2019-01-18: Return To Xibalba
- Log: Return To Xibalba
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lan Lilac, Kahran Ramses, Leah Sadalbari
- Where: Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual
- Date: January 18, 2019
- Summary: Loren, Lan and Leah make a return to the Necropolis Xibalba in search of more answers to the disturbance caused by the Primarch prior. This time, a few others join the expedition.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - At The Boundary *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are many mausoleums in these hills. Generations of Baskar have been consigned to slumber in eternal communion with the planet within this valley of the sacred dead. However, this one is different; the murals on the weathered stone speak of no storied warriors, no glorious battles or any such things. Instead, they are all warnings and wards, sacred art and prayers beseeching the Guardians for protection. There is something else hidden here, something more than old, desiccated corpses. Not long ago, the Primarch of Wing was sealed within this place, but no longer. In its absence, something else has emerged; there is a strangeness in the air, a chill in the breath, a length in the shadows, a sense of a hundred eyes on your back. Still, if you hope to uncover what secrets still lay below, you will need to first overcome your fears... And find the entrance into the halls of the hoary dead hidden amongst these strangely marked graves. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren's first assignment since arriving back on the surface had been particularly ill-omened, not the least for the fact that it had come about before he'd even touched foot on the ground. A disturbance out in Nisan, which had demonstrated that a certain young lady's threat levels had escalated above and beyond initial assessments, the continued existence of SLIDE-1's pilot, the fact that Vierge had been scavanged...
Oh, and his deeply, deeply unfortunate encounter with Keil.
Inauspicious, all around.
And now his second assignment -- off-base that is -- has taken him back around to a place he really, really didn't want to come back to.
Apparently, Leah had requested he come along on this one. Which means he has no choice.
"Looks like it did the last time," the medic comments, squinting up at the markers and wards decorating the walls leading further into the gravesite. "Good news. They're all still dead."
He doesn't like being in places such as this. It's... still unnatural to him.
People that bury their dead.
"Hey. Lan. What do they say?" He points at one of the warding signs, then at another. Something about their shape seems off. Wrong, even.
...It feels like he's being watched. The hair at the nape of his neck seems to stand on end. Casting one glance over a shoulder, Loren kneels near a section of wall to inspect the dust at its base.
"Not here. There's too much dust for a tomb that's been disturbed recently." ...Unless this is a passage that wasn't taken before, but...
He rises to his feet, tries to not think about the dessicated bodies lying in the graves.
And as people sometimes do in a time of stress, he fishes into his bag, comes up with one of those pre-wrapped nutritional bars, and after unwrapping it breaks it in half. That half goes in his mouth. The other half, still wrapped, is offered vaguely in Lan's direction.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, At The Boundary.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
After a month spent on what amounted to house arrest in an alien sky city, Lan is so, so, so happy to be back on Filgaia. Maybe only Loren truly understands how happy... though Leah, certainly, can guess.
Even after how hard the last foray into the burial grounds had been she'd practically jumped at the chance to come back. "Maybe this time we can finally figure it all out," she muses to herself as they approach what she thinks is probably still the entrance. "It's not the usual inscriptions," Lan tells them at Loren's prompting. "It's more of the same ones I saw last time we were here, but they're not what should be on a tomb."
She reaches out, still-paler-than-she'd-like fingers tracing the lines of a prayer. "They're asking the Guardians for protection. The Primarch of Wing was sealed here before, but..." The blonde shaman frowns slowly, following the lines with her fingertips. "Normally there would be stories of the people who are put to rest here, but there aren't. It's like the burial grounds aren't even the real... I dunno, important part? But they should be the most important thing!"
She spots a familiar rectangle being waved at her and makes a face. "Ugh, no thanks. I still don't know how you can eat those. What are they even made of, cardboard?"
Lan is not a huge fan of Solarian cuisine. It tastes stale, somehow.
Instead, she draws a folded slip of paper from her pocket (thank the gods for non=Solarian clothing, her skin can finally breathe again) and consults it.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, At The Boundary.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The last time anyone saw Kahran Ramses, he was passed out in the shredded remains of his Gear, after blocking a beam attack that was powerful enough to cut his flagship in half. In the intervening weeks, his aide de camp - Lieutenant Commander Myyah Hawwa - has been calmly deflecting inquiries about her commanding officer's status, other than to say he was undergoing some specialized medical treatment, was expected to recover, and would return to duty when he was able.
Leah, who has her own sources, will know Solaris High Command will have more than a few things to say about when that is; cruisers don't exactly grow on trees.
This may be why Myyah has attached herself to Loren's mission; as an attaché to an officer currently in the hospital, she doesn't have much of anything to do but sort the mail. She is accompanied by a big bodyguard in full tactical armour; he keeps his head on a swivel and a short-barreled carbine in his hands, shadowing the purple-haired woman as she strolls through the mausoleum, looking distinctly out of place in her pristine white uniform, carrying no visible weapons of any kind.
"Ms. Lilac is right," Myyah says to herself as she leans close to one of the wards. "It's traditional Baskar iconography, but...there's something different about it. Their invocations to the Guardians tend to be almost celebratory in tone. These are... begging, almost. Desperate." Her fingers push her hair back behind her left ear in a seemingly unconscious gesture. "Perhaps move in the direction of the direst warnings?"
Her presence is unlikely to be subtracting from Loren's stress eating problems.
DG: Kahran Ramses has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, At The Boundary.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Good and ill both rely upon how one reads the omens. Leah Sadalbari does not appear to be at all concerned; dressed in surface attire, she steps forward, ancient debris crunching beneath her boots. Her gait, as always, is just a little uneven. And...
She looks over the entryway, and makes no comment for now on the continued dead state of the bodies here--or their renmants. Neither does she add her question to the one of the signs.
She merely glances once with her single eye towards Loren as he eats the bar and offers it to Lan, and certainly doesn't advise against it. No...
"Probably another passage. ...But there is something unusual here. Usually..." She murmurs, and steps forward, looking about the passage seemingly just with her naked eye.
There is a very faint whirring noise, easily missed under the crunch of steps and the sounds of movement here and there. Finally--
"Military rations aren't meant to taste good," Leah points out. But of course, Myyah pinpoints where they need to be.
"I agree," Leah says simply. "This way." She points to a seemingly innocuous wall. She does not bother explaining why she thinks it should be used, or how they're meant to get through it.
Naturally, Leah has kept her information about Ramses to herself. Instead--
"Is it possible that those buried here were kept as watchers? In hopes that their presence in death could help to keep this place sealed?" Leah suggests, as she steps towards the wall and flexes mechanical fingers, the butt of her long spear hitting the dursty ground.
