2018-12-03: The Most Splendidly Sinister Sphere Sojourners

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search
  • Log: The Most Splendidly Sinister Sphere Sojourners
  • Cast: Neriah Parringer, Erzebet Lefanu, Skylr Paer, Eryon Rast
  • Where: Photosphere - External Defenses
  • Date: December 3, 2018
  • Summary: Neriah, Erzebet, Skylr and Eryon brave the outer defenses of the Photosphere.

======================<* Photosphere - External Defenses *>=======================

The Photosphere is not of this world. From a distance, it looks like a massive orb -- the size of a large city -- smashed down against a local mountain, and cracked open. The orb is made of interlocked hexagons of some translucent golden substance, and within, powerful technology can be seen.

This place is not safe to approach. First, one without the proper mechanisms will encounter a shimmering barrier of light that repulses all but the strongest ARMs. Second, there are patrols of Metal Demons and their beasts, all keeping a close eye on the Photosphere.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygpjMbQeBas
DG: A party led by Neriah Parringer is now entering Photosphere - Alien Catacombs.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Running the Gauntlet *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The entrance to the Photosphere has been carved, rather than created. A       
 massive blast from the Dragonship Destiny's cannon has tore a hole through    
 the outer shell of the Photosphere. The wall has been carved open, leading    
 to the tunnels on the inside. However, crossing that ground is no easy        
 thing: a veritable swarm of Metal Demons is clashing with representatives of  
 Althena's Guard, the surviving guard members of New Arctica, and some         
 Drifters.                                                                     
                                                                               
 The result is a fierce, violent melee outside of the Photosphere. Blasts of   
 energy from Metal Beasts, shots from gunsmoke ARMs, and sorcerous fire and    
 lightning criss-cross that space. To get inside the Photosphere, one must     
 run through the crossfire.                                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

A few members of the Cult of Valmar have fought their way towards the Photosphere. A couple were injured; their fellows carried them through the field, through portals that winked in and out of existence. Most, though, have stayed.

And that's why the crossfire is suddenly interrupted by a screaming ray of ghostly white light. It carves through a Metal Beast, cleaving it violently in half.

"Honestly, this species," Neriah grunts, pushing her hood back and shaking her luxurious raven curls free. She's opened her robe to expose the somewhat immodestly-necklined red underdress beneath it, mostly for the sake of freedom of movement. While her ARM's tucked into her waistband, she's dealing with the crossfire by just blasting any Metal Beast that gets close to her.

The smoking hole in the side of the Photosphere is evident enough. Focusing past the deep-seated weariness that's followed her obliterating the Titan of Mother earlier, Neriah musters her defensive shell again. A globe of eldritch energy pulses around her; ARMs shots and beams break across it harmlessly as she begins to walk towards that opening at a steady, intent stride.

Then she looks back to check someting. "...Skylr," she calls out over the noise of combat. "Stick close, alright? I don't want you getting hurt."

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Running the Gauntlet.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"Situations like this," says ERZEBET MARA LEFANU, "always remind me of a quotation from -"

As she says this she reaches for her coat pocket for something. But something isn't there.

Erzebet has taken some grazing hits, although the fact that her ridiculous and impractical fashion choices make her seem bigger than she is - like a cat, or a moth, or a caterpillar - has kept them grazing. But it seems that one of them has hit something she needed. She lets out a theatrical gasp and says, "The book--! *CAN* the attacks of the Metal Demons overthrow the immortal ideology of -"

Erzebet pauses, considers.

"No," she says, "you can't kill a dream like that. You can just systematically reduce a population and establish yourself as a power." After this she does saunter over near Neriah while putting on some kind of earring, which takes some fussing. She cringes at the arisal of the defensive shell, but more because of what's coming inbound.

"You know, I've never been in a live battlefield before," Erzebet muses to Neriah, giving the others present a slightly sharklike smile. "It's kind of exciting, but I see why many people get a little worked up over it."

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Running the Gauntlet.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr's tone is pretty aggravated at this point when she flails a hand at Neriah. "I'm the healer, it's literally what my magic is fine-tuned for unlike Eryons', I can't do anything else with it really, I am actively like the one person anyone has to worry about the least here as far as physical health goes because using my own stuff on myself is like the most basic thing for me to do in this universe!"
 
      The short Guardswoman, however, is doing her best to dodge behind larger objects and/or people than she (or Eryon's hat), in order to keep herself moving through the variety of, well, everything that's near and around her. She does not look pleased.
 
      Then again... She generally isn't pleased with things at first. Perhaps this will change in good time.
 
      ... naaaah.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Running the Gauntlet.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

ERYON RAST has spent basically the entire trip up to the (newly installed) front door of the Photosphere riding on top of the Dragonship Destiny, cackling gleefully and playing havoc with the battlefield with massive swaths of earthworks just springing up at his terrible command. It's been pretty great, really.

Until it ground to a halt, anyway. Eryon, perched on the highest point that wasn't already occupied by White Knight Leo, Greatest Hero of Our Generation According To A Goddess On The Moon, missed the memo that they had intended to stop instead of turning sharply. They had some pretty good momentum going! As a result:

    "...aaaa..."
            "...aaaaaaaaa...
                        "...aaaaaAAAAAH-"

                                     *paff*

An Eryon-shaped hole appears in a nearby snowdrift. His tremendous hat drifts down after him, landing gently on top. A hand reaches up blindly, feeling around until it finds it. Fingers take hold of the brim, firmly.

Eryon shoots out of the snowdrift, zooming towards the hole in the wall just above ground level. He looks like he's falling sideways rather than really flying, but he's making some good time flinging himself away from the crossfire of deadly weapons and much cooler spells. A patch of ominous shadow follows him, a round spot that seems to be tugged along in his wake and not quite centered over him at any given time. It looks like it's trying to keep up with him and failing, which is honestly a good trick when it comes to things involving light.

He zooms right past the defensive screen. Eryon's cloak catches the edge of a drift of snow nearby and yanks it with him, turning it into an inadvertant and chilly sort of smoke-screen and a path towards the hole. He shouts as he zips past: "HiSkylrI'mcheckingoutthedungeonLOOKOUTBEHINDYOU-" and then moves out of range before he can warn her that, yes, Neriah is right there and a terrible danger.

It's probably for the best.

DG: Eryon Rast has used his Tool Gravity Cloak toward his party's challenge, Running the Gauntlet.
=======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Running the Gauntlet *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 The entrance to the Photosphere has been carved, rather than created. A       
 massive blast from the Dragonship Destiny's cannon has tore a hole through    
 the outer shell of the Photosphere. The wall has been carved open, leading    
 to the tunnels on the inside. However, crossing that ground is no easy        
 thing: a veritable swarm of Metal Demons is clashing with representatives of  
 Althena's Guard, the surviving guard members of New Arctica, and some         
 Drifters.                                                                     
                                                                               
 The result is a fierce, violent melee outside of the Photosphere. Blasts of   
 energy from Metal Beasts, shots from gunsmoke ARMs, and sorcerous fire and    
 lightning criss-cross that space. To get inside the Photosphere, one must     
 run through the crossfire.                                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure=============================================
==================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 1 *>===================
========================< Results - Running the Gauntlet >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    0 --(15)--> 15                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          0 --(15)--> 15                 Pass
Gravity Cloak                       2   Agility Effects: Resilient            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          0 --(25)--> 25                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      0 --(25)--> 25                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2)
Effects: Resilient(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer 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> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah does, at least, try to push her shield out to account for Skylr and Erzebet. "I've been on one before," she answers with a crooked smile of her own. "Last time I was the one everyone was shooting at."

Skylr flails, and Neriah looks back at her with a little sigh. "Yes, dear, but I'm a worrier."

And there's a lot to worry about. Metal Demons roar in and attempt to mob the group, no doubt remembering the fact that Neriah's been slaughtering them en masse for much of the morning, saying nothing of Mother's Titan. Eryon, blessedly, manages to avoid notice by virtue of falling off a snowdrift.

When he does manage to wrestle his way out and shout at the group, he manages to beat the rest of them to the opening while Neriah's busy soaking up metal rays and ARMs fire with her shield. The harbinger of doom blinks twice as the young man zips by. "...Skylr, is that your friend," she asks.

