2018-10-16: Vale Of Twisting Metal
- Log: Vale Of Twisting Metal
- Cast: Riesenlied, Lydia Seren, Noeline, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Old Petra
- Date: October 16th 2018
- Summary: Eager to seek out the cause behind the mysterious mirage of Glint Valley, Riesenlied reaches out to a few friends. What they find is evidence of a certain person's work...
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering The Glint Mirage. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Risky Ride *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Approaching Glint Valley without the brilliant light of the mirage in your eyes makes it easier to get to, but night has fallen by the time you arrive. Starlight, however, makes it very clear what the source of the blinding light was: Glint Valley has become a metal jungle. Towering trees of all types stand tall in what should be a desolate, rock-walled basin, making a canopy of gleaming metal leaves that seems to cover the valley in an uneven dome. Starlight alone is enough to make the whole valley light up at night, set faintly aglow by the reflected luminescence. Occasionally, trees shake and sway without so much as a whisper of wind blowing through the valley. Getting down might have been easier if you'd arrived at the old town, dimly visible on the far side of the valley. As it stands, the drop is off a sheer cliff into the dark unknown... but it looks like vines, resembling nothing less than steel cables, have crept up the cliff and anchored to something below. Several of them are angled downward and taut, disappearing into the metallic foliage; maybe you could slide or swing right down? Just watch out for those trees! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has chosen to leave New Petra to explore the Glint Mirage for... well--
--for a pretty good reason, actually. And that's that due to Glint Valley being one of the badland boomtowns that quickly went bust after its vein of precious metals died up and left to rot in the frontier...
... it's actually basically right next door to Old Petra??
And several of the Azadians have been complaining about the glint from the valley's mirage. On their first scouting, the shine made it impossible for them to get approach, necessitating them to wait until night...
She's also doing this for a personal reason. After a certain talk with a certain white-armoured knight, she's ruminated upon their words carefully, and as thus... she wants to keep active, so that she may better herself. And what better to do that than to go Dig with friends?
When they approach, however, Glint Valley has become an enormous, hewn valley of twisting metal; there's a quiet pip from Rieseniled as she gazes with awe and confusion. "Why has this... happened? Metal... it's encroached everywhere... like--"
Ferroflora.
Could it be? She hesitates, a pang of fear in her heart. "Let's try to get closer and figure it out."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia has been here before, but she figures it might be worth a second look around. She looks at her hands periodically, twisting them from side to side, as if looking for something and that means that she isn't really looking up all that much.
"Dunno. I know it was Kalve's shit, but he seemed as surprised as anybody it went this far. Mariel says that we have to stop the growth somehow." He looks towards Riesenlied and then gives a shrug. "I wonder if it's just mother's awakening that set it all off, or if it's something else. Maybe if we keep looking we can find out for sure."
She takes another look down at her hands before nodding once and adding, "Just reminding myself I don't have portal guns anymore. Allllright...!" She punches her palm in her fist, winces, and then starts jogging along, trying to duck and avoid vines as she does so.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is also doing this for personal reasons, of a sort - though she's willingly pledged herself to Wayside and Riesenlied, she has to admit that she's been feeling a little bit stir-crazy as of late. She's not immune to worrying, and the spectre of Elru's reach has warred with the spectre of Riesenlied's health at the back of her mind. An opportunity to stretch her legs, and at the same time help Riese stay active, is rather welcome.
At least, that was the plan.
That plan wildly expands the first moment she sees the telltale glint of ferrofluid against the desert sands, bringing her to a standstill at the top of the hill they've crested. Her eyes widen as she starts to realize exactly what awaits them below, and she sucks in a slow breath. Somehow, the sight brings a worried lump to her throat, worse than Mother's anger ever might; her rage is a terribly obvious and unsubtle thing, whereas this is much more insidious in nature.
Eventually, she bites back whatever she nearly blurted out, and sucks in and out a steady breath instead. "... well, then. ... I assume there will be some kind of focus, or core, somewhere in there. Or at least, I certainly hope so," she adds with a minor wince. "Perhaps we can simply pour the Guardian's energy into it, but-- I would rather not do that without knowing a little more about the stuff."
She glances across, placing a hand on Riesenlied's arm; Strife nudges the Tainted a moment later from the other side, whistling an happy little offer of assistance. "Let's go," Noeline nods, and begins to pick her way down the hillside with a series of abseiling falls.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Just the other day, Avril had had the good fortune to cross paths with Elvis -- who Noeline herself had recommended she speak to regarding Mediums.
...But even he might not know much. Not without venturing into the Veruni Control Zone to the east, he had said, and it seemed it might cause issues if she were to come along with him.
And she can't, won't lend him the Medium, not unless she can keep an eye on it. Dean had given it to her. It feels wrong to simply relinquish it.
She holds that Medium in her hands even now, her gaze down at its surface.
That woman Leah had shown interest in it, too. She has a rare treasure in her hands, she's come to realize, and she really knows almost nothing about it.
"..."
Her gaze lifts, resting on Riesenlied for the moment. Even Elvis had noticed how her body was changing and growing weaker.
He had said it was a fortunate thing her mind was not so afflicted.
"You're familiar with this growth, are you not," she says quietly. "Could it be something connected with your people?"
She had come to support Riesenlied, but also simply because of the potent mystery the gleaming valley presents. Should they not investigate, especially with it so close to Old Petra?
It seems to have been a wise choice with the metallic growth spreading far and wide.
"...Lucadia. Please, with the power you can still grant us," she murmurs.
