2019-01-19: Breams Come True
- Log: Breams Come True
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Lunata Croze, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Ruins of Memory
- Date: January 19, 2019
- Summary: A bream presents itself...! Unfortunately for it -- and the dishes that come along with it -- it has crossed paths with Fei, Lunata, and Josie.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Bream Chasers. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== =======<* CHALLENGE - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality *>======= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It all started a short while ago, while you and your party traversed as you often do, and went about your day. What was to be an ordinary day quickly became bizarre when the sight of a red light shone across the skies -- along with the screams of nearby travelers and villagers shouting that it might be a monster. Make no mistake. There is Evil afoot here. It just so happens to be an Evil unconquerable through martial or sorcerous prowess -- rather, it is an evil that must be conquered through gastronomic keenness. Do you dare... chase after your Breams? When you finally catch up with the red monstrosity, you discover that there is a gigantic ruby-red sea bream roughly 12 foot in length. It charges at you, seeking to crush you with its sheer oceanic might!! The battle is fierce, and draining; curiously, an aura about the bream seems to promote hunger and thirst, depriving one of sustenance. By the time the mysterious ruby-red bream is brought down, it settles before your party, delicate flakes of firm whitefish flesh cascaded in bias upon a bed of romaine lettuce contrast with arugula. Garnished with slices of lemon, with a dangerous pale-red bhut jolokia sauce... an extremely potent and piquant pain that will require great strength of self to overcome. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It had been a normal day.
About as normal as it gets for a trio of Drifters of varyingly problematic bents, that is -- but fortunately for all and sundry
the only thing they're getting up to today is an ARMs lesson.
Of a sort. Lunata's approach is best described as 'eclectic' and Josie's own is likely earning the subtitle of 'unorthodox'. And while Fei's not really the gun-type at all...
Well, hopefully he's getting something out of this other than 'setting up targets' and 'watching'.
It's fairly peaceful, all considering current company and activities.
Until, well, it isn't. A burning red light tears across the sky--
So naturally they've all gone after it.
This brings matters up to now, as the three of them face off against a terrible burning sea bream, tinted red from head to tail. It's enormous and refuses to go down without a fight.
So naturally, that's precisely what it's in the process of giving them. Gunshots, chi blasts, and a sword-and-shotgun combo echo out into the night, until finally...
finally...
The evil is defeated.
And is laid out before them in an incongruous spread of carefully-cut fish flesh.
Josie's seen many a strange thing in her life, and particularly so of late.
She still scratches her head where this one is concerned. Crouching down before the mighty meal, she takes a closer look.
"'Self-cooking', huh."
Before she picks up a piece of it, sniffs at it, and takes a bite.
"Tastes fine. You know what they say, don't look a gift fish in the mouth~"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
From the first day Josephine gave her the Zeldukes shotgun (Zeldukes is in Heav] to this date, Lunata's learnt some classical gunslinging techniques. What gunslinging techniques, do you ask? Gunslinging techniques like those only with an eagle's eye and a fast draw of the Ignasian west could perform, such as:
* Charging into point blank to shoot your gun to the enemy's face
* Using your shotgun's recoil to double jump
* Smacking people upside the chin with the barrel
* Tearing it into two so that you can shoot at two people at once--
"... and that's why there's tarp all over it," Lunata points out as she levels the now significantly more Kingdom Hearts-y Zeldukes, which indeed looks to have been ripped at the middle to form two single-barreled shotguns.
...
Logic is more of a suggestion for this cub, maybe.
...
"... I can't believe there's still some of these left. I thought we got them all," Lunata mumbles. "I guess evil deeds really do catch up to you...."
A pause, as she kneels and looks to Fei. "How spicy do you like your food, Mister Fei? This one's quite a burner..."
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei peeks over Josie towards the ultimate super death bream. "...Huh." He says. "You don't see that every day." Fei is not really the gun-type, true, but he does have a gun. Which he doesn't draw. Because he's not really a gun guy. When you can shoot energy bullets out of your hand, the gun can seem superfluous sometimes quite frankly.