It takes them some time to get across and catch up with Eryon. By the time they do, there's a swath of Metal Demon bodies in their wake, and Neriah's sighing as she pulls herself up through the hole. "This would've been easier if I'd worn shallower heels,"* she admits, offering a hand up to Erzebet.



* She'll forget this lesson in five seconds because of course she will.

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Homing Lasers *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 When you enter this room, you find yourself in a ring-shaped room. A catwalk  
 moves around the edge of the room, while a pit fills the center, save for a   
 single sheer column. A blinking red gem is mounted into the column. The exit  
 from this room is on the other side.                                          
                                                                               
 When you enter, there is a pulse of light from the gem in the center.         
                                                                               
 Then, nozzles in wall swivel, and beams of light fire into the room. The      
 lasers burn when they touch, but to make matters worse, they reflect off the  
 wall. Beams of light ricochet across the room, making passing it very         
 dangerous. However, the red gem may pose a way to stop the beams -- and it    
 may offer a treasure.                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Erzebet takes the hand up because she did, in fact, eat the shit and fall into the snow, what little remains. As she wipes it off, her usual makeup is smeared and partially removed, making her look a lot less healthy than she typically does... if no less intense! "I don't understand," she says to Neriah, but her attention drifts back to Eryon.

"WELL," she says, before he moves along, into the Photosphere, and Erzebet puts a hand on her hip.

Eryon's high speed puts him in the skittering interface of defense lasers around the edges of a ringlike room, probably not meant originally for access. The red gem blinks, while shining rays of deadly, incinerating light scatter and sparkle around this room. This room of glory and splendor!

Deadly splendor!

Erzebet finally makes her way up, asking Skylr as she goes, "You're a healer, are you? Is it fun? Or is it more frustrating?" Towards Eryon, who fate has conspired to put in the lead, she shouts, "DO YOU SEE A WAY THROUGH?" even though she really did not need to raise her voice THAT loud.

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Homing Lasers.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah seems like she's about to say something, but finds herself cut off by something else. Namely, the fact that she wants to fix Erzebet's makeup. Her fingers twitch but she controls the urge and reminds herself why she's really here:

    1. Save Riese.
    2. Murder the fucking Hyadeans.
    3. My god has a bigger Part than your god.

When she looks forward, her next sentence dies on her lips as she watches the lasers in the room ahead blasting away. Neriah follows the beams with her eyes and focuses on that red gem, then scowls, scratching her cheek with one red nail. "Erzy, this is physics. I don't like physics. I'm more of a geology kind of world destroyer."

Sinking to one knee, Neriah scowls at the laser a moment, as if offended by its mere existence. Exploding it probably won't do a lot of good. Finally, she just sighs and begins to gather her shield up again.

"I wish I wasn't so tired," she sighs as she steps into the room. Lasers fire away; they pound against her shield, and she focuses intently on holding it even as her feet leave the ground. Floating away from the catwalk, she begins to float towards that column, trusting her magic to soak up the laser fire while she tries for the gem.

Neriah has forgotten about wishing for shallower heels. They wouldn't help with this anyway.

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Homing Lasers.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      "Everyone's a worrier when I'm concerned." Skylr mutters to herself. "Leo worries, Pearl worries, you worry, my momma worried, my papa worried, even the sheep worried. But I've survived this long and I'm not giving up yet."
 
      "... speaking of, I wonder where Leo and P-- hey, was that Eryon?" Skylr looks behind her.
 
      The rush of wind from Eryon suddenly zooming right the hell past her knocks her akimbo and sends the young shepherdess sprawling across the ground, rolling with the, so to say, punches. She lays there for a few seconds, only to stand and immediately get smacked by the fire from either a Metal Demon or an ARMs, she can't honestly tell the difference. Down she goes again, but this time with more surprise force, nose squashing against the...
 
      ... the... ground?
 
      "Okay." Sky finally says as she stands up, her nose bleeding. "Rude." A pause, and then there's LASERS? "Noooo! This is as bad as Azado and at least then it was drowning and not mass fire power!" Skylr practically wails as she bolts to catch up with Neriah and Erzebet. "I like healing, but boy does it spread your attention thin...! Unlike fighters who can focus on their enemy I kind of have to like - focus on everything?"

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Homing Lasers.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Yes! It is ERYON who is in the lead! This is probably for the best, considering his apparent ability to just skip all floor-based traps and hazards and set off everything else before anyone gets there.

'Best' may also just mean 'safest for everyone else'.

Eryon slows himself down with a wiggly hand motion before he hits the far wall at an unfortunate velocity. He ends up just above the catwalk on the far side of the ring, shedding snow in every direction as the gravity well he's apparently playing with suddenly shifts. He looks side to side, and then behind him. There's a door. "Ah! Aha! Ha ha ha!"

Eryon pulls his hat back on, once it's free of snow. The patch of inky darkness re-centers finally, cloaking him in UTMOST SHADOW. It leaves his eyes exposed, but it's pretty neat aside from that. "There's a door on this side," Eryon calls back, less unnecessarily loudly. "What's --?"

LASERS

Eryon drops to the floor abruptly. Lasers pass over his head. One cuts through his aura of darkness, putting a hole in it like it was a curtain that a bullet just got put through. It ricochets, coming back for his hat, and he hops to the side to narrowly evade the unfortunate destruction of an important part of his whole ensemble. "Woah! Watch out for the beams! They bounce!"

Neriah cheats with a shield and kinda meanders over. Eryon does not have time to give her a dirty look (though he's relieved Skylr is in the back row, at least) before he's assailed by another volley. He waves a free hand upwards, clutching a crook-ended rod with his other hand, and shoots into the air again with a distinct ripple from his cloak. He's going for that gem. Maybe if he can pry it free, it'll stop the lasers?

DG: Eryon Rast has used his Tool Gravity Cloak toward his party's challenge, Homing Lasers.
======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Homing Lasers *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 When you enter this room, you find yourself in a ring-shaped room. A catwalk  
 moves around the edge of the room, while a pit fills the center, save for a   
 single sheer column. A blinking red gem is mounted into the column. The exit  
 from this room is on the other side.                                          
                                                                               
 When you enter, there is a pulse of light from the gem in the center.         
                                                                               
 Then, nozzles in wall swivel, and beams of light fire into the room. The      
 lasers burn when they touch, but to make matters worse, they reflect off the  
 wall. Beams of light ricochet across the room, making passing it very         
 dangerous. However, the red gem may pose a way to stop the beams -- and it    
 may offer a treasure.                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Treasure=========================================
=================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 2 *>==================
==========================< Results - Homing Lasers >===========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    15 --(25)--> 40                Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          15 --(35)--> 50                Fail
Gravity Cloak                       2   Agility Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          25 --(35)--> 60                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      25 --(35)--> 60                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            10 --(10)--> 20                Fail
Conditions: Injure(1)|Slow(1)|Suffer(1)|Treasure(1)
Effects: Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Skylr Paer has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>======================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Cut a Path and Rally *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 When you enter this room, you hear some murmuring through an air vent:        
                                                                               
 "Yo, I think we got enough berries to help them rest up."                     
 "Yeah, yeah... keep it down, Gallows."                                        
 "Gentleman. This is no time to argue. Hopefully Virginia catches up soon..."  
                                                                               
 Gallows Carradine, Jet Enduro, and Clive Winslet appear to be on the other    
 side of that wall -- and with the promise of refreshment for the troubles     
 and tribulations to come. While the door to your left may look tempting, the  
 door that does not yet exist is the true way.                                 
                                                                               
 Time to do something about that.                                              
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Streeeeak pewpewpewpewpewpewpew pew pew pew

The pewpews get a little more spread out as the beams elongate, and Erzebet says, "Oh, how pretty!" as she answers Skylr: "Do you think so? I would have thought it would be easier since you don't have to worry so much about enemy fire. Your team will care for you, right?"

She grins a little. Does she know the dark truth?

Back to Neriah, whom she circles round to give a brief shoulder rub, she says, "It's alright, it's alright~ We just have to press on. You know, the points of tension like this are kind of the legends of history. And yet here we are! Isn't it exciting?"

