to watch their friends fall endlessly into the abyss and disappear. The sounds of their shouts fade out, then vanish into silence. All four of them are gone, and the pirate and the girl are left alone on the ledge. It is a long, cold, heavy silence.

Only when they push the door open to the next room will they find that Talise, Tethelle, Rosaline and Layna have landed there at equidistant points. "Ow," Talise groans.

DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
=============================================<* CHALLENGE - Somniphobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 Shining and ephemeral, full of white and gold emotes, the sheer, comforting   
 warmth of this place feels like a dream. It is so peaceful in this wide,      
 white room that one could realistically start to feel drowsy just entering    
 it... and that is exactly the problem. Because the moment you enter, a        
 massive, were-tiger-like Hellion drops down from above, snarling violence     
 and immediately charging you to attack. To get further, to overcome this      
 challenge and open the way further into Linaweyul, you must defeat this       
 Hellion -- but the longer you linger in this place, the more its unnatural    
 serenity and warmth saps more and more of your strength and makes you         
 increasingly tired. The urge to go to sleep even when facing a horrible       
 monster is increasingly high -- better hope you finish before you succumb to  
 a nice, debatably pleasant nap.                                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Fright, Vault======================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval lies face-down against the yellow crystal ground for a while as if to reflect on how that scenario could have achieved a finality of demise for the majority of them. That moment where he held Talise's hand might've been the last. One day, though...
     ...
     Tiredly, Lanval rolls on up and staggers towards the white shimmering barrier that brings them all into a realm of a softer, calmer, shinier colors - white and gold motes. It feels wonderful in here. No stress, no pain, no suffering. It's kind of dream-like, how hazy everyone's outlines and colors are.
     Less hazy, soft, and inviting is the sharp, solid, threatening visage of an orange-and-black striped, bulky Hellion - a tiger-man who snarls and rushes at them like it just had the best nap of its life and is in the mood for a meal (or just plain violence).
     This may shock them awake, but this 'shock' is fleeting. The motes of light stroke away at the lot of them, as if to ease them back to rest even as the Hellion looks ready to dig their claws deep into any one of them--
     Then there is a great splash of water, just cold enough to shock the system as the Seraph among them stands upright. He can't quite fight his own eyelids, but he's got enough pep in him to empty some of the contents of the Holy Bottle he still yet carries on his person to coax the Hellion to keep its distance... but this shining protective concoction starts to evaporate into the motes of gold and white among them.
     "'m not shleepin' on the job..." Lanval yawns out as he sits back down, still mumbling out the verses for a Seraphic Arte as he begins to drift off anew.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"I'm not sure I like this place very much," grumbles Talise as she rolls back to her feet with a clank.

She doesn't get much of a chance to recover before they find themselves in a new room - white, gold and coaxing her to somnolescence. But falling asleep isn't an option. The weretiger Hellion drops in, and Talise reacts instantly.

There is a loud *THOOM.* The scent of gunpowder scorches the nostrils. Talise fires her shotgun once, then pumps it firmly and fires another round, strafing as she empties every shell she's currently got in the thing thanks to its lack of a trigger disconnector. Brilliant muzzle flashes bloom around the gun's muzzle as she sprays buckshot at the Hellion.

It's the intensity of the smell that keeps her awake. Burning powder and hot steel. Talise breathes it in and it brings her mind to a place of battle. "It wants us to doze off," she snarls as she empties her last shell.

That scent still strong in her senses, she draws Rastaban from behind her, then musters herself with a loud roar. Hurtling forward, she throws herself squarely at the monstrous Hellion and swings her sword with a massive upward carve. She attempts to power the blade through the monster, wheeling to strike again, then shouting out one more time as if to try and stave off the urge to sleep.

Because she can't sleep. Not when they're in danger.

DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy immediately hugs all her friends. "I thought you were gone," she sobs. Then...well, it's time to embiggen a Chauncey so that he can do some huggings, too. Of a less friendly sort.

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

It's hard to be sure-footed when there's nothing to land on. Rosaline finds herself plummeting, flailing her arms to grab for the edge of the nearest still-solid tile. She almost manages to grasp one, but her hand slips. Maybe she could have used her claws if it weren't for her...

"STUPID! GLOVES!!" she screams in defiance at the law of gravity, before her scream turns wordless and prolonged.

A moment later, behind the door, a somber-looking Rosaline is busy healing the others who fell. And herself, of course. Just because she can land on her feet doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

Her mood improves, however, as they move on to the next area. Feeling relaxed isn't something she does very often, which she takes as a sign that something is terribly wrong.

"This isn't natural," she warns, her voice a bit quieter even than her usual. She knows a sleep spell when she feels one. It's useful for insomnia, though not so much for nightmares and restless sleeping.

And there's a Hellion. She hisses at it, reflexively, and stops in her tracks, letting the sturdier ones put themselves between it and herself. She fishes into her bag as she does, struggling to keep her eyes open, and...

"HYDRO STORM!" Lanval's splash of holy water, once it subsides, is replaced by another one in the form of healing rain. This may not be enough to completely dispel the enchantment either, but hopefully it should let them stave it off long enough to deal with the threat.

A nap in a sunbeam AFTER this would be very nice, though, Rosaline thinks.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Holy Water toward her party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna knows how this place works by now, so she isn't too frightened to see everyone no longer there...but it's still a little unnerving, and Sephilia's distress makes the situation a little harder for her.

"It'll be alright, lass. Jus' trust me..." Layna says, trying to reassure her. But before long they're through, and everyone's back...but unfortunately, they're right back where they started.

Nothing for it but to go through once more.

This time, they find themselves in a place that seems remarkably...peaceful. In fact, there's something relaxing and soothing about it. Something that makes the eyelids grow heavy and tries to lull one to sleep. Unfortunately, this is about the same time as they're being menaced by a giant were-tiger Hellion, who suffers no such drawbacks.

Fighting while fatigue slows them down...it isn't easy. Layna exhales and ignites her bracers.

"Heh...'m a pirate...I c'n...c'n fight in m'sleep, aye...?" Layna says, a drowsy slur to her voice. She lunges forward, unleashing a flurry of blows alternating wind and flame...but she won't be able to keep it up forever. Soon enough, she might drift off - and that would be a costly mistake.

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

"Guh," is Tethelle's response to being flat on the ground. She rolls over, then pushes herself up, clearly sore from her landing - the place might have protected her, but that doesn't mean she had a good time with falling.

Tethelle picks herself the rest of the way up and dusts herself off before Lanval hits the barrier, finding herself in a new room with a Hellion (so, probably Lunar?) and a soporific field. Tethelle, like Rosaline, can tell it's not natural, but her response to it is a little different:

Tethelle stomps on her own toe. Hard.

It hurts in exactly the way a stubbed, crunched toe does: that is, with more pain than actual damage, and it sure kicks her out of feeling like she wants to take a nap; not with her toe throbbing like that. Reaching for the pendant she wears, Tethelle grips it tightly, drawing on a fragment of prayer: "Equites!" It energizes her, and the feeling spreads, but Tethelle gets the most of it.

Then the battle is joined. Rosaline wants someone sturdier in front of her; she gets it, as Tethelle rushes forward, drawing her current two-handed sword (slightly curved, like a machete). She whips it through a complex pattern of slashes and sweeps to hold off the Hellion and attack at the same time, making the movements look almost dance-like. She still feels the spell sapping at her, but she can fight it off - for a few moments, at least. The harder part is fighting off the Hellion and preventing it from smacking her upside the head - she's pretty sure under these conditions she'd pass right out from that.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Icon of Equites toward her party's challenge, Somniphobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Meanwhilst, Sephy snores from Chauncey's back.