"Ah," He tells Lunata, rubbing his neck with one hand. "Well, to be honest, I wouldn't say I'm the sort of person that needs it spicy to enjoy it, but I'm not one to quail before a challenge either."
He punches his hand into his fist. "So lets do it. Lets get...breamerous."
He flashes out a hand to the side dramatically, a fork and knife slide into it and after seperating the two he gets to work.
"There is no end. Life finds a way." He adds.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"But this isn't quail," Josie can't help but comment, only temporarily straightfaced, before dissolving into giggles that prove that, really, she's the only one that finds her horrible puns funny.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== =======<* CHALLENGE - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality *>======= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It all started a short while ago, while you and your party traversed as you often do, and went about your day. What was to be an ordinary day quickly became bizarre when the sight of a red light shone across the skies -- along with the screams of nearby travelers and villagers shouting that it might be a monster. Make no mistake. There is Evil afoot here. It just so happens to be an Evil unconquerable through martial or sorcerous prowess -- rather, it is an evil that must be conquered through gastronomic keenness. Do you dare... chase after your Breams? When you finally catch up with the red monstrosity, you discover that there is a gigantic ruby-red sea bream roughly 12 foot in length. It charges at you, seeking to crush you with its sheer oceanic might!! The battle is fierce, and draining; curiously, an aura about the bream seems to promote hunger and thirst, depriving one of sustenance. By the time the mysterious ruby-red bream is brought down, it settles before your party, delicate flakes of firm whitefish flesh cascaded in bias upon a bed of romaine lettuce contrast with arugula. Garnished with slices of lemon, with a dangerous pale-red bhut jolokia sauce... an extremely potent and piquant pain that will require great strength of self to overcome. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 1 *>========================== =========< Results - Courage is the Magic that Makes Breams a Reality >========= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
As it happens, the bream is spicy as all get out, but:
Exhibit A: Fei, who spent considerable time eating at the Uzukis for a few years, to say nothing of a stint in the desert eating the cooking there and arguable having an iron stomach
Exhibit B: Josie, who has roamed around the Krosse/Aveh region for most of her adult life and is used to a spicy level of Yes
So Josie's assessment in the end as they polish off the fish is: "Hey, had a nice kick to it. I wonder if all those breams come that hot."
Hopefully Lunata is not currently on fire. That would be unfortunate.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Caravane Kinship *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ah, no. Not that one. The Caravane is a unique camel's milk cheese originating from the desert regions of Meribia, near the village of Larpa. The tale goes that this cheese is quite the rarity, owing to a copious amount needed amongst the camels of nomadic herdsmen, making it quite the noble delicacy indeed... With a brie-like appearance, with a distinctive white rind and softly melting, it is a true accompaniment to peppered cracker with pate. Quite the haute piece of culinary delicacy, perhaps requiring something of puissance and subtlety to truly enjoy. Enjoy this cheese today, with your kin, For with the caravane, you'll always win. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata concurs to Josie: "Not all of them... but definitely this one." There's, uh, a lit fire on her lips right now. She might want to dab that out before her flesh decays further.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Suddenly...after THAT battle...! There's another one! Oh no! Is this a CHAIN BATTLE???
It seems that way as a small group of monsters appear. These monsters take the form of a pair of crackers with googly olives for eyes speared through by a toothpick and some brie-like cheese between them!
Naturally after THAT battle, Fei is picking out toothpicks out of his body as he looks at what remains after the fight. It seems to be a plate of softly melting cheese (no doubt melting because of the chi blasts) and the crackkers have somehow been peppered with pate? The sprites didn't use that, did they? Nope.
Nevertheless, Fei says, "Oh hey Lunata! This might help cool your mouth down a bit? I mean, it's not hot at least... not too hot? not spicy."
He reaches into his artist's toolkit and takes a strangely shaped flat chisel of sorts and starts slicing the cheese into tiny tiny pieces.
"More snack than anything right? This is how I usually make Hob Gob steaks. By setting hob gobs on fire... but they're very delicious...ahh, but-- I don't want to offend anybody but I think they're...different than the hob gobs you uh..."
He trails off awkwardly.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Caravane Kinship.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Of course it's a boss rush, Fei. It's Xenogears, after all.