Her coat catches fire as she crosses the Laser Death Zone.

As she beats it out against a wall she says, sourly, "This is less exciting." To Eryon she says, "Have we met? I don't think we have, but I appreciate your attitude, AND your cloak. Look, now that mine's been half on fire, they match!"

<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr answers Erzebet fairly darkly: "Anyone that knows who the healer is is going to jump them. Trust me... I know that truth."
 
      More lasers! They spread out! Skylr attempts t-- oh. No. Nevermind. She's on the floor again, nose squashed again. The blood flows more freely from the other nostril now truly. She carefully picks herself back off of the floor again, at least two minutes after the last laser goes 'pewpew'. She does not look pleased.
 
      Somewhere, a sheep is displeased as well.
 
      Leaning against the wall below the vent, Skylr attempts to reorient herself and her supplies, although she freezies when she hears the mention of berries. Her eyebrows raise slightly, and she reaches out, gesturing at all three of the others, her fingers to her lips.
 
      "Through the wall." She says, as quietly as possible. "Trust me." She rears back, and then slams one booted foot against the wall. It's the best SHE can do at the moment.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut a Path and Rally.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"There's some good news," Neriah remarks as she lands, brushing off her smoking robe. "Anyone who jumps you gets to deal with me."

Erzebet, at least, is helpful. Neriah closes her eyes and sighs contently as Erzebet rubs her shoulders. "No wonder I like you," she murmurs with a faint, fond smile.

When they do move on, Neriah shoulders out of her robe. Her underdress is red with black patterns, with a deep neckline and slit up one side. When Skylr reclines against the wall, Neriah blinks at what she says, then steps back a moment to watch her kick away.

"Well," she says with a cant of her head. "Okay. Through the wall we go." Reaching into open air, she comes out with a shovel and begins to whack at the wall a few times. Blowing it down is tempting, but Neriah's trying to let her magic recharge a little bit.

Besides, it sounds like someone has heal berries on the other side, and nuking the wall might nuke the HEal Berries. And, uh. And the people.

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Cut a Path and Rally.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Eryon gives up on the gem after the second or third attempt at tugging on it gets him lasered across the extremely damageable shadow-cloak effect. He pushes off of it after that, launching himself towards the doorway and tumbling through it once he gets there. He's mildly on fire, but also wet enough from the snow that it just means he kind of steams instead of burns.

He gets to his feet, brushing himself off and adjusting his hat, cloak, cowl, belt, belt, and belt. Eryon looks Erzebet up and down for a second, and immediately takes a liking to her for some reason. "You're right! I don't think that we have! Allow me to introduce myself." He takes a step back, raising a hand to his swiss-cheese-shadow'd face and clearing his throat into his fist. "Ahem-hem. I," he declares, "am,"


                      ,------
                      ERYON RAST
                     DARK MASTER OF DUNGEON DEPTHS
                                                     ------'


"and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." He bows in an almost courtly fashion. His hat stays on against all odds.

After that, he notices Skylr's pointing. He looks at the wall, and the shovel, and the wall again. Eryon fishes around in his pockets. He pulls out a couple of polished river rocks. They both have a perfectly flat side. They must be two halves of the same thing. He tucks his rod under one arm, holding a stone in each hand, and then pitches one underhand at the wall. He mumbles something sorcerous, and the stone in his hand trembles.

The impact of the airborne one is orders of magnitude more powerful than the toss indicates.

DG: Eryon Rast has used his Tool Sympathy Stones toward his party's challenge, Cut a Path and Rally.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Erzebet mms at Skylr, and she digs out her cigarette case as she tromps and clicks in afterwards. If she's going to smoke, do ho ho ho, do it properly! She ignites the death stick and takes a warming suck before sweeping soot off her dress, which is rapidly turning it gray.

Such is life.

Erzebet's eyes narrow as she looks at the patch of wall Skylr indicates. Her glasses seem to gleam as she considers matters. Neriah has a shovel that she is devoting to the cause, as one might use a shovel to slay an irritating boomerang-wielding knight-aspirant.

She looks at Eryon...

"Amazing!!!" Erzebet then says, fistpumping the air like some kind of soccer mom. "Well my goodness and my Guardians that is the kind of attitude I like to see in younger people! Ugh, I say that and I feel so OLD. Do I look like a mom to you, Neriah?" She flicks ash onto the floor of the Photosphere. "I FEEL old when I say that but - oh shit, I want to see this -"

FWACK!

"Yeah!!!!"

Erzebet does not help bust down the wall at all.

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cut a Path and Rally.
=====================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>======================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Cut a Path and Rally *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 When you enter this room, you hear some murmuring through an air vent:        
                                                                               
 "Yo, I think we got enough berries to help them rest up."                     
 "Yeah, yeah... keep it down, Gallows."                                        
 "Gentleman. This is no time to argue. Hopefully Virginia catches up soon..."  
                                                                               
 Gallows Carradine, Jet Enduro, and Clive Winslet appear to be on the other    
 side of that wall -- and with the promise of refreshment for the troubles     
 and tribulations to come. While the door to your left may look tempting, the  
 door that does not yet exist is the true way.                                 
                                                                               
 Time to do something about that.                                              
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 3 *>=================
======================< Results - Cut a Path and Rally >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    40 --(0)--> 40                 Pass
Trusty Shovel                       2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          50 --(0)--> 50                 Pass
Sympathy Stones                     2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          60 --(0)--> 60                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      60 --(0)--> 60                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Save Point(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer 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> Skylr Paer has posed.

      It's a wall. With the combined brute strength of Skylr, Neriah's shovel, and Eryon making good use of his earth magic, the wall does not stand much of a chance. Skylr's boot thuds with a hearty thumping noise, drawing confusion from the other group on the opposite side. Neriah's shovel slides and clanks, drawing more murmurs.
 
      Eryon's stuff literally blows half of much of the side of the blocks off and then some, leaving it at that sort of touch and go moment but it doesn't go - not until Erzebet casually dusts soot off her dress and the thing goes tumbling down seconds later, as the three waiting for a 'Virgina' bail.

DG: Eryon Rast has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>===============================
================================<* CHALLENGE - Automated Doors *>================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
-----------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------
 When you enter the next room, there is a shudder from the door behind you --  
 and the door in front of you. Then, both of them slam shut, descending from   
 the ceiling. This leaves you trapped inside of the room. The good news is     
 that the expected flood of poison gas, sand, or some other terror does not    
 come. The bad news, however, is that the doors do not just slide back open.   
 A few consoles on the wall may offer one way to open the sealed doors.        
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Slow============================================
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Eryon looks six inches (one and a half inches) taller at Erzebet's reaction to his introduction and magical show-offery. He's inordinately pleased, because usually he just gets people giving him the stink-eye or tearing down his already-shaky reputation as a dark wizard by doing things like being... ugh... cute.

Ugh!!

Eryon makes another gesture as he swaggers into the next room. The other half of the rock pops up off the ground, and he snatches it out of the air and pockets it with a casual motion. "I"m glad that someone appreciates this sort of thing," he asides. "Nobody on this planet seems to understand exactly how much effort it takes -- oh, hey, berries."

There's a stash. It's a pretty plentiful one. Eryon takes the time to pop a handful in his mouth, another in one of his pouches, and even to fix the patchiness of his cool shadowy effect. It doesn't look good when it resembles a foreign cheese, or Adlehyde's borders (zing!!). He checks a door to the side chamber they're in, and it slides open despite all the damage.

It leads them into... a corridor! It looks like one of many in this place. It's not quite squared right; the architecture is just a little bit off-putting. It makes it decidedly alien. Eryon keeps wandering forward, looking around for the usual slew of tripwires or pressure plates, and finding no such thing. Instead, the next door seals shut with a 'bang' echoed by the one behind them. "A trap!" he announces. "Watch out for the... the..."

Nothing floods the room.

".......huh. What's this?" Eryon turns to one of the consoles nearby. He pokes a button with obvious hesitance. It boops indecisively.

DG: Eryon Rast has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Automated Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"That's actually kind of a cool title," Neriah compliments Eryon as she adjusts her dress a little. "I wish I was a dark master of dungeon depths."