"Regardless, that's our best bet. Naturally..." Leah glances to the others, "I recommend staying behind the gentleman in armor. Or me."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Hidden Eye toward her party's challenge, At The Boundary.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - At The Boundary *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are many mausoleums in these hills. Generations of Baskar have been consigned to slumber in eternal communion with the planet within this valley of the sacred dead. However, this one is different; the murals on the weathered stone speak of no storied warriors, no glorious battles or any such things. Instead, they are all warnings and wards, sacred art and prayers beseeching the Guardians for protection. There is something else hidden here, something more than old, desiccated corpses. Not long ago, the Primarch of Wing was sealed within this place, but no longer. In its absence, something else has emerged; there is a strangeness in the air, a chill in the breath, a length in the shadows, a sense of a hundred eyes on your back. Still, if you hope to uncover what secrets still lay below, you will need to first overcome your fears... And find the entrance into the halls of the hoary dead hidden amongst these strangely marked graves. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 1 *>=============== =========================< Results - At The Boundary >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Hidden Eye 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Soylent Nutribar 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He certainly has some idea of it. Lan's behavior had sort of reminded him of a story he'd heard down on the surface, about animals who were captured to become pets, only to waste away and die in captivity. Birds that refused to eat when caged. ...That kind of thing.
Mirza had mentioned that at first she'd been crying out and trying to escape all the time.
Somewhat more immediately on his mind, however, is the Commander's non-presence. A lot of them had been badly injured, himself included, but it was starting to look like he'd gotten off easy nearly dying from a sword through the gut. His gaze turns sidelong towards Myyah and her guardian, even as Lan explains.
"So maybe that's what they were asking for protection against. The Primarch."
Something seems to half-stir, shifting ahead at the corner of his vision. Loren turns his head sharply, blinks. ...There's nothing there.
Just like there is no mention of the people who are supposed to be buried here. "...Great." This place really is cursed.
"Soylent," is his answer, stowing the half-a-bar. "High-nutrition meat-substitute." He pauses. "It tastes like cardboard. But it's something to chew on." As Leah says, rations aren't meant to taste good.
Watchers, even in death -- he doesn't like that, as the expression on his face might suggest.
"I suppose if it's where the most of those signs would be, then..." He points. "Over there."
Which is precisely the place where Lan's fortuneteller will direct her.
Skull, says the paper when she unfolds it. She hadn't drawn skulls.
And the spot where Leah's eye will pick out the faint outline of a door. A simple application of firm but gentle force will prompt the wall to spring open.
The seals no longer stand, after all.
DG: Kahran Ramses has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The House of Frozen Flame *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The first sign that something has gone terribly wrong is the cold. The moisture in your breath freezes into glittering diamond dust not even inches from your face. Frost creeps across the murals and stonework. The warmth seems to have been sucked out of the world. As you enter the next room, onto a platform of interlaced steel grating limned with frost, the source of this unnatural cold becomes obvious. Below, great, blue-grey flames fill the chamber, billowing out from the abyss. They seem to consume heat rather than emit it, and pillars of the stuff periodically blast up through the grating under your feet, flash-freezing the area around them. To reach the end, to make progress, you will need to brave this anti-furnace and reach the other side without succumbing to the killing cold. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The gentleman in armour tilts his head factionally at Leah's suggestion, then turns his head toward Myyah and then Loren; though the mask and visor conceal his expression from view, he's clearly seeking confirmation of the order from people actually in the chain of command. Seeing no specific objection from either (Myyah gives a faint shrug), he activates the underbarrel luminator and moves forward.
The path ahead through the door, descends on a gradual, twisting incline, as though the ancient builders took advantage of a natural fissure or some other sort of feature in the earth. After a minute or so, however, the path opens into corridors more befitting that of a mausoleum; packed dirt shifts into rough stone flooring, with recesses carved into the walls that once held torches or other primitive forms of illumination. These are long gone, and the only light is that which the group has brought with them. It banishes narrow cones of shadow, but lengthens others.
The natural chill of the underground mausoleum gradually shifts into something deeper, then suddenly begins not-so-gradually shifting; the ambient temperature drops about a dozen degrees in as many seconds, and a fog begins to form in the tunnel. Myyah folds her arms over her breasts, instinctively shivering in response to the cold. "We should... oh," she breathes, mist puffing out from her mouth. Grimacing, the purple-haired woman starts channeling Ether, stepping up close to her black-armoured bodyguard; low flames pulse out along the floor, forming a carpet of fire that lights up the way ahead and banishes some of the chill.
"Quickly," Myyah says as she pushes the guardsman forward; her bootheels click rapidly as she shuffle-steps in his wake.
DG: Kahran Ramses has used his Tool Ether Amplifier toward his party's challenge, The House of Frozen Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's dark beyond the portal inwards.
Drawing from his bag a penlight, Loren clicks it on with a flick of his thumb. He follows after the armored soldier, gaze wary in the darkness. "I don't remember this," he says, his voice sounding small to him in the black expanse of this chamber.
It was already chilly in the catacombs, but this is different. He even realizes it after he hunches his shoulders and shivers in the dark, his uniform seeming a poor fit against what seeks now to draw heat and life from his bones. "This... this isn't normal," he utters, squeezing his eyes shut against the death-like chill that has insistently settled around about him.
Green light blooms. First at his feet, then spreading outwards in a fractal wave to the other four living bodies in this room. It's a little bit of Ether-born energy, just something to stave off the grip of the grave while the heat in the room works to hold the darkness' touch at bay.
Just a little bit.
He doesn't need the suggestion, when Myyah's words come.
"Come on," he says to Lan -- as Leah won't need the reminder -- before he breaks into a run.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The House of Frozen Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Military rations aren't made to taste good. Well neither are the travel rations that Lan is more familiar with, but at least pemmican and jerky don't taste like paper towels mixed with regret!!
The idea of becoming an eternal watcher - or just the concept of such a thing - doesn't seem to bother Lan much. It would be nice, she thinks idly, to be able to keep watching out for people even after she's gone. It's comforting to think that even now her people are with her.
She beams quietly at Myyah, who clearly has a great understanding of her culture. "Wouldn't it be nice?" she sighs wistfully. "To have the help of people long gone?" She may not want to wake them up, because the dead should be able to rest, but if they're truly needed...