Lunata rubs her chin as she murmurs, "Ah, these things from Larpa... ... I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of miss Lunar... there was a lot to understand and learn there, coming from a food place..."
She takes a toothpick of chi-ese and Guided Shots it straight into her mouth on Fei's suggestion. There's a small explosion, but afterwards, the fire is gone.
Softly melted cheese... the luxurious flavour of brie with a delicately bitter rind...
"... nah, it's fine. The Gobs back at the Hideout know. Actually they've got a lot of history with the Hob Gobs, apparently there's this long lineage of succession and war and attrition... it's this really sordid tale of colonialism and imperialism back when Ignas was still dominated by the beastmen."
A pause.
"But, y'know, Hob Steaks are really tasty. Have you done them slow-braised before?" Lunata says. "Treat you two to pulled hob flank tacos sometime if not."
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Caravane Kinship.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Oh no!" Fei says, "Not at all! Usually I just ... ... flash fry it or grill it."
He is not a master chef.
He looks faintly pained by learning the dark secrets of Hob Gob lineage and history.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie arches a pale eyebrow.
"Hey, little bear. You've got a bit of a fire going on, looks like." She punctuates the statement with a gesture of her left hand around the mouth region.
Then she turns her head just in time to take in the slow ambling approach of those... creatures.
"Fish, then cheese? Looks like they've got a bit of a theme on," she comments, slowly standing once again. "Well then--"
A few bulletshots later and they have some particularly fine cheeses complete with fresh gunshot wounds.
"I sort of want to say this is the strangest thing I've ever seen, but honestly," Josie says, drawing a knife and descending upon the cheeses, "Well."
It appears that Josie is a fan of pointing the 'brie'. Of course she would be!
"At least it's something weird that tastes good. Yeah?"
A soft rustling of feathers descends from above. Delicately, Penelope investigates the cheese.
...Is this the gourmet tastes these cheeses were meant to satisfy...?
As if deliberately ignoring the fact that her bird is very unsanitarily helping herself to the cheese, Josie chimes in instead into the conversation:
"I prefer it done kebab style, but if you're offering slow-braised, I won't say no."
Perhaps she already knows the sordid history of the Gobs and the Hob Gobs...?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Caravane Kinship.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Caravane Kinship *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ah, no. Not that one. The Caravane is a unique camel's milk cheese originating from the desert regions of Meribia, near the village of Larpa. The tale goes that this cheese is quite the rarity, owing to a copious amount needed amongst the camels of nomadic herdsmen, making it quite the noble delicacy indeed... With a brie-like appearance, with a distinctive white rind and softly melting, it is a true accompaniment to peppered cracker with pate. Quite the haute piece of culinary delicacy, perhaps requiring something of puissance and subtlety to truly enjoy. Enjoy this cheese today, with your kin, For with the caravane, you'll always win. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 2 *>========================= ========================< Results - Caravane Kinship >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei offers some crackers to Penelope too because that's what you do with pigeons right?? Feed them bread? AND CRACKERS? And cheese. Naturally, Fei breaks it into small pieces for the bird. Balanced diet okay.
The meal is delicious and subtly appreciated, even the finer flavors that would typically be difficult to pick out if one were to simply chow them down as quickly as possible. But more to the point--it's just refreshing enough that it helps settle the bream.
"Man, that was nice." Fei says. "Hopefully nothing else will happen--"
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Country Pumpkin *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The pumpkin! A humble vegetable that literally grows on the soil, overlooked by so many, and abused by even more as a simple decoration for the Seed City celebration of "Halloween"! Perhaps it is no surprise that this simple root vegetable has taken the imagination of so many, with its delectable orange flesh that is succulent and sweet, yet with a savoury tinge when roasted. The dish before you has been crafted with rustic elegance, a roast pumpkin garnished with rosemary and fennel, yet hidden behind the carved pumpkin faces that express a myriad of emotions: Sadness, joy... What emotion is... best to experience this dish with? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata flecks her eyes towards Penelope for a moment, pausing as if she feels something birstling. But then she looks to Josephine to raise her eyebrows. "Kebab, huh? I'm thinking about installing a rotisserie on the Yggdrasil. It'd feed the two-dozen odd big eaters for sure..."