When Erzebet questions, Neriah flicks her curls back with a mild smile. "I don't think you do. You're young and sassy as ever as far as I can tell." Then, as if the question provokes some introspection, she looks down at herself. "...I don't look too old either, do I?"

She doesn't.

As Eryon swaggers on, Neriah has to hide an amused little smile, concealing it behind the hand she uses to pop a berry. When the door opens, she simply moves after Eryon. Maybe she's curious as to what kind of mess he'll walk himself into.

The doors slide closed. Neriah scowls a little and lets out a slow breath through her teeth, eyelids lowering slightly. "Grrrreat."

Drawing a hand back, Neriah squares herself and prepares to nuke the door -- and then brings herself up short when she realizes she'd probably blow them all up too. With a sigh she moves to lean over Eryon's shoulder, squinting at the console. "...Oh huh. I wonder if you can make it play a song."

Neriah taps at the screen a couple of times just to see what kind of different tones it produces. Ladies and gentlemen, the Sinbringer.

DG: Neriah Parringer has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Automated Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr looks at Eryon. Then at Erzebet. Then Neriah. "Yeah, he's my friend." She emphasizes the last word there in ways Eryon might prefer her not too. She grabs her own stash of berries, gnawing on a couple with a happy exhalation of breath out of her nose. The rest get stashed in a ever growing back of Notes And Sheep Wool And Stuff.
 
      The door in front comes down with a crash, startling her as she starts to back up, and then the one behind them comes down too, getting a little 'eep' from her. Clearing her throat, she watches Neriah and Eryon poke at one of the devices, when her brown eyes go as wide as her glasses. "Oh, oh, I've had another dig like this before, um-- momma and Althena's priestesses taught me that I should listen and pay attention to everyone so I can help them the best I can, so we should see what all of the consoles do and write it down-"
 
      Skylr frantically digs through a old, somewhat water-stained, much beloved book full of variety of handwritings, but mostly hers. "And - then we should see if any of the stuff makes sense! Like, um, the ... alphabet's in a certain order, so maybe we need to do stuff on this things in a certain order???"
 
      Skylr continues rambling in this method and will certainly do so til they figure this out. Or fail and die.
 
      Either or.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Book of Notes toward her party's challenge, Automated Doors.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Erzebet follows after people after taking a lingering drag off her death stick and pausing to pick up a small bunch of berries. As she bites into them with anomalous hunger, her eyes turn towards Neriah.

The Zeboim-secondary readout in her glasses tell her things.

"Not at all," Erzebet says. "You're nineteen, right? Perhaps twenty?" This to Neriah. As she finishes gobbling up the berries ('member when you were raiding the berry cave? Erzebet 'members... and she also 'members advocating for the total domination of Prime Minister Shakhan, wait a minute -)

she looks ahead.

"Hm," Erzebet says, looking over. "Looks like an access control system." She reaches up to fiddle with her earring and says aloud, "Are you there? Hello?"

"Yes," Erzebet continues.

"Yes, I understand you're getting a lot of call volume, I can hold," Erzebet says to thin air. She finishes off the cigarette and flicks it onto the metal floor, where it will probably start a fire in three hours, before she sways back and forth for a moment and tells Neriah, "This is sort of an old ARM kind of thing, though I guess that's an analogy. Obviously it's -" She raises a hand:

"Yes, hello? Hi. You can hear me alright? Hello! Okay. So, we have an MD-era - right? I mean, yes, OF COURSE it's MD-era, hahaha, I know, it's their fucking gear! Anyway it's this sort of access control zone, do you have anything in the files," Erzebet says, looking off at nobody in particular. She sidles round and looks over Skylr's shoulder, and says, "One of the fellow travellers has - hold on -"

"What?"

"Is it blue?" Erzebet glances up. "No, the screen - yes, it has a screen. No, there's no typeface board, it's just buttons. Are they labelled? Hold on -" Erzebet leans heroically forwards directly over Eryon, possibly whacking him lightly in the process. "I don't see a label no but it seems to be a four by three grid - excuse me, three by four -"

Erzebet stops addressing thin air, focusing on Skylr. "He's put me on hold. Anyway, try just hitting all the buttons in the center row from the top down." Erzebet gestures a little to indicate which she means, but strangely does not do this herself.

She then settles back. Eight seconds later she addresses the air again, peevishly: "You didn't ASK that time. I don't MIND waiting, I know you're busier than a one-legged hobgob at an ass kicking contest, but SAY something."

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has used her Tool Call toward her party's challenge, Automated Doors.
===============================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>===============================
================================<* CHALLENGE - Automated Doors *>================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
-----------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------
 When you enter the next room, there is a shudder from the door behind you --  
 and the door in front of you. Then, both of them slam shut, descending from   
 the ceiling. This leaves you trapped inside of the room. The good news is     
 that the expected flood of poison gas, sand, or some other terror does not    
 come. The bad news, however, is that the doors do not just slide back open.   
 A few consoles on the wall may offer one way to open the sealed doors.        
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Slow============================================
==========================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 4 *>==========================
==================================< Results - Automated Doors >==================================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    40 --(5)--> 45                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          50 --(5)--> 55                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Book of Notes                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Call                                2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Slow(2)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
========================================< Dream Chasers >========================================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer 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> Eryon Rast has posed.

boooop, beep boop; boooop, beep boop; boooop, beep boop, boop boo~p, boop-boop-boooop o/`

Neriah is an accomplished musician. Eryon applauds, being decidedly unhelpful when it comes to technology.

Eryon turns and gives Erzebet a confused look when she starts talking to the air. At first he assumes it's some kind of seance or something, but she says it's an 'ARM kind of thing' and just accepts it as Technology, which is basically all Al Bhed to him. He looks between her and the computer, and then shrugs, scooting aside so that she can give instruction in the Art of the Call Center Helpline.

Skylr ends up having to do the honors, backed up by her pattern recognition and note-taking skills. It works out, making the screen change colors and causing a hissing noise to emit from the doors. They unseal and slide open, revealing another stretch of corridor beyond, curving out of sight. There aren't any other suspicious doors, at least.

"Excellent work, team!" They're a team now, apparently. Eryon points. "Let's go!" In the absence of a heavily-armored knight, he elects to take the lead. He's just so gosh darn excited.

DG: Neriah Parringer has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Hound Pack *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Four-legged, wolf-like Metal Beasts are among the most common of the beasts   
 that inhabit the Photosphere. These creatures, with wicked jaws and           
 sharpened claws, pose an extreme danger. They move quickly, and when you      
 round the next bend, you see a pack of them rushing towards you.              
                                                                               
 They charge, a wicked gleam in their eyes -- and then leap, jaws snapping     
 and trying to bite at your flesh.                                             
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Nineteen," Neriah answers Erzebet with a little blush and a touch of one hand to her cheek. "And I do try to look a little bit presentable."

It's a good thing Skylr and Erzebet are clever, because Neriah's expertise is mostly in digging holes and committing mass murder, not technology.

It's a bad thing that the doors are opening, because there's a wider hall on the other side, and several Metal Beasts are loping towards the group as if summoned by the whisk of the door. They're wolf-like in shape, though gleaming with metal, jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth and talons glinting with brutal steel. Red eyes flash as they bear down on the three in the group.

The three?

Neriah's not there anymore. The wolves begin thair attack --

Until the wall behind them ripples. Neriah pushes her robe off again, the fabric of it shifting from the colour and texture of the wall back to its usual red. The garment pools around her feet as she lifts her hands over her head and gathers cold white light. "So Eryon. I can't wait to see how you handle in a real fight," she remarks with a bat of lashes before unleashing the spell.

Neriah doesn't go full power here. But the Metal Beasts do have some death rays to deal with.

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Chameleon Cloak toward her party's challenge, Metal Hound Pack.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      "Yay! We did it!" Skylr goes to give Eryon a hug, and then checks herself abruptly as the door starts opening. His character assassination is saved by the appearance of visible Metal Beasts in the way in front of them. She narrows her eyes, her hands going to her hips.
 