Of course, just getting inside the place is the least of their worries. The sudden chill of the room beyond the door is something she hasn't felt since Elru, and in the kind of clothes Lan prefers there's absolutely no protection from the frigid flames. She's already starting to shiver when her sandals make first contact with the floor. "Ugh...!" All the Ether in the world might not be enough to defrost them if they were to be caught up in it.
She slips a hand underneath the hem of her top, fingers tracing the hidden outline of the medium kept safe against her ribs. Moor Gault's flame isnt as familiar to her as Rigdobrite's shimmer, but the temperature of the room rises by a scant few degrees as Lan channels the Flame Guardian's power.
And then, while the going's still good, she grabs for Loren's wrist and drags him along with her, long legs eating up the distance as she runs for the dubious safety of 'not here'. "You come on!"
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The House of Frozen Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Leah, of course, would know nothing about someone dead remaining behind to assist those she knew in life. Nothing at all.
There's something to be said for growing pains; for difficult experiences that are nevertheless necessary. ...But Leah doesn't actually say it.
Instead, she regards Loren for a few moments after he looks away, and then sees nothing. ...Hearing something that turns out to be nothing is hardly unusual, of course.
The bodyguard's confirmation brings a pleasant smile from Leah. She then pushes through the door, effortlessly.
In the darkness, a chill comes... but Leah is not the first to notice it. Her steps have remained evenly uneven, simple, and she does not worry overmuch to the light. But her first clue about the chill?
...Ice has collected on her hands, forming a visible layer of frost all the way up to her elbows before she appears to notice that anything has changed about her at all. With a glance down, she flexes her artificial fingers, and there's a crack as the forming ice shatters. "...No," Leah agrees. "It is not."
Leah's breath mists; her lips are faintly discolored. The chill of the grave holds no terror for the Watcher, who feels the energy of Loren's Ether seep into her living tissue as surely as she feels the heat of Myyah's flames. Nevertheless, her steps are difficult; each one seems to have to break newly-formed ice along cold artificial limbs, each movement causing audible cracks in motion.
"This is inconvenient," she remarks, and she is perhaps too pale. She keeps moving, slower than the rest but with no signs of stopping. It's fine.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The House of Frozen Flame.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The House of Frozen Flame *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The first sign that something has gone terribly wrong is the cold. The moisture in your breath freezes into glittering diamond dust not even inches from your face. Frost creeps across the murals and stonework. The warmth seems to have been sucked out of the world. As you enter the next room, onto a platform of interlaced steel grating limned with frost, the source of this unnatural cold becomes obvious. Below, great, blue-grey flames fill the chamber, billowing out from the abyss. They seem to consume heat rather than emit it, and pillars of the stuff periodically blast up through the grating under your feet, flash-freezing the area around them. To reach the end, to make progress, you will need to brave this anti-furnace and reach the other side without succumbing to the killing cold. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 2 *>=============== ====================< Results - The House of Frozen Flame >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 0 --(7)--> 7 Pass Ether Amplifier 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Fright(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The Gebler forces (and friend) bring flame to bear against the ancient chill of the Necropolis. It's enough to keep them from freezing in place, but not much more than that; it is a decidedly chilled group that stumbles its way into the opposing hallway.
Myyah, for her part, is wishing she had chosen a higher-grade, thermal pantyhose on this particular occasion; she tugs them hem of her dress down and starts blowing into her hands. Phew.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>======================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - The House of Stalking Beasts *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ Drifters familiar with the badlands of Ignas are no strangers to the dangers posed by hungry predators. However difficult it may be to imagine such creatures surviving down in a place like this, there's no mistaking that mixture of anxiety, anticipation and trepidation that come with the sensation of being watched. And yet, as you enter this chamber decorated with countless beasts both foreign and familiar, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the source of that feeling actually is. And then you look up. Something bright-eyed with great gleaming fangs pounces down from the rafters. Its fur is ashen and decorated with a mosaic of black spots. Golden eyes glimmer around slitted pupils lit by blue-grey flames. It's a predatory cat-- some kind of jaguar-- animated and sustained by the power still humming within this place. There are dozens of them, a legion of jungle cats armed with bone-chilling claws and skull-crushing jaws, all hungry for their next meal. What they're doing under a desert is anyone's guess. Perhaps Ignas was not always so desolate, years ago...? =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
'Any freezer you can walk away from'? ...No, even Lan knows that isn't really a proverb.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh," she groans, finally letting Loren's hand go in order to scrub at her bare upper arms. The detached sleeves of her new clothes are nowhere near thick enough to actually provide any warmth. "Is everybody okay? Miss Myyah? Leah?"
There's a warm scent to the room, something ...furry. Like a cat curled up on someone's lap, or stretched out in a sunbeam, or--
CLANG
--or a pale-furred jaguar springing from the shadows to close its deadly jaws around one of Leah Sadalbari's arms. The brand-new look of regret on its face is perhaps a little too close to human. It gnaws once, tugging at the limb, just in case the crunchy bits are actually armor that hides delicious tasty meat.
...Nope.
All around them, a dozen pairs of flame-gold-ice-blue eyes burn in the darkness just beyond their torches.
Lan raises her torch high and brings it down on the beast's withers, sparks scattering across the stone floor and singing the creature's whiskers. "SHOO!"
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The House of Stalking Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Myyah's reaction to, y'know, a jaguar suddenly pouncing on one of her companions is to scream in surprise. Because, honestly - who the hell expects to get attacked by a jaguar down in an ancient Baskar cave?
Her bodyguard, however, is more interested in the other ones he can only see because of the reflection of their eyes. "Flashbang!" he calls out, voice crackling through the built-in helmet communicator; a second later, a pair of metallic grenades clatter their way across the stone floor, toward the lurking jaguars. Three seconds after that, they erupt in bursts of brilliant white light and deafening sound.
The bodyguard, protected by the flare and noise compensators built into his helmet, drops to one knee and begins firing in short, controlled three-round bursts.
DG: Kahran Ramses has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The House of Stalking Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"I'm fine," Leah says, despite the fact that she looks frozen-over and her limbs still have a coating of ice. She pauses in place, though, hearing something...
CLANG.
Leah does not jump. She does not jerk away. She doesn't really seem to do anything at first except to look down, point her face towards the jaguar, and stand in place. Her arm is bitten mercilessly, but it's not as if she feels it, beyond the tug on her shoulder of its weight. Whatever she would have said, however, is cut off by Myyah's scream, and by Lan swinging down her torch.
She closes her eye when the bodyguard throws his flashbang, and in the bright of Lan's torch once that glare fades the metal and fiber of her mechanical arm are now exposed. They are entirely visible... before she abrubtly moves, bringing down the butt of her spear to the ground and bending at the knee. With a sudden pulse of Wind Ether, Leah leaps up into the air, whirling spear in place and slamming straight down into the mass of jaguars, aiming to crush one outright with her sheer weight.