===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
=============================================<* CHALLENGE - Somniphobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 Shining and ephemeral, full of white and gold emotes, the sheer, comforting   
 warmth of this place feels like a dream. It is so peaceful in this wide,      
 white room that one could realistically start to feel drowsy just entering    
 it... and that is exactly the problem. Because the moment you enter, a        
 massive, were-tiger-like Hellion drops down from above, snarling violence     
 and immediately charging you to attack. To get further, to overcome this      
 challenge and open the way further into Linaweyul, you must defeat this       
 Hellion -- but the longer you linger in this place, the more its unnatural    
 serenity and warmth saps more and more of your strength and makes you         
 increasingly tired. The urge to go to sleep even when facing a horrible       
 monster is increasingly high -- better hope you finish before you succumb to  
 a nice, debatably pleasant nap.                                               
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Fright, Vault======================================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 2 *>=======================================
===============================================< Results - Somniphobia >================================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     23 --(20)--> 43                Fail
Trench Sweeper Shotgun              1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      18 --(15)--> 33                Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 18 --(20)--> 38                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     23 --(20)--> 43                Fail
Holy Water                          1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    23 --(20)--> 43                Fail
Icon of Equites                     1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       23 --(20)--> 43                Fail
Holy Bottle                         2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Liability
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             10 --(5)-
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 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 Lanval has posed.

    One by one, they attempt to fight off sleep by inviting sounds, scents, and sensations that accomplish the opposite of calming down. Introducing pain by stubbing toes, taking in the smell of gunpowder, or just hauling off and letting a trusted friend do it... holy water drizzles throughout the soporific arena, and one by one, the Hellion weretiger simply keeps swinging along, undisturbed or uncaring of these attempts to stay awake. They can't fight past the urges, the need, to be at rest, and it seems to be faster, and ever stronger, for every attempt to deny this.
     Layna, who stays awake the longest, becomes witness to a strange sight. The weretiger is a Hellion of fury, fixated upon their own strength relative of circumstances that have invited contradictions to define them so. Somewhere in her last volley of wind magic and flaming bracer punches, the arm is caught in one grasping hand where their every movenet before then was claw swipes, gnashing jaws...
     A sensation of fear may sweep in, as the weretiger brings a finger up to their maw as if to say 'shh,' and looms their hand over Layna's eyes to gently close them. Whatever happens next... there's a sharp feeling felt by all, but it doesn't leave lasting injury. Just the sensation, somehwere sensitive. Their necks, their chests, as though impacts from blows that might have been fatal.
     They're back in the golden crystal room, no closer to the other end, as the barrier ahead beckons them forward... once they're ready. (They can sneak in a nap if they want.)

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 2 *>=======================================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Anthrophobia *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Before you is a simple, if intricately-carved, stone wall. There is nothing   
 behind you but shining white, and nothing in front of you save that wall. A   
 wall that looks almost suspiciously cracked. By this point, you know what to  
 do with suspiciously cracked walls, right? You get your gear, get your        
 explosives, and you -- wait. Is that wall getting smaller? -- No. No. That    
 wall is... running away. Yes, the wall will swiftly start to back away with   
 the groan of stone and shifting fall of dust and debris the very second you   
 get ready to demolish it, like it was afraid of you. Meaning you're going to  
 have to chase after it like you were the villain in a horror movie to smash   
 it down if you want to proceed any further. Nothing worse than a genre-savvy  
 wall.                                                                         
                                                                               
 It turns out, humans were the REAL monsters all along...........              
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
[OOC] Tethelle Cirdian says, "..."
[OOC] Tethelle Cirdian says, "love it"
[OOC] Rosaline Calice hahahahahaha
[OOC] Talise Gianfair says, "ahahaha this goddamn card"
[OOC] Seraph Lanval says, "this one is amazing, yes."
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

As long as Tethelle remains focused, surely nothing can put her to sleep!

The problem is that one of the sideswipes does catch her across the side of the head, and that's it - even a momentary break in her focus is enough for the wave of lethargy to grab her and drag her down, causing her to stumble and fall. She doesn't wake up until they're back in the central room again, with a sharp pain in the side of her head and neck. Tethelle rolls her neck to try to work it out, but... she knows when she got beat, fair and square.

Though she doesn't nap, Tethelle does wait for everyone else to look awake. "Everyone ready? Good!" Only then does she touch the barrier, sending them to...

A dead end?

No, not a dead end; the forward wall is cracked. Tethelle steps forward to get a better look, and the wall edges backwards with a stony creak. Tethelle frowns, taking another step forward, and with another creak, the wall slides back a step, away from her.

This time it doesn't stop. "Hey, get back here!" Tethelle takes off, running down the corridor as if chasing the improbably mobile wall down. It doesn't occur to her that it might be afraid of her, because it is a wall, and walls are not known for their powers of thought and observation; instead she thinks it may be enchanted.

Something occurs to her partway down the hall. If they're moving, and the wall is moving so they can't get past it, surely it doesn't matter if they catch it or not? It's going to get to the end of the hall and stop and they can catch it then. There's only so far for it to run -

Oh, wait, trial. It doesn't have to make sense. She picks up the pace, putting her shoulder down as if attempting to tackle it - or crash into it, at least. "Catch that wall!" she commands, quite possibly the first time those words have ever been spoken.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"I really don't like this place," Sephy comments. "I feel like...that was all a dream, but...it hurt." She seems frightened now.

The fleeing wall doesn't seem to frighten the girl further, merely confuse her. "But...walls don't do that!" she protests, as Chauncey races along swinging his digging claws at the terrified wall.

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Digging Claws toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise doesn't exactly doze off. She gets kicked in the head and falls over.

When she does wake up, she's rubbing her head with one hand, wincing. "Whoever set this place up needs a stern talking-to," she grumbles, bunching her shoulders, then relaxing them. She turns to start after Tethelle.

As the wall looms ahead, Talise approaches it, balling her fists with purpose.

It doesn't stick around. The wall creeps away. Talise stares after it. 'The shit,' she mouths silently.

When the wall glides down the hall, Talise takes off after it, her armour creaking as she sprints along. "Damn thing, stand still!" she shouts as she throws herself forward with a burst of speed, attempting to drive her shoulder into the crack in the wall's face in a tackle that should hopefully plow her into it right alongside Tethelle.

Once again, Talise can't help but think she should've brought her power gloves. (But then, I'm starting to power through those, I find,) she realizes with a sudden frown, before throwing herself at the wall again.

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna isn't really sure what to make of that, but she knows she wakes up with an awful headache.

"Damn...coulda had that if I lasted just a bit longer..." Layna mutters. It might be bravado speaking. But either way, they're once more back where they started. Talise gets a nod of agreement.

"Once more, aye?" Layna says with a slight, tired laugh as Tethelle touches the barrier and brings them to their next trial.

"...Now this is an odd one. Did it malfunction? Can it do that?" Layna asks with a frown. Tethelle soon discovers the truth - the wall in front of them retreats as soon as they draw close.

Layna sighs and shakes her head, then sends Talise a shrug essentially equating to 'I have no idea'.