      "Well ... Althena says that if the only way you can use her blessing is in ways that cause harm, then she gave that to you for a reason! So do your damage, Eryon and Neriah!" A pause as she turns to Erzebet. "Um, I don't think I've seen you fight before, so... do your best - because no matter what, your best is whatever you do!"
 
      "I BELIEVE!"

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Lessons From Althena toward her party's challenge, Metal Hound Pack.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Erzebet draws out her twinned long handled guns from where they had been lurking on the back of her thighs and twists them round. They are twirlable... with effort.

She smiles at Skylr in a slightly unwholesome way. Skylr probably has the vague impression that she's two sails to the wind from some disorder that is being overruled by something or other. Then she looks towards Eryon as Neriah suggests things.

She raises the guns, whose trigger guards tighten up as she does. "Show us your stuff, Eryon! I'll cover you! Don't worry" BANG, a cherry-hot round of... something flies at a Demon snoot, and Erzebet speaks more loudly to make up for it: "I have great stopping power!"

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has used her Tool Haborym toward her party's challenge, Metal Hound Pack.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Eryon retreats from the attempted hug. He doesn't get far, because the doors open to reveal flesh-eating metal dog-monsters coming right at them. He stares down the hall as they lope closer, and... gets put on the spot.

A whole lot.

Eryon's be-hatted head turns this way and that. "Uh." Neriah shoots (slightly toned-down) death rays, and Erzebet has guns that look impractically long to wield one-handed, yet she does so with aplomb. Skylr apparently seems keen on being the cheering section, which is fine, since she can put their bits back together. Eryon takes a breath, raising his crook into a guard position, and then --

"This whole thing is made of metal," he protests. "I'm an earth mage!" He squeezes his eyes shut, reaching out. The fingers on his free hand twitch. "Wait... waaaiiiit..." They wiggle. He makes flicking motions, back and forth, like he was nudging something very slightly. He lifts his hand up a little, then moves it to the side, then again. The hounds are getting perilously close.

One of them comes at him. He makes a slashing motion with one hand. Dirt abruptly erupts from one of the vents near the ceiling, an avalanche of what looks remarkably like potting soil directed downward in a stream like he had a fire hose or a sand blaster. It's not nearly ideal, but it sure is better than nothing!

    MEANWHILE
    FAR BELOW
    LABORATORY SECTION XIV

A chamber that had been made to be a garden has been abruptly emptied of all its dirt, leaving it an awkward metallic depression. Plants with gleaming roots and metallic leaves are scattered everywhere, connected to metal seed-like pods that roll gently before coming to a stop. It's a total mess.

Good thing that the owner will never find out who did it!

DG: Eryon Rast has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Metal Hound Pack.
=======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Hound Pack *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Four-legged, wolf-like Metal Beasts are among the most common of the beasts   
 that inhabit the Photosphere. These creatures, with wicked jaws and           
 sharpened claws, pose an extreme danger. They move quickly, and when you      
 round the next bend, you see a pack of them rushing towards you.              
                                                                               
 They charge, a wicked gleam in their eyes -- and then leap, jaws snapping     
 and trying to bite at your flesh.                                             
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
==================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 5 *>===================
==========================< Results - Metal Hound Pack >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Chameleon Cloak                     1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          55 --(5)--> 60                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Lessons From Althena                2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Haborym                             2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            60 --(20)--> 80                Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(1)|Stupify(1)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer 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> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"That wasn't very cash money of you, Eryon, sw-- oh, THERE we go," Erzebet says, interstitially.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Poor, poor Eryon. It's hard to earth when everything is Metal. Metal's a problem.

But he manages to spew dirt anyway! It pules up in front of one of the wolves. The Metal Beast's talons scrape on the decking as it comes up short.

It stares at the dirt pile for a moment.

Then Erzebet puts a bullet in its face. Or is it a bullet? Either way, it's cerise-hot, and the Metal Beast shrieks and goes down in a spray of what's either blood or oil. Another couple of wolves snarl in, heedless of their fellow's defeat.

Death rays wait for them. Neriah unleashes a double blast of dark energy, slicing through both Beasts and dividing them in two. Another one lunges over the bodies, but with a metallic *KCHUNG* of impact, Erzebet nails it square in the eye. It lands, hits the ground, rolls under its own momentum and lands in Eryon's dirt pile. Particles of it poof out and shower the unfortunate Dark Master of Dungeons.

Neriah brushes a curl back and adjusts her bodice a little. "Are we done with these ones? We're done with these ones. Skylr? ...Thank you for your encouragement."

She gives Skylr a little pat on the shoulder.

DG: Skylr Paer has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>======================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Golem Lolithia - Phase 1 *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Deep within the Photosphere, Mother has a sentinel.                           
                                                                               
 A cavernous chamber stretches out, providing a final choke point before the   
 control center of the Photosphere can be reached. Filling the chamber is the  
 same Golem stolen by the Metal Demons during the Battle of Adlehyde:          
 Lolithia. This dark blue, armored Golem towers over the room and the many     
 Drifters engaging it in combat. Indeed, as you enter the room, the sound of   
 battle greets you: blasts of energy, gunshots, and flashes of swords all      
 meet the mighty armor of the Elw Golem.                                       
                                                                               
 The Golem's eyes flash with golden light. Then, it rears back a huge claw,    
 and slams it down into the ground. A moment later, blasts of energy come      
 raining down... and the battle is joined!                                     
                                                                               
 (NOTE: This card assumes that all of the people running the Dig, and          
 possibly a few named NPCs, are in a massive brawl against a Gear-sized        
 enemy. If you pass this card, you will have Quick and Shield for the final    
 battles. If you fail, you will have Slow and Break.)                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Exhaust==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      If someone makes cheerleading a thing, Skylr would wear the outfit just for you, Eryon.
 
      Skylr's wise lessons - mostly common sense, but also some stuff her priestesses in the temples and churches taught her - help her ... 'friends' make it through, for the most part, and Skylr claps her hands together. "Thank you - I'm glad we all are doing okay so far! Eat a berry if you need too!"
 
      Then, they make it through the last door - a familiar sight, from the Battle of Adlehyde, the great Golem Lolithia. The one that the Metal Demons stole so long ago - an artifact of many years past, of a make that very few people understand. The battle around their small group rages, and the possibility of loss weighs heavily on Skylr's mind. There's only so much she can do in fights: and next to the giant, dark blue armored Golem, well... everyone's an ant.
 
      She exhales.
 
      Those eyes glows gold.
 
      The claw slams down and, the group, and so many others, are under fire.
 
      Skylr's eyes close as she whispers a breathless prayer to Althena, finding solace in her even now. Her own eyes open - and there is a steadiness in the dirt color in her eyes.
 
      "Not now! Not when we're this close. Not when we still have our spirits within us! That's what my faith has taught us, shaken though it may be! We may fight with darkness in our hearts, and it is used against and we use it against others, but above all, I know it- there is light in our hearts!"
 
      "We will not fail- not now! Not ever!"

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Lessons From Althena toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 1.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

What looms before them is every bit the enemy that the Titan of Mother was. Back outside the Photosphere, Neriah wiped that immense construct away in one shot.

Here, she finds herself unable to muster that much power. She inhales, focusing intently, but the darkness won't seem to come in as great a quantity as it could before. "Damn it all, I knew I shouldn't have put so much into it," she mutters to myself. "With the way I shot my wad, you'd think I was a guy...."

But there's enough power that she can make a difference. And beyond this creature --

Energy rains down around them. Lifting her hand, Neriah gathers her shield. Blasts slam into the turf around her; she simply walks forward through it, letting the light swallow her up. When it passes, there's no sign of her.

But those who've seen her combat tricks know what she's up to. A few seconds later, a section of nondescript ground gives way. Colour leaches out of it, back to the red of her cloak, which she shrugs off dramatically. One hand comes up high, two fingers together as unlight swells up her arm in a tenebrous coil. "Oh no. We won't fail at all," Neriah says as her chin comes up, the light in her eyes growing brighter and more malicious. "We can't. After all... Riesenlied is out there. And after what this rotten species did to her...."

Neriah's lips curl. "Well. There can be only one."