Before reaching out to snag a vine and, with the bluish white light of the Guardian's magic still shimmering around her--
Drops over the edge, still gripping the vine.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride. DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Risky Ride *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Approaching Glint Valley without the brilliant light of the mirage in your eyes makes it easier to get to, but night has fallen by the time you arrive. Starlight, however, makes it very clear what the source of the blinding light was: Glint Valley has become a metal jungle. Towering trees of all types stand tall in what should be a desolate, rock-walled basin, making a canopy of gleaming metal leaves that seems to cover the valley in an uneven dome. Starlight alone is enough to make the whole valley light up at night, set faintly aglow by the reflected luminescence. Occasionally, trees shake and sway without so much as a whisper of wind blowing through the valley. Getting down might have been easier if you'd arrived at the old town, dimly visible on the far side of the valley. As it stands, the drop is off a sheer cliff into the dark unknown... but it looks like vines, resembling nothing less than steel cables, have crept up the cliff and anchored to something below. Several of them are angled downward and taut, disappearing into the metallic foliage; maybe you could slide or swing right down? Just watch out for those trees! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 1 *>======================= ===========================< Results - Risky Ride >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I didn't know you came here already... you're really fast on the uptake, Lydie," Riesenlied encouragingly smiles to her daughter, though that smile is abruptly replaced by surprise--
"Kalve? Then it is ferroflora?" Riesenlied glances down. "The last time I saw it was in El Pazzo, when we fought the Black Ties. ... but you said he wasn't responsible for this? I wonder..."
Mother's awakening... was that what drove the ferroflora to grow?
She smiles at Noeline as she climbs onto Strife and holds her hand-- and they lower themselves down; Lydia's leaping down but comes a little close to some vines, necessitating that she changes her course.
Riesenlied hadn't heard of Elvis' discourse with Avril, but when she asks-- "... there is a scientist and doctor amongst our brethren. His name is Kalve, and the focal point of his research was to create an environment that would be suitable to our kin..."
She glances towards the metal jungle again, as Avril descends with the power of Lucadia.
"... I can't... help but think of what is happening to me. Is it a similar manner of Tainted that's causing it?"
She'll have to get closer to find out...
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Taste Test *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A path leading back towards one of the valley walls finds a shallow cave immediately off the trail. The cave itself is cut out of the cliffside, and full of... berry bushes? They sure look like the kind found in the Berry Cave, except in metallic shades instead of natural colors. They even have actual berries! Are they heal berries? Do you want to find out? Of course you do. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Treasure========================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... Kalve is... not exactly our ally," mutters Noeline as they begin to push forwards through the eerily silent forest, obviously on-edge at the unnaturally silent landscape around them. There's no judgement in it - she's simply reporting the fact for the sake of everyone with them. "But I would trust him much, much more than most of the Hyadeans left in the Photosphere. More than anything else, he usually prefers to ensure that things are done in a controlled and careful fashion."
She has to pause, staring up towards the metallic canopy above, and slowly raises her eyebrows. "Most of the time, at least."
"Still, whichever way you look at it, this barely makes any sense. If it were just a matter of coating everything I might understand, but this seems to have almost taken the life on itself. I would call it encouraging for the sake of his work if it wasn't a little frightful at the same time," she grumbles, something catching her eye from one side.
A cave seems as good a place to check for focal points as anywhere else, particularly when Noeline realizes that there's really only one way they're going to be able to check whether ferrofluid flowers have roots; she picks her way towards it, gingerly moving a stiff leaf out of the way only to find its movement range a lot more fluid than she would have ever expected.
The same combined sense of worry and awe comes across her again as she reaches forwards to pluck a berry off the bush; she turns it carefully over in her hands, furrowing her brow as she does her best to study it. "... a Heal Berry, but for Metal Demons?" she guesses, holding it up to the light. The next moment, she glances at Riesenlied-- and then looks momentarily guilty for making the connection so quickly. "... still... I'm not sure I would recommend trying one..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese probably should've pointed out to Noeline she met Kalve when he was skulking about the walls of their compound when she was stargazing, but it ended so amiably that she honestly forgot! "He has honour," Riesenlied expresses, "And with that honour comes standards. It is as Noeline says..."
She looks towards the cavern as they head along, and bites her lip for a moment as she gazes to the berries that Noeline points out. She swallows, and says--
"... it might be dangerous, but I want to try obtaining a few samples. To see if it might help some of the Tainted affected back home," Riesenlied speaks, before Noeline's glance kind of makes her realise she's missing the giant arrow pointing down towards herself.
"... oh."
The Dragon's Tear begins to sparkle softly, as the motes of light each out as if to sense danger...
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Taste Test.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"An environment that would be suitable for your kin... Then, we must investigate and see for ourselves. Perhaps it may be his work. Or, perhaps it may not be."
Transforming the land into something more becoming--
Her mind rests on that single stanza as she plummets through the metallic trees, Lucadia's magic slowing and buoying her fall.
--Has she heard of something like that before? It seems... so familiar.
Her feet tap against the cracked earth below and she relinquishes her grip on the vine.
"Has everyone made it down?" she asks, gazing up amidst the darkened limbs of the forest that surrounds them. Light shimmers on trunks and leaves, a faintly glittering woodland even in the night.
"I wonder how far down the roots must run," she comments, gazing up at the overhang of a branch above her as she wanders closer to where Noeline stands, "or if the roots may be runners. If so, this place may quickly spread..."
Pause.
"Did you find something, Noeline?"
A gloved hand reaches out to pluck a red-colored berry. Holding it gingerly between forefinger and thumb, Avril lifts it up before her as it to inspect it under the reflected starlight.