"So it's gonna be like this, aye? Fine, fine." She says, drawing her drill from her coat and affixing it to her hand. She recites an incantation and then rushes forward with blinding speed, aiming to catch up and drill into - and straight through - it faster than it can retreat.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Arm-Mounted Drill toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval takes a while to awaken. Maybe he just felt like napping even before he stepped in there, but he's forcefully roused awake by Tethelle touching the barrier to a different environment that is less calming. He sits up to take a look at the cracked wall. It's just a cracked wall... he's sure his more corporeal friends can probably deal with it--
     Then it backs off, every time Tethelle draws near. Then it breaks out in a run.
     Lanval laughs, because that is kind of a funny sight. It might not be that funny in the broadest of terms, for what they're all being subject to... but he can appreciate the absurdity of it. Lanval tries to chase along after it, in so much that his 'running' is more like 'twirling, tripping, tumbling forward without losing present momentum' and it's just as silly and weird to watch.
     "Heeeeeeeeyyyy....! Jusht wait a shec... hey, hey, heeeeeyyyy," he tries to call out to it. "Mmmph... ha ha ha! C'mooon." He sounds less frustrated and more amused. Why would he be amused? It's not like he ever really does the heavy lifting. What will he do if he catches up to it?
     "Take it eaaaaashy... hey... 'm a Water Sheraph," he slurrs, even hiccuping once. Because Seraphim don't really need to breathe, why he'd hiccup at all is just weird. "'m guesshin' ya don't wanna be broken... okaaaay. Betcha I can fit through yer crack." Despite the voluminous appearance of his manifestation, they've seen him fit through visually impossible things for him to fit through. "If ya let me... mmmmaybe there'sh a shwitch or shomethin' I can... I dunno, jusht get ya outta the way without gettin' all hurt."
     Lanval stops and strokes at his chin. "Mmm. I could jusht be talkin' to a wall, though... ha ha ha...!"

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
[OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Sorry, got distracted afk, posing now!"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

And soon, Rosaline is curled up and sleeping! Aww. It gets a bit less cute, however, when one realizes that she's clutching her midsection, which was stabbed by phantom pain a moment ago.

But soon she's awake, though not feeling so refreshed as she'd wish, and in front of a cracked wall. Without a word, she's already loading explosive rounds into Mother's Mercy, though before she can blast the thing to smithereens, it... escapes??

"Well. That's a fair reaction."

And she takes off, shotgun in hand. "But we can't go forward without blasting you! I'm sorry!" Rosaline has been making a clear effort to clamp down on her compulsive apologizing since she came back. But she really does feel sorry for that wall! A part of her feels a sort of kinship with it.

But on the other hand, it's a wall. Walls can't feel fear! This is silly. She blasts away, only hesitating when one of her friends seems to be in the way.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Mother's Mercy - Demolition Rounds toward her party's challenge, Anthrophobia.
=================================[ Dazil City ]=================================
 Name               Idle  Pose  %HP Exhaustion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Rosaline Calice      2s    5s  100  43                                          
 Seraph Lanval        9m    9m  100  43                                          
 Layna Manydays       10m  10m  100  33                                          
 Talise Gianfair      1s   12m  100  43                                          
 Sephilia Lampbright  15m  15m  100  38                                          
 Tethelle Cirdian     2m   16m  100  43                                          
 K.K.                 1h   >1h  36.116115                                          
==========================[ Sat Oct 13 20:41:35 2018 ]==========================
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 2 *>=======================================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Anthrophobia *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Before you is a simple, if intricately-carved, stone wall. There is nothing   
 behind you but shining white, and nothing in front of you save that wall. A   
 wall that looks almost suspiciously cracked. By this point, you know what to  
 do with suspiciously cracked walls, right? You get your gear, get your        
 explosives, and you -- wait. Is that wall getting smaller? -- No. No. That    
 wall is... running away. Yes, the wall will swiftly start to back away with   
 the groan of stone and shifting fall of dust and debris the very second you   
 get ready to demolish it, like it was afraid of you. Meaning you're going to  
 have to chase after it like you were the villain in a horror movie to smash   
 it down if you want to proceed any further. Nothing worse than a genre-savvy  
 wall.                                                                         
                                                                               
 It turns out, humans were the REAL monsters all along...........              
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
------------------------------------< TOOLS >-------------------------------------
|Player              |Tool                |Lvl|Ability|Effects               | 
|Talise Gianfair     |Force               |0  |Brute  |                      | 
|Layna Manydays      |Arm-Mounted Drill   |3  |Brute  |Fanfare               | 
|Sephilia Lampbright |Digging Claws       |3  |Brute  |Rally                 | 
|Rosaline Calice     |Mother's Mercy -    |2  |Brute  |Strengthen            | 
|                    |Demolition Rounds   |   |       |                      | 
|Tethelle Cirdian    |Force               |0  |Brute  |                      | 
|Seraph Lanval       |Force               |0  |Brute  |                      | 
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Anthrophobia *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Before you is a simple, if intricately-carved, stone wall. There is nothing   
 behind you but shining white, and nothing in front of you save that wall. A   
 wall that looks almost suspiciously cracked. By this point, you know what to  
 do with suspiciously cracked walls, right? You get your gear, get your        
 explosives, and you -- wait. Is that wall getting smaller? -- No. No. That    
 wall is... running away. Yes, the wall will swiftly start to back away with   
 the groan of stone and shifting fall of dust and debris the very second you   
 get ready to demolish it, like it was afraid of you. Meaning you're going to  
 have to chase after it like you were the villain in a horror movie to smash   
 it down if you want to proceed any further. Nothing worse than a genre-savvy  
 wall.                                                                         
                                                                               
 It turns out, humans were the REAL monsters all along...........              
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
==================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 3 *>===================
===========================< Results - Anthrophobia >===========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     43 --(15)--> 58                Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      33 --(15)--> 48                Pass
Arm-Mounted Drill                   3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 38 --(15)--> 53                Pass
Digging Claws                       3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     43 --(20)--> 63                Fail
Mother's Mercy - Demolition Rounds  2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    43 --(15)--> 58                Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       43 --(20)--> 63                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             15 --(5)--> 20                 Fail
Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Fright(1)|Overzealous(2)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 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> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle does indeed hit the wall.

It doesn't break, so she looks a little silly doing it. It just keeps trying to back up, away from her; it doesn't get away unscathed from impact, drill, explosive and and claws, but it sure makes a good attempt at it, and there's never any hole big enough for someone to fit through (except Lanval, who fits anywhere but is having a hell of a time catching the wall in the first place.

Eventually, it proves that this is the most difficult challenge of all... a timed challenge. Eventually, presumably, the group could knock it down - but not fast enough for the Trial, as when the wall retreats far enough, the entire floor turns into one of those teleporters, returning the group to the central room as they continue to try to chase it.

"Well, damn," is Tethelle's comment on that.