"I don't think they like us," she remarks distantly, before whirling to hack with her spearhead against a set of them.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The House of Stalking Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That was...
...Perhaps less than good. He has his arms wrapped tightly across his chest -- well, an arm, thanks to Lan rather determinedly holding his hand by the wrist (he'll take that away from her the moment he has the opportunity -- once they emerge and shudders involuntarily once.
If he were more certain about what they have facing them, he might have here used a pulse of Ether to warm up their respective flesh. So instead he's gone for the contents of his kit--
Which is precisely where his hand is when Myyah lets out a scream.
And as he lifts his head to take in the tableau of Leah, with a jaguar attached to one arm, Lan, swinging a torch at another.
Oh, and the whole host of feline eyes cracking open from the shadows about them.
"These can't be real cats!" A pause, wherein he drags out a tool usually used to snip ribs free from his kit. "...right?"
There might be time for the intended use of his kit in a moment or two.
For right now, Loren is in fact taking a swing at an incoming jaguar with a heavy steel surgical tool.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, The House of Stalking Beasts.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The House of Stalking Beasts *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Drifters familiar with the badlands of Ignas are no strangers to the dangers posed by hungry predators. However difficult it may be to imagine such creatures surviving down in a place like this, there's no mistaking that mixture of anxiety, anticipation and trepidation that come with the sensation of being watched. And yet, as you enter this chamber decorated with countless beasts both foreign and familiar, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the source of that feeling actually is. And then you look up. Something bright-eyed with great gleaming fangs pounces down from the rafters. Its fur is ashen and decorated with a mosaic of black spots. Golden eyes glimmer around slitted pupils lit by blue-grey flames. It's a predatory cat-- some kind of jaguar-- animated and sustained by the power still humming within this place. There are dozens of them, a legion of jungle cats armed with bone-chilling claws and skull-crushing jaws, all hungry for their next meal. What they're doing under a desert is anyone's guess. Perhaps Ignas was not always so desolate, years ago...? =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 3 *>=============== ===================< Results - The House of Stalking Beasts >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 7 --(20)--> 27 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 12 --(15)--> 27 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Maim Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Cats that live in the darkness, no matter how real they may or may not be, turn out to not be huge fans of light. The ones not crushed by Leah or scorched by Lan are driven back by the guard's flashbang.
Lan, who had no idea what a flashbang even is (until... well, right now) yelps and covers her eyes against the brilliant glare. Loren is a little more successful - whatever the creatures are, they don't seem particularly well-equipped to deal with heavy-duty surgical tools. Loren receives a spray of something that isn't really blood for his trouble, and Lan grabbing half-blindly for his hand. "They're here to guard the bodies! Let's just go, okay?!"
She squints at the blurry outline of Myyah and Leah (the bodyguard is a large, neckless mass) and wills the exit to magically appear before her.
It doesn't. It's still over there, on the wall.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leap of Faith *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You emerge from the winding, claustrophobic maze of corridors to emerge over an immense chasm. It seems as though there used to be a bridge connecting one end of this chamber to the other, but a recent cave-in seems to have caused it to collapse towards the center. Now, rather than a simple, singular path forward, you will need to navigate islands of questionably stable footing overtop a yawning void. At least this pit shouldn't be bottomless, what with the recent cave-in... Right? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"They're really enough," Leah remarks, and she does so more calmly than is entirely reasonable. But then, she's been especially calm today in any case. It's not as if she can simply stay here forever--sooner or later they're going to bite something important. ...Unless they get moving before the others get back.
"I think you're right," Leah says to Lan, and looks to the exit. The former Major steps forward and then swings down to the ground, knocking a bit of debris out of the path and clearing a better way through.
...Unfortunately the lingering ice made her a little more brittle; she'll need repairs, when they're out of this.
"This way," Leah remarks, nodding to the exit, and steps forward towards it. In short time, they are able to make their way into a gigantic chamber... with a great chasm across the end. Leah frowns over it, looking it over with some thought. "Hmm..."
Stable footing, terrible options...
"...If you fall," Leah says to the two who don't have a bodyguard, "I'll catch you. best to get moving."
And indeed she will; there's a click as Leah snaps her fingers, and there's a hum of energy about her. She does not leap for the next platform so much as fall sideways towards it.
The platforming level awaits.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Gravity Module toward her party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Myyah, for her part, regards the platforming level with mounting skepticism. She looks down at her standard-issue uniform skirt and boots with heels. Her mouth purses in a slight moue of distate. "Well," she says, then turns toward the bodyguard and extends her arms. The big man slings his carbine across his back and then steps forward, picking up the purple-haired officer in both arms.
There is a moment or two while the pair settle themselves, and then the big man takes a pair of quick strides and then leaps toward the next platform. He lands, knees flexing with the extra weight, and then hops toward the next one; a stream of high-pressure air flows out from a small canister affixed to the small of the big guard's back, giving him a little bit extra thrust to help with the larger gap.
DG: Kahran Ramses has used his Tool Afterburners toward his party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The surgical tool slams into the great 'cat' twice before Lan intervenes, grabbing for his free arm to haul him away. Something's splattered across his face, he realizes and touches a finger to it once he's stowed the surgical tool away.
...He doesn't, by touch, think it's blood.
It may be better not to know what it is.
"I don't think bodies need guarding," he mutters as they flee the strange jaguars and press into the room beyond.
What meets them is a yawning chasm.
Something -- dread? unease? -- skitters its way down his spinal column.
He remembers the last time.
"Is there another way?" he asks, digging in his bag for his light and once again flicking it on. It does little to reveal what is down in the depths. It's probably not bottomless though.
"...There isn't another way, is there."
If they fall, she'll catch them?
Perhaps Loren might find some relief that the darkness may hide the furiously embarrassed flush that burns its way across his face here and now. He's twenty, he's not some helpless...
"Right," though, is what he says.
Ether -- flickering here, like the flow of a spring down a cliffside -- pulses about him, lending him a portion of speed, honing his reflexes.
He takes a breath and... jumps for it.
For the sake of his pride, he'd better not miss this one--
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan, at least, seems optimistic about the idea of a jumping puzzle. What, she knows her strengths.
She watches Leah and Myyah (and her big burly muscle guy) begin the trip, rubbing the last of the stars from her vision. "Don't worry!" she calls after them. "It's probably fine!" After all, aren't they both very likely to be totally okay, no matter what happens? Some people must truly live charmed lives...