With a flourish, Neriah sweeps her arm forward and takes aim - and the magic explodes forth. Even with the strongest of her powers out of reach right now, the calling forth of Valmar's essence is gut-churning, an ugly, scraping sensation on the spirit. The black energy blooms and swells into a vast beam that takes on the shape of a leering demonic visage as she attempts to blast a Valmar face-shaped hole in Lolithia.

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Chameleon Cloak toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 1.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"Oh, no, Eryon honey," Erzebet says as Skylr and Neriah reveal what's within them. "I'm not like them, I don't have magic. I mean, I suppose I could get symbology marked up on me, but I hate to feel like a student paper."

She leans over, crouching slightly as she does and balancing slightly on the barrel of her pistol as she moves to get up close to the young mage, in fact putting her chin on his shoulder and rubbing off some of the remainder of her makeup.

"But this is a pretty dire thing, isn't it? We're in a deep jam even if things are going lightly because Neriah is a sweety bear and your friend with the name with the letter I keep thinking I should leave out, she's not bad too." This close Erzebet smells like dirt and a partially bandaged injury going bad with a thin layer of perfume on top.

"That's Lolithia! The big snow Golem from Adelhyde. I suppose they stole it for just this reason and I bet you they're reprogrammed it. That means it's the enemy, even if once it was a hero. Any minute now, Mother's going to say something bitchy and she'll probably try to blow us all up. So if you've been hiding anything or holding anything back when you did that cute little soil thing, I think you ought to bare it all now, because this is the game for keeps."

Erzebet turns her head as if to kiss him on the cheek, because she actually does, leaving a smeared lip print. She also says, "Just a suggestion... look at all the holes it's pounding. You should -"

Lolithia slams the ground and Erzebet is bounced hard enough to stop being inappropriately close. IN fact, she topples forwards onto her backside. At this point, letting out a sigh, she starts to shoot her guns.

Advancing down low she seems to get excited, though she keeps herself down low, moving towards pieces of upturned floor. Her glasses glitter and gleam and as she rests both parts of Haborym over the piece of Photosphere, she cries out, "I can't believe iiiit! I'm fighting the manifestation of knowledge itself, turned into evil! This is so symbolic I can't handle it! Ah, ah, I'm choking up! I"m going to suffocate on the interleaved layers of ironyyyyyyy!!"

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has used her Tool Haborym toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 1.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

"I don't know what that means," Eryon mumbles at Erzebet around half a mouthful of Pocket Berries. They're his comfort food, now.

They move on. Eryon makes some motions, and the dirt pile slithers along with them. It doesn't leave a trail behind it; that would be inefficient and a waste of perfectly good soil, which is a thing that he might need in order to do... well, anything. In hindsight, he should have filled his pockets with gravel before he came down here, but we know what they say about hindsight.

"Thaaaaat..." Eryon looks up and trails off. He has to look pretty high. "...might be a little bit of a problem." He stares for about four seconds.

Erzebet gets really uncomfortably close. She finds that, interestingly, once she's on the inside of the shadow effect, it isn't really there anymore. It's like a curtain drawn around him with a filter put on it, not an actual patch of darkness that he's conjuring up. He looks totally normal from inside of it, albeit dressed in dark wizard chic. One of his pointed ears twitches, but whether its from her unsettling proximity or what she's saying is hard to tell.

"Golem... like the enormous machines they had in Aveh," Eryon mumbles. He tries to focus on the deadly automaton and not the uncomfortably close acquaintance. It goes poorly, because she kisses him on the cheek, and his startled reaction is only mostly covered by the sudden ground-slam. He sways on his feet but keeps his balance with the help of his crooked rod. He's beet red. From the far side of the shadow-cloak sorcery, you wouldn't know it by looking, though.

"I -- it isn't that simple!" Unsettling darkness rolls off of Neriah nearby. Eryon cringes. The layers of clothing make it less pronounced. He looks to the craters, and the raging battle, and the sheer amount of damage being spread out by the thing. He isn't equipped to handle that. Maybe if they were in a valley, he could bury it, or drop it in a ditch and crush it, or... well, what do you do to something like that?

Not use rocks, that's what.

Eryon squares his shoulders with an effort of will and raises his crook. He breathes deeply, clears his throat and raises his voice. Sparks of white flicker at the end of the staff, building into a stuttering glow. "O bringer of morn, cast your rays upon the helpless and the guilty!" The glow steadies and intensifies. Three by three by three points of brilliance accompany it, arranged in a triangle around the center. "Sear thy realm with glory, and burn away the blackest night!"

The light intensifies.

                                 "HEOSPHOROS!"

Sunlight leaps from the arrangement in mid-air, weaving itself into a pattern that becomes a column of brightness, a focused beam cutting across the space between Eryon and the Golem. It lasts for several glorious seconds, a shining beacon of light, the backblast from which instantly eradicates Eryon's shadow-cloak and momentarily seems to bleach him into monochrome.

Then, Eryon's staff wavers. The spell falters when he does. The focused beam becomes diffuse, scattering in waves of curving light across the space all around the Golem. It flickers, and, a breath later, dies out entirely.

Eryon's legs promptly turn to gelatin and drop him unceremoniously on his ass.

DG: Eryon Rast has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 1.
=======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Golem Lolithia - Phase 1 *>====================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Deep within the Photosphere, Mother has a sentinel.                           
                                                                               
 A cavernous chamber stretches out, providing a final choke point before the   
 control center of the Photosphere can be reached. Filling the chamber is the  
 same Golem stolen by the Metal Demons during the Battle of Adlehyde:          
 Lolithia. This dark blue, armored Golem towers over the room and the many     
 Drifters engaging it in combat. Indeed, as you enter the room, the sound of   
 battle greets you: blasts of energy, gunshots, and flashes of swords all      
 meet the mighty armor of the Elw Golem.                                       
                                                                               
 The Golem's eyes flash with golden light. Then, it rears back a huge claw,    
 and slams it down into the ground. A moment later, blasts of energy come      
 raining down... and the battle is joined!                                     
                                                                               
 (NOTE: This card assumes that all of the people running the Dig, and          
 possibly a few named NPCs, are in a massive brawl against a Gear-sized        
 enemy. If you pass this card, you will have Quick and Shield for the final    
 battles. If you fail, you will have Slow and Break.)                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Exhaust==========================================
=====================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>======================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Golem Lolithia - Phase 1 *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Deep within the Photosphere, Mother has a sentinel.                           
                                                                               
 A cavernous chamber stretches out, providing a final choke point before the   
 control center of the Photosphere can be reached. Filling the chamber is the  
 same Golem stolen by the Metal Demons during the Battle of Adlehyde:          
 Lolithia. This dark blue, armored Golem towers over the room and the many     
 Drifters engaging it in combat. Indeed, as you enter the room, the sound of   
 battle greets you: blasts of energy, gunshots, and flashes of swords all      
 meet the mighty armor of the Elw Golem.                                       
                                                                               
 The Golem's eyes flash with golden light. Then, it rears back a huge claw,    
 and slams it down into the ground. A moment later, blasts of energy come      
 raining down... and the battle is joined!                                     
                                                                               
 (NOTE: This card assumes that all of the people running the Dig, and          
 possibly a few named NPCs, are in a massive brawl against a Gear-sized        
 enemy. If you pass this card, you will have Quick and Shield for the final    
 battles. If you fail, you will have Slow and Break.)                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Exhaust==========================================
================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 6 *>=================
====================< Results - Golem Lolithia - Phase 1 >====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    45 --(0)--> 45                 Pass
Chameleon Cloak                     1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          60 --(15)--> 75                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Lessons From Althena                2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      60 --(0)--> 60                 Pass
Haborym                             2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            80 --(0)--> 80                 Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Erzebet Lefanu has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>=======================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Golem Lolithia - Phase 2 *>===================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 After some time, the battle against Lolithia finally strikes a blow that      
 makes the Golem wheel backward. Lightning explodes and shoots up and down     
 the length of the Golem's body. Then, its shsoulders shudder. The massive     
 blie Golem lists forward. It leans over, without falling over entirely, and   
 it does not stir.                                                             
                                                                               
 A precious opportunity has been bought: the chance to strike at the Golem,    
 and do no small amount of damage to it. Lolithia can be potentially           
 disabled, if everyone strikes now... and with all of the might they have!     
                                                                               
 (NOTE: Lolithia will not be destroyed by this attack, but it will be          
 disabled. If you pass this card, you will have Hyper and a Hi-Heal for the    
 final battles. If you fail this card, you will have Weaken and Disease.)      
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr does her thing, encouraging the others to keep moving forward. Neriah draws a shudder from the priestess and even some of the other nearby Drifters at the feeling of that ugly, scraping sensation- as much as Skylr has concern for Neriah on a physical level, spiritually, she's rather afraid that the shadow might be the magic in and of itself - who knows what's hiding in that darkest of light? Erzebet also gets a glare, but for much more teenager-like reasons that Neriah's spirituality.
 