DG: Rosaline Calice has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Chronophobia *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This place you find yourself in is huge. Tall pillars of irregular and        
 inconsistent heights dot this yellow-crystalline landscape, like, bony        
 natural spires sprouting from the earth. Across the distance from you is a    
 massive door, with a simple lock. A lock that cannot be destroyed, a door     
 that cannot be forced open. So how do you get free?                           
                                                                               
 It might be around now that you notice the cucco. Yes, a simple, green        
 cucco, helpfully standing out amongst the swath of yellow. Around this        
 cuccos neck dangles a key. A simple key for a simple lock. To proceed,        
 you'll just have to catch that cucco and take the key from it. Simple.        
 Except that whenever it notices someone on the approach, the cucco turns      
 red, and time itself seems to slow like molasses for you, for -everything-,   
 except that cucco, who proceeds to waddle off at high speeds elsewhere,       
 leaving you to have to find it and try to steal its key once more.            
                                                                               
 Fun! Cuccos! Tiresome suffering! What more could anyone ask for??             
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Suffer=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

The group is yet again sent back, but proceeds nonetheless. Somewhere along the path, at a point they've already been (or have they, really? It's hard to tell around here), they find a simple locked door. Blasting it is an option, perhaps, but at least this time it doesn't seem they're incentivized to hurry.

"Bock, bock."

Rosaline's ears twitch. Her nostrils flare. She licks her lips.

"Cucco..." she whispers, turning her head with an edgy, cautious note to her voice. "Though I didn't know there were green ones..."

But there it is around its neck, glinting for all to see. Rosaline nods to the others. She takes a few steps back, tensing up, and pounces for the bird, arms extended. She still has her gloves on, of course, because she knows the terrible dangers of actually hurting one of these things.

But then, the cucco turns its head towards her and turns red. Rosaline hangs in mid-air, her flight slowed down considerably. Predatory focus turns to an expression of confusion and panic as it simply waddles away, and Rosaline tries to twist her body for a safer landing.

Time resumes and the bird turns green once more. Rosaline rolls to the ground and gets back up after a moment's confusion. "Well... Then I suppose we'll have to use a little strategy." She doesn't approach it again just yet, simply pacing in a vague circle around it or, well, prowling.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chronophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy pipes up excitedly. "Oh!" she says, as time resumes. "We'll have to trap it! We can all work together, an' Chauncey too, to corner it!"

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chronophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"So is the message of this place that I'm useless and can't do anything right?" Talise asks the ceiling, holding her arms out at her sides. "Because I'm willing to admit that if it'll end this crap."

When the coccos begin to bob into view, Talise just sighs and lowers herself to a seat on the floor. She crosses her legs, folds her hands in her lap and closes her eyes, scowling deeply. She doesn't pursue the cucco. She just sits.

It is not the silent protest it appears to be. It's calculated. Her ears perk a little, listening for the little tick-tick-tick of cucco feet against the flooring. After a few moments, she opens her eyes ever so slightly.

Time slows down. Talise doesn't move from where she's sitting. She simply proceeds to sit more slowly - which works out, since she wasn't going fast anyway.

When time resumes, Talise continues to sit. She waits and listens, doing her best to not move.

And should the Cucco toddle by her, perhaps assuming she's a motionless piece of scenery - only then will Talise attempt to reach out and grab it.

Look, Talise is never gonna go fast, but if she can cheat and go slow, she sure is gonna try.

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chronophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

This has been a little exhausting, Layna is sure everyone can agree about that. But they have to keep going. The next room sees them come face to face with what possibly might be the most dangerous creature in this realm, feared by all for it's nigh-indestructability and infamous attitude.

The noble cucco.

Layna stares at it, then sighs and reaches into her coat. She draws out another bottle and takes a swig, passing it around. She's sure that she's not the only one here who could probably use it.

"Right. Here's what I'm gonna do." Layna says. She doesn't speak her plan aloud, instead reciting an incantation. She then darts off at high speeds, using wind to accelerate herself.

The cucco's time-bubble didn't stop things completely - just slowed them down. She had to try and move fast enough that she could still have a chance of pilfering the key around its neck - or, at the very least, helping corner it into one of the others.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Chronophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

"Cuccos don't normally come green," Tethelle agrees with Rosaline. "So either this one is a freak, or whatever runs these challenges is doing something tricky."

Of course there's someone running these challenges. These kind of tests don't build themselves. (Or maybe they do, which would be more than a little spooky...)

Either way, Tethelle comes down on the 'tricky' side of things, and she's proven right when the cucco turns red and her initial movement is slowed to a crawl. She pushes harder, trying to go faster, but doesn't manage to accelerate all that much more than her initial speed... until the cucco turns green again, and Tethelle, now overbalanced, hits the ground face-first and skids.

Okay, that stung. Tethelle pushes herself up, trying a different plan, closer to Talise's than Layna's; she stays in a half-crouch and moves slowly, trying to sidle up more than chase down. She can function as an anchor, and get into position for one of the others to chase it toward her, and then spook it toward Talise. Her cloak makes the position a lot easier to hold, lightening her significantly and letting her creep almost silently from the helpful air.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Feather Cape toward her party's challenge, Chronophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval's laughter stops as they're teleported back, as an overbearing gloom starts to loom among them for all the troubles they seem to get into without success in these parts. The building frustrations, fears, and worries... he remembers trying to chase the thing and having a whole lot of fun doing it, maybe missing one of the underlying messages about the effort in the process.
     Like Talise, Lanval just wanders off and sits down somewhere along the strange crystal landscape.
     "Mmmm... I dunno 'bout that," he says as he gets out the fancy-looking kiseru-style pipe that wants to pretend it has any dignity and isn't just some sort of bubble blowing toy. Unless Seraph standards about that sort of thing are much different. "I've sheen quite a few generationsh of mortalsh... 'n not every day goesh by great."
     He takes a long drag off the bubble pipe, exhaling bubbles that flit about the air. He has a silly cat-like smile. "I mean... time'sh jusht gonna passh, good or bad..."
     One or more of these bubbles might flit into the cucco's path. What if it gets snapped up by one of them? Maybe it's one of Lanval's few clever plans for things that don't involve him sneaking out extra booze.
     "Make the besht of it while ya got it..."

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Chronophobia.
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Chronophobia *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This place you find yourself in is huge. Tall pillars of irregular and        
 inconsistent heights dot this yellow-crystalline landscape, like, bony        
 natural spires sprouting from the earth. Across the distance from you is a    
 massive door, with a simple lock. A lock that cannot be destroyed, a door     
 that cannot be forced open. So how do you get free?                           
                                                                               
 It might be around now that you notice the cucco. Yes, a simple, green        
 cucco, helpfully standing out amongst the swath of yellow. Around this        
 cuccos neck dangles a key. A simple key for a simple lock. To proceed,        
 you'll just have to catch that cucco and take the key from it. Simple.        
 Except that whenever it notices someone on the approach, the cucco turns      
 red, and time itself seems to slow like molasses for you, for -everything-,   
 except that cucco, who proceeds to waddle off at high speeds elsewhere,       
 leaving you to have to find it and try to steal its key once more.            
                                                                               
 Fun! Cuccos! Tiresome suffering! What more could anyone ask for??             
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Suffer=============================================
==================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 4 *>===================
===========================< Results - Chronophobia >===========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     58 --(18)--> 76                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      48 --(13)--> 61                Pass
Quartermaster's Stash               2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 53 --(18)--> 71                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     63 --(13)--> 76                Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    58 --(13)--> 71                Pass
Feather Cape                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       63 --(13)--> 76                Pass
Bubble Pipe                         3   Agility Effects: Rally                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             20 --(15)--> 35                Pass
Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Overzealous(1)|Suffer(1)|Tire(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"We're all struggling in this place," Rosaline tells Talise, softly. "Don't beat yourself up over it." Although a drink from Layna is welcome, too, in these trying cucco times.