Lan channels her will through the silver ribbon in her hair, enough to activate the spell woven into the fabric.
Perhaps to Loren's disdain, she seems to have been waiting for him. She, too, remembers what happened last time. And that she had to go on alone to fight Wing while a foxy-looking Beastman ate an energy field bigger than his head.
Yeah no, Lan's not going to let that happen again if she can help it!!
With her own gravity halved, and halved again, she leaps from 'island' to 'island', floating like a leaf on the wind.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leap of Faith *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You emerge from the winding, claustrophobic maze of corridors to emerge over an immense chasm. It seems as though there used to be a bridge connecting one end of this chamber to the other, but a recent cave-in seems to have caused it to collapse towards the center. Now, rather than a simple, singular path forward, you will need to navigate islands of questionably stable footing overtop a yawning void. At least this pit shouldn't be bottomless, what with the recent cave-in... Right? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 4 *>=============== ==========================< Results - Leap of Faith >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 27 --(3)--> 30 Pass Afterburners 2 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 32 --(3)--> 35 Pass Gravity Module 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 27 --(8)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 32 --(3)--> 35 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"You wouldn't think they need guarding," Leah says to Loren, "But around here, a lot of people break into these tombs to take old belongings, even bones and other remnants. Not a reasonable archaeological survey, but just searching out whatever they can find to sell to others. It's a problem that they've worked for some time on solving."
Leah remembers the last time, too--falling. What was necessary.
"No. No other way."
Leah glances athead to Myyah and her bodyguard... and they all get moving.
The first pair does naturally well; nothing more than a close call. Lan, similarly, functions well with lightened gravity, hopping from platform to platform. Loren doesn't do badly at first, either--maybe he would have made it all the way across.
But when a platform starts to break under his foot, Leah sweeps back, falling towards it and then back upward again, this time with an arm around Loren.
"Up we go."
...In the end, they're all on the other side. It's still not very nice as a place.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Place of Fear *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It is difficult to describe what is so unsettling about this place. Perhaps it's the incessant and inescapable thrum of otherworldly essence that suffuses the air. Perhaps it is instead the grotesque murals that line the walls and seem to twist about when you stare for too long at what they depict, only to reappear again in memory the next time you close your eyes. Or perhaps it's the vague recollection that these are the halls of the dead, and you are foreigners here. Whatever the case, this place is a maze, a veritable labyrinth, and you seem to have found the thick of it. The path ahead becomes a mess of branching paths and awkward switchbacks that make it difficult to tell where you've come from and where you've yet to go. Passages shift and change, stone walls sliding into place where there were once open pathways. What more, the feeling of discomfort-- of primal fear-- seems to only build from its seat at the base of the mind. You feel the desperate need to escape, the notion that you are being pursued, that you don't belong, and the fear of being trapped in this maze forever, until eventually you have no choice but to join your new neighbours in their eternal repose. But you must keep a cool head, there must be a pattern to this, and only by deciphering it will you manage to escape this land of the dead. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Reckless========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I still don't understand why anyone would bother stealing bones," he mutters in response, before he takes the necessary preparatory steps to see himself across the first of the gap.
The good news is, he does fairly well.
The good news is, he almost makes it.
The bad news is, 'almost'.
A section of platform again crumbles away underfoot. It's possible he might have been able to right himself.
He never gets to find that out for sure.
"I'm-- I can take care of myself," he hisses to her, just above a whisper, once he's back on solid ground.
Now that he has the benefit of being on solid ground again, that is.
Perhaps that might be behind his rather sudden avance into the portal that awaits them.
The one that, once they're within it... he realizes that a grave mistake has been made. "This... it's this again," he utters upon sighting a stone-tile mural of a leering stylized skull, trying to round back around the bend he'd headed in from.
It's no longer there.
Slowly he cranes his head back to look over his shoulder once more.
The mural has changed. Not a skull now. A hideous, bat-faced monstrosity, teeth stained a lurid red. And he'd really done little more than turn his back on it.
"Okay." Loren takes a breath. "Okay. Okay." Another breath.
He reaches into his bag and draws out the remaining half-a-bar from earlier.
"Okay. This is a maze. If we can work our way out, we should be fine."
He begins to shred the bar into pieces, scattering crumbs as he turns back into the depths of the maze once more.
They should be fine. Everything is going to be fine.
All the while, the atmosphere within the maze unfolds its tendrils and does its level best to choke the spirit.
Walls that were. Walls that are now.
Shadows.
An inconsistent dull thumping sound, as if something heavy were slowly being dragged.
Murals.
Many of them.
The torture of the maze has only just begun.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, The Place of Fear.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Myyah watches Loren issues his commands, an odd expression on her face as he crumbles the soylent bar into small chunks. A faint smile haunts the corners of her mouth as she follows him. "It should be golden thread, really," she asides to the guard, who tilts his head quizzically. Myyah's smile deepens. "Never mind," she whispers, bootheels clicking as she follows.
DG: Kahran Ramses has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Place of Fear.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Why would people steal from graves, Loren asks. She'd said it before, the last time they were here. That thieves came to take the things her people had left with their dead, to loot and steal and sell and then probably do it all over again.
She never hears about it happening to the graves of white people. Isn't that unfair...?
Or maybe she should just be happy for the people who will never be stolen from. It's not like most of them are like that. Just some.
So she stays quiet, because it's not like Loren would really understand.
Besides, they're back at the maze. Lan already dislikes this place, but knowing what lies at one of its ends is even worse. Those holes...
She just hopes they don't find those again.
Drawing the paper from her pocket again, Lan checks it for Surprise Skulls (all gone, whew) and begins to fold and refold it. Don't think about the murals. Don't think about the fear.
Don't think about the hungry walls, or the way it seemed like the catacombs demanded the blood of a living Baskar to appease their hunger. "...I think it's this way," she says at last.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, The Place of Fear.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"But I'm here," Leah answers Loren's hissed statement. It should say itself that it means he doesn't entirely have to. ...Maybe it doesn't.
She doesn't answer about the bones after all. instead, she looks to the murals, to the mazes... And stares with little reaction to them at all. Again there's a faint click, as one of her internal systems shifts to life. She doesn't look for food; she doesn't shed crumbs.
Golden thread or not, Leah keeps walking; her apparent cheer from earlier has largely faded. She shows no fear, though. She doesn't show much of anything, save the occasional statement of which direction is best. The hungry walls, the stench of death everywhere...
What horror does a tomb hold for the walking dead?