      The unmagic from Neriah, however, does much, much, much towards getting Lolithia back down to better size for them, and also getting Lolithia's attention from the rest of the Drifters to the small group that have been stuck together for the past bit of time. Erzebet does drop some knowledge, and bullets - her shots slam against the armor, digging more holes into it. More and more Drifters help with her shots, causing more and more damage. Everything is more and more.
 
      And everything is... light. Eryon proves that he is not as dark and mysterious as he claims to be - instead, his dark is bright and beautiful and okay it's light, there's only so much flowery phrasing we can put to this. The light is strong, causing the Golem to blink - the light is blinding, even as much as it goes against the armor.
 
      Next to Eryon, Skylr kneels, reaching down to grab his hand. "Stand up." She says, her own light mixing with his. "C'mon, Eryon - you've stood by me twice now... my turn."
 
      Even with Lolithia standing there, still, Skylr has a hand out. But that's what healers do.

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
A searing blast of sheer darkness, the manifest face of Valmar himself, burns against the massive form of Lolithia. Say the name, four syllables that roll off the to- no; wrong Lolit-named entity.

Erzebet's barrage, concluding with a spinning twist and a massive arc of some kind of blood-red lightning, joins the parade. The Heosphoros called forth earns the attention of Lolithia, the great Golem reeling underneath its sheer force - and then Eryon flares out, falling backwards, and the Golem as yet unbowed.

The creature strides towards Eryon. One step.

"Uh oh," Erzebet says, glancing towards Neriah.

Another. The rumbling makes Erzebet trip over, a gash on her arm welling up with watery blood a moment before Skylr's alert strikes heal it. A third -

                "gottem"

says someone not appearing in this film, because Lolithia has stepped into a shallow and sunk in up to its 'calf'!!

"Eryon! Once more, with feeling!" Erzebet encourages, before she starts to shoot wildly into the air for... some... reason? moral support? Until she reaches a certain key threshold and unleashes another of those starkly and darkly refulgent ray-arcs at the ancient Elw machine!

DG: Erzebet Lefanu has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 2.
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

It sure helps that there are a lot of other Drifters in the fight. Lolithia might be powerful, but it can't stop everyone. Heck, there's CaraKin, way over there.

Neriah manages to defend herself adequately from what attacks were thrown, her magic sufficient that she can hold her shield up. But she's breathing heavily. With a huff, she whips her curls back in a dramatic cascade.

Then Lolithia steps in a shallow, and Neriah blinks a couple of times with sudden surprise.

"Oh goodness," she gasps, cupping her hands to her cheeks and wiggling demurely. "Th-this has never happened to me before...."

Erzebet takes it a lot more seriously. When the learner with the guns begins to fire away, Neriah whirls and darts across the chamber, her dress rippling around her legs. The sharp clack of her heels echoes even among the noise and battle. Again she watches Erzebet fire, then takes stock of Eryon --

"He's a lot shinier than I expected him to be," she admits. "Maybe--" She glances at Skylr thoughtfully, then moues her lips and thinks better of doing this right now.

Neriah shakes her head briskly. "Right. Bring this thing down and then we finish this place," she growls as she unshoulders - her shovel, again. For some reason. She cocks it back like a javelin-thrower about to release a shaft into the air. Sighting along her arm, she aims up at the huge blue Golem.

You know, maybe there's something I could learn from something this ancient, she suddenly realizes. Maybe we'll be destroying an important piece of Filgaian history. Maybe... maybe this is the wrong play.

Another part of her mind comments: Nah.

She hurls the shovel. A burst of dark magic propels it forward like a missile. It flies so fast that about halfway between Neriah and Lolithia, there's a thunderclap of sound and a shockwave that rips through the room as the shovel breaks the sound barrier. She's attempting to simply launch it into Lolithia's guts as hard as she can.

DG: Neriah Parringer has used her Tool Trusty Shovel toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 2.
<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Eryon is pretty sure he's about to become paste on the bottom of a Golem's foot.

Fortunately, he has backup with extremely heavy weapons and terrible magic. Also, as it turns out, luck. It steps into a depression, and Eryon gets a momentary reprieve. He looks up at Skylr, blinking, head swimming from the effort it took to call that up the first time. He's unpracticed with that element, at least on the scale he can move earth at, amd it's showing in how draining it was to do... that.

But still, he isn't going to turn down help now. Maybe if it was less life-or-death... but no. He takes her hand, and gets back to his feet with a rustle of layers of cloth. He sways a second, but steadies. "Um... thanks."

"Another? Alright! I'll --" Eryon reaches into his pocket. He comes out with a handful of squished berries and crushed force vegetables. He despairs. "-- come up with a... better plan! A superior plan!" He works himself up into a proper mood for doing proper magical deeds. "A plan worthy of,"


                      ,------
                      ERYON RAST
                     QUELLER OF MOUNTAINS' SOULS
                                                     ------'


"so take -- this!!" Eryon throws a rock. He gets pretty great distance on it, actually. It's the same rock from earlier. He drops its twin on the ground unceremoniously, taking his crook in both hands. Eryon raises it above his head, and then swings it down like a hammer.

The airborne stone drops on the Golem like it had fallen from orbit.

DG: Eryon Rast has used his Tool Sympathy Stones toward his party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 2.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr doesn't let go until she's sure he won't fall over when she lets go. Then, in a moment of grace for him and him alone, she steps at least three pretty big steps away towards Neriah. When she reaches her, um... adult in the party, because to be frank she's a little more wary of Erzebet than Neriah at the moment ... which may or may not be hilarious.
 
      Then, to Neriah: "He's very shiny. His face lights up when he blushes, too."
 
      Lolithia takes a step towards Eryon. Another, another, another. The movement sends jolt up her spine, and her teeth chatter together for a brief moment or two. "Alright. I -- I literally can't use magic against that, so..."
 
      Skylr's face set, her bow comes off her back, and her quiver. She goes through it - some arrows are broken. Some aren't. The ones that aren't - Skylr exhales, in hales - and then shot, after shot, is fired, with the speed of someone who knows she's not firing the way an archer should, but brute-forcing (ha) the arrows out.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Golem Lolithia - Phase 2.
======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>=======================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Golem Lolithia - Phase 2 *>===================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 After some time, the battle against Lolithia finally strikes a blow that      
 makes the Golem wheel backward. Lightning explodes and shoots up and down     
 the length of the Golem's body. Then, its shsoulders shudder. The massive     
 blie Golem lists forward. It leans over, without falling over entirely, and   
 it does not stir.                                                             
                                                                               
 A precious opportunity has been bought: the chance to strike at the Golem,    
 and do no small amount of damage to it. Lolithia can be potentially           
 disabled, if everyone strikes now... and with all of the might they have!     
                                                                               
 (NOTE: Lolithia will not be destroyed by this attack, but it will be          
 disabled. If you pass this card, you will have Hyper and a Hi-Heal for the    
 final battles. If you fail this card, you will have Weaken and Disease.)      
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
=================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs - Round 7 *>==================
=====================< Results - Golem Lolithia - Phase 2 >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neriah Parringer                    45 --(100)--> 145              Pass
Trusty Shovel                       2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eryon Rast                          75 --(100)--> 175              Pass
Sympathy Stones                     2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          60 --(100)--> 160              Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erzebet Lefanu                      60 --(100)--> 160              Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Neriah Parringer            80 --(10)--> 90                Fail
Conditions: Weaken(2)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Neriah Parringer is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Eryon Rast is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Skylr Paer is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Erzebet Lefanu is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over.
DG: The party led by Neriah Parringer has been fully Exhausted by Photosphere - Alien Catacombs!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
======================<* Photosphere - Alien Catacombs *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Lolithia's Fall *>========================
|Type: Landmark    |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Lolithia teeters under the final assault. With a groan, Lolithia comes        
 crashing down and slams against the ground. Chunks of armor plating pop off;  
 a loud crack of the interior crystal sounds. The machine lays there, still    
 and terrible, in the wake.                                                    
                                                                               
 ...unfortunately for you, you were among the Drifters in its path. It comes   
 crashing down at you -- and you must run away, lest you be squished like a    
 bug underneath it.                                                            
                                                                               
 However, after the dust clears, the way ahead awaits: the inner sanctum of    
 the Photosphere, and what dangers await.                                      
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
Can they overcome Lolithia? The works of ancient time brought to life and then turned against its wielder? Erzebet's seven-counter super technique fades and she resumes fire, having, it seems, no better ideas.