Everyone, Chauncey included, gets into position. Layna moves first, attempting to power through the red bird's slowdown effect. She manages to get very close, surprisingly so, but her attempts to grasp for the bird miss by a single feather's length. Curses!

The good news is that her attempt spooks it in Tethelle's direction. Slowed down or not, she can give the bird a spook of her own, this time towards Talise. It slows down upon approaching her, indeed turning green again. Her strategy is sound, but the cucco is on a hair trigger. Before she can give it a big hug, it turns red once again and waddles away...

...towards Sephilia and Chauncey, who attempt to intercept with the power of teamwork, but both can't quite grasp it. It's just too dang fast, with its leisurely pace. All seems lost, no one else is in its way...

...except for Lanval's bubbles. The cucco is snapped up and floats in the air, beating its wings but bobbing harmlessly, even as the bubbles slow down to near immobility. It's a sitting duck (well, you know) as Rosaline pounces upon it once again, perhaps a bit redundantly, in slow motion. It's quite a sight, like a nature documentary.

"Gotcha!!" she declares, panting for breath as she removes the key from the furious bird's neck and lets it go, where no one can spook it anymore. With a sigh of relief, she places the key into the door...

And the surrounding barrier disappears. Onwards! They may be tired, but they aren't out yet.

DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Phobophobia *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 This hallway is wide and open; at the other end is a simple door, with no     
 look, nor need to bash it in to leave this area and progress further into     
 Linaweyul. No -- it's what's between you and the door that's the problem.     
 Floating gold crystal structures blot out this hall, choking it with their    
 presence and making traversing difficult on their own... to say nothing of    
 the sense of fear that emanates from them, filling anyone nearby them with a  
 sense of panicked phobia over nothing but the sensation of fear itself. The   
 crystals hum in perfect harmony, the effect of their phobic song more potent  
 the more there are, inflicting their physiological stress on anyone nearby.   
 To get through, you'll have to demolish these crystals... and try not to      
 succumb to the fear before then. No problem, right?                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Overzealous====================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise flashes Rosaline a tight smile as she pushes back to her feet. "If I were a country, beating myself up would be my national industry. But your point's well-taken." Taking Layna's flask, she takes a long, much-needed drag from it.

On the group goes. The trial fades away, melting into another corridor, wide, open and ending in a simple door.

Or rather, the corridor would be wide and open if not for the giant golden crystals cramming every inch of it. There are so many of them that it seems like there isn't even enough room for a single human - and it doesn't help that they're radiating a sense of raw panic. Panic over what? Panic itself.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think this place has an irrational-fear theme," Talise says in the most deadpan tone possible from where she has been sandwiched between a couple of fear crystals.

The swordswoman grabs ahold of one of the crystals. She hugs it as hard as she can. Her hands lock together on the opposite side of it. Arms tensing beneath her armour, she clenches her teeth, putting her muscles into it.

"Forced fear is fucking bullshit anyway!" Talise snarls - and she tightens the hug, shattering the crystal into fragments.

The debris falls from her arms as she moves on to the next crystal. It beams more fear into her consciousness. She whacks it anyway.

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phobophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy cries out "YEAH!" as she points, hanging over Chauncey's shoulder, as the big plush charges the crystal. She agrees with Talise!

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Digging Claws toward her party's challenge, Phobophobia.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Phobophobia *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 This hallway is wide and open; at the other end is a simple door, with no     
 look, nor need to bash it in to leave this area and progress further into     
 Linaweyul. No -- it's what's between you and the door that's the problem.     
 Floating gold crystal structures blot out this hall, choking it with their    
 presence and making traversing difficult on their own... to say nothing of    
 the sense of fear that emanates from them, filling anyone nearby them with a  
 sense of panicked phobia over nothing but the sensation of fear itself. The   
 crystals hum in perfect harmony, the effect of their phobic song more potent  
 the more there are, inflicting their physiological stress on anyone nearby.   
 To get through, you'll have to demolish these crystals... and try not to      
 succumb to the fear before then. No problem, right?                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Overzealous====================================
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

"Some of us country cousins don't even have a home country with a natural industry," Tethelle says, letting her unusual accent come out with a lot more strength than usual. "But I understand what you mean. All I can say is: this place appears designed to be challenging. It's no shame to be challenged by something like that."

The new room - no, it's a hallway - is very sparkly, with all the crystals and such. Tethelle steps into it and freezes up almost immediately, her thoughts chasing themselves around in circles; she reacts to it the same way she reacts to any fear, by focusing and meditating and trying to put it into a mental box to deal with later.

It takes longer than usual and it's hardly perfect. Tethelle is unsure why until Talise points it out: forced fear is bullshit. That makes Tethelle angry instead, and she lets that build until it overpowers the fear for the moment. Tethelle tugs up her gauntlets, because she isn't going to use her sword for this - she's going to smash through with armour instead of a weapon, and a wordless roar to let the emotions out.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Phobophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It was close, but on the bright side Layna managed to scare it toward her allies. Layna considers it a victory...and through the power of teamwork, it is a victory. Finally, they manage to bring down one of the barriers between them and...whatever's waiting for them at the end of all this.

But there are still more barriers to go. They continue forward, into a chamber with a simple door at the end blocked off by massive, golden crystals emanating a feeling of fear.

Layna grits her teeth, but manages to force a grin onto her face. The panic is intense...but she's not about to succumb to it now.

"It don't matter if you're afraid...the important thing is to push forward anyway, aye?" She says with a nod toward Talise. Layna forces her way forward, bringing out her drill again.

"I'm gonna break through anything that gets in my way, no matter how afraid I am, aye? That's who I am!" She moves in with her drill and tries to push through, physically and mentally.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Arm-Mounted Drill toward her party's challenge, Phobophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Irrational fear.
     "Linaewyul," Lanval remarks as he sits down somewhere in the hallway. "...Yep. It meansh... Cowardice." That's probably something he could've shared before any of them set foot back in here!! He continues to smoke (...bubble?) the pipe, as if to relax and calm himself from all of it.
     He distinctly remembers some of the truly frightening things he had to see when he was there... like the very idea that age would have caught up to just about all of them, that he couldn't bear to see the inevitability that lie ahead for all of them, chief among them. Carefree and silly as he often is, and really is, even an entity hundreds of years old like himself is not free of worry or fear.
     They take on the fear with anger about the fear that feeds through the very air. Is anger courage? He doesn't ask that aloud. He doesn't participate in the crystal smashing as readily, but he does try to stand up and turn to face them as they force their way forwards best they can.
     "...'m with Tethelle on that one..." Is he afraid to take a step forward to help them? Is he afraid to think of what could lie beyond at the end, remembering the great canine Hellion of a truly sad past? Are they emotionally ready to take on what lies ahead?
     Lanval rests a hand on one of the crystals, where it transmits primal fear, as if using that as his gauge rather than the act of smashing.

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Phobophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"'m not scared," Sephy quavers.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Talise puts words to what's happening to the group as they face the next challenge. "I d-d-don't like it!!" Rosaline concludes, her voice shaking. Like a lot of things her, this turns one of her familiar dials way up. It's a bit like the stress that eats away at one when they realize they might be too stressed out to perform properly.

Luckily, she has Mother's Mercy. "But fear like this is why we've got ARMs!" she declares, in the tone of a bold defiant statement, with a wording she really didn't think through at all. Correct or not*, she blasts away, roaring at those crystals for daring to make her feel that way, until there's nothing but dust left.