"This way," Leah says again, and continues walking.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Hidden Eye toward her party's challenge, The Place of Fear.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Place of Fear *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It is difficult to describe what is so unsettling about this place. Perhaps it's the incessant and inescapable thrum of otherworldly essence that suffuses the air. Perhaps it is instead the grotesque murals that line the walls and seem to twist about when you stare for too long at what they depict, only to reappear again in memory the next time you close your eyes. Or perhaps it's the vague recollection that these are the halls of the dead, and you are foreigners here. Whatever the case, this place is a maze, a veritable labyrinth, and you seem to have found the thick of it. The path ahead becomes a mess of branching paths and awkward switchbacks that make it difficult to tell where you've come from and where you've yet to go. Passages shift and change, stone walls sliding into place where there were once open pathways. What more, the feeling of discomfort-- of primal fear-- seems to only build from its seat at the base of the mind. You feel the desperate need to escape, the notion that you are being pursued, that you don't belong, and the fear of being trapped in this maze forever, until eventually you have no choice but to join your new neighbours in their eternal repose. But you must keep a cool head, there must be a pattern to this, and only by deciphering it will you manage to escape this land of the dead. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Reckless========================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 5 *>=============== ========================< Results - The Place of Fear >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 30 --(18)--> 48 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 35 --(3)--> 38 Pass Hidden Eye 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 35 --(3)--> 38 Pass Soylent Nutribar 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 35 --(3)--> 38 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Reckless(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
His only response to that, from Leah, is to make a muted noise of irritation. He can't protest much, given her rank, given her everything but...
More twisted murals mark their passage the further they press into the maze. An unsettling air clings, here.
But.
There are no skulls in Lan's paper. Either before she folds it, or after she uses it. Just the normal symbols she had placed before.
North, the paper urges. East. North, again.
The walls might shift and slide about, but the paper guides her true.
"Not that way," Loren says, after a moment more of walking. He can see the crumbs he'd left behind -- no doubt turning left (if the paper had even suggested they bear in that direction) -- would bring them to an ill-fortuned turn back where they'd started.
The dull sound proceeds, irregular as always. The grave whispers to Leah Sadalbari. She strides on, paying it no heed. Her gaze shows her the way.
And in the end, the exit to the maze. A moment now, perhaps, to take a breath, under the watchful gaze of Myyah's guard.
Before they venture on.
DG: Kahran Ramses has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Old Black Water *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- In some myths, the land of the living is separated from that of the dead by a great, flowing river. To get from one bank to the other, a price must be paid to the ferryman to ensure your safe passage. At first glance, this seems to be quite similar. You enter into a vast, valuted cavern. The gentle susurrus filling the air is reminiscent of gently flowing water, and a rowboat full of oars is clearly moored at a nearby dock, floating over a glittering, dark river which seems to go on forever in either direction. The opposite bank is marked in the distance by a dim, blue-grey torch. But on closer inspection, the river does not appear to be a river at all. Or at least, it's not one made of water. Scorpions. This is a river of countless glossy, black scorpions. Crossing will mean braving the swarm aboard a rickety hull of indeterminate but surely ancient age. Working the oars will take great strength and even greater skill, if you don't want to accidentally scoop a scorpion onboard. Whatever you do, don't fall in. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Venture on they do; the exit opens up into an enormous cavern, one so large that the walls and ceiling vanish into the shadows long before the party's light sources can reach them. Eldritch flames burn on the far bank of a dark, roiling river... or perhaps an island? From this far away, it is difficult to tell. Myyah approaches the edge, preparing to hop immediately into the boat.
She sees the scorpions, and stops, her face going white.
Red and purple colours flash across the young woman's face, after which she lifts her left arm, arcing her wrist elegantly. Fingers splay and widen, and a crystalline-silvery bracelet standins out on her wrist. The seemingly simple accessory is similar to one which Commander Ramses has been seen wearing on several occasions, and Myyah puts it to much the same use. Ether surges and then blasts outward, giant gouts of flame rippling forward into the river.
"Not only no but HELL no," Myyah says with more heat (literal and figurative) that anyone has ever seen her put out, as she barbeques scorpions by the thousands. She makes no move toward the boat, and her guardsman is hanging several steps back.
DG: Kahran Ramses has used his Tool Ether Amplifier toward his party's challenge, Old Black Water.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"A river?"
Loren's assessment of what awaits them is a simple one. Until, of course, he catches sight of some of the 'river' twitching and scuttling as a choice bit of light falls upon the obstacle before them, perhaps at about the same time Myyah does. He stands there for the moment, stock still and staring. Slowly, he draws in a breath.
"...Lieutenant Commander. Ma'am. Er. I don't think we have a choice, unless we'd like to turn around."
With that bit of unpleasantness out of the way, he takes a step towards the boat and... gets in.
This is just going to be how it ends up going, he's figured, taking position at the seat with the oars. With any luck, he won't fall in. ...They don't seem to be happy scorpions right now. "If you would rather stay here, we can go on ahead."
At least he hopes it's a 'we' and not an 'I', in this case.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Old Black Water.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan sighs and pockets her fortune-telling paper, the tension draining almost noticeably from the set of her spine as they finally find their way out of the maze. She's so glad she made this thing...! Between it and the miracle of cardboard-flavored paste jerky, they're saved.
In fact, this room seems almost peaceful. The black river is a little strange, though, and Lan steps closer to the edge and the rickety-looking boat. She wonders what kind of minerals must be present, to cause that kind... of... color...
Myyah may have the only real answer that's worth saying out loud. Lan sure doesn't seem to have anything to say about the river of freaking scorpions, but the way her face goes a little bit ashen at the realization of just what the river is makes her feelings plain.
Honestly, fire is probably the only real recourse here. She pulls the medium out of her top, holding it in a white-knuckled grip as she stares out across the sea of deadly bugs. "Huh..." Wait, is he seriously getting in the boat?!
"..."
Almost guiltily, Lan glances back at Myyah and Leah before gingerly climbing aboard.
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Old Black Water.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Leah does not feel much relief on the way out. She doesn't feel a lot of anything, really. But when they open the cavern, Leah looks on and forward, considering...
But it doesn't feel quite right. When Myyah stops, Leah looks down, and to her senses, it suddenly makes sense; she sensed no water because there isn't water.
She steps forward and stops somewhat behind Myyah at first, watching her throw enough fire that the one-eyed woman actually feels herself starting to sweat. This is a rare treat, to see Myyah in this particular state. "That's fair," the blue-haired woman remarks. She watches, a little longer... until Loren actually gets in the boat.