"It appears to be made of metal. These would not be safe for most of us to eat, I believe."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Taste Test.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Well I was invited." Lydia says. "But uhh..." She looks towards Noeline. "Well yeah, but he's helped me out before so I feel I owe him some benefit of the doubt, you know?" She frowns. "I get this is kinda a weird attitude to take for a shaman but what am I gonna do? Spit back what he did for me in his face?"
Maybe she should, as she thinks about it. It's hardly nice but then again neither is turning the planet away from being suitable for life for all its native inhabitants either now is it?
She looks back over to Riesenlied, thinking about what she's saying and then looks back down at her hand. What is she thinking about this time? She doesn't say.
She also doesn't comment on how strange it is for metal to take on a life for itself, even when it hasn't really done that before. She has complicated feelings and is okay with keeping them to herself right now.
"I'll try it." Lydia says. NOELINE SAID NOT TO TRY IT. She picks a berry off the bush herself and she glances towards the Dragon's Tear. "Huh."
Schrodinger materializes on Lydia's head.
"Do you want to try it?" Lydia asks. Schrodinger sniffs it and then turns their head away in disgust.
"Hm. Oh well." Lydia says, tossing it into her mouth. "Bottom's up!"
Chomp chomp chomp.
Swallow.
Lydia frowns deeply. How DOES it taste???
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Schrodinger the Cat toward her party's challenge, Taste Test. DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Taste Test.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Taste Test *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A path leading back towards one of the valley walls finds a shallow cave immediately off the trail. The cave itself is cut out of the cliffside, and full of... berry bushes? They sure look like the kind found in the Berry Cave, except in metallic shades instead of natural colors. They even have actual berries! Are they heal berries? Do you want to find out? Of course you do. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Treasure========================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 2 *>======================= ===========================< Results - Taste Test >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Schrodinger the Cat 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline tilts her head towards Riesenlied, a playful grin tugging at her lips as it slowly dawns on the Tainted leader that she could use these just as much as her people could. "That would be best, rather than just trying to pop one in your mouth right now. Hopefully, this stuff considers itself to be sufficiently grown - or perhaps it will be safe once removed from organic matter to feed off of. Either way, I think I can definitely say I'm much more interested in this particular discovery than anything else around here," she huffs.
Fortunately, Trouble and Strife seem to be able to handle the fruits well enough, dropping them at Noeline's urging into a metal canister to be examined later; whether the berries will last once removed from their source, Noeline doesn't know for sure, but it seems like a very prudent thing to try to find out. Avril - very sensibly - chooses not to try them at all, and frankly the spy can't blame her in even the slightest way. "I am honestly hoping that there aren't roots at all," Noeline has to admit to her with a rueful frown. "Otherwise, removing it is going to be nigh-impossible."
Lydia, onthe other hand... Noeline glances at her with a rather conflicted expression. "... it's perfectly understandable," she nods. "Spitting back and forth from side to side isn't going to help anyone, after all. We are both proof enough of tha--"
She cuts off because the girl has just tossed a berry down her throat, and Noeline's eyebrows raise high enough to nearly escape her head, holding her breath as... ... it turns out to be delicious. And, apparently, extremely compatible with Lydia's own physical composition. How thoughtful of Kalve!
DG: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ===================<* CHALLENGE - Aggressive Geocaching *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This section of the metal jungle appears to have been cut back by manmade tools, revealing curling shrubs low to the ground. Several perfectly-shaped bullets hang from one, while narrow-bladed knives jut from the next. Useful tools, parts, and even whole weapons in various states of 'half-grown' are scattered throughout the small orchard, not quite ready to harvest in any large number. Suddenly, the reason why this place looks surprisingly well-tended becomes clear: you aren't the only people here. Whether bandits or Geohounds, the current 'owners' of this copse have come to harvest it for more, and they aren't afraid to use some of their bounty to get rid of some drifters who have discovered their secret cache! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia frowns thoughtfully after munching on the berry. "Hmm not sure." SHE EATS ANOTHER ONE. "....oh! Yes, these are very good." Lydia looks towards Avril instead of the two obvious alternatives. "You want to try one?" She holds one out but she's probably being a goof rather than genuinely suggest that Avril try to eat metal. Nevertheless, it seems likely that Noeline and Riesenlied could probably handle chowing down on these berries at least.
"Never can be sure unless you try something right?" She grins widely. "But I do agree that at the very least, we can't let this grow any more. It'll probably overtake the desert and the larger it becomes the harder it'll be to stop since it seems pretty aggressive. 'Course...! I have no idea what uh...to do about it. That's why I came again. In case there's more clues to be dug out."
She gives Noeline a one armed hug to reassure her before moving on and--
--getting shot in the friggin' head! She falls over, with dizzied eyes as a bullet spins around in the center of her forehead before falling off. "Uwaahhhh..." She wails. "Whhhyyy...?"
A trio of bandits come out of hiding near a copse of...weapon bushes? Let's call them weapon bushes, one of them with bright green hair and a bayonet in his hands, another with a large trucker hat on and a magnum with his fly fully pulled up, and ninja with a naruto headband on his forehead.
"This belongs to the Kaskade Gang!" Ganus Kaskade shouts, gesturing with his bayonet. "Seems like we've got ourselves some trespassers. Why don't you mosey on out of here because I'm the infamous Janus Cascade (impersonator) Ganus Kaskade!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks alarmed for a moment, but sighs as it turns out to be delicious. Ever mom-like, she reaches forward and dabs a handkerchief on her mouth to wipe away any metal berry juice. ... could you say it's liquid metal at that point?
"Lydie said she was here before, right...?" Riesenlied offers to Avril, though she's not certain if Lydia can offer any more information about roots. She does nod to Noeline as she speaks, "Cetiri would be able to understand more..."