That's the plan, at least.

* It is.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Mother's Mercy - Demolition Rounds toward her party's challenge, Phobophobia.
========================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Phobophobia *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 This hallway is wide and open; at the other end is a simple door, with no     
 look, nor need to bash it in to leave this area and progress further into     
 Linaweyul. No -- it's what's between you and the door that's the problem.     
 Floating gold crystal structures blot out this hall, choking it with their    
 presence and making traversing difficult on their own... to say nothing of    
 the sense of fear that emanates from them, filling anyone nearby them with a  
 sense of panicked phobia over nothing but the sensation of fear itself. The   
 crystals hum in perfect harmony, the effect of their phobic song more potent  
 the more there are, inflicting their physiological stress on anyone nearby.   
 To get through, you'll have to demolish these crystals... and try not to      
 succumb to the fear before then. No problem, right?                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Overzealous====================================
===================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 5 *>====================
============================< Results - Phobophobia >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     76 --(23)--> 99                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      61 --(23)--> 84                Fail
Arm-Mounted Drill                   3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 71 --(18)--> 89                Pass
Digging Claws                       3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     76 --(23)--> 99                Fail
Mother's Mercy - Demolition Rounds  2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    71 --(23)--> 94                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       76 --(23)--> 99                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             35 --(10)--> 45                Fail
Conditions: Collapse|Overzealous(2)|Tire(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair 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> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"That explains a lot," Talise grouses with a glance at Lanval as she puts her fist through another crystal. She's pale, and her eyes keep darting, but in truth there's more anger there now that she gets what's going on. "I don't have a lot of respect for trials that have to cheat to scare me."

The group smashes crystals at a decent pace. Soon enough, a good chunk of the corridor is blanketed in twinkling golden debris. Chauncey, who is a big fluffy muffin who feels no emotion, gets farther than anyone, powering through the hallway most of the way to the door.

But Linaweyul is a dirty cheater, and the crystals keep beaming anxiety disorders at the various fleshbags in the hallway. They push through it, but it slows things down enough that some invisible timer eventually decides they've had enough.

The corridor fades out of view. This time, Talise does drop into a seat and scowl with protest wherever they end up next.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Aerophobia *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Have you ever wished you could fly under your own power? No? You already can  
 and asking that question is pointless and doesn't apply to you? Well. Shut    
 up. The point is, you're flying -now- whether you could or not before, and    
 you are flying the -moment- you are transported from Linaweyul to this        
 challenge. Immersed in clear skies and a bright sun above, you find yourself  
 soaring through the clouds; you can control your movements, though            
 experience of course counts for much (natural flyers need not apply,          
 spoilsports), and it would seem your exit point here is a large, shining      
 ring somewhere near the horizon. Simple enough... except that power to fly    
 you doesn't last forever, and must be periodically recharged with motes of    
 glowing gold sprinkled throughout the sky. Motes that grow increasingly less  
 frequent the further in you get. Better hope you know how to plan an          
 efficient flight chart, lest you end up dropping. Except for the natural      
 flyers. Because again. Spoilsports.                                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Fury only takes you so far.

Tethelle sags down before the hall is completely clear, and that's not how you complete the challenges, apparently. She's starting to run out of gas, and she knows it - whoever set up this place's challenges certainly put a lot of effort into keeping people from finishing it.

But they have to keep pressing on, and so she smacks the barrier with somewhat more force than is strictly necessary, sending the party to...

The sky?

Tethelle finds herself falling. No - she finds herself gliding, reflexively using her feathered half-cape to steer with. "What?!" She banks sharply to one side, then corrects, jerking back to a straight flight that sends her passing through one of the golden rings with a sparkle.

Tethelle has never been this high except once, in the Pleasing Garden. She didn't like it then, and liked it less once she fell from part of the Pleasing Garden and only survived because she knows someone who owns a grappling hook; she doesn't much like it now, either. She grips her cloak a little too tightly. "That way!" she calls, because she wants to get this challenge over and get her feet on good, solid ground. Or at least no higher than, like... twenty feet off it.

DG: Tethelle Cirdian has used her Tool Feather Cape toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"I'm okay it's just like swimming i'm okay it's just like swimming I'm okay it's just like swimming," Sephy repeats in a terrified voice, clinging tightly to Chauncey and trying to make it. "HELLLLLLP!"

DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

How's Talise supposed to stage a good sit-down protest when there's no ground, anyway?!

Well, first off, by falling. "FUCK THIS," she screams as she plummets away and vanishes.

A moment later, Talise comes sailing back upwards, scowling bitterly and squaring her jaw even as she ghosts through a cluster of shimmering golden motes. They dance around her, twinkling merrily and replenishing her flight powers.

She doesn't have much to say about it because she, too, is frankly exhausted - not so much physically, but emotionally. The height of this place is a little anxiety-inducing but she's too drained to feel it in more than the most basic and academic of way. She angles herself after Tethelle as best she can, looking down--

Not a good idea, she decides. She looks back up. "Let's hurry," she calls, her voice heavy with exhaustion, "Sephilia... try and fly through the sparkles. They should help."

She flies through a few more sparkles, then hustles towards wherever it is that Tethelle's going, all too eager to find somewhere she can plant her feet like she's used to - because all this flying feels too much like controlled falling.

DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Sephy will find, moments after she screams, that a bubble is moving to envelop her - just in time to watch Lanval drift by within a bubble of his own make as well, as he lies against the inside of one himself with closed eyes, a flush face, and a stupid cat-like smile.
     "It'sh okay." He says, somehow able to be heard through the inside of this bubble. It will be much, much less okay if the bubbles suddenly pop and drop them anyway, but Lanval doesn't seem as concerned on the outside. On the inside...
     He felt all of that fear from the broken crystals, just streaming out and reminding them that they all can still feel it, that they will never be completely free of it - no matter who or what they may be. If anything, Lanval taking another bubbly smoke is just him trying to calm down and relax, get his mind off of everything and the environs - and that he's suspended way way high in the air.
     Maybe that's why his eyes are closed most of the time, so he doesn't ever have to look down from high heights?

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna exhales. There's a lot of crystals to get through, and after coming this far she's pretty exhausted. She might be able to fight through her fear, but fighting through her tiredness is another thing entirely. Eventually, they can no longer progress and they're booted back to the main chamber, in front of the barrier once more.

"It'll be alright. Just keep at it, aye? Here, have some more o' this. It's the last bottle I've got so savor it, aye?" Layna says, drawing one last bottle from within her coat. This one is sweeter than the last two - more for comfort than actual effect.

Once everyone's had their share they step though, and find themselves in mid-air.

Floating.

In truth, Layna had thought about flying under her own power before. It was something she hadn't been able to do before, though she knew it was possible. And she had piggy-backed off of other's attempts, certainly.

So to find herself flying now...well, Layna sees it as an opportunity to experiment. She recites an incantation, surrounding herself with wind. She lets it keep her floating, and then, carefully, tries to urge herself toward one of the golden rings through the power of wind.

She's not sure if it'll work outside of this place, but it was something to practice at later.

DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"aaaaaAAAAAAH!!"

Rosaline's first reaction is to flail her feet as she suddenly finds no solid ground. She's panicking at first, but it subsides. This isn't her first time flying, even if she hasn't done it very often. She picks up what the others are saying about sparkles, as she gets a handle on how she moves.