"Brave, isn't he? It's nice to see the next generation so hard at work." ...Is she teasing? She might be.
For her part, Leah steps up beside Myyah and, gamely, puts out a hand. A lesser degree that is nonetheless significant of lightning joins the fire, crackling into the scorpions helpfully, though hers is directed mostly to the path towards the boat. She lets herself keep at this for a few more moments.
If anything, Leah looks impressed... But in truth she's considering the best way to get across without breaking the boat. In the end, there is only one method she can use:
Dropping the lightning, Leah makes a bridge of ice towards the boat, and steps gently inside. ...had she jumped, she'd probably have put a hole in it.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Old Black Water.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Old Black Water *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- In some myths, the land of the living is separated from that of the dead by a great, flowing river. To get from one bank to the other, a price must be paid to the ferryman to ensure your safe passage. At first glance, this seems to be quite similar. You enter into a vast, valuted cavern. The gentle susurrus filling the air is reminiscent of gently flowing water, and a rowboat full of oars is clearly moored at a nearby dock, floating over a glittering, dark river which seems to go on forever in either direction. The opposite bank is marked in the distance by a dim, blue-grey torch. But on closer inspection, the river does not appear to be a river at all. Or at least, it's not one made of water. Scorpions. This is a river of countless glossy, black scorpions. Crossing will mean braving the swarm aboard a rickety hull of indeterminate but surely ancient age. Working the oars will take great strength and even greater skill, if you don't want to accidentally scoop a scorpion onboard. Whatever you do, don't fall in. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 6 *>=============== =========================< Results - Old Black Water >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 48 --(0)--> 48 Pass Ether Amplifier 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 38 --(0)--> 38 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 38 --(0)--> 38 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 38 --(0)--> 38 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
The bodyguard stands there, awkwardly, while Myyah continues to charbroil scorpions. There are, however, waaaaaay more scorpions than Myyah has Ether power, so after a solid 20 seconds or so (by which time Leah's bridge of ice has provided everyone with a safe way to get aboard), the purple-haired woman relents, puffing heavily as she stares at the writhing insectoid mass. Myyah grimaces, takes a second to adjust her uniform, and then walks across the bridge toward the boat.
The bodyguard also climbs aboard at this point, taking a seat opposite Loren and picking up the other set of oars. He's a pretty big dude, so at least the poor medic will have some help. And as an added bonus, Leah and Myyah's effort seems to have discouraged the most adventurous scorpions, promising the party a smooth ride.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>======================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Trial of the Sun and Moon *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------ Shortly after landing, you find a paved, torchlit walkway stretching out into the murky distance. The stone beneath your feet is ancient but scarcely worn, and seems to go on for far too long. The walk is long, quiet and solemn. The one mercy is that every few feet of progress sees a pair of torches ignite at either side of the passageway. Their light is welcome, but ominous as well; in the dark, you can just barely make out enormous, pyramidal structures all around you. It's as if you have found nothing less than an underground city here in the bowels of the world. Soon, guided by the ghostly lights, the stone walkway soon passes beneath a massive archway-- No, a gate...! Just as the last of your party crosses over, stone pillars rise out of the ground to cut off your escape. All at once, unearthly flames and will-o-wisps burst to life, filling the chamber with that strange blue-gray light...! You find yourself in a rectangular courtyard, divided down the middle by a line of bone-white tile. Stone pillars stand at either side, each adorned with a single narrow ring suspended several meters into the air. Each of the rings is decorated either with solar rays or a lunar crescent, and burst into vermilion and azure flame respectively. All around the court, seats and benches are arranged like some otherworldly stadium. As you gawk at your surroundings, the stands quickly begin to fill with the spirits of the sacred dead. A cheering, jeering crowd, all alight in blue and all eagerly looking forward to the main event. Then, on the other side of the court, a number of blue-gray spirits wink into being. There's one for each member of your party, and each wears ceremonial attire. Elaborate body-paint, animal skins, battle-masks and long quetzal feathers abound. Your own group is suddenly adorned with light, orange flames seeming to dance harmlessly over your skin and clothes. A dark figure, gaunt woven entirely of shadows, rises from the center of the court. It raises one hand into the air, as intuitive knowledge of the rules of the game enter into your minds... And as it swings down- the universal signal for GAME ON- it hurls a hefty rubber ball right into the air and promptly disappears from view. It appears to be... game time. The rules are simple. Only the hips are allowed to make contact with the ball. Fail to return the ball, and the other team wins a point. Get enough points-- or manage to strike the ball through one of the hoops-- and victory is yours. Do you have what it takes to win...!? =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Scorpions. Why did it have to be scorpions...?!
It's not that Lan has anything against scorpions in particular, it's just that RIVERS SHOULD BE MADE OF WATER! WHAT THE HELL, ANCESTORS?!
She, of course, helps row as best she can. Lan isn't particularly strong, but she's got spirit! And a layman's understanding of how rowboats work! "...I kind of wanted to set them on fire too," she admits to nobody in particular as they leave the boat, Lan all too happy to leap right out of the rickety craft and onto precious, precious 'dry land'. "But I guess you can't burn everything."
The long trip down the hallway is much calmer in comparison. There are even torches and everything!
But as they step out onto the playing field, Lan's returning sense of cheer is dulled by the sight of a ghostly audience appearing - one that seems more than hungry for a good show. This place is...
The shaman tugs her ribbon out of her hair, her long braid unraveling as she ties it around her forehead like a bandanna instead. "Okay. Well... let's do our best!"
And as the ball is released, she's already leaping for it, silver tails of energy glittering in her wake as Lan bends it like Beckham. "HA!!"
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Trial of the Sun and Moon.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren is stronger than he might look.
...But he still doesn't hold a candle to the armored soldier present. He in fact has the distinct impression that the man (he... assumes?) would be able to row the lot of them in the boat without any input from him at all. It's not a very (for the sake of his already wounded pride) pleasant conclusion to come to.
"Generally speaking," Loren comments to Lan, and dryly at that, "setting everything on fire tends to end poorly."
He's a pace behind her as they proceed down the hallway.
The depths of which he is given good reason to pause. To very pointedly pause, trying to work out what part of this is hallucination and what part is actually definitely happening. To glance over at Lan as she appears to take this all in stride. Like she knows how this is--
Wait. He knows how to play this game, too? ...
He then glances over at Leah. At the LtC. At the armored guard.
"We're really doing this," he says, flatly.
Ether pulses about him, drawing in the speed of the raging rapids; he sheds a fraction of it outward, unfolding its power. Maybe it'll be enough.