She wipes her mouth and even gets to make sure no part of her dying lips are falling off from the fire, sighing for a moment. "Mmm. Fruity aftertaste, smooth on the spread. The pate was aged really well too..."
... at this point, is she just self-congratulating herself?
A pause, and suddenly Lunata gets launched into the air from where she's seated by...
A giant pumpkin.
The top flies off as she stares at it for a moment; the scent of roast pumpkin, flavourfully charred and tossed with grapeseed oil, rosemary and fennel... as it stares at her with the carved face expressing--
Sadness, joy...
"... ugh, I really... really was thinking I wanted chips of some sort. This'll do," Lunata responds as she takes her thermos out and tips it out--
And BLOOD COMES OUT-- wait, that's just--
Today's Soup (??):
ketchup
Lunata dunks a gross teenage-full of ketchup onto her roast pumpkin piece and eats it whole.
DG: Lunata Croze has used her Tool Soup of the Day toward her party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Crackers! Fei, it seems, truly knows the way to a pigeon's heart. Penelope tucks into the broken up pieces with gusto. "Careful, don't choke," Josie off-handedly chides the bird, akin to an overworked parent in the moment.
"Yep. Hey, if you start serving that, maybe I'll find an excuse to drop in on the Yggdrasil more often, eh?"
....Another excuse, that is, it seems.
"Go heavy on the pepper. It's the only right way," Josie advises, apparently possessing Opinions on this front.
And so it would have been a fine meal of fish and cheese--
Until Lunata is launched up out of bounds by the sudden emergence of...
"Huh."
She sticks her knife into the flesh within the pumpkin head and slices off a good-sized chunk.
"Pretty well done," is her assessment. "A little nostalgic...? Huh."
A flutter of wings announces Penelope and her arrival upon the scene of the pepo.
Daintily, she pecks at a portion of the well-seasoned interior.
...Is this a health department violation waiting to happen?
"Sure you got enough ketchup there, little bear?"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Can Penelope handle pepper?" Fei asks, his bird knowledge not quite that extreme, but he seems comfortable with shoving pepper down his own gullet. Fei can eat just about anything and he generally has a big appetite. He is not quite Xantia level saiyan but he is perhaps at least half saiyan.
What is the best emotion to experience this next dish?
Wait it's not a dish yet, it's a giant pumpkin assaulting Lunata. Fei grimly takes that same scalpel he used to carve the cheese into his hand and stares at the pumpkin.
--bittersweet melencolique!
Fei eats his slice of pumpkin plain since dumping ketchup all over it is too much for him. He does seem to have found some cinnamon to sprinkle it with, however.
"It's nice to know that sometimes days just work out, you know?"
He gets an image in his head of Penelope busting out of a pumpkin like in the scene from Aliens.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, The Country Pumpkin.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Country Pumpkin *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The pumpkin! A humble vegetable that literally grows on the soil, overlooked by so many, and abused by even more as a simple decoration for the Seed City celebration of "Halloween"! Perhaps it is no surprise that this simple root vegetable has taken the imagination of so many, with its delectable orange flesh that is succulent and sweet, yet with a savoury tinge when roasted. The dish before you has been crafted with rustic elegance, a roast pumpkin garnished with rosemary and fennel, yet hidden behind the carved pumpkin faces that express a myriad of emotions: Sadness, joy... What emotion is... best to experience this dish with? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 3 *>========================= ======================< Results - The Country Pumpkin >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Resilient and Liabili ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Soup of the Day 4 Wits Effects: Liability, Efficient, ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 35 --(15)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"There's just--"
ompf
"--no such thing--"
umpf
"--as too muhh kehhup"
Lunata looks significantly more blob-like and round as she gets to the end of her pumpkin dish with a comfortable sigh, staring at the remnants of the pumpkin while Fei scalps out a portion for himself and Penelope flutters in and pecks inside.
Is it a health department violation?
Well....
This entire exercise probably is anyway...