"Then there's no time to waste," she says, picking up speed and sailing in surprisingly graceful arcs. A part of this is relaxing, in a way. She's very tired, but at least she isn't feeling as if she's in mortal danger.

Should she?

Ah, there she is, anxious again. Feeling good was nice while it lasted. At least she has something important to focus on, and focus she does, swooping towards power motes and sailing towards the goal in front of her.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aerophobia.
=======================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Aerophobia *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Have you ever wished you could fly under your own power? No? You already can  
 and asking that question is pointless and doesn't apply to you? Well. Shut    
 up. The point is, you're flying -now- whether you could or not before, and    
 you are flying the -moment- you are transported from Linaweyul to this        
 challenge. Immersed in clear skies and a bright sun above, you find yourself  
 soaring through the clouds; you can control your movements, though            
 experience of course counts for much (natural flyers need not apply,          
 spoilsports), and it would seem your exit point here is a large, shining      
 ring somewhere near the horizon. Simple enough... except that power to fly    
 you doesn't last forever, and must be periodically recharged with motes of    
 glowing gold sprinkled throughout the sky. Motes that grow increasingly less  
 frequent the further in you get. Better hope you know how to plan an          
 efficient flight chart, lest you end up dropping. Except for the natural      
 flyers. Because again. Spoilsports.                                           
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
==================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 6 *>===================
============================< Results - Aerophobia >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     99 --(15)--> 114               Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      84 --(0)--> 84                 Pass
Quartermaster's Stash               2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 89 --(15)--> 104               Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     99 --(0)--> 99                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    94 --(15)--> 109               Fail
Feather Cape                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       99 --(0)--> 99                 Pass
Bubble Pipe                         3   Agility Effects: Rally                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             45 --(20)--> 65                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Talise Gianfair is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Sephilia Lampbright is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Tethelle Cirdian is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party led by Talise Gianfair 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> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle Cirdian does indeed manage to swerve through several of the rings, but her air control is poor (mostly because she is, honestly, scared stiff - this time quite honestly instead of with enforced fear from before) and she reaches the final ring... but behind the main group!

She's not alone, leaving the party temporarily split up, with the three falling behind - Sephilia, Talise, and Tethelle herself - divided from the three that made it to the ring in good time, either by accident or on purpose.

Whoops!

DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
=============================================<* CHALLENGE - Nyctophobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 This area dank and dark, though not pitch black -- a long series of           
 corridors, each one blocked off by a sealed door that requires defeating the  
 Hellions assembled to progress further. Unfortunately, these Hellions seem    
 to be impervious to harm... at least, until you exposed them to literally     
 any form of light you can find, from shafts of it piercing through the        
 ceiling, to any you may generate on your own. Light that, sadly, does not     
 last long here when exposed to these Hellions until it is completely snuffed  
 out and unable to be used again; to defeat your enemies and open the way      
 forward, you're going to have to be conservative with whatever sources of     
 light you might have on hand... and eliminate your enemies very, very         
 quickly.                       
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Secret===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval, Layna, and Rosaline all reappear in the gold crystal path together... the other three... where are they? If they look behind, they can't see them. There's only one way forward, ahead into the barrier. Lanval stated what the name of the place means, and what is happening here is but another of the tests being played out. Half of them are missing. The passionate bard, the curious explorer, the stalwart swordswoman... gone, abruptly.
     "Mmm?" When Lanval notices, he's standing right back up from that leisurely float. "Talishe...? Tethelle...? Shephy... Chauncey?!" He's worried. They're nowhere in sight. "L-Layna... Roshaline... they're misshin'... wh-where'd they go? Did they fall..."
     He staggers into the barrier without noticing. The void of yellow crystal seems to give way into a pitch black space that only lightens just enough to render the phrase incorrect. It is at a luminosity that is only just enough, grudgingly, to make out the shapes of the space's architecture. A corridor, in darkness. Lanval remembers this space.
     Lanval falls onto his seat as Hellions phase into existence. Their ability to hide within the darkness are only betrayed by muted hues of color that give outlines of shapes. A naga, a treant, a falcon, a harpy. They converge from angles that seem fine-tuned to dance aroudn one's peripheral vision, to give rise to fear where one knows something bad is coming/happening but can't clearly see what...
     And there is a flash of aquamarine, but no accompanying words, as shining water spreads outward. It is a challenge as much as it is a promise, but the shining light disappears into the darkness. It affords them only a moment of space and time in which to act.
     Layna and Rosaline may see small shafts of light above. If they break them open, maybe they can see better - or render these creatures of darkness vulnerable - in which to fight back, as more waves of water soon fill the space to try and wash them away.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"I hope they're all right..." Rosaline looks back, hoping they'll simply reappear. "Maybe we've just been separated. Well, hopefully..." This place has so far been gentle enough with them despite the harshness of its challenges. Fingers crossed.

Then, darkness, though not quite. Rosaline's slit pupils expand to circles, and soon she has a much clearer picture of what's going on here. She reaches into her bag, in what is becoming a well-worn reflex, and--

"HYDRO STORM!" A light rain begins to drizzle, as it usually does. The important part here is 'light'! One doesn't normally notice it when Rosaline uses this spell in daylight, but the raindrops do cast a faint glow. It seems this should be an easy victory, but...

"Hydro st... No, it's no good, I can't cast it again."

She instead begins incanting another spell. Luckily for them, light is one of the aspects she works the best with as a sorceress, and so she has several cards up her sleeve. Motes of light, a fireball, the glow of healing, even the muzzle flash of an ARM (though this one causes a loud complaint-- it's not something one wants to see with dilated pupils! another double-edged beastman perk!)

But will it be enough? It would be so easy for one of them to sneak up on her and render all of this moot, with half of their team missing.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Holy Water toward her party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Meanwhile, offscreen...

"What do you mean there's no beef," Talise shouts at a kitchen full of kale, quinoa and spinach.

                               Mageirocophobia

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It's quite freeing, really, the feeling of flight. Layna will remember this feeling - even if the exact steps don't work, it'll at the very least serve as a catalyst for later.

But she proves so distracted by this that she doesn't realize that the others aren't with them anymore until they reappear in the main hall with only herself, Rosaline, and Lanval still present.

"...Well, damn. I'm sure they're alright, wherever they are. This place...it don't seem interested in killin' us, aye? It's testin' us." Layna replies, looking toward Lanval. "They might be outside...or they might be somewhere in the distance."

Layna points out to one of the distant masses of crystal.

"I bet we'll find 'em if we just keep goin', so let's do just that, aye?" Layna suggests, and that they do.

Unfortunately...the next room is dark. They certainly won't be able to see if their friends are here. But they don't need to see the Hellions to feel their presence.

Rosaline and Lanval both bring down shining water. It's the best they've got in this situation and Layna aims to take advantage of it. Her bracers ignite, but while the heat remains the light they emit begins to dwindle. Layna ignites them once more, and does so continuously as she unleashes a flurry of punches against their foes.

Unfortunately, having to do so continuously will be pretty draining...but they needed the light.

DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nyctophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"I have Mom's meat pies, still, Talise," Sephy says, munching one.