But she yelps as the bullet flies and strikes Lydia on the head, prompting a yelp and a look of anger as she whirls over towards the... weapon bushes? And bandits.
"T-The Kaskade Gang? That's just..." Riesenlied whispers, frowning very quietly. A pause, and she sighs as she drops next to Lydia to hold that handkerchief to where she's struck, frowning deeper as she concentrates...
... and floats gently, as she withdraws that zither-like instrument of hers. "This is no place to stay -- you'll be consumed by the ferroflora... so please, for your sakes as much as ours--"
As the melody begins to emanate throughout the valley, ever reverberating through the metallic awnings and basin...
"--please step down and leave."
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Bella Aeterna toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
As far as Avril can tell under the starlight... it's essentially a nearly-solid metal berry. It would be about as good an idea to chow down on this as her metalwork project back in Old Petra.
One pale eyebrow lifts when Lydia tosses one down the hatch. "Oh... are you able to eat those, Lydia?"
It would seem so.
"How do they-- oh, do they taste good?"
She sounds fascinated, but even when Lydia hands over another to her, well...
Avril pockets the berry with the other she'd had in hand. It seems she's going to take this one back with her, but certainly not to eat.
"I suppose it would also depend on whether they will grow like a Filgaian plant or not," Avril says, tilting her head to one side as she thinks it over.
Though further thoughts down that road are rudely interrupted by a bullet.
"!"
Her eyes narrow.
"Lydia! --You...!"
With a flash, Avril draws free her ARM, finger resting on the trigger. "You are not Janus Cascade," she states, before, at speed, lashing out with the hilt of the ARM and pulling the trigger.
Perhaps in deference to Riesenlied's desire to descalate, her goal is not the head of the man with the magnum, but his fine hat.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Beam Whip Mode toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching. DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Quietly, Noeline snorts to herself - it's in both relief and encouragement, allowing the one-armed hug and returning it in kind. She is not that secret about the fact she's pleased for Lydia's safety, but that's not all - if the berries really are a Hyadean replacement for Heal Berries, then Kalve's work might be a breakthrough for the Tainted, side effects on the land aside.
She's about to say something more when they're interrupted in a way that would be distintly terminal were it anyone else - and even Noeline has to stand there stunned for a moment, before a grimace of anger crosses her face. Before she even knows what she's doing she's blinked forwards, her massive sword appearing in her hands and not saying a word as she sweeps forward towards the bandits in a swirl of crimson skirts.
It's for the best that her sword is held flat-face forwards, the better to block any other incoming shots - it means that it's that much simpler to register Lydia's cry of still-being-alive and turn what would have been a sweeping and rather lethal strike into a battering sweep intended to knock the trio around instead. Well, 'around' or 'out' - she's not feeling terribly picky right at the moment.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ===================<* CHALLENGE - Aggressive Geocaching *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This section of the metal jungle appears to have been cut back by manmade tools, revealing curling shrubs low to the ground. Several perfectly-shaped bullets hang from one, while narrow-bladed knives jut from the next. Useful tools, parts, and even whole weapons in various states of 'half-grown' are scattered throughout the small orchard, not quite ready to harvest in any large number. Suddenly, the reason why this place looks surprisingly well-tended becomes clear: you aren't the only people here. Whether bandits or Geohounds, the current 'owners' of this copse have come to harvest it for more, and they aren't afraid to use some of their bounty to get rid of some drifters who have discovered their secret cache! =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 3 *>======================= =====================< Results - Aggressive Geocaching >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Bella Aeterna 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Efficient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 5 --(8)--> 13 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Beam Whip Mode 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia blushed like heck when Riese dabbed at her mouth because SUPER EMBARRASED. "I..it grew this much only after a few months right?"
But regardless then shooting happens and violence is beginning. Lydia is absolutely no help, lying on the ground there, but Avril BEAM WHIPS the trucker man's hat off in a swoosh of her ARM but it doesn't actually go flying off. It splits down the middle and then falls off across both sides of the man's head, revealing that Avril has also shorn away the middle portion of his head, leaving bare skin to show to the world.
The ninja man sees Noeline coming for him and he says, "Replacement Juts--OW!" That's not from Noeline, that's from the man's headband sliding down over his eyes and bonking his nose. As he's trying to lift it up, Noeline whallops him over onto his back.
Ganus Kaskade says, "Gomero! Nario!" in shock as he steps backwards in fear. "Oh no... my grandma warned me about forming a bandit improv troupe...!" He clenches his fist around his bayonet. "It means we're stuck with a bit part! Let's get outta here!"
The Kaskade gang flees in short order.
Lydia, rubbing at her forehead, mutters to herself. "I'm getting a friggin' helmet."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Giant's Compost *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The forest trembles, and a sound like clattering pots on a colossal scale echoes through it. Nearby, seen through a gaps in the trees, a gigantic shape lumbers through the forest, gently pushing aside metal-trunked trees as it retreats from your path. It doesn't seem to have noticed you. Unfortunately, your path isn't much of one anymore. The trail is choked with debris, spilling over from a gigantic heap built up against the treeline. At first glance it looks like they're metal weeds, but a closer inspection reveals they're actually much stranger than that: totally mundane objects are seemingly grown out of one another in a monochrome mess, stuck to vines and roots that shouldn't be there. A wheelbarrow made of abacuses falls next to a barrel full of enormous interlocking gun barrels, while a bushel of weapon-laden sword-belts, each fused into one single too-long object and then to one another, tumbles down with the rest of the metallic mass. Clearing such irregular debris is going to be a hassle. Doing it before whatever dropped it here comes back might just make it worth it! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The whole forest here is set alight by the laser beam. It might be fleetingly painful to even look in that direction.