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Spuddin Pudding... *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Remarkable. Through some sheer process of ingenuity that well touches upon the border of madness, what bursts next out of the bream appears to be cups of a puree-consistency buttery potato and kumara mash, white-gold texture warbling softly abound a base layer of scalloped russets, garnished with bacon bits and shaved parmigiano-regiano. Who... who /made/ this? Why make mashed potato shaped like pudding? What madness lies in the heart of its creator? As the questions linger, it's clear what you have to do-- cut through the denseness of this strange carb-filled dessert. Before you are served your just desserts. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"I think they're immune to hot peppers. Don't know about black pepper, though."
As for the bird in question -- and the pumpkin of the hour -- Penelope, in fact, settles into the pumpkin rind. She doesn't come out, apparently finding the roast gourd to be to her tastes.
Josie reaches over to poke at the recalcitrant bird, but Penelope is defiant, purposefully pecking at the contents within. "Well, suit yourself," she says, getting back to her feet.
As something rattles beneath the pile of discarded bream bones.
It emerges into the light with an appropriately-timed scare chord:
MASHED POTATO PUDDING.
As in, it's mashed potatoes. Shaped like a sweet delicate pudding.
...Skittering across the ground on a little plate with even littler feet. A whole host of the things in fact.
"What in Fengalon's name?" Josie utters, drawing back in apparent horror at the sight.
Before dropping her pack, drawing out the mattock and--
josie no
This could get ugly.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Spuddin Pudding....
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Kind of feels like-- Penelope's an exception to whatever rule there are about pigeons," Lunata answers, sounding pretty stuffed now that she's finished stuffing carbs into herself--
And stares as the scare chord plays and mashed potato pudding pops out.
Lunata stares for a full three seconds.
Lunata then curls up into a little ball. "I forgot I made this.........." urp
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spuddin Pudding....
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei sweats a bit. So much ketchup. So much... catsup.
Fei has been using the same tool in these battles and serving tricks as he has been so far and POTATO PUDDING is no different. If it doesn't break, don't fix it, in his opinion. But then--
"Josie." Fei says.
"Josie that's a mattock. It's for rocks."
Fei steps backwards, "Josie I don't think--"
SPLOTCH!!
Some potato pudding flies off and into Fei's mouth. His eyes bulge out, he raises a hand to the sky as if trying to grasp the heavens between his fingers.
And then falls flat on his back, the camera spinning above his prone body.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Spuddin Pudding....
==============================<* Bream Chasers *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Spuddin Pudding... *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Remarkable. Through some sheer process of ingenuity that well touches upon the border of madness, what bursts next out of the bream appears to be cups of a puree-consistency buttery potato and kumara mash, white-gold texture warbling softly abound a base layer of scalloped russets, garnished with bacon bits and shaved parmigiano-regiano. Who... who /made/ this? Why make mashed potato shaped like pudding? What madness lies in the heart of its creator? As the questions linger, it's clear what you have to do-- cut through the denseness of this strange carb-filled dessert. Before you are served your just desserts. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 4 *>========================== ========================< Results - Spuddin Pudding... >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lunata Croze 5 --(0)--> 5 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Stupify(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Too little, too late, Fei. The mattock handily destroys that which must not be. The plate fractures, the horrible pudding monstrosity goes still.
Josie breathes deeply, then drops the mattock quite deliberately, as if in grim acknowledgement of what has just been done.
"...You okay there Junior? Little bear?"
...Neither of them look as if they're having a very good day right now.
If, perhaps, for very different reasons.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Seraph Food Cake *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Angel Food Cake, named so after the mythical figures in Granasian and Nissan faiths, is a lightly-flavoured vanilla cake with a sponge-like texture that's so delicate and fluffy that it's described to be like "floating on the wings of an angel". Or some culinary poets do say. The Seraph Food Cake appears to be someone's idea of taking it to the next level, because this cake's batter and subsequent rise in the oven is whipped so light you need to be Resonant to see it. The cake part, anyway. There's a mercifully mundane layer of baked cinnamon crumble at the base for the unresonant... but that's terribly unsatisfying, now is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
AN LO A PAIR OF ANGELS ARRIVE. It floats around Fei and Lunata's heads for a moment, sprinkling holy/resonant light over their heads.