The hurled shovel hits hard enough to leave a visible scoring mark against the great thing and then Lolithia rips its leg partway back upwards. "Nnngh," Erzebet says as she steps backwards, nearer to the hole she had been thinking of when breathing into Eryon's ear in a way that probably added a T rating to this game.

Skylr fires and they all end up clostering together. The Golem sprouts arrows like tiny quills. It's so huge. What can defeat a creature like that? The airborne stone is hurled -

*sparkle*

And smashes into the back of Lolithia with a noise of hellacious roaring. The Golem staggers, comes down -

SMASH CUT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ArgMUPpk2c

THE ENTIRE THING

ALL OF IT

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
WHEN THE DUST SETTLES

Erzebet's glasses are down to her chin. She's laying on her back, having sprained an ankle and broken a heel while leaping into a crevasse in the ground created by Lolithia itself, the Golem(or its corpse?) having shifted in its dying throes.

"H... hah... we're alive... it fell short... sweet Stare Roe, we didn't get squished."

She hugs something small and dirty to her chest. "Eryon... that little fancy bastard saved us all... I'll never forget his sacrifice...!!"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah blinks as Skylr reveals the truth. The look she gives Eryon a second later is probably the last look he wants to get: It's the kind of look a girl would give a cute puppy. "Aww. That's so cute."

Then Lolithia begins to fall. Neriah watches it descend, opening her mouth slowly more with every metre it descends.

She snaps her jaw shut at the last moment. "Don't worry, Erzebet!" she declares. "The Power of NUMBER EIGHT isn't just for sh--"

                                    SMUSH

                           G O O D E N D . . . ?

When the dust settles, there's a sudden flicker of shadow not too far from where Erzebet has cradled Eryon to her chest.

Winking back into existence, Neriah descends from a short distance, touching down with a click of impractically-high heels. She's scooped Skylr up, capturing the shepherd in a princess carry that leaves her cradled against her chest. The last of the dust cloud billows around her and begins to fall to earth as she takes a moment to look Skylr over, lips pursed as she checks the girl for injury.

"Erzy, the only sacrifice he'll be making is if you smother him," she points out, before looking back to adjust Skylr's glasses minutely.

<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Definitely a T rating. We'll never hear the end of it, either.

Eryon stays close. He doesn't have a magical shield like Neriah's, and he doesn't have the ability to instantly remove himself from danger, also like Neriah, and he doesn't have an enormous disregard for personal space and probably the lives of others, like... ... ...maybe more than Neriah. But he does have the ability to stand fast in the face of certain destruction.

Because making that rock fall down really kind of took the last of it out of him. It starts to fall, and Eryon looks up. He grasps his hat with one hand, brandishing his crook --!!

ONE ENDING SEQUENCE LATER

*cough* *cough*

"'m'not d'd," the lump that needs to see a dry cleaner manages.

Hooray! Still Pretty Good End...??

<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Is it possible to hold Lolithia? Yes. For now. Skylr isn't sure how long as it'll work. Lolithia comes down, and down, and down-- Skylr would scream, but she has no voice with which to do. Death is coming, she's sure. At least, until moments later, she finds herself in Neriahs' arms, the young guardswoman blinking up at the Sinbringer.
 
      Her face is bloody, all thanks to the two nosebleeds earlier that she never cleaned up. She licks dry lips as Neriah fusses over her glasses, which, while slightly banged up and on a significant tilt, are at least not broken - although how well she can see is in the air.
 
      "Okay... Neriah here... and ... other lady... hear her voice... Eryon...?" A dry mumble. "Nevermind. He's still alive."
 
      ".... you can put me down now...?"

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"Erzebet, great to meet you," says Erzebet.

She looks down at Eryon. "Oh, are you alive?"

She lets go.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah doesn't like to let go of her precious pumpkins. She did that to Riese and she got turned into a big ol' dragon.

Then Neriah's eyes widen. She sets Skylr down quickly, straightening her up a little. "Damn it, I need to figure out where Riese ended up," she mutters. "Damn it all...."

<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

Eryon promptly melts into a puddle of dirt and cloth on the ground.

Figuratively. He's not actually Yarobeleedt. That would be weird. He's just kind of collapsed after the impact shock, you know?

"...I think it landed on my hat." Eryon's mop of hair is the topmost point of the dirty bundle that is he. He starts cleaning dirt out of his pointy ears.

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"Is it the source of your power?" Erzebet says, pushing her glasses back into place. Shew atches Neriah, but she does not interject. (Her ankle hurts.)

<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

"Of course not," Eryon immediately replies.

Beat.

"Maybe the shadow veil," he admits, after a moment. Eryon looks up at Neriah. "Did you come in here after someone?"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah continues to be lost in thought for a moment. She looks towards the fallen shape of Lolithia.

When Eryon finally asks her a question, she nods gravely. "I was going to wait things out and see if the other Drifters could bring down Mother. But that changed when they kidnapped Riesenlied and did things to her. She was one of the only people who cared about me before I understood what I was, and I owe it to her to at least try to help her."

Neriah shrugs. "Plus I get to help off a god, so, y'know. Fringe benefits."

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"She means Mother, who is just a powerful alien," Erzebet says from the ground. "Eryon is this your blood? It smells like oranges and I don't think my blood smells like oranges."

From the tone of the first part this is probably not the first time this has come up.

<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

"That doesn't sound like the sort of thing I would expect from the chosen of a god of evil," Eryon muses. His musing is a little hoarse. He clears his throat once, then again. "But, um, if you need some help, while I'm down here anyway..." He trails off.

Erzebet helpfully exposits. "Leo told me something about that. Apparently, Althena's Guard has sworn to defeat her. They have thus enlisted my fel power." He folds his arms and nods. A light dusting of sand falls off his head. He coughs and waves it away. "Uh -- oh, I was keeping fruit in my pockets for later, so...?"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm still going to bring Valmar back to strength and reshape the world," Neriah remarks with a flick of her curls. "But sometimes you have to remember who brought you to the dance. Most people treated me like the plague, but a couple didn't. I haven't forgotten those people."

Neriah looks off into the distance for a moment, folding her arms beneath the curve of her bust. She's listening, for the most part, though lost in thought.

"Helping Althena's Guard doesn't sound like the work of a dark master of dungeons, either," she remarks.

Erzebet is favoured with a light sigh and a smile. "I know, Erzy. It's just a semantic argument. Societally they act and function in the role of deities, so that's the term we use for them, even if all of them are sufficiently advanced aliens, wizards or both."

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

 
"Ahhh... the juices of a fel sorceror..."

Erzebet says, "I'm tremendously tired. After this is over I want to take a vacation if we aren't dead."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

With a little moue of her lips, Neriah reaches over to give Erzebet's shoulder a touch. "If we live, I'll find us a little quiet island with sand and surf and incredibly fruity drinks. It'll be great, with no murder."

She pauses. "Probably no murder."

<Pose Tracker> Eryon Rast has posed.

"They're my most likely ticket back to Lunar," Eryon says frankly. "This whole planet is either frozen or covered in sand or both. It's terrible. I wanna get off."

"And dungeons are universal," he mumbles, choosing not to encourage Erzebet's creepiness (this time).