And the beam itself vanishes just inches from the top of the man's head, the charge seemingly dispersed just in the nick of time.
(In reality, Avril chose just the right moment to release the trigger -- impressions count for a lot, don't they?)
It works in the end -- the band flees.
"Lydia, are you alright?" Avril asks as she tucks the hilt of the ARM back from whence it came. "Here, do you need a hand up?"
Fortunately after that, their path through the darkness unmolested as they make their way through the wind of trees.
Until, of course, they're unable to go any further. In the darkness, Avril peers at the objects, lit only by the reflected light of the moon and stars. She in fact stares for quite a long moment at a particular item in the pile.
"Oh... that's interesting. Look, this axe is made up of small unicorn statues," Avril says, awkwardly hefting the foresting tool to one side.
It is, indeed, seemingly pasted together from a multitude of tiny horned horses.
Everything here in their path is the same -- objects in repetition that form yet greater objects.
A truck's engine made of what turns out on inspection to be eyeglass frames.
A ladder, crafted from an interlocking twist of chains.
A simple drinking cup formed from a series of finger rings.
And they're all just a part of the massive heap left here blocking their path.
"Perhaps... I wonder if this might work?"
Taking a step back, Avril produces a particular button and presses it. The ground below rumbles--
But nothing appears... yet. The earth just continues to shake, as if something were coming up from a great depth.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"A helmet might indeed be a good investment..." Riesenlied has to admit of Lydia's statement, though she has to kind of wonder what kind of helmet would fit her.
She thinks of K.K. for a moment, who has a horned helmet.
Hmm...
But as she follows Avril, she gazes towards the giant stack of items in the pile, tilting her head. "W-why is there such a haphazard collection of items here, I wonder? It seems too... inspired by thought of human objects to be just a plant assemblage... but..."
As with many things, Riesenlied relies on music to solve her problems. She plays upon the green flute...
And cuccos descend from above.
A cucco wrests that unicorn axe and becomes a cucco warrior!
A cucco sits ontop of the engine and become a cucco trucker.
A cucco nestles inside the cup and becomes a cuccoopholder.
A cucco sits atop the ladder and becomes a cucco one-percenter!
"... c-cuccos, I know you're comfortable in there, but please help us move the belongings aside!"
Riesenlied is losing control over the cuccos...??
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
It's Noeline's turn this time to help both Lydia and Riesenlied up with a hand each; she hauls them up, letting out a relieved breath in a bad attempt to cover her worry. "Honestly..." she mutters towards everything and nothing all at once, grumbling softly under her breath as she shakes her head. "Just-- be careful. For all that I know you'll be alright, it still makes my heart lurch to see something like that happen right in front of me, you realize."
... even she has to fall silent at Avril's assistance, though, and the way in which it comes to a halt just at the right moment; she clears her throat, her eyebrows high at the extremely effective attempt at intimidation.
Rather than move to clear the debris, she instead moves to study it. While it's clearly a case of the ferrofluid having overtaken the rest of the landscape around them, the way that the items are bunched together is more interesting than anything else as far as the spy in concerned, and she lightly furrows her brow and carefully leans down to take a closer look.
"... I wonder if there is thought involved," she says after a long moment, and puffs out a breath. "Or if it is a mindless sort of sorting. The fact that things have been arranged together at least implies some sort of capability to identify matter. Really, what on Filgaia has Kalve created?" she grumbles again, folding her arms as she ever so carefully nudges part of the pile with a foot as if it might bite her.
Perhaps in a moment she'll actually begin to apply her strength, but for the time being she's apparently staying wary. Up above her, amongst the myriad cuccos now settling in to roost, one slightly spurious 'cucco' finds itself a particularly reflective surface to preen in, flapping a pair of paper wings that are thankfully too flimsy to accidentally brush its beak off.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I'll be okay." Lydia says. "But my head is ringing like a belltower." She takes Avril's and Noeline's hands up, giving Noeline a small nod before smiling at the mysterious lady. She'd feel bad for not knowing Avril as well as the others in that trio but to be fair, Avril doesn't know Avril as well as the others in that trio by all appearances so maybe she can forgive herself on this one. She does, in fact, look like she might be about to ask a question but a really weird obstacle is before them and Lydia's question dies on her lips as she gives it a long stare. "Ahhh...." Lydia says. "The abyss is that?"
Her gaze travels up towards the treeline, and then back down. "Is this how they're gathering materials? Junk like this? Explains the other bushes."
She thinks about what Mariel said, but looking at this it's hard to feel like she's very different from this forest. Regardless, Lydia sees this obstacle and tries to solve it as she does many things.
By throwing a rock at it.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Asteroid Ball toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost. DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Giant's Compost *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The forest trembles, and a sound like clattering pots on a colossal scale echoes through it. Nearby, seen through a gaps in the trees, a gigantic shape lumbers through the forest, gently pushing aside metal-trunked trees as it retreats from your path. It doesn't seem to have noticed you. Unfortunately, your path isn't much of one anymore. The trail is choked with debris, spilling over from a gigantic heap built up against the treeline. At first glance it looks like they're metal weeds, but a closer inspection reveals they're actually much stranger than that: totally mundane objects are seemingly grown out of one another in a monochrome mess, stuck to vines and roots that shouldn't be there. A wheelbarrow made of abacuses falls next to a barrel full of enormous interlocking gun barrels, while a bushel of weapon-laden sword-belts, each fused into one single too-long object and then to one another, tumbles down with the rest of the metallic mass. Clearing such irregular debris is going to be a hassle. Doing it before whatever dropped it here comes back might just make it worth it! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
========================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 4 *>======================== =======================< Results - The Giant's Compost >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 13 --(0)--> 13 Pass Asteroid Ball 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Remote Golem Override 4 Brute Effects: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Riesenlied 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I do not know. These things are fused quite well together, however... is it possible they might have been grown?" Even a skilled metalworker wouldn't have been able to merge these objects together so cleanly. It's almost organic -- save for the part where the output is all too clearly inorganic.