Wait no that's crumbs.
Wait it's not an angel, it's vanilla cake with a pair of plastic wings strapped onto it that it can use to float apparently.
Fei blinks his eyes as he looks up towards the holy creature. He looks right at the cinnamon crumble at the base of the delicacy.
"Lunata..." He says. "This looks like its the..."
He snaps up trying to slice through the cake with the chisel, his eyes lighting into stars. "Most delicious cake I've ever seen...!!!"
He pauses for a moment before adding, "I... I think I'm okay, Josie. Just...caught me by surprise. Heh."
He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata stares in the midst of her horror as light shines in on them from above. Josie asks them if they're fine.
Her face is full of potato pudding.
She stares at an angel coming down from the heavens.
It has Shalune's face, except she has a fake bushy moustachio stuck under her nose. "Oyoyo, do you think you should be wasting time here, Lunata?"
A pause.
Lunata blinks her eyes and Lunie-Angel disappears as the cake takes its place. Her eyes widen. ".... am I.... am I finally free? Have I ascended to the afterlife..." she murmurs, addled.
Her face is still full of potato pudding.
She tries to stuff her face full of seraph food cake next.
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
In the midst of the horror, an angel descends.
Josie tilts her head upwards to gaze upon a floating cake.
Somewhere on high a delicate choral piece begins to ring out across the land. A silvery white light illuminates the dish as it continues to gently float in midair.
Josie just continues to gaze at it, before saying at length:
"So this is like owlbears, right?"
As in, 'a wizard's mistake'.
"Still."
She draws her knife.
"It looks pretty good."
So she'll have a piece.
Penelope is still at home in her pumpkiny delight. It's probably just as well -- cake is not ideal for birds.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seraph Food Cake.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Seraph Food Cake *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Angel Food Cake, named so after the mythical figures in Granasian and Nissan faiths, is a lightly-flavoured vanilla cake with a sponge-like texture that's so delicate and fluffy that it's described to be like "floating on the wings of an angel". Or some culinary poets do say. The Seraph Food Cake appears to be someone's idea of taking it to the next level, because this cake's batter and subsequent rise in the oven is whipped so light you need to be Resonant to see it. The cake part, anyway. There's a mercifully mundane layer of baked cinnamon crumble at the base for the unresonant... but that's terribly unsatisfying, now is it? =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 5 *>========================= ========================< Results - Seraph Food Cake >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 5 --(20)--> 25 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 70 --(10)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Fright(1)|Secret(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
OH NO IT WAS FALLEN ONE SERAPH FOOD CAKE.
EVERYBODY'S HP DROPS TO ONE.
"Noo...ooooo...oooo..." Fei says, flopping back onto his back, tears in his eyes.
DG: Lunata Croze has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' *>=========== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The legendary King of Beasts, Ragu o' Ragula, looms before you-- No, wait, sorry, this is the legendary King of Pasta Sauces, Ragu alla Ragula... it is tough to culinarily point out where 'alla Ragula' comes from, exactly, but tales of the legendary King of Beasts' trillion degree of heat-- whoops a part of it just catches on fire --might point a little to the kind of deadly cultivars used in this piping red-hot sauce, composed of bhut jolokia, ghost peppers, Shevat reapers, and who knows what else lurks just underneath of this practically deadly culinary finale. At least the rigatoni noodles that come with it look nice. So the only question becomes... Have you told your Waitress... 'SAYONARA?' =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The Angel Food Cake has been defeated.
The screen goes 'tssss' and flashes--
--and it rumbles loudly as it starts to vanish into red ash... but no one falls for it, for no final boss only has one form. And from its ashes...
dun
dun DUN
-=DUN DUN DUN DUN=-
The camera dutch angles around the descending form of the King of all Pasta Sauces, whose seal has just been broken by the fallen Seraph Food Cake...?!
"...nooo...ooo...." Lunata clutches her head.
"mirror fragments...
small light...taken...
... voices...
bronze pressed... durum wheat...
san marzano tomatoes...
ragu... alla..."
A pause, her pupils shrinking.
"...ragula..."
You have 1 HP now. And, like, you still can't use those Megalixirs you've been saving because what if there's a New Game+ cycle?