===========================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal *>============================================
=============================================<* CHALLENGE - Nyctophobia *>==============================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
 This area dank and dark, though not pitch black -- a long series of           
 corridors, each one blocked off by a sealed door that requires defeating the  
 Hellions assembled to progress further. Unfortunately, these Hellions seem    
 to be impervious to harm... at least, until you exposed them to literally     
 any form of light you can find, from shafts of it piercing through the        
 ceiling, to any you may generate on your own. Light that, sadly, does not     
 last long here when exposed to these Hellions until it is completely snuffed  
 out and unable to be used again; to defeat your enemies and open the way      
 forward, you're going to have to be conservative with whatever sources of     
 light you might have on hand... and eliminate your enemies very, very         
 quickly.                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Secret===========================================
======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 7 *>=======================================
===============================================< Results - Nyctophobia >================================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talise Gianfair                     114 --(X)--> X                 
                                                Effects:                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layna Manydays                      84 --(20)--> 104               Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephilia Lampbright                 104 --(X)--> X                 
                                                Effects:                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     99 --(20)--> 119               Fail
Holy Water                          1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tethelle Cirdian                    109 --(X)--> X                 
                                                Effects:                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       99 --(20)--> 119               Fail
Holy Bottle                         2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Liability
-------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Talise Gianfair             65 --(5)--> 70                 Fail
Condition
DG: Layna Manydays is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Rosaline Calice is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Seraph Lanval is too exhausted to continue!


<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.


 ======================================<* Linaweyul, the First Ordeal - Round 7 *>=======================================
 ===============<* CHALLENGE - The Gate Keeper ~ Facet of Fear *>================
 
 It is dark here. So dark one could scarcely see what is immediately in front of them. There is but one, guiding light
 here -- a shining rune of the roman numeral I, glowing upon a far away wall. Underneath it, there reads a single word:
 
                                      I
                                  LINAWEYUL
 
 The closer you get, the brighter that crest shines. As if begging to be touched. Demanding. And when you are close
 enough, you /feel/ words, rippling across every single one of your senses:
 
                        WOULDST THOU BREAK THE SEAL?
 
 Do you dare to reach?
 
 OOC: You have unlocked the Facet of Fear optional boss fight. This is intended to be a high-difficulty fight with non-
 standard mechanics that may take more than one session of RP to complete depending on how long it takes! If you would
 like to attempt it, please send in a +request to schedule it, and also keep in mind any major fears your character might
 have!

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    They try to keep the darkness at bay - but the very lights they would bring to bear are fleeting. In one stand-out circumstance, Layna once again has the coy circumstance of one of the demonic creatures set a hand gently against a flaming bracer, to have it go away with a hiss and a secondary one that might just be a 'shh.'
     A great heat builds within the room by one of the magics of the creatures present - the naga, maybe? - and the water all evaporates, taking the blessed lights with it. The three of them will soon find themselves back to back to back with one another, as four sets of glowing eyes bear down upon them.
     Then an exponentially higher level of them...
 
     ELSEWHERE
 
     The greens and vegetables are fearsome for those who have dipped their toes too deeply into the other end of being an omnivore. None can leave until the greens are eaten - all of them. Not even Sephilia can get out of it by sneaking some meat pies to the table.
 
     EVERYONE
 
     It turns to darkness. They no longer sit within the yellow crystal road. There's not even a sensation of there being anything underneath them, but something's keeping them level.
 
          COWARDICE IS NOT FEAR
     BUT ALLOWING THAT FEAR TO DETER US FROM OUR PATH
 
     These are words that imprint themselves beyond sight or sound, that all hear. They all have a moment to acquaint themselves with being alive, being together... expressing whatever fears or anxieties washed over them, if they're of the mind, before eyes are drawn to a singular guiding light. A vertical slit in the nothingness, shining a soft gold. As they draw close, they can read the word once again... LINAWEYUL. The closer they come, the brighter it shines.
     Another set of words appear, transcending all senses to simply be perfection in clarity and comprehension, with no ambiguity in what it asks:
 
     WOULDST THOU BREAK THE SEAL?

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"What a silly thing to ask," Sephy says. "If we made it this far it means we beat fear, right? Does that make us the sort of people who hesitate about breaking a seal?"

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

When Talise reappears with the rest of the group, she's eating the last few bites of a Philly cheesesteak. She made one each for Tethelle and Sephilia, too. "Kale smoothies, my gorgeous tan ass," she mutters wearily.

She touches down with a click of steely armoured heels, blinking in the darkness. Her gaze fixes towards the number on the door. "...So it was all to hide this from us," she murmurs, folding her arms across her chest. "Whatever's sealed behind this door, anyway. Now I kind of wonder what it is." Probably some sort of manifestation of cowardice, she assumes.

Come to think of it, I haven't heard from my inner voice in awhile, Talise suddenly realizes. Wonder when that happened.

Inhaling, Talise draws her sword again. "Hokay," she says crisply. "I vote we check it out."

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle looks like she needed that. She's exhausted. Mostly she's just trying to recover, because that flight did *not* agree with her.

But she's alert enough to look at the door. 'COWARDICE IS NOT FEAR', she reads, and agrees with it. And the rest of it. But...

"We should," Tethelle says, "but perhaps we should rest a moment first. I don't think it's going anywhere, is it? Not in the next ten minutes, at least."

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Once more, Layna finds that thing happening. It's...a little maddening, she won't lie. But soon enough they're booted back out...but not where she expected. It's a strange room, with a light and a single word - 'Linaweyul'. Cowardice, as Lanval explained earlier.

Wouldst thou break the seal?

"After how much this place's been sassin' me? I sure as hell am. I'll break every damn seal this place has." Layna says, a little more hot-headed than normal. She was tired before, but now she was roiling for a fight.

Of course, Tethelle provides a good point and she relaxes a bit, with a sigh.

"...Aye, you've got a good point, lass." She admits.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"Cowardice is not fear..." Rosaline repeats, as she floats. That's an interesting way to look at it. Maybe coming here was worth this lesson, at least.

But wait! Here are the others. "Everyone!" Rosaline clasps her hands together, tears beading in her eyes as she hears their voices. But she doesn't add anything, as words appear before them. Wouldst thou break the seal?

"...I don't know," Rosaline says, meekly. She hates being a voice of dissent. Her entire life has been spent having various people teaching her not to be one, except for very specific purposes. This is one of them. "Breaking a magical seal without knowing what's behind could be very dangerous... What if it's..." Valmar? She thinks back to Millenia, to the tower. There might be more. Not on Lunar, of course, but...

"...something very dangerous," she finishes, knowing she must not sound very convincing. She closes her eyes.

"...I'll think about it," she decides, as they begin agreeing to turn back, for now at least.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval is quiet, thinking of the scope of those words. He spent the last few years being afraid. Being afraid to really speak up about what happened with him, what it all might have meant. What happened when he finally did... to be quiet and afraid, it cost plenty enough. To defy it, that still cost plenty. He is banished from the Blue Star.
     It's easy enough to coast along and let the mortals do all the hard thinking. They don't seem to be afraid of what's coming up, by their seemingly unanimous decision to go forth and break the seal - Rosaline's thoughts notwithstanding.
     "Mmm." Lanval finally speaks, coming down from the emotional excitement of a harrowing near-death experience by terrible creatures of darkness. "'m... willin' when everyone'sh ready." He says, having a sip from his gourd, making that decision. It wouldn't be the first harrowing, world-changing decision he's had to make. Making new ones aren't easier for it - but he knows he can, and he's in the company of those who helped enable him to.
     That's good enough.