One by one the cuccos settle on a few of the choice objects. And one by one, they do indeed carry them off, but...
Well, there's simply the matter of the mountain. Perhaps if they were able to return and work continuously, these birds would be able to remove the objects, but so enchanted are they by their prizes that...
They simply don't immediately return.
Except for the one with the paper wings, that is. That one works tirelessly.
"Do you think it might be Kalve?" Avril asks, before taking another careful step backwards. The ground rumbles still, picking up in tempo--
And it emerges in an outward spray of metallic trash: a great serpentine Golem, eyes ablaze with some final inner light. Jaws unhinging with a creak, it dutifully swallow the remaining debris before rising to turn towards the group.
And it's here that Lydia's rock smacks it dead-on between the eyes and the whole colossus collapses, just to the side of the now-clear path.
"Oh, well done, Lydia," Avril says.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Caught In The Press *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It's all led here. The center of the valley contains a building: a low-roofed cylindrical structure made of stone carved from local rock, sealed with a metal door of alien construction that resembles a ship's bulkhead. The plants grow up and over it but not through it, ignoring whatever it may have inside in favor of draping it in steel-colored ivy and moss. Approaching it reveals how weak the ground here is in the worst way. Any weight makes it crumble to dust, opening a hole into a cavernous subterranean chamber just beneath the surface. A scattering of flickering artificial lights come on as soon as something falls in, revealing a lowered level big enough to house a Gear and a mass of mechanical arms curled up to the walls and ceiling clearly meant to use whatever devices they have attached to them on something of the same size. Unfortunately, you're seeing it through the grating in the floor. This hole leads down into a cramped space in the ceiling, with metallic floral growths creeping in through the plant-eaten roof. Massive collections of gearworks fill most of this space, primarily concentrated above the hanging arms over the lower chamber, and move across it as they hum to life... and start to roll towards you. Stop them and get out before you get crushed! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied accepts the hand from Noeline with a gentle smile; there's a look given her way as she watches the one spurious cucco work very hard, flap flap flap... aah, Trouble as a cucco is too cute, she might want to take it for herself and never give it back--
--she catches herself and clears her throat, though yelping loudly when the giant serpentine Golem erupts from underneath the ground and... get clocked by Lydia's rock. O-oh...
"Was that Golem... created from what transpired in this valley, or...?" Riesenlied tilts her head. Golems have a way of... appearing around Avril, that much she's certain of...
...
But eventually, they've come down to a cylindrical structure upon which the plants have grown over. It possesses the look of an alien spaceship -- not unlike the parts of the Fereshte that they've scuttled from the Astrid back in Wayside's depths, perhaps.
"What is this... chamber? I--"
There's another yelp as her misshapen feet give way as the ground gives beneath her; she flails onto the side and clings onto the nearest person, though stares towards the giant subterranean chamber underneath, with a mass of mechanical arms curled to the walls and ceilings.
"Kalve... just what were you researching here?"
Her question would have to wait, however, for the moment they enter, the collections of gearworks begin to roll in upon them and threaten to crush them through the cramped space available to them. "O-oh--"
Fortunately, there's still a cucco with paper wings to rely on...!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Flute of the Cucco Queen toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia decides to just leave her rock there rather than try to fetch it again. When Avril congratulates her, the camera pans over ot Lydia's face which is both shocked and kind of quivering in terror at what she ended up doing, faint tears in the corner of her eyes.
But upon realizing she's being talked to, Lydia suddenly jerks up, coughs into her fist and says, "Eh hehhh...well that's the power of a shaman!"
She gives the silver medium an accusatory look.
"O-onto the next challenge!"
She makes her way forward as the crew enter a new chamber. "Huh...what happened htis time aga----" She reaches out instinctively to help steady Riesenlied. She's starting to get really worried about these changes even if her instinct was to assume they'd be no big deal.
"I think he's trying to find a way to 'fix' Mother." Lydia says. "I guess she came back wrong or something. Or they're engaged in some real wishful thinkin'."
She summons another rock, slamming it forward in an attempt to jam the gears.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Asteroid Ball toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has evidently already deduced Riesenlied's deepest and darkest desires - and let's face it, that's probably why she's happy to let Trouble continue as it has been, casually cucco'ing away to its heart's desire. She's quick to dart in the way when the golem appears, doing her best to shower Riese from the spray of debris; her sword is in her hands in a blink, and then the next she realizes that it's not necessary, watching as the half-formed Golem breaks itself apart just as quickly as it arrived.
"... ... I have to wonder if it is trying to learn and grow on its own initiative, but..." she mutters to herself again, then shakes her head, discarding that idea quickly - it's not one that she particularly wants to dwell on all that much, if she's quite honest.
In the end, she settles for just following along. Though her reflexes are fast enough to spot the way the ground ominously shifts underneath them, they're not fast enough to get away in time - and it's not like she would choose to, given the option of splitting up in a place like this. Instead, she does her best to brace her fall, and Riesenlied's as well - though the irregular grating does mean her landing is a little off, one foot slipping to the side and nearly driving her to a knee with a pained yelp as she lands.