"this is too hot," Lunata murmurs in despair. "i don't know why i made it it's so hot. josie hit it again...."
DG: Lunata Croze has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It had seemed a simple cake.
But it was not to be... so simple.
Nor is it so now.
Fallen to one knee, Josie squints one eye halfway shut as she sights the long slow descent of the King of All Pasta Sauces. "Is this... No, this can only be..." Josie utters as she attempts to rise.
Is it on fire? Is it actually on fire now?
Slowly she advances on the forbidden plate, with all the lurching steps of the gravely wounded, pausing only to reclaim her fallen mattock...
or honestly just those of a woman who, experience with spice or no, has seen her death baked into a dish that is laid out before her.
She can feel the heat from here. It's enough to make her nostrils singe.
"You're the one who made it, little bear?"
Pause.
"Heh. Now that's playing with your food." And she laughs, a roar of a sound best described as 'a belly laugh'.
Before, a grin still on her face, she quite suddenly slams the mattock right into the dish.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
beep beep, beep beep, beep beep.
Fei shifts into a crouch, little sweat dots flying off his head as he sits there. He is not in good shape after eating that seraph angel food cake. Fei never found any megalixirs and he already gave the one super healing item he ever found...but like in Final Fantasy 8, sometimes when you are at your lowest point, true power starts to channel through your body as you reach your LIMIT.
And Fei has reached that point. A red aura crackles around him as he says, "...ragula... Can we do it?"
He closes his eyes for a moment, clutching his chest with one hand in true dramatic edgelord fashion.
"...Together then...! We won't be defeated...even by the most powerful culinary experiences...!!!"
A burst of chi erupts around Fei Fong Wong as he throws himself forward and starts chowing down, even going so far as to use his bare hands.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Mother's Cross toward his party's challenge, Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?'.
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' *>=========== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The legendary King of Beasts, Ragu o' Ragula, looms before you-- No, wait, sorry, this is the legendary King of Pasta Sauces, Ragu alla Ragula... it is tough to culinarily point out where 'alla Ragula' comes from, exactly, but tales of the legendary King of Beasts' trillion degree of heat-- whoops a part of it just catches on fire --might point a little to the kind of deadly cultivars used in this piping red-hot sauce, composed of bhut jolokia, ghost peppers, Shevat reapers, and who knows what else lurks just underneath of this practically deadly culinary finale. At least the rigatoni noodles that come with it look nice. So the only question becomes... Have you told your Waitress... 'SAYONARA?' =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
========================<* Bream Chasers - Round 6 *>========================= ============< Results - Have You Told Your Waitress 'SAYONARA?' >============= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Mother's Cross 4 Brute Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunata Croze 25 --(5)--> 30 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Secret(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Bream Chasers!
=============================<* Bream Chasers *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The Recipe of your Breams *>================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It's over. It's finally... over. The Bream lies defeated before you, merely a fish-head and tail and spine as you finally carve through all layers of culinary oddities that have come your way. Through hard work, camaraderie, and the spirit of kinship you've gathered together and prevailed before evil itself. And your reward... A detailed, beginner-friendly recipe of any of the foods you encountered along the journey?! As well as tips on how to load it into a sealable canister, in the case that you want to create a food-related Tool out of it... Beware, heroes, that evil does not perpetuate itself within your heart... (NOTE: You may, optionally, choose to create a food-based Tool out of this Dig! Treat this as a buffing-type Tool that empowers your team with the rich calorie content within...?) =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The power of the King of All Pasta Sauces...
...emits with One Trillion Billion On The Scoville Rating!! But, engulfed with the power of chi, Fei's mouth is protected from such trivialities! With a crushing blow, Josephine's mattock blazes through with the power of a pick which can strike through any king of monsters, let alone this luscious blend of sun-ripened tomatoes, of basil and tarragon, this medley of flavour...
It all shines before them...
And...
Then it is over.
"... I hope... I really hope... that's the last one."
Lunata is on the ground, arms spread. The skies are so blue. Hope has returned to the world.
She closes her eyes and mutters, "If there is evil in the world..."
"It truly rests... in the kilocalories of food..."