"...Fine," is his ultimate statement on the matter. "Let's do this."
And then it's game on.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Trial of the Sun and Moon.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Leah, naturally, doesn't help. She has two mechanical arms of great strength, and leverages neither of them to handle the rowing. The men have it covered just fine, and besides; this way she can be on the lookout for any obstacles and get them out of the way.
...Here, though. Here, at the strange playing field, Leah glances around, lifting one eyebrow as the apparations come. "...All right," Leah murmurs, and thinks back to similar games, in more innocent times. The rules are different, of course...
There's a click as Leah activates the module on her person, and she whirls into motion. She does not so much jump as she begins to fall in different directions. She is not at all afraid to body check a ghost.
Oh yeah, this is happening.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Gravity Module toward her party's challenge, Trial of the Sun and Moon.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.
Myyah Hawwa is drafted into Mesoamerican Space Jam, and she is mildly unhappy about it. "This is..." she sputters, frowning as the rules unfurl themselves in her mind. "These rules are stupid," she declares, turning toward the bodyguard, who is reaching up to work at the chinstrap of his helmet. "This is nonsense - what kind of stupid sport only lets you use your hips!?"
"And yet," the big man replies, tossing his helmet to the dirt floor of the arena, "Of all of us here, you are the best equipped for the challenge."
Kahran Ramses has looked better, all things considered. His hair (most of which was burned away by Siegfried's assault) has been cropped down to half-inch-long buzz cut through which a paint burn scar can be seen high on his forehead. A thick gauze bandage covers his left eye, and the right is underlined by dark shadows. And with his identity revealed and thus available for comparison, it is clear that he's lost at least a dozen pounds of weight, if not more. And yet his one visible eye twinkles with merriment as Myyah folds her arms beneath her breasts, puffing a stray forelock out of her face with an irritated breath.
Ramses laughs aloud. "A favour for good luck?" he asks.
"Does a slap count?"
"Not the touch I was expecting," Ramses admits. However..." With that single word spoken, the Gebler commander channels Ether, stealing speed from the winds around him, flashing through the air in a rapid rush. He flickers back into sight, a dozen feet in the air, his body arched away from the opposing goal. His single eye tracks down to Loren, watching, waiting for the pass, ready to blast the ball with all his might.
His left cheek quivers with anticipation.
DG: Kahran Ramses has used his Tool Afterburners toward his party's challenge, Trial of the Sun and Moon.
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Trial of the Sun and Moon *>=================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Shortly after landing, you find a paved, torchlit walkway stretching out into the murky distance. The stone beneath your feet is ancient but scarcely worn, and seems to go on for far too long. The walk is long, quiet and solemn. The one mercy is that every few feet of progress sees a pair of torches ignite at either side of the passageway. Their light is welcome, but ominous as well; in the dark, you can just barely make out enormous, pyramidal structures all around you. It's as if you have found nothing less than an underground city here in the bowels of the world. Soon, guided by the ghostly lights, the stone walkway soon passes beneath a massive archway-- No, a gate...! Just as the last of your party crosses over, stone pillars rise out of the ground to cut off your escape. All at once, unearthly flames and will-o-wisps burst to life, filling the chamber with that strange blue-gray light...! You find yourself in a rectangular courtyard, divided down the middle by a line of bone-white tile. Stone pillars stand at either side, each adorned with a single narrow ring suspended several meters into the air. Each of the rings is decorated either with solar rays or a lunar crescent, and burst into vermilion and azure flame respectively. All around the court, seats and benches are arranged like some otherworldly stadium. As you gawk at your surroundings, the stands quickly begin to fill with the spirits of the sacred dead. A cheering, jeering crowd, all alight in blue and all eagerly looking forward to the main event. Then, on the other side of the court, a number of blue-gray spirits wink into being. There's one for each member of your party, and each wears ceremonial attire. Elaborate body-paint, animal skins, battle-masks and long quetzal feathers abound. Your own group is suddenly adorned with light, orange flames seeming to dance harmlessly over your skin and clothes. A dark figure, gaunt woven entirely of shadows, rises from the center of the court. It raises one hand into the air, as intuitive knowledge of the rules of the game enter into your minds... And as it swings down- the universal signal for GAME ON- it hurls a hefty rubber ball right into the air and promptly disappears from view. It appears to be... game time. The rules are simple. Only the hips are allowed to make contact with the ball. Fail to return the ball, and the other team wins a point. Get enough points-- or manage to strike the ball through one of the hoops-- and victory is yours. Do you have what it takes to win...!? =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
===============<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual - Round 7 *>=============== ====================< Results - Trial of the Sun and Moon >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kahran Ramses 48 --(3)--> 51 Pass Afterburners 2 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 38 --(3)--> 41 Pass Gravity Module 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 38 --(3)--> 41 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 38 --(3)--> 41 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual!
====================<* Xibalba - Necropolis of the Nahual *>==================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Resplendent Plume *>======================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As the audience begins to cheer your victory over your erstwhile foes, their jubilation seems to disturb something lurking in the shadows of the arena's vaulted ceiling. Great wingbeats fill the air before disappearing into the distance... But not without first leaving something behind. Beautiful, iridescent feathers flutter down toward the arena like confetti. A scant few are larger than the others, with a long and sturdy quill and particularly colorful, though predominantly emerald or jade-colored patterns. They're like jewels in the form of feathers, and the thought of a quick profit briefly flits across your mind before you notice the strange wind patterns swirling around each of the plumes. These are the shed flight-feathers of a mythical quetzal, and have been imbued with some of their previous owner's power over the crest-element of wing. Just holding one of these makes you feel light on your feet. A remarkable find! (These quetzal feathers can be purchased as an agility tool! By channeling the power within a plume, you can effectively jump a second time in mid-air, allowing for more controlled acrobatic feats. You've found a double-jump item!) =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
For all that the game is odd, and the consequences of winning or losing don't seem to be spelled out all that well... the forces of Gebler and their erstwhile plus-one didn't make it this long by not being good at ridiculous challenges.
Also the fact that at least three of them are sorta-cheating doesn't help their chances.
But they win, and with victory comes a feeling of elation. "Yeah!" Lan cheers as the appeased spirits begin to shuffle out of the stadium, disappearing one by one into nothingness before they ever get to the 'exits'. "I can't believe it, did you see Leah--" she continues to yammer, as if none of them were actually here for the game they just won.
A great rush of wind sends feathers scattering, the Baskar maiden trailing off in mid-sentence to stare up. "...?"
It's beautiful. Maybe even beautiful enough to have been worth the scorpions.