There aren't a lot of possible outcomes here. A Gear-sized hangar, evidently in use - ferrofluid all around them, and a massive Golem-like creature. Privately, she wonders: would Kalve try to build something that could go against Asgard? It doesn't exactly seem Kalve's style, far too unsubtle and blunt a thing. Lydia's input doesn't exactly make her feel all that much better, in the end - but eventually she just shakes her head. "... I could see it, if it were Kalve. Still--"
There's a dangerous clonk, and the walls and machinery around them begin to close in; Noeline swears under her breath, once again summoning her sword to her hands. There are no enemies around, certainly, but it's not the blade she's interested in so much as its bulk, slamming the sword down into the space between two panels of grating and bracing it in position against the incoming mesh of metal.
From above is a flurry of cucco-like noises and then, in an attempt to help further, Trouble simply divebombs the grating. When it impacts off of the metal it rises up just enough to try again, and again - aiming to bash a path straight through.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Slowly, Avril glances down at the device she holds in her hand, and shakes her head. "I do not know," is all that she can say, before carefully tucking the item away.
...Strange, when she thinks of it. It had been in the hands of that man who had been torturing Lydia -- had transformed Lydia -- but when she had taken it it had been as if she had found a long-lost belonging of hers.
Despite never having seen it a day before in her life.
"Have you found something-- oh, be careful--"
The earth begins to rumble again, but this time, it seems, not because of a slowly awakening Golem in its depths. They're handily scooped into the device, her own landing an awkward one as she splays against the inside surface, the heel of her shoe caught in the grating.
The walls begin to press in, and Avril...
Both hands touch against the surface closest to her. She takes a short small breath. And immediately thereafter, lets loose a burst of frigid force deep into the cracks and crevices of the thing, pushing in and expanding wherever the spreading frost can find even a glimmer of an opening.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Caught In The Press *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It's all led here. The center of the valley contains a building: a low-roofed cylindrical structure made of stone carved from local rock, sealed with a metal door of alien construction that resembles a ship's bulkhead. The plants grow up and over it but not through it, ignoring whatever it may have inside in favor of draping it in steel-colored ivy and moss. Approaching it reveals how weak the ground here is in the worst way. Any weight makes it crumble to dust, opening a hole into a cavernous subterranean chamber just beneath the surface. A scattering of flickering artificial lights come on as soon as something falls in, revealing a lowered level big enough to house a Gear and a mass of mechanical arms curled up to the walls and ceiling clearly meant to use whatever devices they have attached to them on something of the same size. Unfortunately, you're seeing it through the grating in the floor. This hole leads down into a cramped space in the ceiling, with metallic floral growths creeping in through the plant-eaten roof. Massive collections of gearworks fill most of this space, primarily concentrated above the hanging arms over the lower chamber, and move across it as they hum to life... and start to roll towards you. Stop them and get out before you get crushed! =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 5 *>======================= ======================< Results - Caught In The Press >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Flute of the Cucco Queen 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 13 --(0)--> 13 Pass Asteroid Ball 3 Brute Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored The Glint Mirage!
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ =================<* CHALLENGE - The Garden And Its Keeper *>================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The machinery is stopped. The underground facility goes still. The sense of danger gradually lessens, until all you are left with is the quiet and calm. After that... well, there's not much left to do but search the place! One of the functional consoles in the lower level offers up some information about what was going on here. Something called 'ferroflora' was being tested for its ability to take root in Filgaian soil, with the author of the log entry noting the reduced Guardian presence potentially related to its ability to spread. Further, the plantlife only barely qualifies as such: it's more like an ARM that mimics the qualities of plants, intended to 'recreate the beauty of lost Hyades.' Another file identifies the presence of a massive mechanical entity housed in this location. One of its functions is to manage the spread of the ferroflora... though, obviously, it's absent and active. No other detailed information is listed, but there's an equipment error message at the bottom of the screen: Model: GIGAS UNIT Serial Number: GIGAS-ZM-1 Designation: Zomok Status: Unknown // No Network Connectivity A lift leads up to the building above. The inside is a mass of metallic vines and roots, having overtaken a circular workspace completely. They have torn apart and consumed anything metallic in the room, which is most of it, leaving bare stone and dust. Several clear specimen containers holding fist-sized spheres marked 'ferroflora generis' are left intact; the rest are broken open and empty. The door to the exterior can be opened from the inside, but the others in here are impassable. It looks like it's time to go. (OOC Note: There are enough seeds for everyone to take one if they desire. Seeds may be planted in metal-rich places to create small garden plots of harmless, aesthetically-pleasing ferroflora, but do not produce further seeds. Please feel free to ask Kalve if you have any questions!) =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out a hard and bated gasp as she tries to shove her way to one side of the plants -- but quickly finds that they sprawl around her and threaten to tangle her, necessitating her retreat.
Lydia's giant rock is much more effective, as it crashes an slams against the gears and just stymies them directly; at the same time, Trouble bursts through the grating and gives the encroaching gearworks somewhere to go that isn't at them, and Avril's frigid blast is at least sufficient for them to get enough time to tumble on down and through towards the lower floor.
"... haah..." Riesenlied sounds very relieved, as she spends some time on her knees and relieved nothing terrible happened.
"... that's true, though. He... told as much to me as well, regarding Mother," she expresses to Lydia. ... now Siegfried and Kalve were having doubts about Mother after she has awakened... the same misgivings she felt when she heard her voice, a year ago.
Not far away, a console explains what Riese and Noeline both probably already know: of ferroflora, and its role in taking root in Filgaian soil to create something sustainable for Hyadeans. However...
"Reduced Guardian presence... so it was like you said, Lydie -- Mother's awakening caused it to take root due to the Ley becoming dimmer and dimmer..." Riesenlied murmurs quietly. A pause. "Ah, what's this...?"
Another file identifies the presence of a mechanical entity:
Model: GIGAS UNIT
Serial Number: GIGAS-ZM-1
Designation: Zomok
Status: Unknown ' No Network Connectivity
"... 'Zomok'? Gigas? I don't really understand any of this... I've heard of no such creature back at the Photosphere myself... but I was only in charge of the Dragons," Riesenlied muses to herself.
Atop that, though, there are several containers containing spheres marked 'ferroflora generis'...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Even Noeline has to take a moment to catch her breath after their fall; thankfully, she's able to just about catch Riesenlied despite the suddenness of their descent, and does try to reach for Avril or Lydia, but ends up a bit too slow to help either of them.
After a while, she carefully picks herself up, grimacing to herself as she stands up straight and begins to look around them, catching the rough meaning of the back and forth between Riese and Lydia. "... ... if only anyone had entertained the thought that that might be the case earlier," she grumbles rather uncharitably - and it seems like she knows it, given the way she picks at her hair immediately afterwards, as if regretting the outburst.
Shaking her head, she begins to stalk around the place. While the console does confirm a lot they already know, it also confirms that - sure enough - Kalve has brought a Gear-sized unit with him to this ferrofluid oasis in the middle of the desert. Even if it's intended to look after the place, she still finds herself wondering about its size, and its capabilities - not to mention the fact that shutting down this growth might not just be so simple as pressing an off button, if there's remote management involved.
She's no gardener, but the canisters of seeds are of distinct interest - and carefully, she picks one of them up to carry in her hands. "... it would be best to bring one of these back along with the berries. While I wouldn't suggest putting them near the rest of the plants, it might be a valuable source of metal for the others," she comments back to the others, frowning uncertainly. It's a mixed feeling - she doesn't really feel comfortable using this stuff, but New Petra could use every bit of help it can get. "Perhaps it might also be of use in patching up the Fereshte, but-- well, I suppose it's probably too chaotic for that."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's enough to slow it, if not shatter the mechanism the way she would prefer.
But then, she had spent the last six or so months managing to channel her power carefully over forcefully. It makes sense that lessons once learned then stick: she still favors the careful touch.
"Are we all alright...?" Avril once again asks, once the shaking has stilled and once everyone has gotten back on their feet. At a glance it would seem so, but some injuries are more subtle than others. The Medium is already in her hands, ready to use should someone have taken a more perilous spill than desired.
Then in silence she approaches the console to similarly gaze at it.
"...He's been creating something. 'Gigas'... it sounds like the name of a large creature," she comments, glancing over at Riesenlied. "Might be be akin to a Golem or a Gear? Or could it be something else altogether?"
It's those lines about the reduced Guardian presence and the advantages for the manager of this site that give her cause to furrow her brow and frown. "So the world is already changing from the silencing of the Guardians. It has only been a month, and something like this is flourishing. I wonder what else--" She blinks, then, a scrap of news coming to mind.
"When... we returned," she says, starting slowly, "I had heard that the disease 'Zopt Syndrome' was spreading. Might there be a connection...? Perhaps with the Guardians absent, people are more prone to disease."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren says, "Yosh!" to prove that she's also an anime video game character. "This was much easier than last time. Last time I got eaten by a sandworm. That didn't happen this time. Life is good. Life is grand!"
Of course Avril fought so well, Alexander Castle just HAD to give Avril a hand. And then Lydia guesses because of all the ARM POWER involved in Avril finding it, she now has the power to summon giant disembodied limbs. It's kind of trippy how well it all fits together like that.
Nevertheless, Lydia makes her way out after Riesenlied and glances over to her. "They gotta figure out what they're gonna do about that soon, though, or it'll be too late. But if Mariel's right, fixing her won't save anything and--" She thinks about what Mariel told her about who and what she is. "--I believe that she's right and Filgaia can't last much longer than this. It was so weak already."
While Riesenlied is looking at that important plot info, Lydia takes one of the seeds carefully before looking over to Riesenlied and Noeline.
"Hey moms! Look at this!"
She presses the seed into her arm and it BLORFS into another Lydia arm and splatters to the ground uselessly.
"Oh man... doesn't get old." Last time she was here it freaked her out. Now it's something goofy to harass her parents with.
Nevertheless, she does check out the console after. "Well... it says ZM-1 there...so I think that means it's probably the first of its kind. It may be new. And...problematic."
She focuses on Riesenlied for a moment, then back to that console.
Maybe she does need to call on Rigdobrite's power more. And soon. Why is she holding back?
"A helmet..." Lydia murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Zopt Syndrome... I have not forgotten," Riesenlied sounds somber as she shares with Avril. "Matilda's mother... I wish to believe there is something we can do with the encroaching problems affecting Filgaia."
She nods to Noeline, though, and says, "I agree... metal has always been at a premium for the Tainted. Having a controlled substance that we can grow -- would alleviate a lot of our people's problems."
"A--a sandworm... goodness, you do get up to a lot of adventures," Riesenlied places a hand to her cheek, perhaps peculiar and concerned for her daughter. ... she remembers the sandworm back in Doomed to Obscurity. It was... something.
Riesenlied lowers her head. "... I believe in the path Kalve is taking. If he believes there is something he can do to ail Mother and her anger, and avoid a needless and bloody conflict... then I would be all for it."
She grips the Tear at her chest for a moment.
"... but it does not change what we must do, to prepare, nonetheless--"
She's surprised as Lydia pops a seed into her arm and she yelps in surprise, flailing in panic. "Y-you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
At least no cuccos nearby have popped a ferroflora generis into their mouth.
...... or have they?
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I'm sorry," Lydia extends a hand. "I shouldn't have scared you. Lets let bygones be bygones."
SHE IS EXTENDING THE SPARE ARM.